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The Prime Early Access Sale is a few days away, but the deals are already rolling in.
Amazon has announced a Prime Day sequel. The Prime Early Access Sale will join other retailer's early sales in officially jump-starting the earlier-than-ever holiday shopping season. But that doesn’t mean all the featured deals are worth your time. We’re sifting through preview sales to find the best deals on Wirecutter-approved gadgets and gear from Amazon’s Prime holiday gambit. These are the best deals we’ve found so far.
Apple iPad mini (6th generation, 64 GB) Deal price: $400; street price: $460
What we like: Fast and powerful as a 4th-gen iPad Air. Edge-to-edge display, Touch ID in power button, and rear camera with flash. Nearly 11 hour battery life.
Other things to know: Available in all colors. Only 64 GB storage for deal price. Feature packed but still pricey.
Read our review of the best tablets.
Amazon Echo Buds (2nd Gen) Wireless Earbuds Deal price: $70; street price: $100
What we like: Decent noise cancellation. Only earbuds to offer hands-free Alexa compatibility.
Other things to know: A little large for smaller ears. Five-hour battery life is middling.
Read our review of the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds.
Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen, 2021) Deal price: $70; street price: $115
What we like: Great sound and crisp screen. Convenient smart-home control. Includes a 13-megapixel camera for video calling. 8-inch touch display is big enough for comfortably viewing video from streaming services.
Other things to know: Now compatible with Zoom. Compatible with Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix.
Read our review of the best smart display for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Ring Video Doorbell Wired Deal price: $40; street price: $60
What we like: Smaller and cheaper than most Ring doorbells. Captures clear 1080p images. Delivers accurate motion and person alerts.
Other things to know: Needs to be hardwired. Compatible with Amazon Alexa and other Ring products. Doesn't offer detailed alerts or local storage. Requires a Ring Protect Basic plan (which starts at $3 per month or $30 per year) to record motion events.
Read our review of the best smart doorbell camera.
Amazon Echo Glow Night-Light Deal price: $17; street price: $25
What we like: Smart night light ambience helps your child sleep. 16 colors, Echo-controllable and routine-compatible.
Other things to know: No physical controls (app or smart device only).
Read our review of the best ways to use smart lights to help your kids get to bed (and stay asleep).
Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen) and one month of Amazon Music Unlimited Deal price: $10; street price: $30
What we like: Affordable addition to an Amazon Alexa smart-home speaker system. Nice opportunity to try Amazon Music Unlimited if you were considering a subscription.
Other things to know: The Echo Dot typically costs $25 to $50 and Amazon Music Unlimited is $9 monthly. The Amazon Music Unlimited subscription auto-renews after the first month. You can cancel or change your subscription anytime. For those interested in trying Amazon Music Unlimited without the Dot, there's now a free 4 month trial available to new users.
Read our review of the best Alexa smart speakers.
Amazon Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen, 2021 release) Deal price: $35; street price: $60
What we like: Ideal for a nightstand or bathroom counter. Able to play music, check the weather, and communicate with any smart-home device.
Other things to know: Has a smaller, 5.5-inch screen. Display auto-dims when you turn out the lights. Prime members can use codes SHOWOFFICE30 and JULSHOW30 to get an extra $10 off at checkout.
Read our review of the best smart display for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.
Echo Dot Kids Edition + Echo Glow Bundle Deal price: $36; street price: $65
What we like: Echo Dot Kids identical to Echo Dot 4th gen. Echo Glow displays 16 colors, Echo-controllable and routine-compatible.
Other things to know: Matches previous bundle deals. Includes parental controls, longer warranty (two years), and a year of Amazon Kids+ content.
Read our review of the best ways to use smart lights to help your kids get to bed (and stay asleep).
Ring Video Doorbell Wired + Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen) Bundle Deal price: $60; street price: $120
What we like: Ring is cheap, easy to install, captures clear 1080p images, and delivers accurate motion and person alerts. Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen) has a compact 5½-inch screen.
Other things to know: Bundle includes our budget smart doorbell camera with the smaller Alexa smart display pick. Requires a Ring Protect Basic plan (which starts at $3 per month or $30 per year) to record motion events.
Read our review of the best smart doorbell camera and smart display for Alexa.
