Amazon improved its Echo Buds in nearly every way when it came out with the second generation last year, and at $120, they're a solid option for those who don't want to spend a ton on ANC earbuds. Now, Amazon's knocked 58 percent off the second-gen Echo Buds, bringing the models with the standard charging case down to only $50. That's $20 cheaper than they were during the holiday shopping season last year.
The online retailer learned from the shortcomings of its original Echo Buds and rectified many of them when redesigning the latest models. The buds are 20 percent smaller than the previous models, a bit lighter too, and the entire design is IPX4 rated against water splashes. Sound quality has been massively improved: audio sounds less compressed and you'll be able to hear the differences at low, medium and high volumes. In the Alexa companion app, you can mess around the the EQ if you wish while also customizing the settings for ANC mode, hands-free Alexa and Power Save mode.
Amazon switched from active noise reduction to true active noise cancelling on these buds and it made a world of difference. The buds block out surrounding noises and the Passthrough feature, which allows some environmental noise in, sounds more natural than that of other earbuds. Naturally, you're also getting Alexa voice commands on these buds, and the assistant can do more than it could before, controlling music and podcast playback, finding specific shows on Amazon Music and making recommendations for other content you may want to listen to.
Battery life is pretty decent as well — you'll get about five hours of listening time before the Echo Buds need more juice, and their case can give you two hours of listening time after only 15 minutes of charging. While call performance could be better, the second-gen Echo Buds are still a good option if you rely on Alexa for a lot of things or if you want a pair of ANC earbuds that won't break the bank.
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A slew of gadgets went on sale this week and many remain discounted as we head into the weekend. A number of Apple devices are on sale right now, including the AirPods Pro for $175, the iPad mini for $459 and the new iPad Air with the M1 chipset for $570. Elsewhere, Amazon's Fire HD 8 table is half off, while Sony's excellent WH-1000XM4 headphones remain discounted to $278. Finally, today is Tolkien Reading Day, and both Amazon and Kobo are celebrating by discounting many of Tolkien's works in e-book format, including the entire The Lord of the Rings series. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
AirPods Pro
Billy Steele / Engadget
Apple's AirPods Pro are on sale for $175, which is 30 percent off its usual price. We gave the buds a score of 87 for their solid sound quality, strong ANC and hands-free Siri capabilities.
The latest iPad Air is $29 off right now, bringing the 64GB model down to $570 and the 256GB version down to $720. The new M1-powered iPad earned a score of 90 from us for its super-fast performance, long battery life and improved front camera.
Apple's latest iPad mini is on sale for $459, which is $40 off its normal price. We gave the small tablet a score of 89 for its lovely display, refined design and excellent battery life.
The base 202112.9-inch iPad Pro with 128GB of storage is $150 off right now thanks to an automatically applied coupon. That brings it down to $950, its best price yet, and you can also snag the 512GB model at its lowest price of $1,250, too. We gave the M1-powered iPad Pro a score of 87 for its gorgeous display, Center Stage cameras and powerful performance.
Amazon's Fire HD 8 is half off right now, bringing it down to $45. We gave the cheap tablet a score of 81 for its slimmer design, decent performance, USB-C charging and hands-free Alexa capabilities.
All of Amazon's Fire Kids Pro tablets are down to record low prices. All of these slabs come with a suite of parental controls, a two-year warranty, a protective case and one year of Amazon Kids+. Both the Fire 7 Kids Pro and the Fire HD 8 Kids Pro are half off and down to $50 and $70, respectively, while the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is 30 percent less than usual and down to $140.
Our current favorite pair of ANC headphones, Sony's WH-1000XM4, are down to $278 right now. That's $72 off their usual price and close to an all-time low. They earned a score of 94 from us for their powerful ANC, immersive sound quality and multi-device connectivity.
The Bose QC45 headphones are on sale for $279, which is their all-time-low price that we saw last Black Friday. We gave the cans a score of 86 for their excellent sound quality, strong ANC and comfortable fit.
A number of Tile trackers are up to 20 percent off at Amazon. You can pick up the 2022 Tile Mate Essentials pack for $68, a two-pack of Tile Stickers for $45 or a single Tile Mate for only $20. These tiny gadgets attach to your belongings so you can keep track of them using Tile's companion mobile app.
