It’s year seven of Amazon’s annual Prime Day event, and as ever, we are committed to helping you sort through all the overhyped discounts on lousy gear to find truly great deals on Wirecutter-recommended products. Read on to find out which Prime Day deals are truly the best of the best.
Deal Spotlight: Coway AP-1512HH Mighty Air Purifier (White)
Coway AP-1512HH Mighty Air Purifier (White)
Deal price: $146; street price: $190
The Coway AP-1512HH Mighty air purifier is effective, efficient, and affordable. Not only does our top pick work great, but during our long-term testing, we’ve found it to be quite reliable. Don’t let its size fool you. Even though it weighs under 13 pounds and measures at 16.8 x 9.6 x 18.3 inches, within 30 minutes it reduced heavy smoke pollution in a 135-square-foot office by 99.6%. If clean air is valuable to you, this deal price of $146 is a rare opportunity to purchase a high-quality air purifier and save a few bucks too.
Deal Spotlight: TCL 5-Series 75-Inch Google TV (Model S546)
TCL 5-Series 75-Inch Google TV (Model S546)
Deal price: $800; street price: $900
The 75-inch version of our top budget Google-enabled 4K TV pick is back down to the previous low. The TCL 5-Series model S546 provides good picture quality and great integrated streaming options, offering a full array of local-dimming backlights and the Google smart-TV interface. While its overall brightness, contrast, and motion quality don’t measure up to the best LCD and OLED screens, we still think the TCL 5-Series provides a great viewing experience.
Deal Spotlight: iRobot Roomba i3 EVO Robot Vacuum (Refurbished)
iRobot Roomba i3 EVO Robot Vacuum (Refurbished)
Deal price: $180 with promo code SUMMER20SAVE; street price: $250
High-quality robot vacuums may seem like a luxury, but at $180, this certified refurbished iRobot Roomba i3 EVO is a great investment. An ideal choice for larger spaces with rugs and shedding pets, our upgrade pick for best robot vacuum surpasses less expensive models with its strong suction, tangle-resistant brushes, and smart navigation. Although it isn’t as quick, clever, or easily controllable as the Roborock S4 Max, the Roomba i3 boasts features like Reactive Sensor Technology and Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility. At $180 with code SUMMER20SAVE, this price is the lowest we’ve seen for this excellent robovac.
Amazon Ring, Echo Show, Kindle Paperwhite, and more
If you’re looking for deals on Amazon devices, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll keep this section updated, as well as our roundup of the best Amazon Device Deals. If you’re looking for a Ring Video Doorbell Wired, which is our budget pick for best smart doorbell camera, we expect it to be discounted to under $50 during Prime Day.
In recent weeks, we’ve seen some deals on refurbished Kindle Paperwhites, but they’ve been primarily for the 2018 model. At this point, we’d recommend forgoing the older models and waiting for Prime Day sales on the newest Paperwhites, which support USB-C charging.
Amazon Echo (4th Gen) Smart Speaker + Sengled Smart Bulb
Deal price: $60; street price: $75
Matching the best price we saw during Black Friday, this is a solid Prime exclusive deal for a 4th Gen Amazon Echo smart speaker that comes with a Sengled Bluetooth color smart light bulb. With Alexa, the Echo can play music, answer questions, control your smart-home devices, and buy stuff from Amazon—all with a few words. The Echo is our pick for the best Alexa smart speaker, and although the Sengled bulb isn’t an official pick, we’ve recommended some of their bulbs in the past. (Plus, it’s free!)
Amazon Echo Show 5 Smart Display (2nd Gen, 2021 Release)
Deal price: $35; street price: $70
Part smart speaker and part tablet, the compact Amazon Echo Show 5 is a good display for a nightstand or bathroom counter. Our smaller-screen pick does everything the larger Show 8 can do, including play music, check the weather report, and trigger any smart-home routines. It also has an auto-dimming screen when you turn out the lights, so it shouldn’t keep you up at night.
Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) Smart Speaker + Sengled Bluetooth Color Smart Bulb
Deal price: $20; street price: $40
As the smaller version of our top Alexa smart speaker, the Echo Dot is a great option for people who want to snag a smaller smart speaker on the cheap. Our budget pick features an audio-out port and Bluetooth connectivity, so you can connect the Dot to a Bluetooth speaker or to a larger audio system if you want better sound. This is a new low price for the Echo Dot on its own, and an even better value if you add in the free Sengled Bluetooth bulb. While we haven’t tested that Sengled bulb in particular, it’s a simpler version of our former budget pick and it’s free (usually $15).
