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Going from zero to a fully outfitted smart home is a huge undertaking — and it can get expensive fast. While we don't recommend grabbing every possible smart home device in one go, Black Friday makes smartening up areas of your home a lot easier on your wallet. 

Every year, the number of smart devices grows so we waded through the best deals on many of the products we've tried and recommend. Some of our favorite robot vacuums are seeing steep discounts, as is our favorite air fryer and an Echo smart display we found particularly useful. Covering just about every potential room in the home, here are the best robot vacuum and smart home Black Friday deals we could find.    

iRobot Roomba 694

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

The iRobot Roomba 694 is currently our favorite budget robot vacuum and is down to $180 for Black Friday. That's 33 percent off for a $95 savings that's close to an all-time low. We liked the way the 694 dependably cleaned both carpet and tile, and appreciated the excellent user interface on the app. Setup is straightforward, even for a robo vac newbie. It doesn't come with extra brushes and the spot-clean function is only available as a button on the unit itself, but we still think it's the best budget vac for most people. 

Shark Ion RV765

Shark

The Shark Ion RV765 is the runner up in our guide to budget robo vacs and right now it's down to $150, which is a super low price for any smart vacuum, especially one with a two-hour battery life. We particularly liked the adjustable wheels that automatically reacted to the "terrain" of carpet, rug, or hard floor, and the intuitive app for setting schedules and otherwise controlling the robot.  

Shark AV2511AE AI 

Shark

If you want a robot vacuum that empties itself, be prepared to pay more, unless you can grab a deal like this one. Normally $600, the Shark AV2511 AE AI robot vacuum is half price right now, bringing it down to $300. As a brand, Shark keeps reaching top spots in our robot vacuum guides thanks to their intuitive app and reliability of the robots themselves. This base here will hold nearly two months of dirt and the advanced navigation technology uses LIDAR to map your home and lasers to detect and avoid obstacles. You can even set no-go zones from within the app, as opposed to using boundary tape or other methods. 

iRobot Roomba j7 

iRobot

The iRobot Roomba j7 is also on sale, with a 42 percent discount, bringing it down to $250. It's the runner up in our latest guide to the best robot vacuums thanks to its strong cleaning power and accurate home mapping. We liked how easy the app is to use and program and the bot was great at avoiding obstacles, including any robot vac's archnemesis, pet poop.

Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid

Eufy

With a more than 50 percent discount, Eufy's RoboVac X8 Hybrid is down to $320 off its usual $650 sticker. We gave the X8 a shout out in our robo vac guide for its great customization features, including a "tap and go" option that lets you direct the vac to a particular spot for extra on-demand cleaning. Surprisingly, many vacs lack that feature within their app. As a hybrid vac, the X8 can wet-wipe your floors as well as vacuum them, and comes with a fillable tank and swappable cleaning pads to enable the mopping function. If you don't need your vac to mop, the vacuum-only Eufy RoboVac X8 is on sale for 40 percent off, making it just $300 instead of $500 right now.  

Meater Plus  

Meater

The Meater Plus is the recommended thermometer in our grilling gear guide. For Black Friday, it's down to $80 from its usual $100 price tag. While a wired version is certainly cheaper, we thought the price bump was worth not having to avoid the cables as you work with larger pieces of meat. It's got a 165-foot Bluetooth range and the single probe has two sensors, with one end reading the internal temp of your meat and the exposed end monitoring the ambient temp of your cooking environment. Of course, as a smart home tool, the companion app controls, monitors and offers helpful guides. 

Instant Pot Duo

Instant Pot

The Instant Pot Duo makes an excellent gift for just about anyone, but it's also a great way to add some extra capacity to your kitchen for holiday cooking. Right now, it's down to $79 for Black Friday, a 21 percent discount and a great buy, considering all it can do. It features seven functions in one unit, and can act as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, sauté pan, yogurt maker and warmer. Customizable programs take the guesswork out of cooking common items, helping you out just like a smart appliance should.  

Instant Vortex Plus  

Instant Brands

If you somehow don't already have one or are looking to give one of this year's best gifts, here's a great deal on the Instant Vortex Plus air fryer. Usually $170, it's down to just $100 for Black Friday. We named it our favorite overall pick when we tested out many of the air fryers on the market today. We loved the ample size, intuitive controls and how easy it was to clean. Plus, there's virtually no waiting for pre-heating. 

Echo Show 8

Engadget

The Echo Show 8 earned a score of 87 when we reviewed it upon its debut and Amazon is knocking 46 percent off the standard $130 list price to make it just $70. We liked the beautiful touchscreen display and impressive sound quality for the size. It's extra useful when it acts as a sort of command center for your connected smart home devices, with Alexa's helpful AI guiding the way. Amazon's new home screen has a better feel to it too, giving you a lot of info at a glance. The Echo Show 8 can even act as a smart cam to let you check in at home when you're away.

Google Nest Hub 

Google

If you'd rather rely on the Google Assistant for your smart display needs, the latest generation of the Google Nest Hub is half price, bringing it down to $50. The seven-inch screen is one inch smaller than the Echo Show 8, and the Google Hub doesn't have an on-board camera, which some might prefer. As a smart display, it'll happily act as a hub to control compatible smart home devices using just your voice.

Google Nest Audio

Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

We called Google's Nest Audio smart speaker "a steal at $100" when we reviewed it, giving it a score of 87. And now it's half that price for Black Friday. For just $50, you get a smart speaker powered by the AI of the Google Assistant, plus a speaker that delivers surprisingly good sound quality for its size and price point. We did note that the Nest Audio sounds even better as a pair, and now might be a good time to grab two. 

Blink Mini camera

Amazon

Adding a few smart cameras to your smart home setup lets you keep tabs on things when you're gone (or even in another room) and can alert you when there's unexpected movement. Blink Mini cameras are usually $35 each, but right now Amazon is selling two for less than the price of one. On the same product page, you'll notice a one-camera configuration option, that's $30, so this really is a case where it's a better deal to get two. The Minis are motion-activated devices (as, in they aren't always on)and have built-in speakers and a mic so you can hear and talk to people (or pets) remotely using your phone.

Google Nest Cam

Google

Again, if you prefer talking to Google's Assistant over Amazon's Alexa, the Google Nest Cam battery is your best bet for indoor and outdoor monitoring. While they usually go for $180, Black Friday takes $60 off that price to make them $120 each. Unlike the wired and indoor-only Blink Minis above, these run on batteries and are rated to handle the weather outside, but they're quite a bit more expensive. They send high def 1080p video to your phone or smart display when they're triggered and are smart enough to tell the difference between pets, cars and people. 