A two-pack of the Google Nest WiFi system is on sale for $189 across the web. That's only $10 more than the pack was during the holiday shopping season last year, so this is a solid sale. We gave the mesh WiFi system a score of 84 for its minimalist design, simple installation process and built-in Google Assistant smart speaker.
The T7 Touch portable SSD in 1TB is on sale for $130 right now. This palm-sized drive works with most devices thanks to the duo of cables it comes with, and it supports 1,050 MB/s read speeds, 1,000 MB/s write speeds, AES 256-bit encryption and Dynamic Thermal Guard.
The Fire TV Cube is back down to a record low of $70, or 42 percent off its normal price. We gave it a score of 84 when it came out for its 4K streaming with Dolby Vision and HDR+, speedy performance and hands-free Alexa controls.
March 25th is Tolkein Reading Day, and you can find many of the famed fantasy author's works on sale at Amazon and Kobo. Both retailers have the entire The Lord of the Rings series in e-book format for $3 per title, plus other works including The Silmarillion have also been discounted to $3.
Sony's 55-inch Bravia XR OLED set is $600 off right now, bringing it down to $2,200. In addition to deep blacks and the improved contrast that comes with OLED TVs, this set also supports XR Motion Clarity, HDMI 2.1, Acoustic Surface Audio+ and Alexa voice commands.
A few Eero WiFi bundles are on sale right now, including the Eero Pro three-pack, which is down to $314 for Prime members (or $337 for everyone else). The Eero 6 Pro tri-band system is 20 percent off and down to $479, and you can pick up an Eero beacon for only $79.
ThermoWorks has knocked 30 percent off its blue and yellow ThermoPop instant-read thermometers, bringing them down to $24.50 each, and all proceeds go to Ukraine refugee assistance efforts. Simultaneously, the company's warehouse sale slashes up to 60 percent off a bunch of products, including the classic Thermapen, the Dot thermometer and the Smoke X4 long-range BBQ thermometer.
NordVPN's latest deal knocks 72 percent off a two-year plan, bringing it down to $79, and it includes anti-malware protection, too. In addition to a solid VPN, you'll get the company's Threat Protection feature that works independently from the VPN to block trackers, malware and intrusive ads.
While the 40W Nano Pro adapter isn't the latest model from Anker, it remains a good option if you want a small charger with enough power to fast-charge most mobile devices. This model has two USB-C ports on it, so you can simultaneously charge two devices at once. It can power up a MacBook Air at full speed and quickly juice up both an iPhone and an iPad at the same time. And while it's doing so, the device's ActiveShield safety system monitors temperature and controls output to avoid overheating.
If you want a device that can power more than two gadgets at the same time, Anker's PowerCore III Elite 26K bundle could do the trick. You get the 25,600 mAh battery pack, the 64W wall charger and a USB-C to USB-C cable in this pack, giving you everything you need to power a number of devices and quickly recharge the battery pack when it runs out of juice. The brick has two USB-A ports (with an 18W shared output) and one 60W USB-C port that can all be used simultaneously to charge things like your laptop, smartphone and earbuds. Plus, the 65W wall charger has enough power to recharge the brick in only 2.5 hours.
And if you're set with power adapters and chargers, the pack of Powerline+ II cables is a handy one to pick up. It includes two three-foot and one six-foot Lightning to USB-A cables that are MFi-certified, so they'll work properly with all iPhones. We especially like these braided nylon cables as they tend to be more durable than others and can bend easily in whichever direction you need them to.
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Amazon's Fire tablets make good secondary devices for those who aren't looking to drop hundreds of dollars on a new gadget. They also make solid kids tablets, too, especially if you get one of Amazon's kid-specific variants. Fire tablets are affordable to begin with, but now Amazon's discounted many of them by up to 50 percent. The Fire HD 8 is half off and down to $45, while the Fire 7 slab is 30 percent off and down to only $35. Plus, the entire Fire Kids Pro lineup is on sale, so you can grab one of those for as low as $50.
The Fire HD 8 earned a score of 81 from us when it came out in 2020 for its refined design, USB-C charging, hands-free Alexa capabilities and long battery life. It's slimmer than the previous version and has an 8-inch 1,280 x 800 display, the latter of which would make it a solid full-color e-reader for those that read a lot of graphics novels and manga. Inside is a quad-core 2.0GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and either 32GB of 64GB of RAM — plus, you could use a microSD card to expand the storage to up to 1TB. Performance is pretty good for a cheap tablet, and it'll last up to 12 hours on a single charge. We'd recommend the Fire HD 8 for most people, and would only recommend the less powerful Fire 7 tablet for those with tight budgets, or those that want a super-affordable device to give to their kids.
