If you’re just looking for a cheap way to keep your floors cleaner and don’t need all the top-end features, you may want to check out this deal. Anker brand Eufy’s BoostIQ RoboVac S11 is now down to $140 after a 44 percent discount. The sale comes as part of a larger sale on Eufy vacs, including ones with a few more bells and whistles. The S11 Max is our current pick for an ultra budget option in our buyer’s guide to robo vacs because it’s super affordable (especially after the discount), has good suction power and a long battery life. Probably the biggest caveat is that it’s not Wi-Fi enabled.
eufy
Our pick for an ultra budget robot vacuum is down to just $140 after a 44 percent discount.
Instead of controlling the unit through your home’s wireless network, the 11S Max comes with a remote that handles scheduling and other smart features like cleaning mode selection. It also has a manual button up top to start a session. It has three power modes — Standard, BoostIQ and Max — and BoostIQ provides a good balance of adequate suction and noise level. In our tests, a BoostIQ session lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. The obstacle avoidance is impressive at sidestepping random objects, though it occasionally bumped into walls. The vac is also about an inch an a half thinner than many other robot vacs we tested, which lets it get beneath low-slung furniture for more complete cleaning.
Roborock robot vacuums as part of the Amazon spring sale. All told, dozens of items are available for a discounted price, from standard robot vacuums to manual cleaners.
The most enticing offer here is likely the company’s , which is 30 percent off. That drops the price down to $700, a record low for the device. This is a vacuum/mop hybrid that automatically deposits debris into an affiliated dock. Roborock says the dock is large enough, at 2.5 liters, to store up to seven weeks of dirt and dust before requiring a trip to the trash can.
Roborock
It’s also powerful enough to clean hardwood, tiles, carpets and even thick rugs. It boasts the same kind of light and infrared imaging technology as rival robovacs, so it’ll automatically avoid floor-based hazards. The affiliated app gives access to a 3D map of the space, allowing people to adjust cleaning routes as they see fit. We have consistently enjoyed Roborock vacuums, though have found the app to be a bit on the wonky side.
The company’s Q5 robot vacuum , which is a 49 percent price drop. This is an entry-level product that lacks many of the premium features found with the S8+, but it’s still a great choice for simple cleaning tasks. The Q5 can easily handle pet hair, dust, dirt and all manner of debris, though there’s no mop feature. The battery does last for three hours before requiring a charge, which is a decent metric. It also integrates with voice assistants.
Other deals include the Roborock Q8 Max, which features a mop but lacks a self-emptying dock, for $400, and the Dyad Pro combo wet/dry manual vacuum. This cordless vac is $460 throughout the sale period, which is a discount of 30 percent.
The Amazon Spring Sale is here and if you’re interested in tech deals, you’ve come to the right place. However, don’t mistake this for a spring Prime Day — unlike Amazon’s bigger, traditional sale events, this one doesn’t revolve around Prime-exclusive discounts. And that’s a good thing; that means anyone who shops on Amazon can take advantage of the deals. Given the seasonal nature of this event, it’s not a boon for discounts on laptops, tablets, wearables and the like. However, we were able to find a number of decent discounts worth your time and money. While most of these Amazon deal prices are not the same as those we saw around Black Friday last year, some get pretty close (as a general rule of thumb, a good price in March isn’t necessarily the same thing as a good price in November). Here are the best Amazon Big Spring Sale deals on tech we love that you can get right now.
Best Spring Sale deals on Apple devices
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
Apple’s AirPods Pro are once again available for $189, which matches the best price we’ve seen for the latest iteration with a USB-C charging case. Apple normally sells the noise-canceling earphones for $249, though we often see them go closer to $200 at third-party retailers. Either way, they remain our favorite wireless earbuds for iOS users, as they provide an array of perks when paired with an iPhone, from faster pairing to hands-free Siri. Useful ANC, a superb ambient sound mode and a pleasingly warm sound profile help beyond that. Their battery life and mic quality are just OK these days, but this pair should serve you well if you’re all-in on Apple. We gave the second-gen AirPods Pro a review score of 88 back in 2022.
