Gaming mice are different — faster, lighter, more responsive than standard mice — which means they're usually more expensive, too. Right now Amazon has five of the mice that made the cut in our productivity tests at discounts between 24 and 47 percent off. Some of the prices (like that of the Logitech G PRO X Superlight and G502 Lightspeed) are the lowest we've seen so far.
Our weekend editor Igor Bonifacic bought the Superlight for himself and uses it for both gaming and everyday computing. While he was impressed with the lightweight feel and accuracy, he also noted that it has "one of the best scroll wheels" he's ever used. Note that the mouse is not Bluetooth-compatible but uses radio frequency wireless connectivity for faster speeds. You'll need to use the included dongle, which stores in a clever magnetized compartment for travel. At $110, it's the lowest price we've seen so far and a full $50 off the usual MSRP.
Also on sale is the Viper Ultimate from Razer. In our testing, we gave it high marks for being a truly ambidextrous mouse with a light, 74-gram design that "glides across the desk, making it a pleasure to use for extended periods." It packs 70 hours of use on a charge and has eight programmable buttons to carry out in-game operations. At the usual list price of $130, it's pricey but worth it. At this sale price of $60, it's a much easier buy.
Two more gaming mice, the G502 Lightspeed from Logitech and Razer's Orochi V2 (in white and grey) are also discounted right now. The G502 comes with a bevy of gaming-focused features like removable weights and 11 customizable buttons. It's $60 off right now for an all-time-low of $90. For take-it-with-you gaming, the Orochi is a compact ultraportable with six buttons and a whopping 950-hour battery life. Snag this one for 30 percent off in the white or grey colorway.
While not a gaming mouse, Microsoft's Arc Mouse is a sleek and stylish travel pick that pops into an ergonomic arc, then packs flat when you need to take it with you. It's a Bluetooth mouse, with a trackpad area that allows for clicks as well as touch-generated scrolling. It takes two AAA batteries that'll last about six months. At 24 percent off, it's a great mobile mouse for less than $55.
If you want a more ergonomic work experience or need a mouse that's both precise and speedy for gaming, this is an ideal time for an upgrade.
When it comes to noise cancellation, few over-the-ear cans tune out the world better than Bose's QuietComfort. Right now, the $80 discount puts these premium headphones at $249, which is pretty close to their all-time-low price. The deal is part of Bose's pre-Black Friday sale, so it's likely the lowest they'll go before the holidays. While $250 is by no means a cheap for a pair of headphones, we are big fans of the QC45s. They earned an 86 when we reviewed them late last year, getting special recognition for their balanced sound quality that works nicely with virtually all music genres.
While this isn't the lowest they've ever been — they were $229 during the Prime Early Access Sale a couple of weeks ago — this remains a solid deal on one of our current top recommendations for wireless headphones. What's particularly nice is the deal applies to all four color options (black, white, navy and grey).
Like the name suggests, the QuietComfort series are designed to stay comfortable for long periods of wear, and that's exactly what we found in our tests. The long battery life (we got a little over 22 hours on a charge) also lends itself to extended wear and that's what you want in a pair of ANC headphones — think long flights, workdays in noisy offices or co-working spaces/coffee shops, or just shutting out everything around you so you can finally catch up on the dragon show.
While we weren't crazy about their aesthetics (little was done to update the look from the previous models), the QC45 packs easy on-board controls and happily pairs with more than one device at a time — iOS, Android, Mac and PC included — while delivering clear, balanced audio in headphones that feel comfortable for the long haul.
Some of the biggest deals in tech right now come courtesy of Samsung Week, a sales event running through November 1st, in which the electronics giant has discounted a wide swath of their current-model devices. We're seeing record low prices almost everywhere — as in, lower than Amazon's October Prime Day deals. Google dropped some compelling offers of their own, with a third off the Pixel 6a and 25 percent off their Pixel Buds Pro. We also found Halloween sales from JBL, XBOX and PlayStation with discounts on older models and titles. Amazon's Echo devices are also on sale, with the Echo, Echo Show 8 and Echo Show 5 all at least 40 percent off. Here are all the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
Google Pixel Buds Pro
Back in July, we named the Pixel Buds Pro Google’s best earbuds yet, giving them a score of 87 in the review. This week they hit their lowest-yet price of $150 on Amazon, that's even lower than it was for October's Prime Day and a full $50 off the MSRP.