Google Nest Doorbell

Google

To keep tabs on package deliveries and other interesting goings on at your front door, a video doorbell works great. Again, if you're invested in Google's ecosystem, you'll want Google's Nest Doorbell. The Google Nest Doorbell battery runs on a rechargeable battery and is $120 for Black Friday, after a 33 percent discount. The Google Nest Doorbell wired version uses your existing doorbell wire and is on sale for $169 against its usual $180 list price. 

Ring Video Doorbell

Ring

For an Amazon doorbell, you have two brand options, Blink and Ring. Right now the Ring Video Doorbell is 40 percent off, making it just $60. It records 1080p video after being triggered and sends alerts and feeds to your phone or other display (like a Fire TV or Echo Show). You don't have to decide when you buy whether you want to wire it in or run it on the included battery, this unit is capable of both. 

Amazon Smart Plug

Amazon

A smart plug means you'll never have to come home to a dark room again. The Amazon Smart Plug is just $13 right now, instead of its usual $25. You can speak commands to Alexa to control whatever you plug in, like lamps, fans and holiday lights. Or you can also set up routines and schedules from within the Alexa app. It can even be used to start your coffee maker in the morning (as long as it has a mechanical switch), just remember to add your beans and water the night before. 

Philips Hue smartbulbs

Philips

Smart bulbs not only offer control using your phone, a voice assistant, or a smart display, many also come in a near-limitless number of colors. The Philips Hue smart bulb supply 16 million color options so so you can dial in whatever ambiance you're in the mood for. These are usually $135 for the three-pack, but are down to $90 for the set right now. They're compatible with both Alexa and the Google Assistant, and are rated to last over 20 years. 

Amazon Smart Thermostat

Amazon

Smart thermostats can help you save energy by making sure you're not overly heating or cooling an empty house. The Amazon Smart Thermostat is $18 off for Black Friday, bringing the price down to $42. You can use the Alexa app to control the thermostat, sets schedules and more, but keep in mind the thermostat itself doesn't have a mic, so it can't take voice commands directly. 

Eero Pro 6E WiFi mesh router

Amazon

To handle all of this smart home connectivity, you might be in the market for an upgraded WiFi router. The Eero Pro 6E supports WiFi 6E, which lets compatible devices access the newly opened up 6 GHz wireless band. it's $120 off its usual $300 sticker price, which makes this a good time to upgrade to the latest and fastest WiFi iteration. One Eero router covers up to 2,000 square feet and can support more than 100 connected devices. 

Your Cyber Week Shopping Guide: Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter. Also, shop the top Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals on Yahoo Life. Learn about Black Friday trends on In the Know, and our car experts at Autoblog are covering must-shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday auto deals.

This may be your best chance to get Apple's latest 'starter' tablet on sale this holiday season. Amazon is offering the new 64GB WiFi iPad for $426, or $23 below the official price. This is the first time we've seen a bargain for the device. You'll see similar five percent discounts for 256GB and cellular models, and you don't have to be picky about colors.

The 2022 iPad is a mostly welcome redesign. Apple has finally ditched the thick bezels of past base models, and has replaced the Lightning port with USB-C. The Smart Connector allows for improved peripherals like the Magic Keyboard Folio, and the front-facing camera is finally in the right place for typical landscape-oriented video chats. Toss in a still-speedy A14 chip and healthy battery life and this is a fine tablet for everyday use. It might even replace a laptop in the right circumstances.

There are some foibles. The screen isn't as sophisticated as that of the iPad Air, and the A14 rules out iPadOS 16's Stage Manager. And you'll want to spring for the Air if you're the artistic sort — the new entry model only supports Apple's first-generation Pencil (not included), and you'll have to attach an adapter just to pair and charge the stylus. At a reduced price, though, the new iPad is both a better value for less demanding tasks and easier to justify versus last year's cheaper variant.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter.

Tesla is having a particularly lousy week. The Wall Street Journalreports the EV manufacturer has recalled a total of 80,561 cars in China over software and seat belt problems. Battery management glitches affecting 67,698 Model S and Model X vehicles could lead to unexpected stops, according to the country's State Administration for Market Regulation, while 12,863 Model 3 sedans have seat belt issues.

As with some recalls, Tesla is fixing the battery software with over-the-air updates. It's not known if the flaws have resulted in any collisions or injuries, or are directly related to past faults. In February, Tesla recalled 817,143 cars across its lineup over buggy seat belt chimes.

This is the third recall in one week for Elon Musk's outfit. Tesla recalled nearly 30,000 Model X SUVs over troublesome airbag behavior, and 321,000 Model 3 and Model Y EVs due to software-related rear light anomalies. This comes alongside numerous recalls throughout the rest of 2022, including over 1 million vehicles with pinching windows and a Full Self Driving beta oversight that let cars roll through stop signs. While Tesla has quickly released patches for software-linked bugs, the sheer number of recalls has clearly been a hassle for owners.

Recalls like these may be hurting Tesla's reputation. Consumer Reports recently placed Tesla near the bottom of its annual reliability survey. Although that's a slight improvement and reflective of teething troubles for EVs as a whole, it doesn't help Tesla's attempts to court newcomers used to a certain level of quality from conventional cars.

It's Black Friday, and that means lots of laptops have gone on sale with little indication as to which are actually worth your time. As always, we recommend shopping directly at retailers like Microsoft, Samsung, Dell and others if you want to spec out your next machine. But if you're willing to get a pre-configured device, there are plenty of great laptop deals to be had for Black Friday. To help you sort through the noise, we've highlighted a few deals on laptops we like at prices that are genuinely lower than normal. Here are the best Black Friday laptop deals we've been able to find thus far.

Apple MacBook Air M2

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Apple's latest and greatest MacBook Air is back down to $1,049 at multiple retailers, which matches the lowest price we've tracked. This is $150 off Apple's MSRP and about $55 off the notebook's typical going rate online in recent months. 

The M2 MacBook Air is the top pick in our guide to the best laptops, and we gave it a review score of 96 earlier this year due to its revamped design, powerful M2 chip, vibrant 13.6-inch display and long battery life, among other perks. Note that the entry-level configuration here does have slower storage performance than the higher-priced SKUs, but if you aren't looking to do more involved work like editing high-resolution media, that shouldn't be a significant hindrance in day-to-day use.

Apple MacBook Air M1

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

If you want a more affordable way into macOS, the 2020 MacBook Air with Apple's M1 SoC is on sale for $799 at Amazon and Best Buy. We've seen this deal a handful of times in recent months, but it still ties the best price we've seen and comes in about $90 below this entry-level config's usual going rate. 