The second-gen Apple Pencil is down to $79, which is one the best prices we’ve seen. It’s important to note that it’s rumored that we’ll see new Apple Pencils when new iPads come out sometime within the next month — but if you already have an iPad and have been looking to snag this accessory on discount, now’s your chance. This is the Pencil that works with most of the latest iPad models and it magnetically snaps to the sides of the tablets for safe keeping. It’s one of our favorite iPad accessories thanks to that, and its generally stellar, little-to-no latency performance.
Best Spring Sale deals on headphones, earbuds and speakers
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Our favorite pair of budget wireless earbuds has dropped to a new record-low price of $50. The Anker Soundcore Space A40 impressed us with their solid sound quality, comfortable fit and impressive active noise cancellation for the price. We think they’re a great value at their normal $80 price, so this sale makes them even more attractive. In addition, they have good battery life and support for multi-device connectivity and wireless charging. They may not have the best call quality, and they don’t support automatically wear detection, but otherwise you’re getting a nearly-full package for a great price.
Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are back on sale for $328. This isn’t an all-time low, and it’s a deal we’ve seen numerous times over the past few months, but it’s still $70 off the noise-canceling cans’ list price. The XM5s are the top pick in our guide to the best wireless headphones thanks to their comfy fit, solid active noise cancellation (ANC), clear mic and handy bonus features. They’re bass-heavy by default, but you can adjust their sound profile with EQ tools in Sony’s companion app.
This XM5’s predecessor, the Sony WH-1000XM4, is also worth a note at $248. Again, that’s not an all-time low, but it’s about $50 below the pair’s average street price in recent months. This older model has many of the same benefits as its successor, plus its earcups can fold up, which makes the design a little easier to pack away. Its call quality is worse, however, and it’s not quite as light on the head. We gave the XM5 a review score of 95 in mid-2022, while the XM4 earned a 94 way back in 2020.
One of our favorite pairs of budget wireless earbuds, Amazon’s latest Echo Buds are on sale for only $35 ahead of the Spring Sale. These buds have an open design, which means they purposely let sound in so you can stay more aware of your surroundings. They support adjustable EQ and, unlike many other earbuds at this price, auto-pausing and multi-device pairing. And, as to be expected, they have Alexa built in so you can call upon the voice assistant when you need to while wearing them.
If you’re not tethered to Apple, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are another set of high-end earphones we recommend. Right now they’re down to $249 at Amazon, Bose.com and other storefronts. That’s a $50 discount. We’ve seen this price a few times before, but it still matches the best deal we’ve tracked. Bose says the offer will run until March 31.
We specifically highlight the QuietComfort Ultras in our buying guide for their noise-canceling prowess, as they do a superlative job of muting outside noise and allow you to lower the intensity of the ANC if it ever becomes uncomfortable. They’re another pair with a somewhat bass-heavy sound out of the box, but they don’t sound sloppy, and unlike the AirPods Pro you can customize their EQ through a companion app. That said, they don’t support wireless charging or multi-device pairing, and their six-to-seven-hour battery life isn’t anything special. The earpieces themselves are also fairly large, though we wouldn’t call them uncomfortable. We gave the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds a score of 88 in our review last year.
The Beats Studio Buds + are back on sale for $130 in various colors, which is roughly $20 off the true wireless earbuds’ average street price and $40 off Beats’ list price. The only time we’ve seen them go for less was a brief drop to $120 around Black Friday. This deal is also available at other retailers, including Target, Best Buy and B&H.