We largely don’t recommend Fire TVs, especially at their usual list prices, but of the ones available for sale, senior staff writer Lee Neikirk prefers the Amazon Omni Series 4K. That model is presently available for $400 in the 50-inch size, but unless you’re an Alexa enthusiast, other TVs have less annoying streaming navigation and better overall features. We also suspect that prices may get even better for Omni models as we approach Black Friday.
Breville Barista Touch Espresso Machine Deal price: $900; street price: $1050
What we like: Sleek and powerful. Great programming and quality built-in grinder. Offers lots of guidance in the form of a touchscreen control center with step-by-step tutorials and multiple programs.
Other things to know: Comes with a two-year warranty. Not cheap, but the built-in grinder saves you from having to buy a separate grinder.
Read our review of the best espresso machine for beginners.
Coleman 70-Quart Xtreme Cooler (Black) Deal price: $40; street price: $70
What we like: Better insulations and less expensive than other coolers we tested. Well-designed drain port makes cooler easy to clean.
Other things to know: Variant of our top hard cooler pick. Keeps ice frozen for a week. Matches the best price this year.
Read our review of the best coolers.
TCL Class 5-Series 4K Roku TV (65-Inch, Model 65S555) Deal price: $550; street price: $700
What we like: Still testing, but looks very promising per Wirecutter senior staff writer and TV expert Lee Neikirk. Snappy and bright image. Local dimming is strong for a budget model in early testing.
Other things to know: Previous model was our pick. One of our finalists for the best 4K TV on a budget. Won't compare to higher-end options, but good value for the price.
Read our review of the best 4K TV on a budget.
Samsung S95B OLED TV (55-Inch) Deal price: $1600; street price: $1800
What we like: Perfect black levels, high contrast, and huge viewing angles. Vivid color saturation and high brightness. Great for bright rooms.
Other things to know: Does not support Dolby Vision HDR. Only available in 55- and 65-inch screen sizes. New low price for 55-inch.
Read our review of the best OLED TV.
Amazon Echo Buds (2nd Gen) Wireless Earbuds Deal price: $70; street price: $100
What we like: Decent noise cancellation. Only earbuds to offer hands-free Alexa compatibility.
Other things to know: A little large for smaller ears. Five-hour battery life is middling.
Read our review of the best wireless Bluetooth earbuds.
Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller Deal price: $39; street price: $50
What we like: Comfortable to hold. Easy to set up with Windows for PC use. Works wired or wirelessly.
Other things to know: Requires AA batteries or battery pack for wireless. Currently only available in white. Delayed shipping.
Read our review of the best PC gaming controller.
Gears! Gears! Gears! Deluxe Building Set Deal price: $16; street price: $23
What we like: Gears! More complex than basic wood blocks. Allows for more complex structures and building challenges. Also, gears!
Other things to know: Ages three and up. Can be loud on bigger projects. First deal we've posted in nearly two years.
Read our review of the best learning toys and stem toys we love.
3Doodler Create+ 3D Pen Deal price: $60; street price: $80
What we like: Comfortable to hold and easy to use for hours. Minimal setup to start using. Wide variety of useful accessories Excellent customer service.
Other things to know: Proprietary filament. Cord feels a little short. For ages 12 and older.
Read our review of the best 3D pen.
Google Pixel 6a Android Phone (Unlocked, 128 GB) Deal price: $350; street price: $450
What we like: One of the best cameras on any smartphone, including smartphones that are twice as expensive. Same Tensor processor as the more expensive Pixel phones. Security updates until summer 2027.
Other things to know: Shorter battery life than we'd like. No wireless charging, no headphone jack, no microSD card slot. Only charges at 18 W, no charger in box.
Read our review of the best budget Android phone.
Amazon promises discounts on “electronics, fashion, home, kitchen, pets, toys, and Amazon devices,” during the Prime Early Access Sale, including price drops on a curated list of 100 of “the season’s most popular and giftable items.” It remains to be seen how many of the 100 will be Wirecutter tested and approved. Early promos also include a free year of Grubhub+ for Prime members and up to 50% off (from September 30 to October 7) on a selection of new and popular titles to rent or buy on Prime Video.
While we’re already seeing notable sales from Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale event, there are still more to come. Amazon promised, “electronics from Samsung and Sony, popular home and kitchen products from Casper and Ninja, toys from Melissa & Doug and Hasbro…,” in its initial event press release.