We gave the M1 Air a review score of 94 back in 2020. To be clear, paying up for the M2 model will get you thinner bezels, fuller speakers, a better webcam, faster charging and slightly faster raw performance. But the M1 chip is still far from slow for everyday tasks, and the older design still gets you a comfortable keyboard and trackpad, an accurate display and more than enough battery to last a full work day. At this price, it remains an excellent value.

Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook

Lenovo

Lenovo's IdeaPad Flex 5i Chromebook is on sale for $270 at Amazon, which is a new all-time low and roughly $120 below this 13.3-inch notebook's typical street price in recent months. We recently named the Flex 5i the top pick in our guide to the best Chromebooks. The Core i3-1115G4 processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB SSD included in this config offers more than enough performance for Chrome OS, and in general the device's backlit keyboard, bright 1080p touchscreen, mix of USB-C and USB-A ports and eight-hour battery life impress for the price. 

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Microsoft's Surface Laptop Go 2 is back down to $600 for a configuration with a Core i5-1135G7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. That's $100 off Microsoft's MSRP, about $50 off the usual street price and tied for the best price we've tracked. We gave this 12.4-inch notebook a review score of 86 earlier this year, and we've since included it in our guide to the best cheap Windows laptops. You can get a sharper display and more performance from other laptops in this price range, and the lack of keyboard backlighting is a bummer, but the lightweight build has a more premium feel than most notebooks in this price range, and the notebook itself is still fast and long-lasting for casual work on the go. 

Razer Blade 14

A configuration of Razer's Blade 14 with an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX chip, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and an RTX 3080 GPU is currently down to $2,000 at Amazon. That's about $300 off its typical street price and tied for the best price we've tracked. We gave the Blade 14 a review score of 84 last year, and we've recommended the similar Blade 15 in recent buying guides and gift guides. It can run a bit hot, and you can still get similarly powerful gaming laptops for less, but it still puts enough power to play demanding games at higher settings in a slim and slick-feeling design that weighs less than four pounds.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 5

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The 8GB RAM/512GB SSD version of Microsoft's 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 5 is now on sale for $1,000, which is $300 off Microsoft's MSRP and tied for the best price we've seen. We gave this one a review score of 83 earlier this year, praising its elegant chassis, bright 3:2 display, Thunderbolt 4 port and competent performance. The 720p webcam is passable at best, and there are definitely more performant laptops for the money, but if you're partial to the Surface design language, it's still a step up from the Surface Laptop Go 2 above. A configuration with 256GB of storage was briefly available for $700 earlier this week, but that's now priced at $900.

HP Spectre x360 13.5-inch

HP

A variant of HP's 13.5-inch Spectre x360 with a Core i5-1235U processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is currently available for $862 at HP's online store, which is about $300 off its usual going rate and one of the better prices we've tracked. Just note that you'll have to manually configure the RAM and SSD and use the coupon code STOCKING5 before checkout. This isn't a formal pick of ours in any guides, but it's a fine 2-in-1 option with a thin and light design, comfortable keyboard and trackpad and strong battery life. It does come with a good chunk of bloatware, though, and the 1920x1280 IPS display in this config could stand to be sharper and brighter.

Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro

A configuration of Samsung's 13.3-inch Galaxy Book 2 Pro with a Core i5-1240P CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD is down to $750, which is another all-time low and $200 off the device's typical street price. While not a top pick of ours, this is a decent alternative if you're looking for a vibrant OLED panel and a particularly thin and light design. Its keyboard isn't the best, though, and the display's 16:9 aspect ratio isn't as convenient for work and web browsing as a 3:2 panel. If you want a similar model in a 2-in-1 design, Samsung's Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 is available for the same price with twice the RAM and storage — though that model has a lower-quality 720p webcam.

Your Cyber Week Shopping Guide: Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter. Also, shop the top Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals on Yahoo Life. Learn about Black Friday trends on In the Know, and our car experts at Autoblog are covering must-shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday auto deals.

The giant TVs and high-end laptops might get the lion's share of attention on Black Friday, but the smaller tech devices are worth checking out too. We put the cap at $50 and came up with over 20 deals on inexpensive gadgets along with a few peripherals and accessories you'll need for this year's higher-end buys. Some gadgets are going for all-time lows, like the new Echo Dot. Others, like the Google Nest Mini and the Roku Streaming Stick 4K are half off their usual price. We added a few storage cards that are seeing big price cuts too, since you can never have too many of those. For less than $50, there's a lot of great tech out there, and here are the best Black Friday deals we could find.    

Amazon Echo Dot 

Amazon

When Amazon's Echo Dot first unveiled its new spherical shape in 2020, we tried it out and thought it was a well-rounded speaker in all senses of the word, awarding it a score of 88. Right now it 50 percent off, putting Amazon's smallest smart speaker down to just $25, which is the lowest it's gone since its release. The speaker has the full power of Alexa behind it, letting you control your music, lights, thermostats and more with your voice. The Echo Dot even acts as a WiFi extender, adding up to 1,000 square feet of extra coverage, if you use the brand's Eero WiFi routers. 

Google Nest Mini

If you prefer dealing with the Google Assistant over Alexa, the Google Nest Mini is a good way to go. Right now the smart speakers are just $20 each, which is nearly 60 percent off the usual $49 price tag. Like the Echo Dot, the Nest Mini is a small, round and unobtrusive device that pumps out music and podcasts on demand from a slew of apps (Apple Music, YouTube Music and Spotify among them). You can use it to control other members of your smart home domain, like your Chromecast TV or your Nest Thermostat, and it does a good job pairing up with third party smart home devices too, such as lightbulbs and alarms. 

SanDisk 256GB Ultra microSD

Usually $49, Black Friday brings the price of a SanDisk 256GB Ultra microSD down to just $22, which is a steep 55 percent off and the lowest we've ever seen it. If you need a little more storage for your photos, videos and files and more, this gives you room for hours of full HD video and transfer speeds of up to 120MBps.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K 

Amazon

To turn just about any screen with an HDMI port into a smart TV, you have options. One of them is Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K, which is half price for Black Friday. For just $25, the dongle will stream 4K images to your 4K TV or monitor, while the remote lets you ask for Alexa's help in finding what to watch. The Fire TV interface is straightforward and is compatible with every streaming service out there. 

Amazon Fire TV Stick Max

Amazon

If you've got a 4K screen and you've already upgraded to WiFi 6, you'll likely want the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. Its down to $35 from its usual $55 price tag, which matches its price during Prime Day in October. In addition to delivering super high def images, it's also designed to work with the latest WiFi network protocol. If you're getting it as a gift and aren't sure if your giftee has WiFi 6, it'll still work with earlier versions as well. It does everything the other Fire TV sticks do, including turning your TV into a screen for displaying feeds from other Alexa devices like doorbells and cameras.  

Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite

Amazon

For anyone who doesn't need 4K resolution or WiFi 6 support, the Fire TV Stick Lite is a notably cheap way to convert a screen into a smart TV. It's just $15 for Black Friday, down from its usual $30. Just keep in mind, while the bargain version of the Fire TV Stick does offer Alexa's voice assistance, it can't control the power or volume functions for your set. If you plan on using your TV's original remote, then that limitation probably isn't a concern.  

Blink Video Doorbell

Amazon

Amazon acquired the home monitoring camera company Blink back in 2017 and added its first doorbell just last year. The Blink Video Doorbell is the least expensive doorbell in Amazon's lineup, and right now is down to $35 from its usual price of $50. You can use it wired to your existing doorbell wiring or run the unit on two AA batteries. Your first set of batteries is included and can last up to two years. The unit wakes up with a doorbell press or when it detects motion, enabling two-way talk. Wiring the unit allows it to activate your built-in doorbell chime. On batteries, you'll get alerts when someone rings via the Blink app.  

Amazon Fire 7 tablet

Amazon

Already among the cheapest tablets on the market, the Amazon Fire 7 tablet is down to $40 with a 33 percent discount off of its $50 MSRP. While it's not going to handle intense multitasking or become your go-to productivity slab, it'll handle casual couch surfing, e-books and streaming your shows. This is the 2022 version of the 7-inch screen, which improves the battery life over the previous model, giving you up to 10 hours of use on a charge. 

Roku Streaming Stick 4K

Roku

Right now the Roku Streaming Stick 4K is half price. At just $25, it matches the price of Amazon's 4K stick, and it's our current favorite streaming device. With the Roku stick, voice control is handled by your choice of Siri, the Google Assistant or Alexa, and the Roku interface is straightforward with the widest selection of streaming options. We're also fond of the Roku app, which allows for private listening, which means you can watch a show on the big screen, but have the audio come through your smartphone-connected headphones. The universal search function is also accurate and refreshingly impartial, not prioritizing any one streaming service when you search for shows and movies. 

Amazon Echo Show 5

Amazon

Imagine your bedside alarm clock and a smart display combined forces. That's the idea behind Amazon's Echo Show 5. It usually goes for $85, but right now it's been cut by a substantial 59 percent to make it just $35. As the smallest of Amazon's smart displays, it'll fit nicely into small spaces, like small kitchens or a bedside table. And if you're concerned with the potential creep factor of bringing a camera into the bedroom, there's a physical camera shutter built-in. We gave the Echo Show 5 a score of 85 in our review, impressed with the quality of sound for its compact size. 

Blink Mini security camera

Amazon

The Blink Mini security cameras usually retail for $35 each, but the Black Friday sale brings the price of two cameras down to $30. It's a great time to snag one of these sleek in-home cams for every corner of the house, especially if you're planning on adding an Echo Show (like the one above) to your smart home landscape. The Blink cameras plug in so you never have to swap the batteries, they offer night vision capabilities and two-way audio. 

Anker 511 power bank

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

Having the ability to recharge a dead phone when you're far from an outlet feels priceless, but Black Friday puts that price at $25 for Anker's 511 Power Bank. The compact rectangular prism shape has a retractable plug and short strap to make it easy to store and retrieve from a pack. It's a 5,000 milliampere hour battery, which should give most modern smartphones one extra charge. Note that it doesn't come with a cable. You'll need to supply one with two USB-C connectors or a USB-C-to-lightning cable, depending on the model of your phone. Also, this price on Amazon is only for Prime members, but it's too great a deal not to mention. 

Anker 511 charger

Anker

Not all chargers are created equal. Since Apple stopped shipping chargers with their phones, some people learn this when they notice their phones charging unusually slow with lower-power plug. The Anker 511 charger is a 20-watt charger that can deliver full-speed charging to a smartphone and are specifically designed to work with Apple devices. Right now it's on sale for just $13. Anker's tests showed late-model iPhones going from zero to 50 percent in 25 minutes. It's got a USB-C port, for which you'll need to supply your own charging cable.  

Logitech G435 gaming headset

Logitech

Logitech's G435 gaming headset typically goes for $80, but Black Friday brings it below the $50 threshold at $49.88. They connect via Bluetooth or with the USB-A dongle for a lower-latency wireless connection. The built-in mics allow for in-game chat and post-game Discord discussions. They'll pair up with a PC and both PlayStation 4 and 5 using the wireless dongle, or via Bluetooth with PC, Mac, and Nintendo Switch. You can pair them with your phone too, but keep in mind these don't have active noise cancellation. 

Jabra Elite 3 earbuds

Billy Steele/Engadget

We were impressed with the Jabra Elite 3 earbuds at their list $80 list price, giving them an 88 in our review. Now that they've just dipped below $50, it's a good day to get a pair. We called them the "new standard for affordable wireless earbuds" because they offer detailed and balanced sound with a booming low end. We got right around the estimated seven-hour battery life and liked Jabra's comfortable new design for the Elite 3 buds. We think they're an incredible value for the price, especially right now.    

Chromecast with Google TV

Google

Like the Fire TV and Roku sticks above, the Chromecast with Google TV HD turns a "dumb" TV into a smart one, and right now it's just $20 for Black Friday. When the latest HD model came out this October, we tested it out and liked the straightforward setup and easy interface. Unlike the Fire TV Lite, the Chromecast remote can be programmed to handle TV functions like volume and power. If you've got a 4K TV, the Chromecast with Google TV 4K dongle is on sale for $40, down from $50. We reviewed it when it first came out and gave it a score of 86, particularly impressed with the Google Assistant integration. 

JBL Clip 4

JBL

Usually retailing for $80, the JBL Clip 4 is just $45 right now. The Clip 4 is a portable Bluetooth speaker that can handle life away from the relative safety of home. It's rated IP67, which means it's dust-tight and can handle full, but temporary, submersion in water. Delivering 10 hours of playtime on a charge, there's even a carabiner to clip it to whatever's at hand for outdoor listening. 

Amazon Smart Thermostat

Amazon

Amazon continues to expand their smart home offerings, anchored by Alexa's increasingly sophisticated AI. The Amazon Smart Thermostat is already one of the more affordable smart thermostats out there with a usual list price of $60. Right now it's $42 for Black Friday. This model doesn't come with a C-wire adapter, so you'll want to check the pop-up compatibility window on the product page to make sure your system will work with the device. If it does, you'll get an app-controlled thermostat that can potentially save on energy usage. 

