The biggest and best of the summer sales is Amazon’s Prime Day event, which takes place on July 16 and 17 this year. But you don’t have to wait to get your hands on the deals. Amazon always lets you miss out on some tasty deals to whet your appetite before the main event. We’ve taken a close look at the information to help you find the best Prime Day early bird deals that are worth your time and money.
With decades of product testing experience, a variety of price tracking tools, and a long history of providing the best discounts, you can trust WIRED to help you sift through the fast-moving waters of Amazon’s river of deals to extract the gold. Prime DayTo get straight to the point, we’ve only included items that are currently at their lowest prices ever (some may match previous sales prices, but we’ve never seen anything cheaper). It’s also worth noting that many of these items are likely to remain at these prices until Prime Day.
Updated July 8, 2024: Added a few new deals, adjusted prices to reflect some changes, and removed a few expired deals..
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Prime Perks
Read on to learn about all the benefits you can enjoy with Amazon Prime.
While it’s not the best music streaming service, Amazon Music Unlimited earns an honorable mention in our guide. Five months free for Prime members (three months for non-Prime members) might be tempting for some to give it a try. Amazon Music Unlimited offers ad-free access to over 100 million tracks in 16-bit, 44.1kHz quality (24-bit, 192kHz where available).
Amazon’s Audible Premium Plus, the best audiobook service, gives you access to a library of Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts, one credit per month to use on any audiobook title, and regular exclusive deals and discounts. Prime members get three months free now (one month for non-Prime members), then it’s $15 per month. The best part is that you keep the titles you buy with credits even after your subscription ends.
Amazon Tech Specials
Amazon’s ever-growing range of device discounts are so frequent that you shouldn’t pay full price. But the biggest discounts come during Prime Day, and this year is no exception. Here are some early Amazon device discounts you can grab right now.
Our favorite Amazon Fire tablet is also the best tablet you can get for under $200, so it’s pretty hard to resist with such a big discount. We like the large screen, decent performance, Alexa support, and Show Mode, which allows this tablet to double as an Echo Show smart display. The downside is that you’ll have to pay an extra $15 to remove ads from the lock screen, and you can’t run Google apps without a workaround.
If you like a portable tablet that’s easy to manage, the Fire HD 8 is the most affordable option to consider. It offers solid performance, hands-free Alexa, stereo sound, USB-C, and nearly 12 hours of battery life. The 8-inch screen isn’t as big or nice as the HD 10, but it’s a decent value for the price. This was already the best-value Fire tablet around, and it’s often discounted, but we’ve never seen it this low.
The best Eero mesh system available today, this is the most affordable we’ve seen of the Max 7 (7/10, WIRED review). This Wi-Fi 7 mesh opens up the 6GHz band alongside the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands we’re used to. Wi-Fi 7 promises significantly improved speeds and reliability, with capable devices able to join multiple bands simultaneously. A two-pack should easily cover most homes, Eero is backwards compatible with previous systems, and it’s our top recommendation for smart homes. That said, Wi-Fi 7 is still in its early days, and even with discounts, it’s an expensive mesh.
It’s still a little early for most people to consider Wi-Fi 7, but as Wi-Fi 7 systems hit the market, prices for Wi-Fi 6E routers are dropping rapidly. The tri-band Eero Pro 6E (7/10, WIRED recommended) is one of the best mesh systems around, offering blazing-fast performance, 6GHz Wi-Fi (though its relatively short range), convenient smart home hub features, and compatibility with other Eero devices. An Eero Plus subscription is pricey at $10 per month or $100 per year, but adds a ton of value with the security, parental controls, VPN service, and password manager. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen for a three-pack, and it’s enough to cover up to 6,000 square feet.
If you want an inexpensive security camera for your property, the Blink Outdoor 4 and Blink Mini 2 (7/10, WIRED recommended) are tempting deals. While we haven’t tested the Outdoor 4 yet, the Mini 2 is one of our favorite indoor security cameras, offering a compact design, crisp 1080p video at 30 frames per second, and two-way audio. The catch is that Blink cameras require a subscription, either $10 per month or $100 per year for unlimited cameras, which gives you 60 days of unlimited cloud video recording and on-device people detection.
Technology Trading
Photo: Baseus
This power bank simply snaps onto the back of your MagSafe iPhone to charge its battery. With a massive 10,000 mAh, it’s the best MagSafe power bank we’ve tested. It’ll give any MagSafe iPhone at least one full charge. It has a soft-touch finish, a gentle curve, a USB-C port, a power button, and three LEDs on the bottom edge. This power bank is often on sale, but that’s the lowest price we’ve seen so far.