Speaking of kid-friendly gadgets, the Fire Kids Pro slabs have some added features specifically for little ones and their parents. Along with all of the features you'd get on their standard counterparts, the Fire Kids Pro tablets come with a suite of parental controls, a two-year warranty, a protective case and one year of Amazon Kids+. With the latter, you'll get access to age-appropriate books, shows, movies and more for one year before you'll be asked to pay the $5-per-month charge ($3 per month if you're a Prime member). Both the Fire 7 Kids Pro and the Fire HD 8 Kids Pro are half off right now, down to $50 and $70, respectively, while the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is 30 percent less than usual and down to $140.
This week was a good one if you were looking for a good deal on the latest Apple gadgets. Not only are the AirPods Max still $100 off, but you can also grab the Apple Watch Series 7 for $339 and the latest 16-inch MacBook Pro for $200 less than usual. Elsewhere, Sony's WH-1000XM4 headphones remain on sale for $278 and Amazon's Echo Show 5 is 47 percent off and down to only $45. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.
AirPods Max
Billy Steele/Engadget
Apple's AirPods Max are $100 off right now, bringing them down to $449. We gave the premium headphones a score of 84 for their excellent sound quality, good ANC and reliable onboard controls.
The 512GB version of the 16-inch MacBook Pro is $200 cheaper than usual right now, bringing it down to $2,299. This is one of Apple's latest and most powerful laptops and we gave it a score of 92 for its blazing fast performance, fantastic keyboard, lovely Liquid Retina XDR Display and array of ports.
Apple's latest iPad mini is on sale for $459, which is $40 off its normal price. We gave the small tablet a score of 89 for its lovely display, refined design and excellent battery life.
Certain colors of the Apple Watch Series 7 are down to $339, or $60 off their normal price. Apple's latest flagship smartwatch earned a score of 90 from us for its slightly larger display, faster charging and handy watchOS8 features.
Our current favorite pair of ANC headphones, Sony's WH-1000XM4, are down to $278 right now. That's $72 off their usual price and close to an all-time low. They earned a score of 94 from us for their powerful ANC, immersive sound quality and multi-device connectivity.
The Bose QC45 headphones are on sale for $279, which is their all-time-low price that we saw last Black Friday. We gave the cans a score of 86 for their excellent sound quality, strong ANC and comfortable fit.
The second-gen Echo Show 5 is on sale for $45, or 47 percent off its normal price. You can also pick up the Kids version for only $55. It earned a score of 85 from us for its great sound quality, tap-to-snooze feature and compact design.
Google's second-gen Nest Hub is down to $55, or $45 off its usual price. We gave it a score of 89 for its minimalist design, clearer audio quality and bright display.
A two-pack of the Google Nest WiFi system is on sale for $189 across the web. That's only $10 more than the pack was during the holiday shopping season last year, so this is a solid sale. We gave the mesh WiFi system a score of 84 for its minimalist design, simple installation process and built-in Google Assistant smart speaker.
A number of Tile trackers are up to 20 percent off at Amazon. You can pick up the 2022 Tile Mate Essentials pack for $68, a two-pack of Tile Stickers for $45 or a single Tile Mate for only $20. These tiny gadgets attach to your belongings so you can keep track of them using Tile's companion mobile app.
A number of Samsung gaming monitors are on sale again, including the Odyssey Neo G9 mini-LED display, which is $500 off and down to $2,000. If that's still a bit too far outside your budget, you can grab the 34-inch Odyssey G5 gaming monitor for $430; the 32-inch Odyssey G3 monitor for $230 or the 24-inch Odyssey G3 gaming monitor for $180.
Shark's robot vacuum with self-cleaning base is down to $500 right now, or $150 off its normal price. You're getting a powerful robo-vac that can clean carpets and hard floors easily, and it has support for UltraClean Mode, LiDAr navigation, home mapping and more. Plus, you'll only have to empty its clean base about once every two months.
The Fire TV Cube is back down to a record low of $70, or 42 percent off its normal price. We gave it a score of 84 when it came out for its 4K streaming with Dolby Vision and HDR+, speedy performance and hands-free Alexa controls.