We gave the Studio Buds + a review score of 84 last year. As Beats is an Apple subsidiary, this pair provides many of the iOS-friendly perks you’d get from a set of AirPods, such as faster pairing, Find My tracking, hands-free Siri and Control Center integration. Unlike AirPods, they offer similar features on Android as well. A comfy fit, decent ANC and a mostly neutral sound profile also help. However, other AirPods features like audio sharing and automatic device switching (with Apple gear) aren’t supported, nor is wireless charging or wear detection. And the ANC and audio quality are a step down from the AirPods Pro. Still, if you dig the style and want to save some cash, the Studio Buds + are worth considering.
One of our favorite headphones for running is on sale for a near record-low price. Jabra’s Elite 8 Active earbuds have dropped to $160, which is only about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen. They’re rated IP68, which is one of the best protective ratings we’ve seen on workout earbuds. Jabra even put these buds through military-grade testing, so it’s fair to say they can take a beating. They also have great sound quality (that has spatial sound with Dolby Audio), good ANC and HearThrough transparency mode, multipoint connectivity and an easy to use mobile app. Also included in this sale are our budget top pick, the Jabra Elite 4 Active, for only $90.
The Google Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139 from $200. The 30 percent discount doesn’t bring the earbuds to their all-time low, but this is the cheapest we’ve seen the Google Pixel Buds Pro so far this year. These are our choice for the best wireless earbuds for Android.
Engadget’s Billy Steele gave them an 87 in his review thanks to the addition of solid active noise cancellation, punchy bass and reliable touch controls. They also offer IPX4 water resistance so you can take them on a run without worry. The buds get up to 11 hours on a charge and 31 hours in total with the case. And when it’s time to recharge, wireless charging makes a refill a little easier. One catch is the call quality isn’t as great as it could be, but if you’re primarily using them for music and podcasts, you may not notice.
Sonos has kicked off a new round of discounts on its soundbars and portable speakers. The deals include the Sonos Move 2 for $359, which is $70 off its usual going rate and the second-best price we’ve seen outside of a very brief drop to $349 last year. The Sonos Ray soundbar is $56 off and down to an all-time low of $223, while the higher-end Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is available for $399, a $100 discount. The Sonos Sub Mini subwoofer is also down to a low of $343, which is $86 less than usual, while the compact Sonos Roam SL is $32 off at $127. A few speaker bundles are also discounted. These offers are available at several retailers, including Amazon, B&H and Sonos.com. Sonos says they’ll run through March 25.
None of these devices come cheap, but they all deliver relatively clean sound, easy pairing with other Sonos hardware, AirPlay support and an app that (mostly) makes it simple to set up and stream music. The Move 2 is a hefty yet powerful battery-powered speaker for those who are more concerned with sound quality over portability. The Roam SL doesn’t sound as rich, but it’s much more travel-friendly and has a better water-resistance rating. (It lacks built-in mics, though.) The Ray is an entry-level 2.0-channel soundbar meant for smaller rooms and budget buyers. The Beam is a 5.0 model with a more expansive sound, an HDMI eARC port and voice assistant functionality. It also supports Dolby Atmos, though it can’t take advantage of that quite as much as larger models. The Sub Mini, meanwhile, is a handy way to beef up the bass response of an existing Sonos system. You can check out our reviews of the Move 2, Ray, second-gen Beam and Sub Mini for fuller breakdowns of each device.
As part of a larger portable speaker sale, Anker’s Soundcore Motion 300 has dropped to $64, which is a record low. It earned a spot on our favorites list thanks to its solid sound quality featuring crisp highs and generally punchy, bright audio. Its IPX7 design weighs only 1.7 pounds and the built-in loop makes it easy to attach to a bag to take with you on the go. It also works with Anker’s Soundcore app, which lets you customize EQ, button brightness and more.
Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have been discounted for the Spring Sale, down to $499 and $749, respectively. Both run on the Google Tensor G3 chip, and they have great battery lives and excellent cameras. We consider both of them to be the best Android phones available right now thanks in part to those features. Google also added a number of actually useful AI features like Best Take and Magic Eraser for photos, and more accurate voice typing and article summaries for the Google Assistant.