This clever retractable cable from Baseus will keep you completely tangle-free. Available in a few fun colors, this flat cable comes rolled up inside a circular case. Simply pull on the USB-C end to lock it into a preset length (1.1, 1.9, 2.7, or 3.3 feet). When you’re done, simply pull and release, and the cable neatly retracts back into the case. It’s good for charging at up to 11 watts, but only supports data transfer speeds of 480 Mbps. I think this is one of the best USB-C cables out there.
Clip the page coupon to get the best discount. This affordable security camera records decent quality video, has a starlight sensor for color night vision, supports microSD cards up to 512GB, and is IP66 rated for outdoor use. It also has smart detection (people, pets, vehicles), 2K resolution, supports two-way audio with a slight delay, and has a Tapo Care subscription option that offers 30 days of cloud storage starting at $3.50 per month. The more basic Tapo C110 is the cheapest camera in our best indoor security Vameras guide, but if you get a discount, you should opt for the slightly better C120 instead.
If you hate charging your wireless gaming headset, the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless (10/10, WIRED recommended) is the one for you. This headset lasts a whopping 300 hours between charges. It also offers rich, booming sound, comfortable earcups, and intuitive controls. It just doesn’t have a headphone jack. This headset has been discounted at this price before, but it usually costs around $170.
This 11-inch AMOLED Android tablet (7/10, WIRED recommended) is a powerful, thin slate with top-of-the-line specs, from the flagship-grade Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset to long-lasting battery life. It comes with an S Pen stylus for sketching, and Android has improved enough to make it usable for light work. For more recommendations, read our guide to the best tablets.
Home Deal
This lightweight and powerful cordless vacuum picked up everything from cereal to trash in one pass on medium setting. It can also stand on its own, which few cordless vacuums can do. Hoover’s machine topped our best cordless vacuum guide for a while and remains a good mid-priced alternative. Battery life is a bit disappointing, but you can always buy a spare battery to replace it. This is the lowest price we’ve seen for this vacuum.
Stylish and relatively compact, this is one of our favorite beard trimmers. It has a digital display that shows the battery level in percentages, boasts a long battery life of 120 minutes, and recharges in just one hour. WIRED contributor Andrew Williams thought it was great for razor-sharp cuts and necks. Philips recommends replacing the head every four months, but you probably won’t need to. It’s not a huge discount, but we’ve seen it for a little less.
The only reason this didn’t make it to the top of our best hair straightener guide was the price. I’ve never seen it priced this low, and the only model on sale was the white model. The T3 has a unique temperature-sensing feature that the company calls HeatID technology, which we’ve found to minimize damage. To find the right temperature, you select your hair’s characteristics via the touch controls on the iron’s handle: texture (fine, medium, thick), length (short, medium, long), and whether your hair is color-treated. We also like the Refresh Mode, which later trims your hair at a lower temperature based on your previous settings.
Photo: Kosori
An air fryer is a quick and potentially healthier way to cook. The best air fryers are basically small convection ovens that heat up quickly to make crispy chicken, French fries, and donuts. This Cosori is our favorite smart air fryer because you can control it remotely using your smartphone or tablet (it also has a digital control panel). We loved the sleek, black premium design, the cooking drawer slides out smoothly, and the handles don’t get hot when in use. The sides do get a little hot, though, so be careful, so make sure you have enough space in your air fryer. The temperature range is 175 degrees Fahrenheit to a powerful 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and there are 12 preset cooking modes.
If you need a new grill for your backyard this summer, this Weber model is our favorite gas grill because of its simplicity, build quality, consistent cooking temperatures, and easy-to-adjust burners. It has a side tray that gives you plenty of room for all your plates and platters, and there are handy hooks for tongs and utensils. It boasts a sturdy porcelain-coated cast iron grill grate that’s relatively easy to clean with a little soap and water. WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson’s favorite feature is that the burner knob has a very wide turning radius, making it easy to control the perfect flame.
Photo: RAPTbaby
The best sound machine will help you focus and fall asleep at night. This sound machine is our pick for babies and has a cute design with 8 soundtracks to choose from, including classical music and womb sounds. You can play the sounds continuously or choose a 30-60- or 90-minute timer. The makers claim this is a gadget designed by neuroscientists to promote language development, which we are a little skeptical about, but it’s a decent choice for putting a young child to sleep.
This is the best budget chair we recommend in our best office chair guide. It comes in at this price point quite often, but it doesn’t get any lower. It has breathable mesh fabric on the back and seat, and it’s durable and has held up well to years of use.
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