The T7 Touch portable SSD in 1TB is on sale for $140 right now. This palm-sized drive works with most devices thanks to the duo of cables it comes with, and it supports 1,050 MB/s read speeds, 1,000 MB/s write speeds, AES 256-bit encryption and Dynamic Thermal Guard.
Kobo's Libra 2 e-reader is $20 off and down to $180. We like its ergonomic, waterproof design, its sharp 7-inch display and ability to play audiobooks.
Kohler's high-tech shower head is down to a record low price of $99. It works as a regular shower head but it's Alexa-enabled, so you can do things like play music and add things to your shopping list while you're bathing. It also has a magnetic, removable speaker so you can take it with you around the house.
The Beats Studio Buds are 20 percent off and down to $120. We gave these true wireless earbuds a score of 84 for their tiny, comfortable design, good sound quality and quick-pairing on both Android and iOS.
Sony's 55-inch Bravia XR OLED set is $600 off right now, bringing it down to $2,200. In addition to deep blacks and the improved contrast that comes with OLED TVs, this set also supports XR Motion Clarity, HDMI 2.1, Acoustic Surface Audio+ and Alexa voice commands.
Fitbit's most advanced smartwatch, the Sense, is down to £189 right now. That's not a record low, but it's still 37 percent off its usual rate. We gave it a score of 82 for its comprehensive health tracking features and big, bold display.
Apple's updated iPad mini may be a niche device because of its size, but it's got enough power to suit most people's needs. We gave the small tablet a score of 89 when it came out last year, and now you can pick it up at a discounted price. Amazon has the pink, purple and space gray 64GB models for $459, which is $40 off and a record low.
You probably already know if the iPad mini will fill a hole in your life. The e-reader-sized tablet will be best for those who will use it precisely for things like reading and taking notes, as well as anyone who just wants a more compact tablet to take with them on the go. With the 2021 version, Apple finally gave the iPad mini the facelift many had been hoping for, changing its design to look more like a smaller iPad Air with a nearly edge-to-edge, 8.3-inch 2,266 x 1,488 resolution Liquid Retina screen, flat sides and a TouchID-capable power button. It also works with the second-generation Apple Pencil, and that accessory magnetically attaches to the side of the tablet when you're not using it.
The A15 Bionic chip inside the iPad mini helped it handle everything we threw at it, including light gaming, web browsing, note-taking and more. Plus, FaceTime calls are even better on this tablet since the front-facing camera supports Center Stage, which will keep you in frame while you're chatting with friends and family. We also appreciate that the iPad mini lasted about 12 hours in our testing before it needed to be recharged, so it can be your main tablet all day long if you'd like it to be.
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The first day of spring is right around the corner and if you're looking for some help cleaning up your home, a robot vacuum could do the trick. Even better if you can snag one with self-emptying features, which allow you to basically ignore the robo-vac until you have to clean the base once every month or so. One of our favorites, the Shark AI Robot Vacuum with Base, is $150 off right now at Amazon, bringing it down to $500.
The AV2501AE model is discounted, which is slightly different than the model we included in our guide (RV2502AE) in that it has a black and bronze design. However, both vacuums share a number of key features including self-cleaning brush rolls that help pick up pet hair, LiDAR navigation, UltraClean Mode, obstacle avoidance, Alexa and Google Assistant support and a bagless, HEPA base. The latter helps Shark's robo-vac stand out among most of the competition — you don't have to pay extra for proprietary garbage bags, rather, you simply detach a portion of the base when you need to empty it and then snap it back into place.
In addition to that convenience, Shark's machine impressed us with its cleaning power and its solid mapping skills. The first thing you'll have it do is an "Explore Run," in which it creates a map of your home that you can then label with room names in the companion mobile app. This makes it easy to send the robo-vac to clean only your bedroom when necessary, and you can create no-go zones as well. With a 120-minute run time, the machine can clean a good portion of any home before it needs more juice, and its handy "recharge and resume" feature allows it to power up and get back to cleaning without any additional prompting.
Shark's mobile app is pretty easy to use as well, and it lets you create cleaning schedules, start jobs from anywhere and activate UltraClean Mode when you need all of the suction power possible to clean up big messes. Overall, it's an excellent self-emptying robot vacuum that's competitively priced, especially when discounted like this.