Our senior news editor, Billy Steele, was particularly impressed with the punchy bass and solid noise cancellation, noting that the active noice cancellation (ANC) is a new feature for Google's latest buds. Our tests matched Google's claims of seven hours playback with ANC on and around 11 hours with it off. A fully charged case will more than double those times and the case can be charged wirelessly, unlike the non-pro (A-Series) model.
The controls let you access the Google Assistant, skip tracks, activate ANC, take calls and more with on-board taps and presses that are fully configurable. While they don't yet offer spatial audio, the audio still felt spacious. One reservation we noted in our review was the $20 price bump from the previous model. Now that you can save $50, it's a good time to dive in.
The Galaxy Watch 5, our current top pick for an Android smartwatch, dropped to a near-lowest price since Samsung released the wearable back in August. Both sizes are $30 off, bringing the 40mm model to $250 (Bluetooth model) and the larger 44mm to $280. Our wearables expert Cherlynn Low gave the Watch 5 a solid 85 in her review, confirming that "for Android users, this is the best smartwatch around." The heftier, outdoor-focused Pro version of the Watch 5 earned an 86 in the same review and it's currently on sale for $400 for the Bluetooth version. Both sizes of the LTE-enabled models are $70 off.
As Samsung's current flagship watch and at just a few months old, this is a rare discount for the Galaxy Watch 5. As part of Samsung Week, the discount will likely go away after November 1st. So if you're an Android user itching for the best tracking and coaching you can put on your wrist, you might want to check out the deal.
If you like the idea of having something other than a black void staring back at you when your TV is off, this is the week to go for Samsung's The Frame TV. We're seeing a discounts that go up to $1,000, depending on screen size, with the big-but-not-too-big 55-inch model at $998 (that's $500 off). The home theater-style 85-inch model is where you see the $1,000 savings, bringing the price down to $3,298.
When on, the TV delivers a vivid, quality image, and has an intuitive Tizen OS-powered smart TV experience. Even at a discount, The Frame isn't cheap, so it's best for those who care what their walls look like (or really don't vibe with black mirrors).
I have one of these myself and can attest to the realism of the effect. With an anti-reflective glass, light-adjusting output and a thin, flush-mount profile (thanks to a separate CPU) The Frame really does look like a piece of art hanging on the wall. An $8-per-month subscription is required to access the very extensive and curated Art Store, without it, there's a smaller subset of art to display, or you can use your own photos.
Samsung is also discounting their Galaxy Tab S8 to $550 for Samsung Week. That's 22 percent off and just five bucks more than the lowest-ever price. We gave high marks (85) to the mid-range Tab S8+, but like our reviews writer Sam Rutherford noted, "there are two kinds of Android tablets: Samsung's Galaxy Tab S line and everything else."
The Tab S8 is the most affordable of the Tab S8 lineup, even when it's not on sale, due to its smaller screen size (11 inches). You still get the power to treat your tablet like a PC, using Dex mode that switches from a standard Android interface to a more powerful desktop-like view. The improved Qualcomm Snapdragon chip makes the S8 speedy and responsive, and the included S Pen feels great in the hand and makes for satisfying doodle sessions and easy note taking.
The all-day battery means you won't have to stop what you're doing to find an outlet (though that capacity takes a noticeable dip with graphics-heavy tasks like streaming or gaming). With its bright display and full-sounding speakers, it's a great pick for a premium tablet — and now it's at a less-premium price.