Razer Kishi mobile controller

Razer

Razer's Kishi mobile controller turns your smartphone into a Switch-like gaming device. It's usually $100, but Black Friday is knocking 55 percent off the list price, bringing the sticker to $41.50 for the Android version and $45 for the iPhone version. It connects via your phone's charging port, as opposed to via Bluetooth, so there's no wireless latency. Note that this is the original version of the device, not the recently released V2. That version isn't budging from its $99 MSRP, even for Black Friday.  

Razer Orochi gaming mouse

Razer

The Razer Orochi gaming mouse has an MSRP of $70, but Black Friday is knocking that down by half. This mobile mouse made the cut in our search for the ultimate productivity mouse. Even though we called it the most "forgettable-looking option," we were impressed by how lightweight and capable it is. It connects via Bluetooth or wireless dongle and runs on ether an AA or AAA battery, with up to 950 hours on a battery. 

Tile Pro tracker

Tile

The Tile Pro tracker usually goes for $35, but is down to $28 right now. The BlueTooth tracker has a convenient lanyard hole making it ideal for a set of keys, but you can also attach it to a pack or luggage. Regardless of what item you attach it to, the Tile app makes sure that item never goes missing. Using Bluetooth when it's within 400 feet, you can make the Tile Pro ring to find things that way. When an item is farther away, the Tile app uses the Tile network to locate the item by anonymously pinging the phones of other Tile users. 

Kasa smart video doorbell 

Kasa

If you want a doorbell that works with either Alexa or the Google Assistant, the Kasa Smart Video Doorbell is on sale for just $42, down from its usual $60. In addition to offering app-controllable two-way audio and 1296p video from the 3MP camera, the Kasa doorbell comes with a plug-in chime to let you know when someone rings your bell. This model doesn't have a battery option, so it'll only work by hooking up to your existing doorbell wire. 

Samsung EVO Select MicroSD card

Samsung

This Samsung microSD card is also on sale, with a 38 percent discount on the 256GB size bringing it down to just $25. It offers transfer speeds of up to 130MBps and even includes a SD adapter so you can use it with more of your devices. 

Your Cyber Week Shopping Guide: Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter. Also, shop the top Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals on Yahoo Life. Learn about Black Friday trends on In the Know, and our car experts at Autoblog are covering must-shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday auto deals.

Black Friday is great time to buy a new pair of earbuds, either for yourself or someone on your gift list. A number of Beats headphones are on sale for the biggest shopping day of the year, key among them being the Beats Fit Pro for $160. That's not quite a record-low price, but it's pretty close and representative of a 20 percent discount. If you're set on getting a pair at the best price possible, the Beats Studio Buds are back on sale for a record-low price of $90.

The Beats Fit Pro earned a spot in our best wireless earbuds guide thanks to their comfortable fit, IPX4 rating and solid sound quality. Their IP-rating makes them a good pair for workouts, plus their "fit wing" tip should help them stay in place even during tough HIIT sessions. We also like that they have physical buttons for onboard controls, making it pretty easy to adjust the volume, skip tracks and more.

Sound quality is pretty good on these earbuds — it's balanced and powerful, with the punchy bass you'd expect to get out of Beats buds. They also support Apple's spatial audio, and the have the H1 chip inside which gives you many of the conveniences of AirPods. They'll pair and switch seamlessly with other Apple devices, plus you'll get hands-free Siri access and Find My location features, too. But they're not solely for iPhones — there's plenty of Android support here, making them a good buy for lots of people.

As for the Beats Studio Buds, we gave them a score of 84 for their balanced sound, tiny yet comfortable design and quick-pairing features for iOS and Android devices. We'd ultimately recommend the Beats Fit Pro to most people because they're newer and have even better sound and features than the Studio Buds, but the latter are a good pick if you only have $100 or less to spend on a new pair of buds.

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Whether you have a ton of games saved to your console, store thousands of photos on your tablet or have years worth of documents saved to your PC, having extra storage on hand can only help you in the future. Thankfully, we typically see a bunch of great deals on SSDs, microSD cards and other storage gadgets for Black Friday, and this year is no different. Items from Samsung, Crucial and SanDisk have been discounted, many to record-low prices, making it a great time to stock up for yourself or for loved ones who have been making the most of their last few gigabytes. Here are the best storage deals we found for Black Friday 2022.

SanDisk Ultra microSD card

SanDisk

SanDisk's 256GB Ultra microSD card is down to a record low of $22 for Black Friday. This is one of the best deals on a single microSD card for the day, as it represents a 55-percent discount off the regular price. This card can be used in many different devices, including the Nintendo Switch, and it supports up to 120MB/s transfer speeds.

Crucial MX500

Crucial

Crucial's MX500 internal drive is down to a new low of $68 for the 1TB version, and you can find discounts on the other configurations, too. We've long recommended this drive for its standard form factor, its sequential reads/write speeds of up to 560/510 MB/s and its AES 256-bit hardware encryption. It also has integrated power loss immunity, which saves all of your work even when there's a power outage.

Samsung T7 Shield

Samsung

The rugged Samsung T7 Shield portable SSD in 1TB is on sale for $100 for Black Friday, which matches its record-low price. We've been fans of the T7 lineup for quite some time, and the latest edition has a rubberized exterior that helps protect it from drops from almost 10 feet high. It's also IP65 water- and dust-resistant, while retaining that palm-sized, pocket-friendly design we've come to expect from the series. It supports 1,050/1,000 MB/s read/write speeds and it has Dynamic Thermal Guard to keep performance steady even when you're pushing the drive to its limits.

Samsung 980 Pro

Samsung

If you need a solid drive for your new PS5, Samsung's 980 Pro is a good choice. The 1TB version with an included heatsink is on sale for only $120 for Black Friday, and since it comes with that accessory, it'll be ready to go for your console out of the box. We like its read speeds of 7,000MB/s, its smart thermal control and the fact that you can maintain and customize it using Samsung's Magician software.

Samsung EVO Select microSD card

Samsung

Samsung's EVO Select microSD card in 256GB is down to $25 for Black Friday. While not a record-low price, it's close to it and a 38-percent discount. It supports transfer speeds of up to 130MB/s and it comes with a full-sized adapter, allowing you to use it with even more gadgets. It would make a good addition to your DSLR camera, Nintendo Switch or tablet.

Crucial P5 Plus

Crucial

Crucial's budget-friendly P5 Plus internal drive is down to a record low of $94. Its standard price makes it pretty affordable all the time, but it's a particularly attractive option when on sale like this. Just remember that it doesn't come with a heatsink by default, so you'll have to provide one yourself if you plan on using it with the PS5.

Crucial X8

Crucial

Crucial's X8 portable drive in 2TB is on sale for $140, which is a record-low price. We like this drive for its compact yet durable design that's drop-, shock- and vibration-resistant, plus its read speeds of up to 1,050MB/s. It also comes with a USB-C to A and a USB-C to C cable, so you can use it with almost any device.