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Robot vacuums have come a long way over the past few years. They’re smarter, more powerful and (marginally) better at avoiding chair legs than they ever were before, and you don’t have to shell out as much money to get one either. There are also many more robo-vacs available now than there once were, so deciding which to buy isn’t as simple as choosing the latest model from the biggest brand. We tested out many of the newest robot vacuums available now to see how they stack up against each other.
Are robot vacuums worth it?
We tackled this question in our budget robot vacuum guide and the answer is yes, especially if vacuuming is one of your least favorite chores. Robots take the hard work out of cleaning your floors – just turn the thing on and watch it go. Any robot vacuum worth buying is semi-autonomous in that it will suck up dirt around your home until its battery is low and then make its way back to its charging dock. You should only have to interact with it to turn it on, empty its dustbin and untangle it if it were to get stuck somewhere.
That’s not to say robot vacuums are perfect. They’re almost always less powerful and less flexible than standard vacuums. Since most robo-vacs are much smaller than traditional models, they often don’t have the same level of suction you’ll get in an upright machine. Plus, their dustbins are smaller, so they will need to be emptied more frequently. While WiFi-connected robot vacuums give you the flexibility to start a cleaning job from anywhere using an app, targeting a small area of your home can be more complicated. Some robo-vacs have spot-cleaning features that focus the machine’s attention on a specific area, which almost – but not quite – mimics the spot-cleaning you’d be able to do yourself with a regular vacuum.
What to look for in a robot vacuum
iRobt / 1996-2001 AccuSoft Co., All rights reserved
As we explained in our budget guide, WiFi is a key feature for most robot vacuums. Some of the cheapest devices aren’t WiFi connected, though, so if you’re looking at the most affordable devices, it’s best to check for that feature before you buy. WiFi connectivity allows a robot vacuum to do things like communicate with a mobile app, which then allows you to control the device from your phone.
Suction power is another important factor to consider. Unfortunately, there isn’t a standard power scale that all robo-vacs adhere to, so it’s difficult to compare suction power among a bunch of devices. Some companies provide Pascal (Pa) levels and generally the higher the Pa, the stronger the vacuum will be. But other companies don’t rely on Pa levels and simply say their robots have X-times more suction than other robots.
Ultimately, we recommend thinking first about the floors in your home: Do you have carpet throughout, or tile and hardwood, or a mix? Robots with stronger suction power will do a better job cleaning carpets as they can get into the nooks and crannies more easily. Some machines have “max” modes as well, which ups the suction power but also typically eats at battery life faster than the “normal” cleaning mode.
Past a certain price threshold, you’ll find advanced features like home mapping, improved object detection and automatic dustbin disposal. Home mapping is exactly what it sounds like: The vacuum uses sensors to map your home’s layout as it cleans, allowing you to send it to particular rooms or areas in later cleaning jobs. Most robo-vacs have some version of object detection, but some will be better than others at actually avoiding things like chair legs and children’s toys. Some, like iRobot’s j7 series, even go so far as to promise to avoid things like pet poop that can potentially ruin your machine.
Finally, for peak convenience, consider a robot vacuum that comes with a clean base. These are basically garbage bins that are attached to the machine’s charging base. At the end of each job, the robo-vac automatically empties its small dustbin into the large clean base – that means you won’t have to empty the dustbin yourself and you’ll only have to tend to the base once every few weeks. Just keep in mind that most clean bases require proprietary garbage bags – another long-term expense you’ll have to factor into the cost of owning one of these devices.
Engadget picks
Best mid-range robot vacuum: Shark AI Robot Vacuum with Base
Shark
Shark’s $650 RV2502AE AI robot vacuum with Base ticks all of the boxes that a mid-range machine should. It offers reliable performance, its mobile app is easy to use and it produces accurate home maps. On top of that, its base is bagless, which means you won’t have to spend money every few months on garbage bags for your robot vacuum.
Setting up the Shark is as simple as taking it and its base out of the box, plugging the base in and downloading the companion mobile app to finish things up. The machine connects to WiFi, allowing you to control it via the app when you’re not at home, or using Google Assistant and Alexa voice commands. The first journey the Shark makes is an “Explore Run,” during which it produces a map of your home that you can then edit from the mobile app.
The Shark produced a pretty accurate floorplan of my two-bedroom apartment, and I was happy to see a “re-explore” option that I could use if the map wasn’t up to my standards. With a completed map, you’re then asked to label rooms in your home. That way, you can send the Shark to only the bedroom for more direct cleaning jobs, select “no-go” zones and more.