We expect to see all those brands and more. The sale is likely to offer significant discounts on earbuds , robot vacuums , TVs , Apple Watches and iPads , small kitchen appliances including air fryers and coffee faves like espresso machines , and of course Amazon’s own extensive slate of products from smart speakers to mesh routers and security cameras . We also expect to see deals on home fitness gear to keep you active during the winter months, with potential price drops on treadmills and exercise bikes like the Peloton.
Target competing Deal Days event, which ran from October 6 to October 8, produced deals on Apple gear, game consoles (including a deal on one of our console picks, the Xbox Series S with an extra controller), household essentials, and bedding. As usual, RedCard members we're able to save an additional 5 percent on most sale prices, and the majority of items on offer are also covered by Target’s holiday price protection, which promises to refund you the difference if the deal price goes lower before December 24. We expect most of the deals we saw during the event to resurface as Black Friday approaches.
Not to be left out, Walmart will also offer sales starting October 10 with its Rollbacks and More sale event. We expect Walmart to match Amazon prices and vice versa during Amazon’s sale later in the week. Walmart has also extended its holiday return window this year, so that most purchases made between Oct 1, 2022 and January 31, 2023 will be return eligible.
Best Buy is offering strong discounts on Amazon Ring devices and Amazon’s own Ebook readers and smart speakers right now, matching Amazon’s own pricing and beating it in some cases. We expect to see more Best Buy sales that compete directly with Amazon’s Prime sale event, and we anticipate that Amazon will match most prices Best Buy offers during this sale window.
This article was edited by Nathan Burrow and Daniel Kim.
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Amazon’s Prime Early Access Sale , the sequel to July’s Prime Day, officially arrives October 10 and continues until October 11. We’re already seeing early sales, especially on Amazon Alexa devices and Amazon brands like Eero (one of our mesh router picks). We’ll continue to track the best early sales here and will update this piece as we wait for the official launch date.
If you haven’t signed up for an Amazon Prime free trial before (or done so in recent years), you should be able to take advantage of Amazon’s October Prime event by nabbing a 30 day trial at no charge. Bear in mind that you’ll be charged for a paid membership at the end of your trial period, so you’ll need to cancel if you don’t want to continue. Additionally, you can’t get a free trial, then get another, so you’ll need to consider whether a trial is right for October or November’s Black Friday if you qualify for one.
Sadly, not everything is on sale during Prime Day, but the Prime Early Access Sale will offer sales on a variety of products. We anticipate seeing price drops on everything from headphones to smart speakers to small kitchen appliances , and we’ll sift through those discounts to find the best deals on Wirecutter’s expert-recommended products.
It depends. Having a more extended shopping window allows you to space out purchases, which is nice if you don’t have a huge discretionary gift fund right now, but want to pick off some early sales during this event. We’re confident that Amazon will offer some of the best prices of the year on its own products and select excellent sales on sought-after brands from October 10 - 12, but the answer to this question is really about what—and where—you buy.
Retailers like Target , Costco , and Best Buy tend to offer some form of price protection policies that ensure they’ll refund you the difference if the price falls further later in the season. Amazon has never historically done this. Certain products, especially those sold exclusively by the manufacturers via their own online storefronts, may be cheaper during Black Friday when most retailers will offer some sort of promotional pricing. Additionally, most newly announced and released products (September and early October are huge electronic announcement months) are more likely to be discounted later (if at all) than immediately at the time they’re released. We’ll be posting the deals we think most likely represent the cheapest price we’ll see the entirety of this shopping season.
Ignacia Fulcher is a supervising editor for the Deals team. She has a BA in Mass Media Studies from Hofstra University and has written both product reviews and culture essays for BuzzFeed, Teen Vogue, and other publications. Ignacia is passionate about Whitney Houston and listens only to singers. She very rarely listens to anyone who cannot.
Dan Kim is a senior staff writer for the Deals Team at Wirecutter and has been covering everything related to deals since 2016. When he’s not hip-deep in the trenches combing through deals on our picks, he enjoys writing about video games, computers, gaming accessories, and tech that he can't afford.
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Which products are most likely to see great deals this month? The Wirecutter Deals team makes its expert predictions.
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