Prime Day

They sure have. As has Walmart.

I went to Best Buy later in the day on Black Friday, and sadly all the great deals were gone. However, I then went to Walmart and ALL the deals were still there. None of them were labelled, which probably explains why no one bought them. But when rung up at the register, they were all at the sale prices.

Steam sales suck too, now.

Amazon used to have some good daily deals off and on, too. Now there’s way more deals on that page and very rarely anything I’d ever care about.

Steam sales are as great as they’ve ever been as far as getting saving money goes, but they’re much less exciting because there aren’t daily and flash deals.

They’re still good for savings, but they’re demonstrably not dipping as low as quickly or on average. And it’s pretty clearly at least partly because companies are more comfortable putting up steep discounts for 8 or 24 hours than they are for 14 days. (Though I think we can also blame the floodgates being thrown open in terms of adding games to Steam - steep discounts used to pay for themselves in exposure and that’s not necessarily true anymore.)

So far, the best known deals seem to be on Amazon devices. According to CNET:

Summary
  • Save 50 percent on Amazon Echo, only $89.99
  • Save $15 on Echo Dot, only $34.99
  • Amazon Tap is $50 off, only $79.90
  • Save $30 on new Fire HD 8 tablet, only $49.99 (also available as a three-pack for $119.97)
  • Save $40 on Fire HD 8 Kids Edition, only $89.99 (also available as a two-pack for $149.99)
  • Save $20 on Fire 7, Amazon’s best-selling tablet, only $29.99
  • Save $30 on Kindle Paperwhite, only $89.99
  • Kindle is $30 off, on sale for $49.99
  • Kindle Voyage is $50 off, on sale for $149.99
  • Save $50 on a Kindle Oasis with Free WiFi+3G
  • Save $30 on Kindle for Kids Bundles, only $69.99

I may grab myself another Dot for $35 or a first Echo for $90. Anything else I’ll have to wait and see what the Twitters recommend because Amazon is still a massive chore to navigate.

Wow, $90 for the Echo? I really don’t need another Alexa device. We have four Dots now and that covers us, but their speakers are crappy. We have two Sonos players and I was expecting the Dots to work with those by now but Sonos is dragging their feet. I am tempted to get an Echo for $90.

50 bucks for that HD8 tablet is a steal. Love the Amazon Kindle tablets. Fun little media consumption devices.

If you have any bluetooth speakers lying around (and face it: you do) just plug one into the dot and it’ll sound much better.

Oh crap. Have I fallen behind the curve? I don’t own any. :(

I do have an Echo, does that count at all?

EDIT: Wait! Not entirely true! The subwoofer is paired with my soundbar I use with my TV via bluetooth. I’m saved!

I refuse to believe you somehow managed to escape either purchasing or being gifted one of the incredible variety of $20-30 bluetooth speakers available in the past couple of years!

Yeah, I’ve been gifted two of them. And a Dot!

I take it the 7 inch tablet is skippable?

You have to get the angle just right, and the lake needs to be pretty calm.

WHY CAN’T I LIKE

Bravo!

More Echoes at 50% off are available. Just snagged one.

Basically all of the game deals are glitching out right now. Amazon is playing whack a mole, but I ordered World of Final Fantasy for like $13 and the just released Ever Oasis for $12.

So, is the 7 worth it for watching movies and emails, or should I just move directly to the 8 inch tablet?

I wouldn’t buy a device with a 1024 x 600 screen in 2017. The 8" is at least 1280 x 800.

Also, as a heads up for anyone with an Alexa device already: Your first voice order of $20 or more gets you a $10 credit, effectively knocking another $10 off the price of the Amazon devices.