The first few times I ran the Shark robot, I had it clean my whole apartment. I was impressed by how quiet it was – or rather, how much quieter it was compared to other robo-vacs I’ve tried. You’ll have to turn up the volume on your TV if it’s cleaning in the same room, but it’ll be hard to hear when it’s sucking up debris down the hallway. It also did a decent job maneuvering its way around the cat toys I left out on the floor. The device’s object detection feature claims it can avoid things as small as four inches, but I found that it was much better at sensing and moving around the three-foot-long cat tunnel on my floor than the many tiny mouse toys.
But even if Mr. Mouse caught the edge of the Shark’s wheels now and then, the robo-vac took it all in stride. One thing I look for when testing robot vacuums is how much attention they need from me during cleanings. The best ones require no extra attention at all – once they start a job, they’re smart enough to putter around your home, move around objects and return to their base when they’re finished. With Shark’s robo-vac, I never had to tend to it when it was cleaning. Now, I did my due diligence and picked up pieces of clothing and charging cables off the ground before running the Shark (ditto for every other robot vacuum I tested), so those things were never in the way. Most companion apps will actually remind you to do this before starting a cleaning job.
This Shark machine comes with a clean base, so it will empty its dustin after every job – and also during a job if its bin gets full before it’s done. In the latter situation, the Shark will go back to cleaning automatically after it’s freed up its bin. That’s a great feature, but I found the best thing about the base to be its bagless design. Shark’s device is unlike most other robot vacuum clean bases because you don’t have to keep buying proprietary garbage bags to outfit the interior of the base. When you want to empty the base, part of it snaps off and opens to eject debris, and it easily locks back in place when you return it. Not only is this quite convenient, but it also brings the lifetime cost of ownership down since you won’t be buying special bags every few months.
Runner up: Roomba j7
Valentina Palladino / Engadget
iRobot’s Roomba j7 is a great option if you want the latest obstacle avoidance technology from the company in an attractive package. The $600 j7 doesn’t come with a clean base, but you can get the same vacuum with one for $200 extra.
The biggest selling point of the Roomba j7 series is its upgraded AI-driven computer vision which helps it detect and move around objects. This includes pet poop – a robot vacuum’s arch nemesis – and iRobot even promises that it will replace your j7 machine if it runs into pet poop within the first year of ownership.
That’s one feature I was happy I never got to test, as my cat kept all of her activity to her litter box. Otherwise, the Roomba j7 did a good job sucking up dirt and debris around my apartment and it didn’t make too much noise while doing so. All of the robo-vacs I tested at this mid-range level had roughly the same level of suction, so there wasn’t a big difference between them when it came to cleaning power.
Like other robot vacuums, you can set cleaning schedules in the iRobot mobile app so you never have to start a cleaning job on the fly. The app also has a “favorites” section, which lets you create profiles that you’ll use all the time like “clean the living room and the entryway.” And if you prefer to use voice commands, the robot supports Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant.
The Roomba j7 has Imprint Smart Mapping, but unlike the Shark, it took more than one runthrough of my home for it to create a complete map. iRobot’s app distinguishes between a regular cleaning job and a “mapping run,” so make sure you’re choosing the latter the first few times you run the machine.
I tested the j7+, which means I was treated to the roaring sounds of the machine emptying its dustbin into its clean base. The emptying process isn’t as simple as an automatically opening flat that shakes dirt from one garbage can to another – the base actually sucks the dirt from vacuum. This was the case for all of the machines I tried that came with clean bases; they’re all quite loud, but the Roomba j7+ was the loudest of them all. The whooshing sounds last for only five to 10 seconds, but it was shocking the first time it happened. Just keep that in mind if you ever decide to run the robot at night when others are sleeping.
Honorable mention: Anker Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid
Anker
You may be unfamiliar with Anker’s robot vacuums, but they’re often more affordable alternatives to the iRobots and Sharks of the world. The $649 Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid isn’t a budget machine by any means, but it’s a solid robot vacuum that offers a few key features that many competitors don’t have. Plus, you can often find it on sale for $549 or even $449.