Our favorite midrange smartphone, the Google Pixel 7a is on sale for $374 right now, which is a record-low price. That almost puts it within our “budget” price range ($350) for Android phones, so while it’s still a splurge pick, it’s arguably the best Android phone you can get in that price range at the moment. It runs on Google’s Tensor G2 chipset, plus it has a lovely 90Hz touchscreen, long battery life and an excellent camera array that takes impressive photos in all kinds of light situations, and good selfies, too. While there are plenty of good budget Android phones available today, you won’t find one that offers a better value than the Pixel 7a when on sale like this.
The Elgato Stream Deck Mk.2 in white is back down to $130. This is another deal we’ve seen pop up periodically in recent months, but it’s $20 off the device’s usual street price all the same. The Stream Deck is a macro keypad we recommend in our guide to the best game streaming gear. It has 15 programmable hotkeys that you can set to perform different commands, from launching an app to activating smart lights to triggering on-screen GIFs and sound effects. It’s really meant for content creators and power users first and foremost, but if you think you could benefit from having a bunch of shortcuts within arm’s reach, this is a decent time to pick one up.
Bundles that pair the PlayStation 5 with a digital copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are still $50 off, bringing the standard model down to $449 and the digital-only version down to $400. These deals aren’t tied to Amazon’s Spring sale, but larger discounts on the PS5 have been uncommon, so this is still a good opportunity if you’ve been looking to take the plunge. The offers are available at several retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy and Sony’s PlayStation Direct store. Sony says they’ll last through March 31. My colleague Nathan Ingraham gave Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 a glowing review last year, calling it a “perfectly balanced game with gorgeous graphics, delightful combat and traversal systems, a compelling storyline and characters, plenty of challenge and a huge map to explore.”
The Google Nest Thermostat is on sale for $100 ahead of Amazon’s Spring sale, which is about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen over the past year but $30 below its typical going rate. We’ve highlighted this entry-level smart thermostat in past gift guides. Compared to the higher-end Nest Learning Thermostat, it has a cheaper plastic frame, doesn’t support remote temperature sensors and can’t learn your heating and cooling tendencies to make automatic adjustments throughout the day. That said, it’s a more affordable way to remotely control your home’s climate, and it still supports features like HVAC monitoring and voice assistant control. It’s also compatible with the Matter standard, unlike the pricier model, so it can work with third-party platforms like Apple Home.
The top pick in our guide to the best air purifiers is the Levoit Core 400S. Amazon’s sale is knocking the price down to $190 thanks to a clippable $30 coupon. That’s about $15 more than the all-time low, but still a decent deal on a purifier we found to be better than its higher-priced competition. It removes odors, dust, and small particulates like pollen from your indoor air with a three-layer system combining a pre-filter, activated charcoal layer and a HEPA filter. It’s app-connected and includes an optical sensor to monitor particulate matter levels and adjusts the fan speed accordingly.
The self-emptying Shark AV2501AE AI Robot Vacuum is 46 percent off for the Big Spring Sale. That makes it $350, which is $300 off the regular price and not too far away from its record low. This model is a variant of one of our top robot vacuum recommendations and comes with a base that holds up to 60 days of dirt and has a HEPA filtration system to capture dust and allergens. It uses 360° LiDAR to map your home, has an app to set schedules and even works with Alexa or the Google Assistant for literally hands free floor cleaning.
The is the runner up in our and thanks to the Amazon Big Spring Sale it’s now half price, making it just $300. That’s not quite an all-time low — it was $2 cheaper for much of February — but still a significant discount on one of our recommendations.
Engadget’s Valentina Palladino found this one to have powerful suction and an easy-to-use app. She also appreciated the upgraded obstacle detection that particularly avoids pet poop. The bot does take a couple runs before it can create a full map — and it doesn’t clean while it does that, so be prepared to wait a little after unboxing before your floors are truly on auto-pilot.
The Tineco Pure One S15 is the runner up pick in our cordless vacuum guide and right now it’s on sale for $349, but an addition clippable $25 coupon brings the final price down to $324.