Amazon Music Unlimited (four months free)
Deal price: $0; street price: $32
Prime members who have yet to try Amazon Music Unlimited can get four months free. Like its competitor Apple Music, Amazon Music now offers HD spatial audio—an improvement in the quality of sound that makes your listening experience a lot more pleasant. Other great features that come with an Amazon Music subscription include ad-free access to any song, unlimited skips, and hands-free listening with Alexa for those who are already part of the Amazon smart-home ecosystem. This deal regularly crops up around this time of year, but free is hard to beat, so it’s still a nice chance to experiment with a new music streaming service. Be aware that after the free four-month subscription expires, you will be automatically charged $8.99 per month.
Audible Premium Subscription (3-Month)
Deal price: $0; street price: $45
If you have a book lover in your life, or are one yourself, this is a great chance to try out an Audible Premium Plus subscription. Normally $15/month, Amazon Prime members can get the first three months of this subscription for free. On top of accessing tons of audiobooks, podcasts, and original content, you’ll receive one credit to purchase any premium selection title each month. After the trial period is over, you’ll automatically be billed for the regular monthly membership fee—so be sure to cancel if you aren’t interested in continuing with the service.
Amazon Echo Glow Night-Light
Deal price: $17; street price: $28
Help your child sleep through the night with one of our smart night light picks, the Echo Glow. It doesn’t have any physical controls, but adjusting the brightness and 16 different color options is as easy as tapping the light or using the accompanying app or your Alexa device. We’ve seen better discounts for this smart lighting device, but it’s still a great way to regulate your little one’s bedtime routine—an essential step for children to sleep better over time—while adding some personality to their bedroom.
Echo Dot Kids Edition Smart Speaker (4th Generation)
Deal price: $25; street price: $50
As the kids’ version of our budget Alexa speaker pick, the Echo Dot Kids Edition offers all the standard Echo Dot features for about half the price—such as asking Alexa to play music, reading stories, and calling friends and family. Plus, it sounds good enough to use as a nightstand speaker or even as a small kitchen speaker. Down to a new low of $25 for Prime members, the Kids Edition comes with a solid two-year replacement warranty and is available in your choice of two cute, child-friendly designs (with a tiger or panda printed on the fabric).
Echo Show 8 Smart Display (2nd Gen, 2021 release, Refurbished) with delayed shipping
Deal price: $70; street price: $115
The Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Generation) is simple to use thanks to its excellent on-screen menus and Alexa’s always-impressive conversational chops. Its speaker also produces clear audio and is powerful enough to fill a room. Down to the lowest price we’ve seen for a refurbished model, this is a solid chance to pick up the latest Show 8 for less. Available in both black and white.
Echo Dot Kids Edition + Echo Glow Bundle
Deal price: $36; street price: $65
If you’re having a hard time getting your little one into a regular bedtime routine, Amazon’s Echo Dot Kids and Echo Glow bundle, which features one of our smart nightlight picks, is back on sale. The Glow has a range of 16 colors and can cue a bedtime countdown controlled by another Amazon Echo device—in this case, the included Dot Kids, a kid-friendly version of the vaunted pint-sized smart speaker, available in tiger or panda print.
Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet (10th Gen, 32 GB)
Deal price: $45; street price: $80
Whether you’re looking for the perfect tablet to keep the little one occupied or an affordable tablet for reading or watching videos, Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet fits the bill. It doesn’t have access to the Google Play store or Google apps, but it does let you access Amazon content easily. This version of the Fire HD 8 tablet runs on 2 GB of RAM and is back down to $45. The tablet offers great battery life (up to 12 hours) for reading or browsing the internet. While the low-resolution screen isn’t as sharp as the competition, the Fire HD 8 has more-extensive parental controls than other tablets, making it a great family device.
Laptop, Chromebook, and accessory deals
Logitech HD Webcam C615 (Amazon)
Deal price: $30; street price: $34
Logitech HD Webcam C615 (Best Buy)
Deal price: $30; street price: $34
Update 2: Up $1 to $30, also available at Best Buy with store pickup. In this modern age of Zoom meetings and video conferencing, sometimes the sub-par webcam on your laptop just won’t cut it. Our budget pick for the best webcam, the Logitech C615, is perfect if you’re seeking a sub-$50 option. While the overall video quality isn’t as good as our top pick, it still offers 1080p resolution and looks better than any other camera we tested around the same price point. Matching the best price we’ve seen this year, this deal is another excellent opportunity to ensure you aren’t a pixelated blur when video-chatting with others.