Unlike our other midrange picks, the X8 Hybrid doesn’t come with a clean base, nor is there one you can purchase separately. It’s just a standalone robot vacuum, but the “hybrid” indicates that it’s also a mop. It has both a dustbin for collecting debris and a 250-milliliter water tank that you can fill whenever you want to run a mopping cycle. Plenty of other robot vacuums have this feature, and it could be even more useful than a clean base if you have lots of tile or hardwood floors throughout your home.
Besides that, I was impressed with how easy it was to set up the X8 Hybrid, how accurate its mapping technology was and how many extra features it supports. It has four cleaning modes – auto, room, zone and spot – and four suction levels starting with Pure at the low end and topping out at Max. These features give you a lot of control over where the machine cleans and how powerfully it will do so. The X8 Hybrid was in Pure mode the first time I ran it, and I was surprised by not only how quiet it was but also how thoroughly it cleaned considering it was on the lowest suction setting.
There’s also a “tap and go” feature that lets you pinpoint any spot on your home map in the EufyHome app, sending the robot there to clean. Manual controls are also available, which isn’t something you see on a ton of robo-vacs. This option lets you control the machine almost like a slow and slightly clumsy RC car, giving you more control over where it cleans.
It may not have the name recognition that iRobot or Shark do, but the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid is a solid choice nonetheless, especially if you don’t care to add a clean base into the mix. It’s an even more tempting choice if you can snag it when it’s discounted.
Best high-end robot vacuum: iRobot Roomba s9+
Valentina Palladino / Engadget
The Roomba s9+ is admittedly overkill for most people – but it’s nothing if not one of the best robot vacuums out there. You’ll notice its premium features as soon as you unbox it. The s9+ is the biggest but also the most attractive robo-vac I tried, with a corner-friendly design, copper accents and a 1.5-foot tall clean base. The setup was quick and easy, with the machine taking only a few minutes to connect to my home’s WiFi and the iRobot app.
While the s9+ doesn’t have the Precision Navigation feature that the newer j7 does, it has something called “Careful Driver” that uses a 3D sensor to detect and clean around objects. It seems that the main difference is that the s9+ isn’t specifically wired to avoid pet poop, so keep that in mind if you have furry friends around the house. However, with 40x the suction power of a standard Roomba, the s9+ does a great job cleaning up pet hair.
It’s aso louder than the j7 when it’s cleaning, but not irritatingly so, and I noticed a deeper clean in my carpets thanks to the extra suction. And it changes its cleaning mode automatically when transitioning from, say, a carpeted floor to tile.
Even this $1,000 robot vacuum bumped into a few table legs while cleaning, but it was noticeably better than other machines at navigating around my furniture and correcting itself when it got stuck. It also moves faster than the j7, so it was able to cover a bit more of my apartment before it had to return to the base for charging after about one hour of cleaning. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the s9+ wasn’t nearly as loud as the j7 vacuum when emptying its dustbin into the clean base.
With the iRobot app experience being the same across all Roombas, the s9+ stands out for its subtle premium features like its elegant design, elegant-looking clean base, superior cleaning intelligence and top-of-the-line suction power. Aside from the extra suction, those are all nice-to-haves rather than must-haves, so most people – including you! – probably don’t need the Roomba s9+. It’s the fanciest robot vacuum iRobot has to offer, but you’ll get a similar level of quality with the Roomba j7 while spending a couple hundred bucks less.
Honorable mention: Roborock S7+
Valentina Palladino / Engadget
Roborock’s high-end S7+ deserves a mention for its cleaning power and number of additional features that many other competitors don’t have. First, the S7+ is a vac-and-mop combo, and its mopping map automatically lifts itself out of the way when the machine reaches the carpet. That means you can have it clean your whole home, vacuuming and mopping in the right spots, without you giving it any extra attention (besides filling its 300ml water tank at the start).
The $950 machine has a longer setup process because its clean base comes in two pieces. You must attach the bottom of the base, where the robo-vac charges, to the garbage-bin upper portion using a few screws and a tool that attaches to the bottom of the base. Roborock provides everything you need to do this in the box, so while it takes a bit more time, it’s still an easy process.
What wasn’t so easy for me at first was connecting the S7+ to the Roborock app. The vacuum had trouble connecting to my home’s WiFi network, but I was able to connect it to the Mi Home app, which is Xiaomi’s main smart home companion app (Xiaomi is an investor in Roborock). There aren’t a ton of differences between the two apps when it comes to robo-vac controls, but the S7+ is designed to work with Roborock’s program. After troubleshooting with a Roborock representative, I was able to fix the problem by factory resetting the vacuum and that allowed me to connect it to the Roborock app properly.