SanDisk Extreme

SanDisk / Weinberg-Clark Photography

SanDisk's 2TB Extreme portable SSD has dropped to $145 for Black Friday, which is the cheapest we've seen it. You're getting up to 1,050MB/s read and up to 1,000MB/s write speeds with this pocket-friendly drive, plus a design that's IP55 water and dust resistant, plus able to withstand drops from up to two meters. We also like that it has a carabiner loop built in so you can attach it to your bag before you head out.

Lexar Play microSD card

Lexar

Lexar's Play microSD card is on sale for only $15 right now. That'll get you the 128GB model, but this card goes up to a whopping 1TB of storage, and that version is down to $136 for Black Friday. This card supports 150MB/s read speeds and comes with five years of limited product support.

PNY Premier-X Class 10 microSD card (2 pack)

PNY

If you need more than one card at a good price, PNY has a two-pack of 128GB microSD cards for only $23. These cards have read speeds up to 100MB/s and they're pretty durable as they are magnet-, shock-, temperature- and waterproof.

Your Cyber Week Shopping Guide: Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter. Also, shop the top Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals on Yahoo Life. Learn about Black Friday trends on In the Know, and our car experts at Autoblog are covering must-shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday auto deals.

Anker has put a quite a lengthy list of products on sale at Amazon for Black Friday, and if you have a lot of devices, here's your chance to grab a bunch of charging accessories at discounted prices. The Anker 735 65W GaNPrime charger, for instance, is currently selling for $42 or 30 percent off its retail price of $60. It has two USB-C and one USB-A port, and being a GaN charger means it's more powerful and can charge faster than its traditional counterparts despite being smaller in size. The Anker 735 works with mobile devices, such as the latest iPhones and the Samsung Galaxy phones, as well as laptops like the 2020 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models. 

The Anker 521 Nano Pro charger is also on sale for $28.79 or 20 percent less than its regular price. It's a 40W charger that comes with two USB-C ports and can be used with mobile devices, tablets and laptops like the MacBook Air. If you're looking for a portable charger for your iPhone, though, you'll probably want to spend your money on the Anker 622 Magnetic Battery. The 5,000 mAh wireless power bank is a collaboration between Anker and PopSockets, which means it comes with a collapsible grip that can double as a stand. It's currently on sale for $40 or 43 percent less than retail. 

Need a lot more power than what the 622 Magnetic Battery can provide? The Anker PowerCore 24K is currently available for $100, as well, which is $50 less than its typical price. It has a 24,000 mAh capacity, a 140W output and has one USB-A and two USB-C ports for your phones, tablets and laptops. 

In case what you need is a power strip for travel or to keep your home office cables organized, you can also get Anker's 727 Charging Station. It has two AC outlets, two USB-A ports and two USB-C ports, so you can keep six devices plugged in simultaneously. The power strip has a maximum output of 100W and is only about the size of an iPhone Pro Max model. 

For your wireless charging needs, there's the Anker PowerWave Go 3-in-1 charging station, which is currently selling for $126 or $54 less than its retail price. The package comes with a wireless charging base for your phone, an Apple Watch charging module and a 10,000 mAh detachable wireless charger that you can carry around with you. It also includes a 45W Anker Nano II power adapter and a 5-foot USB-C to USB-C cable. 

Anker's Power Strip Surge Protector with 12 outlets, two USB-A and one USB-C port is also on sale if you're looking for something simpler and straightforward. You can get it for $26 or $10 less than retail. And if you're just looking to stock up on cables, the Anker Powerline+ II Lightning Cables are also selling for $33.59 for a three-pack bundle. Each pack comes with a three-foot, a six-foot and a 10-foot cable for all Apple devices that have a lightning port. 

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Black Friday is typically a great time of year to pick up a new set of headphones, and this year is no exception. Many pairs we like, including several of the top picks in our guides to the best wireless headphones and best true wireless earbuds, are down to their lowest prices to date. Below we've rounded up the best Black Friday headphone deals we could find thus far, covering models from Apple, Sony, Bose, Sennheiser, Anker and more. We have a few discounts on speakers we like, too. We'll be sure to add more deals of note if they arise over the course of the day.

Apple AirPods Pro

Billy Steele/Engadget

The latest AirPods Pro are down to $200 at multiple retailers, which is an all-time low. This is $50 off Apple's MSRP and roughly $40 off the noise-cancelling earphones' street price since launching in September. We gave the AirPods Pro a review score of 88 and currently list them as the "best for iOS" pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds. Their battery life is just average, but their sound quality and active noise cancellation (ANC) are among the better options on the market, their transparency mode is superb and, per usual, they're particularly convenient to use with other Apple devices.

Apple AirPods

Billy Steele/Engadget

The second-generation version of Apple's standard AirPods are available for $79, while the third-gen model is down to $140. Both of those match the lowest prices we've seen and sit roughly $25 below the earbuds' respective street prices over the last few months. We gave the third-gen AirPods a review score of 88 last year and the second-gen pair a score of 84 back in 2019. 

You'd consider one of these two if you're an iPhone owner who wants the easy pairing and tight iOS integration of any Apple headphone, but prefer an unsealed design that doesn't completely block out external noise. The third-gen AirPods in particular are one of the better-sounding unsealed wireless earbuds you can buy. Their designs still won't fit everyone, though, and there's little reason to consider either pair if you use Android.

Sony WH-1000XM5

Billy Steele/Engadget

Sony's top-of-the-line WH-1000XM5 headphones are down to $348 this Black Friday, which is $50 off their normal going rate. While that's not a massive discount, it does match the lowest price we've tracked. The XM5s are the top pick in our guide to the best wireless headphones. We gave them a review score of 95 earlier this year, praising their light and comfortable fit, powerful ANC that's particularly effective with high- and mid-range frequencies (think human voices), 30+ hours of battery life, bass-forward (but customizable) sound, improved call quality and plethora of useful bonus features. 

Sony WH-1000XM4

Sony's predecessor to the XM5s, the WH-1000XM4, are also on sale at $228, which matches their all-time low and comes in about $100 off their typical street price. We still prefer the XM5 for those who can afford it, as the XM4 feels a bit bulkier on the head, has worse mic performance and doesn't sound as good out of the box (though it's similarly customizable via Sony's app). Unlike the XM5, though, the XM4's design can fold up for easier storage. Its battery life and feature set are essentially the same, too, and though its ANC isn't as adept at negating higher-frequency noises, it's still plenty effective on the whole. The XM5 also rely on an automatic ANC adjustment system, which some may prefer to avoid. We gave the XM4 a score of 94 in 2020; if you want to save some cash, it's still a good value when it's discounted to this extent.