True, it's not the latest model Pixel, that honor goes to the just-released Pixel 7, but the Pixel 6a is still a great smartphone in its own right — and honestly, it's less than six months old. If you're not one to queue up for midnight releases, you can save a hefty $150, snagging a great phone for $299.
Our hands-on review honored it with a score of 89, with our deputy reviews editor calling it "easily one of the best phones for the money." Now that you'll be handing over less money, the 6a is looking even better.
While the Pixel 6a is a mid-range smartphone, we gave it high marks for its impressive 12-megapixel cameras, vivid OLED screen with tough Gorilla Glass 3 protecting the screen and a whopping battery — delivering 19+ hours in our tests, crushing Apple's iPhone SE budget model. There's no wireless charging and the refresh rate isn't as fast as possible at just 60Hz, but for under $300 it's an impressive entry.
Depending on which AI assistant you prefer, now may be a good time to get a couple more Alexas managing your space, with steep discounts on three different Echos. At half-price, Amazon's fourth-generation Echo smart speaker drops below the discount offered for October's Prime Day, down to just $50.
Upon its debut, we reviewed the fourth-generation Echo and gave it an 89, praising the surprisingly formidable sound coming out of a relatively diminutive unit. We found that two speakers delivered a better listening experience than just one — and now that the $100 price point has been halved, getting two is an easier move. The speaker puts Alexa front and center and its abilities continue to improve and adapt to what users want in an AI, though the assistant is far from perfect, sometimes requiring a few goes to find the music tracks asked for in our tests.
If you prefer a display on your smart hub, the current-model Echo Show 8 is selling for $70, which is the same price it went for during Prime. The smaller, nightstand-friendly Echo Show 5 is nearly 60 percent off at $35. And if you want to get two Show 5s, use the code SHOW52PK after adding two to your cart and pay just $60 for the pair at checkout. We reviewed both units at once last year when they came out and gave the 8 an 87 and gave the 5 an 85.
We like it when a discount applies to every colorway of a product, which is the case with this deal on Beats Studio Buds. The newer Ocean blue, moon grey are 40 percent off at Amazon, right alongside red, white, and black. The discount puts them at $90, a new low that beats their October Prime Day price. When the Studio Buds came out last year, our own Billy Steele gave them a score of 84, particularly noting their balanced sound, unobtrusive size and in-ear comfort.
They'll give you eight hours of listening time on their own and a total of 24 hours with a fully (non-wirelessly) charged case. They deliver reliable active noice cancellation and are rated to withstand a sweaty workout. Best of all, they're OS agnostic, pairing as happily with your iPhone as with your Android device. We think these buds give premium earbuds a run for their money at the $150 list price — at 40 percent off, they're really pulling their weight.
We called the Jabra Elite 3 buds "the new standard for affordable wireless earbuds" in our review last year and right now they're back down to $50 — that's just $3 more than their lowest ever and an impressive $30 discount off the MSRP. While they're not going to compete with premium offerings, say from Bose or Sennheiser they're an impressive set of budget buds.
They'll pair with iOS or Android devices and have a compact design that's comfortable in the ear. Their IP55 water resistance is perfect for working out and the on-board controls are reliable push buttons (as opposed to touch panels). There's no ANC or wireless charging and, again, the sound can't compare to premium versions, but if you're looking for a low cost pair of earbuds that will deliver admirable sound quality, these might be your new set.
No one likes running out of juice, and a wall charger isn't always around, which makes Anker's 622 a great backup for iPhone users. This week, the price dropped to $45 which is 25 percent off the MSRP and the lowest we've seen it. The portable battery pack delivers wireless charging with magnets that align with the iPhone 12, 13 and the new iPhone 14.
In our test, we found a fully charged Anker 622 charged an iPhone 13 from empty to about 80 percent in just a few hours. What's more is you can use your phone while it charges. With the on-board, fold-out kickstand you can even prop up your iPhone (landscape or portrait) and watch your IG Reels hands-free.
Note that just the grey and blue versions are at this price point right now, but it's a nice price for an extra charge on your phone, no matter where you are.