That said, the Roborock app isn’t nearly as polished as those from iRobot, Shark and others. The main page shows your home’s map along with the battery level, cleaning time, cleaning area in feet, and buttons that let you quickly start a cleaning job and empty the dustbin. You’re also able to select specific rooms or zones to clean, but the rest of the control options live in the menu accessible by the three-dot icon at the top-right corner of the app. Things are a little buried, and that might make the S7+ harder for robot-vacuum newbies to use.
When it comes to cleaning, the Roborock S7+ did a great job sucking up dirt around my home. In addition to the usual features like cleaning schedules, zone targeting and others, the vacuum also has things like child lock, which will disable the physical buttons on the machine; different auto-emptying settings to choose from; “pin and go,” which lets you tap on your home map to send the robot to a specific location; and manual direction controls so you can move the machine like a toy car. This isn’t the robot vacuum to get if you want the most polished experience – and you may very well want that if you’re dropping $1,000 on one – but it remains a powerful vac-and-mop machine with a handful of extra perks.
Best budget: Roomba 694
Valentina Palladino / Engadget
iRobot’s $279 Roomba 694 is a great option for most people thanks to its good cleaning power and easy-to-use mobile app. We won’t get too deep into it here since we have a whole guide to affordable robot vacuums with additional recommendations. But suffice to say, the 694 gives you all the essentials you’d expect from a robot vacuum, along with all of the convenience that comes with iRobot’s mobile app.
If you're lucky enough to have gotten your hands on a PS5, you may be looking for a drive with which to expand your console's storage. We have a whole guide that explains how to do that and which SSDs are our favorites, and one of those drives is down to a new record low right now. Samsung's 980 Pro SSD in 2TB is on sale for $250, which is 42 percent off and $30 cheaper than its previous best price.
The 980 Pro is one of Samsung's best SSDs with PCIe 4 connectivity and an M.2 2280 form factor. You can plug it into laptops and desktops if you're more of a PC gamer, but you'll need to provide a heatsink if you want to hook this drive up to the PS5. You can buy one separately, or grab the 980 Pro with one bundled for $300. We also like the 980 Pro's fast performance, supporting speeds up to 7,000 MB/s, and its nickel coating which should help control temperature levels.
A couple of other drives that made it into our PS5 storage guide are discounted as well. The Patriot Viper VP4300 in 2TB is on sale for $330 — just clip the on-page coupon for $50 off to get the lower final price. This is actually our favorite drive for the PS5 thanks to its sequential read speeds of up to 7,400 MB/s and two included heatsink options (aluminum and graphene). Also on sale is the Seagate FireCuda 530 in 1TB, which you can get for $190. This drive supports speeds up to 7,300 MB/s and also comes with a heatsink.
If you missed the sale a few weeks ago, you have another chance to upgrade your gaming rig with a Samsung monitor for less. A handful of Odyssey gaming monitors are on sale right now, including the 49-inch Odyssey Neo G9 mini-LED curved monitor, which is $500 off and down to a record low of $2,000. Another display that's down to an all-time low is the 34-inch Odyssey G5 ultra-wide curved gaming monitor, which is $120 off and down to $430.
The Odyssey Neo G9 is a spare-no-expense gaming monitor and probably only best for serious gamers and streamers. Samsung claims it has a black level of 0.0004, and it can reach a peak brightness of 2,000 nits, plus you're getting the high contrast ratios and extra bright HDR performance that comes with mini-LED panels. The G9 also has a 240Hz refresh rate with a 1ms pixel response time, plus support for NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro. In addition to swivel, tilt and height adjustments, the monitor has a decent number of ports, too, including a DisplayPort, two HDMI connectors and two USB 3.0 ports.
The 34-inch Odyssey G5 may be from 2020, but it still has a lot going for it — including its more manageable price tag. It's a WQHD display with a 165Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time, plus support for HDR10 and AMD FreeSync. In addition to those two, a pair of Odyssey G3 monitors have also been discounted. You can grab the 32-inch Odyssey G3 ultra-wide curved monitor with a 165Hz refresh rate for $230, which is 30 percent off its usual rate, and the 24-inch Odyssey G3 gaming monitor for $180, or 28 percent off.