Bose QuietComfort 45

Billy Steele/Engadget

Bose's QuietComfort 45 headphones are available for $249, which is $20 more than their all-time low but still roughly $60 off their average street price. This is an alternative pick in our guide to the best wireless headphones: Sony's models are more customizable, last longer and perform better on the whole, but the QC 45s have a more neutral sound out of the box, still-capable ANC and a design that's about as comfortable as the WH-1000XM5 without sacrificing the ability to fold up. They also use physical buttons instead of touch controls. We gave the QuietComfort 45 a review score of 86 last year.

Sony WF-1000XM4

Billy Steele/Engadget

Sony WF-1000XM4 earphones are down to $178, which matches the lowest price we've tracked and sits about $70 below the pair's usual going rate. We gave the WF-1000XM4s a review score of 86 last year, and they are currently the top pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds. 

The strengths here are similar to those of Sony's over-ear models above: upper-tier ANC, solid sound quality that can be customized, good battery life (about 8-10 hours per charge), and useful extras like wireless charging and "Speak to Chat," which can automatically pause your music while you're speaking to somebody else. Their active noise cancellation is a step behind Bose's QuietComfort Earbuds II, but their in-ear fit and foam ear tips isolate a ton of noise naturally. The main caveat is that the earpieces are rather large, so some may find them cumbersome to wear. 

Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II

Billy Steele/Engadget

Speaking of Bose's QuietComfort Earbuds II, that set of noise-cancelling earbuds is currently on sale for $249, which is a $50 discount and a new all-time low. This is the "best noise cancellation" pick in our wireless earbuds guide, and indeed, no true wireless pair we've tested is as adept at muting the outside world. They're a bit bulky, and their lack of multipoint connectivity and wireless charging is still disappointing at this price, but if it's top-tier ANC you're after, this is the best you can do in this form factor.

Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3

Sennheiser

Sennheiser's Momentum True Wireless 3 are on sale for $200, which isn't cheap, but still $40 off the pair's usual going rate and tied for the best price we've seen. These are the wireless earphones we recommend if detailed sound quality is your chief concern — they don't have the same bundle of useful bonus features the WF-1000XM4 can provide, but their adaptive ANC is still effective, their eight-ish hours of battery life is still solid and their default sound profile should greatly satisfy if you enjoy a boosted low-end. 

Sony LinkBuds S

Sony

Sony's LinkBuds S earphones are on sale for $128, which is about $50 below their average street price and matches their all-time low. This pair is an honorable mention in our guide to the best wireless earbuds. The WF-1000XM4 offer a more detailed sound, better noise isolation, a couple hours of extra battery life and wireless charging, but the LinkBuds S still perform well for this deal price, and its lighter, more compact design is comfier to wear over time. It recently gained the ability to connect to multiple devices at once, too, something the XM4s are also expected to receive in the near future.

Jabra Elite 3

Billy Steele/Engadget

Jabra's Elite 3 is on sale for $50, coming within a couple dollars of the lowest price we've tracked and undercutting the earphones' typical street price by roughly $15. We gave this pair a review score of 88 last year, and it's currently the top budget pick in our best wireless earbuds guide. The Elite 3's mildly bass-bumped sound is pleasant for the money — and now customizable after a recent update — but its lightweight, water-resistant design is impressively comfortable for any price. Battery life is solid, too, at about seven hours per charge. There's no ANC, wireless charging, auto-pausing or multipoint connectivity, but at this deal price, the Elite 3 are good enough at the fundamentals to be worth recommending for those on a budget.

This deal comes as part of a wider sale on Jabra earbuds for Black Friday. We don't recommend most of those pairs over the other picks in this roundup, but the Elite 4 Active are worth a shout at $80 — they're effectively the same as the Elite 3, but with a (just okay) ANC feature and a higher water-resistance rating (IP57 instead of IP55). We gave that pair a review score of 84 this past January.

Anker Soundcore Life Q30

Anker's Soundcore Life Q30 is back down to $60 for Amazon Prime members, which is $10 more than the all-time low but still $20 or so off the pair's usual going rate. At this price, but the Q30's cushy fit, 40+ hours of battery life and competent ANC performance make it an excellent value. This is still a budget set of headphones, so call quality isn't great, the build is flimsier than more expensive options and the default sound profile goes very hard on the bass by default. Nevertheless, good noise-cancellers priced under $100 are rare, and this is one of them.

Anker Soundcore Space A40

Jeff Dunn/Engadget

Likewise, Anker's Soundcore Space A40 represents great value at its current deal price of $80, which is a $20 discount and a new all-time low. This is a compact and comfortable pair of true wireless earphones that delivers solid ANC, multi-device pairing and a strong 10 or so hours of battery life per charge. The default sound profile could use a bit more treble presence — though an EQ tool in Anker's app can help — and the noise isolation isn't quite as effective as our more premium picks above. The included touch controls are somewhat limited, too. But if you can't spend more than $100, the A40s are a great buy.

Sennheiser Momentum 4

Another honorable mention in our guide to the best wireless headphones, Sennheiser's Momentum 4 is down to $293, which is their all-time low and about $50 off their recent street price. We gave this pair a review score of 82 this past August: Though its ANC and feature set can't match up to Sony's WH-1000XM5, it can get a stellar 60 or so hours of battery life per charge, and its sound quality is better out of the box.

Audio-Technica ATH-M20xBT

Audio-Technica

Audio-Technica's ATH-M20xBT are available for $59 this Black Friday, which is a $20 discount and the lowest price we've tracked. This is the budget pick in our best wireless headphones guide. Clunky name aside, they offer a relatively detailed and accurate sound with impressive bass depth for the money. Multipoint connectivity and a rated 60 hours of battery life help, too. The build quality is somewhat flimsy, and the Soundcore Life Q30 are a better buy if you need ANC, but if you're on a budget and care more about sound quality in your wireless headphones, the M20xBT is worth a look.

Beats Fit Pro

The Beats Fit Pro are down to $160, which beats (heh) the pair's usual going rate by $30 and is only $7 more than the lowest price we've seen. We gave the Fit Pro a review score of 87 last year, and it's now the "best for workouts" pick in our wireless earbuds guide. It carries many of the same benefits as any set of AirPods — "Find My" tracking, easy pairing and fast switching with Apple devices, hands-free Siri, etc. — in a smaller, sportier, and more secure-fitting design. Their slightly bass-boosted sound profile is great, and unlike AirPods, their feature set isn't totally limited if you use an Android phone. That said, the ANC is merely serviceable by comparison, there's no wireless charging and their case is a little chunkier. There are no built-in volume controls, either.