Western Digital My Passport SSD (1TB, Red)
Deal price: $110; street price: $130
Portable SSDs are great for people who regularly transfer files between computers and are looking for something both fast and compact. With data transfers up to 10 Gbps, the My Passport offers incredibly fast speed in a durable and a pocketable package our testers appreciated. If you accidentally drop the drive and the shock-resistant design fails you, WD also offers a lengthy five-year warranty on this device (the longest of any drive we found).
Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 (8 GB RAM, 128 GB eMMC)
Deal price: $530; street price: $650
A good Chromebook can do almost anything a regular laptop can do, and the best ones feel better to use than their similarly priced Windows counterparts. Our testers found the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 to be smaller, lighter, faster, and equipped with a better battery than any other Chromebooks we tested. Normally more expensive than our other picks due to the solid specs and 8 GB of RAM, this deal brings the price more in line with cheaper options. Just note that this device is only equipped with USB-C ports, so you’ll need an adapter if you wish to use older peripherals.
Epson FastFoto FF-680W Portable Document Scanner
Deal price: $500; street price: $550
Unlike most traditional scanners that can bend documents and photos, the Epson FastFoto FF-680W quickly and reliably produces high-resolution photo scans without damaging the original. We particularly appreciated our upgrade pick’s rapid-fire photo scanning abilities, though it costs and weighs more than our other portable document scanner picks. This recurring deal is a nice chance to save if you need to digitize a big pile of documents and receipts.
Acer Chromebook Spin 514 (CP514-1H-R4HQ)
Deal price: $200; street price: $480
The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 (CP514-1H-R4HQ) is an all-around solid Chromebook, with a comfortable keyboard, a responsive trackpad, and 11 hours of battery life. Compared to our top picks, the Spin 514 is larger and heavier, and its processor has weaker performance when the laptop is unplugged, but it’s still a good option, especially on sale. This Chromebook comes with an AMD Ryzen 3 3000 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and a 64 GB eMMC SSD.
Headphone and AirPods alternatives deals
If you’re a regular Wirecutter reader, you may already know that we do not recommend Apple AirPods for the simple reason that we think several other earbuds deliver better sound quality and functionality with a longer battery life, often at a lower price. Below are the deals we’re seeing on the headphones and earbuds we recommend most.
Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 (Refurbished)
Deal price: $223 with promo code SUMMER20SAVE; street price: $280
Drown out the din with our top noise-cancelling headphones pick, the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, now down to $223 with code SUMMER20SAVE. This pair is manufacturer-refurbished from the Bose eBay storefront and comes with a comprehensive two-year warranty. Though we’ve seen slightly better deals on refurbished options, this is still an excellent opportunity to save if you’re looking for a pair of comfortable and lightweight headphones that offer superior adjustable noise cancellation.
KEF Mu3 Wireless Earbuds (Silver grey)
Deal price: $130; street price: $230
The KEF Mu3 is one of the best-sounding pairs of true wireless earbuds we’ve ever tested. While they’re not an official pick, these earbuds have great sound quality with clear highs, deep (but not overpowering) bass notes, and a surprisingly large soundstage for tiny earbuds. The active noise cancellation is middling and there’s no track-reverse option with the controls, but if those aren’t deal breakers, these headphones are sure to please.
EarFun Free 2 Wireless Earbuds
Deal price: $32; street price: $50
Wireless earbuds are incredibly convenient, but it’s hard to find a good pair under $50. While EarFun’s sound quality isn’t quite as balanced as our top pick, these earbuds offer a lot of features you don’t usually find in budget models—a full suite of tap-based controls, clear-sounding microphones for phone calls, and a high water-resistance rating. Make sure you clip the on-page coupon and use code PDEFRE2WC to get the discounted price.
Smoker and grill deals
Traeger Pro Series 22 Pellet Smoker Grill
Deal price: $500; street price: $600
If you’re looking for a less-expensive Traeger pellet smoker grill, you might consider the first-generation Pro Series 22. Although we didn’t test it, Traeger is a reliable company and this grill is generally well-reviewed. The Traeger Pro 22 has 10 preset temperature options up to 450 °F and doesn’t connect to Wi-Fi, however it does come with two temperature probes. Already a more affordable alternative to our main picks, it’s down to $500, the best price we’ve noted so far.