Amazon just took 54 percent off a two-pack of their Blink Mini indoor security cameras, lowering them to $30 for the pair. That's the same low they hit during Prime Day a few weeks ago, which means if you want to add cameras to your smart home set up, now might be the time. T
The Blink cameras take clear and sharp 1080p images and offer the ability to see, hear and talk to whatever or whomever moves into view. They're motion activated and pair up with your Alexa-enabled smartphone or other Alexa home devices (like the Echo Shows, above). This particular set is wired, so you won't have to swap out batteries, but you'll need to factor in wall-outlet access when setting them up.
Rather see what's going on outside your home? The Blink Outdoor cameras are also on sale, with a single camera going for $60 (40 percent off) and a three-pack coming in at $125 (half price). These happen to be our current favorite wireless security cameras, even when they're full price. The cams also pair up with Alexa and can be mounted anywhere there's something to attach them to, even somewhere they'll get rained on.
All Hallow's Eve doesn't get the same love, sale-wise, as other holidays do, but JBL has decided the right way to celebrate spookiness is with a Halloween Sale on a bunch of their earlier model speakers and headphones. We named the Flip 6 a top pick for portable Bluetooth speakers in 2022. The JBL Flip 5 is the previous year's model, but still delivers 12 hours of playtime and a IPX7 water-resistance rating that can handle a dip in three feet of water. During the sale, the Flip 5 is 46 percent off, bringing it down to $70, which is a pretty decent price for high-output sound packed up in a fairly rugged case that can go anywhere you do.
When the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE debuted, we gave it an 84, calling it a refined gaming notebook that "delivers all the power you'd want from a large gaming notebook" — without any unnecessary bling. Amazon is offering the Triton 500 SE at a $500 discount, which is about $60 lower than we've ever seen it and definitely the lowest it's dipped since coming out in April of this year.
The large, 16-inch screen delivers smooth and gorgeous graphics, thanks to the inclusion of Intel's 12th-gen Core i9 processor and NVIDIA's latest RTX 3080 Ti GPU. Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar particularly liked the Triton's performance, noting that it was often on par with the more expensive Razer Blade. He also liked the fact that the laptop could easily transition from gaming den to an office meeting since its clean metallic design is free of any flashy (or downright obnoxious) decoration.
While the keyboard and trackpad weren't the best, and the speakers sounded a little tinny, that may not be an issue if you're planning on plugging in peripherals. The "bag bundle" deal comes with an unassuming black slip case, but the real draw is the $500-savings on a high-performance gaming laptop.
We'd be remiss if we didn't include something for the kiddos (and the kiddos at heart) by mentioning two Halloween sales on older, dark, creepy, gory or otherwise holiday-appropriate game titles. Both Playstation and Xbox are running sales with discounts up to 80 percent on titles like Witcher 3 (80 percent off at XBOX), Resident Evil 3 (70 percent off at PS) and Dying Light 2 (40 percent off, both stores).
We called Apple's latest MacBook Air "near-perfect" in our review back in July when the ultraportable laptop came out. It remains one of the best general-purpose laptops we've tried and right now Amazon has it for $1,049 a savings of $150 over the list price.
We were particularly impressed with the overall lightness of the Air, weighing just 2.7 pounds. It's also much more balanced that previous models as Apple's done away with the wedge shape and gone for a uniform thickness. The screen is beautiful, the speakers are great and the performance of the M2 chip makes the laptop plenty speedy.
The battery lasted over 16 hours in our tests — more than enough for a full work day plus a streaming unwind afterwards. This is the 256GB configuration, which should be fine for most use cases, as long as you're not trying to edit huge video files on a regular basis. The discount only applies to the midnight and silver colorways, but if didn't necessarily have your heart set on the starlight hue, you can nab this all-purpose workhorse for a sweet discount.
Sonos just launched a 20-percent-off sale covering bundles of their soundbars, speakers and subwoofers. If you've been thinking about upgrading the sound from your smart TV to something a little more room-filling, this is worth checking out.