Beats Powerbeats Pro

The Beats Powerbeats Pro, meanwhile, are down to $150, which matches their all-time low. Typically, these earbuds retail between $180 and $200. The Powerbeats Pro launched all the way back in 2019, but if you want AirPods-style pairing and Siri control in an around-the-ear hook design, they still have value. There's no ANC, their half-sealed fit isn't ideal for audio performance and their case is comically huge, but they stay secure on the move, and their 9-11 hours of battery life is fantastic. Just note that there's no formal IP rating, so they may not be ideal for consistently intense activity.

Beats Studio Buds

Beats' Studio Buds are on sale for $90, which matches the lowest price we've tracked and is about $35-40 below their average street price. We gave these earphones a review score of 84 last year, praising their fast-pairing with Apple devices, compact and easy-to-wear design and fairly neutral sound profile. Their five-ish hours of battery life (with ANC on) is middling, though, and the included ANC and transparency modes, while fine, aren't as effective as most of the other picks above. The Soundcore Space A40s are better, but if you specifically want a more Apple-friendly pair of true wireless in-ears for less than $100, the Studio Buds aren't a bad alternative.

Google Pixel Buds Pro

Google's Pixel Buds Pro are still down to $150, which comes in about $35 below their usual street price and ties the lowest they've been. This is the "best for Android" pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds, as the Pixel Buds Pro offer AirPods-esque integration with their manufacturer's OS, particularly if you use one of Google's own Pixel phones. Their punchy sound and ANC are pleasing, too, though not superlative in the context of the wider true wireless market. The included transparency mode isn't great, either. Still, we gave the earphones a review score of 87 in July, and they're an easier sell at $150.

Samsung's Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, meanwhile, is an alternative pair we like that plays nicer with Samsung phones. If you have one of those, note that the Buds 2 Pro are down to $180, which isn't an all-time low but still $45 less than usual.

JLab Go Air Pop

Will Lipman Photography for Engadget

Normally retailing around $20, JLab's Go Air Pop wireless earphones are currently down to just $10 at Walmart. We highlighted these budget buds in our recent audio gift guide. There's no ANC, they're made of cheap plastic and their audio quality can't compete with what's available in pricier buds, but you still get on-device controls, IPX4 water resistance, eight-hour battery life and perfectly passable sound, all in a colorful design. Also, they're $10! If you need a backup set of wireless earbuds, they're hard to fault.

JBL Flip 6

Jon Turi / Engadget

JBL's Flip 6 speaker is on sale for $90 for Black Friday, which is the lowest price we've seen on it. The device earned a spot in our best Bluetooth speakers list for its overall solid sound quality, durability and volume for its size. Its cylindrical design lets you sit it lengthwise on a table, or prop it up on its end if you're pressed for space. We also like its carrying strap, which makes it easier to take this thing with you, and its raised buttons, too.

JBL Charge 5

Jon Turi / Engadget

The Charge 5 is a worth upgrade from JBL's Flip 6, and it's down to $120 for Black Friday. We've seen it drop this low before, but that doesn't change the fact that it remains an all-time low. It has bigger sound and longer battery life, plus a USB-C port with which you can charge other devices like your smartphone or tablet.

Amazon Echo Studio

Echo Studio is a bigger and louder version of the standard Echo smart speaker, built to deliver hi-res audio. It's usually $200, and rarely goes on sale, but for Black Friday, it's $45 off the list price. We gave the Studio an 88 in our review, saying Amazon had finally nailed the audio element of its smart speaker lineup. With the larger build and speaker array, it's clear Amazon is trying to compete with other smart speaker manufacturers like Sonos and Bose with this one, and it does a great job of it.

Amazon Echo

Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Amazon has so many Echo options, it's hard to keep track. This is the original Echo, the very first smart speaker that brought Alexa into our homes to handle everything from setting timers and telling jokes to controlling our smart home universe. It's usually $100, but Black Friday deals have knocked 50 percent off of it, bringing it down to only $50.

Google Nest Audio

Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Google's competition for Amazon's Echo is the Nest Audio, and it remains one of our favorite smart speakers you can get right now. For Black Friday, you can pick one up for half off or only $50. We gave it a score of 87 when it first came out for its good audio quality, attractive design, good integration with the Google Assistant and the ability to pair two together for stereo sound.

Amazon Echo Dot

Amazon

Like its name and appearance suggests, the Echo Dot is the smallest member of the Echo family, a speaker meant to unobtrusively bring Alexa's capabilities to more places in your home. Right now it's down to $25, which is 50 percent off its usual $50 price and a first-ever discount for the latest generation. Released last month, this model includes an upgraded speaker along with a temperature sensor that can pair up with your smart thermostat.

Your Cyber Week Shopping Guide: Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribing to the Engadget Deals newsletter. Also, shop the top Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals on Yahoo Life. Learn about Black Friday trends on In the Know, and our car experts at Autoblog are covering must-shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday auto deals.

Stable Diffusion, the AI that can generate images from text in an astonishingly realistic way, has been updated with a bunch of new features. However, many users aren't happy, complaining that the new software can no longer generate pictures in the styles of specific artists or generate NSFW artworks, The Verge has reported. 

Version 2 does introduce a number of new features. Key among those is a new text encoder called OpenCLIP that "greatly improves the quality of the generated images compared to earlier V1 releases," according to Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion. It also includes a new NSFW filter from LAION designed to remove adult content.

Other features include a depth-to-image diffusion model that allows one to create transformations "that look radically different from the original but still preserve the coherence and depth from an image," according to Stability AI. In other words, if you create a new version of an image, objects will still correctly appear in front of or behind other objects. Finally, a text-guided inpainting model makes it easy to switch out parts of an image, keeping a cat's face while changing out its body, for example.  

Stability AI

However, the update now makes it harder to create certain types of images like photorealistic images of celebrities, nude and pornographic output, and images that match the style of certain artists. Users have said that asking Stable Diffusion Version 2 to generate images in the style of Greg Rutkowski — an artist often copied for AI images — no longer works as it used to. "They have nerfed the model," said one Reddit user.

Stable Diffusion has been particularly popular for generating AI art because it's open source and can be built upon, while rivals like DALL-E are closed models. For example, the YouTube VFX site Corridor Crew showed off an add-on called Dreambooth that allowed them to generate images based on their own personal photos.

Stable Diffusion can copy artists like Rutkowski by training on their work, examining images and looking for patterns. Doing this is probably legal (though in a grey area), as we detailed in our explainer earlier this year. However, Stable Diffusion's license agreement bans people from using the model in a way that breaks any laws.

Despite that, Rutkowski and other artists have objected to the use. "I probably won’t be able to find my work out there because [the internet] will be flooded with AI art," Rutkowski told MIT Technology Review. "That’s concerning."