We're big Sonos fans, giving 85+ scores to both the Arc and the Beam in our hands-on reviews. Both of those are covered in different configurations during the bundle sale. Here's a fuller breakdown of what's on offer:
Sonos Beam (Gen 2) + 2x Sonos One SL for $678, down from $847
Sonos Arc + 2x Sonos One SL for $1,038, down from $1,297
Sonos Beam (Gen 2) + Sonos Sub (Gen 3) for $958, down from $1,198
Sonos Arc + Sonos Sub (Gen 3) for $1,318, down from $1,648
Sonos Beam (Gen 2) + Sonos Sub (Gen 3) + 2x Sonos One SL for $1,277, down from $1,596
Sonos Arc + Sonos Sub (Gen 3) + 2x Sonos One SL for $1,637, down from $2,046
Samsung's The Frame — the smart TV that looks like art when it's off — just hit a record low price. As part of Samsung Week, a deals event running through November 1st, the 55-inch Samsung Frame comes in at $998, which is hundreds lower than it was Prime Day a few weeks ago. While these sets are still on the expensive side when on discount, they're hard to beat if you want a TV that blends into your space better than a standard black box.
As a TV, the Frame delivers the vivid, high-res quality with a QLED 4K panel, along with the intuitive smart TV interface of Samsung's Tizen OS. But the real draw here happens when the TV is off. In Art Mode, The Frame displays images from an extensive gallery of artwork. Pick from classic oil paintings from artists you'd find in the Louvre or modern photography from rising stars. I have an earlier model of The Frame and have surprised more than one visitor when I switched my "art" to an episode of Owl House.
One caveat is you'll need a Samsung Art Store subscription (currently $8 per month) to access the entire collection, as only a small subset is available for display without it.
To really sell the idea that you're displaying art instead of a TV, The Frame comes standard with anti-reflective glass and a separate CPU to keep a low, flush-mounted profile. The CPU connects via a thin cable that's hard to spot, especially if you drop it behind the wall when mounting the TV.
Getting a sub-$1,000 price point on the 55-inch model was unheard of before now. And currently, all sizes, up through the massive 85-inch, are deeply discounted. If the Frame isn't your style, or you're looking for an outdoor-friendly TV, Samsung Week discounts have also knocked down the prices of the Terrace TV and even some of the company's projectors.
If you've been thinking about adding cameras to your connected home setup, this is a great time to dive in. Amazon's Blink Mini cameras are down to $30 for a pair, which is the usual price for just one camera. It's an all-time low and matches the deep discount Amazon ran for October's Prime Day.
The cameras take clear and sharp 1080p video, which you can stream to your phone or a smart display like Amazon's Echo Show. Since Amazon owns Blink, they work with Alexa, allowing voice control over the units from any compatible device. They also pair nicely with Blink's doorbell, acting as a chime when someone rings it.
The Minis are motion activated (as opposed to always-on) and can alert you when movement's detected. With built-in speakers and a mic, you can both hear and talk to people (or pets) remotely using your phone or another Alexa-enabled smart device. The cameras will work without a subscription, but if you want to save video clips, you can opt for the Blink Subscription Plan (currently $30 per year for the basic plan).
The only caveat is that Blink Minis are wired cameras, so you'll need to set them up somewhere near an outlet — but you'll never need to remember to change the batteries.
If you want cameras outside too, it's worth mentioning that the Blink Outdoor cameras are back on sale as well. Single packs are down to $60, and the multi-camera bundles are discounted too, with the best deal on the three- and five-camera bundles (both 50 percent off).
Blink Outdoor cams are our current favorite wireless security cameras, running on AA batteries, which will power a camera for about a year. They come with a mount and are, of course, weatherproof, so you don't have to mount them under an eave or overhang, which lets you angle them at exactly what you want to see. And like the indoor version, these let you see, hear, and talk to whomever is in front of the camera, and it can all be controlled via Alexa, either with the app or your voice.