This model is slightly less powerful than our top pick from Dyson but it handles dry messes well — including pet hair. It also automatically adjusts suction power depending on the amount of dirt it detects through the sensor. It’s app-connected, though that feature is admittedly not super necessary in a cordless vac. Still, it can help keep you apprised of your filter and battery levels.
As part of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, the Paperwhite Signature is getting a $30 discount — it’s first sale since Black Friday last year. The catch is that this deal is exclusively for Prime members. The Signature Edition is an upgrade over the standard Kindle: It has a larger, 6.8-inch screen, 32GB of storage, auto-adjusting warm front lights and wireless charging capabilities. It also comes standard without lockscreen ads, a great perk since you usually have to pay upwards of $20 to remove those on other Kindle models.
A number of Amazon’s Fire tablets are on sale right now, including the new Fire HD 10 for $95. That’s about $15 more than its record-low price, but it’s still a decent deal for this time of year. Updated in 2023, the Fire HD 10 has a 10-inch 1080p touchscreen, an octa-core processor, up to 13 hours of battery life and it charges via a USB-C port. We still think Fire tablets are best as secondary devices rather than daily drivers — that slab you keep next to the couch to check email or shop online on the fly, or by your bedside to read books and comics. And when they’re discounted like this, it’s much easier to justify getting a secondary device like that in the first place. A bunch of kid-friendly Fire tabs are on sale, too, most of which come with a childproof protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.
A variety of Amazon Blink devices are now discounted as part of the site’s Big Spring Sale. A three pack of the new Blink Outdoor 4 is down to $150 instead of $260. That’s a 42 percent discount and the lowest price we’ve seen this year (the set hit an all-time low of $135 for Black Friday).
If you just need one camera, take advantage of the sale on a single Blink Outdoor 4. It’s currently down to $65 from $100 — a 35 percent discount.
The Blink Outdoor 4 came out last August with a lot of upgrades including a larger field of vision, up to143 degrees and better low-light sensitivity and image quality. Blink claims the devices will go for two years before needing their AA batteries replaced.
The Samsung SmartTag 2 is on sale for only $21 for the Big Spring Sale, which is only $1 more than its record-low price. It’s one of our favorite Bluetooth trackers and it’s easily the best one for those with Samsung smartphones. Its finder network is large and its setup with the SmartThings Find app is quick and painless. If your stuff with the tag is left somewhere, you’ll get alerts when Lost Mode is activated. You can also just use the app to locate your items if you misplace them nearby. Out of all the Bluetooth trackers we tested, we liked the design of the SmartTag 2 the best thanks to its oblong shape, big keyring hole and support for colorful cases.
The Google Pixel Tablet makes a good smart display and tablet hybrid. Right now the 11-inch slate-plus-dock is back down to $399 at multiple retailers for the 128GB model. In addition to Amazon you can save at Target and the Google Store. This matches the lowest price we’ve seen and works out to $100 below the variation’s usual going rate. If you need more storage, the 256GB version is $150 off and available for $449, also an all-time low.
Engadget’s Cherlynn Low gave the Pixel Tablet a score of 85 in her review last June, and we mention the device in our tablet buying guide, though it’s not one of our top picks. But if you’re looking for a tablet that can also be your smart home command center, this is a good pick for controlling smart home devices, showcasing photos, streaming music with the improved speakers, and even cast video from your phone.
Plugable TBT4-UDZ gets a mention in our guide to the best laptop docking stations and right now it’s 20 percent off and down to $239. It’s a rare discount for the brand and the lowest price we’ve tracked. We were a little disappointed that the dock only has one downstream USB-C port, but it has plenty of USB-A and display connections and worked well with the MacBook and Dell laptops in our test, but didn’t work with a Chromebook.
New subscribers can get 40 percent off a Max subscription when you pay for one year upfront. If you want to go all-in on the highest tier, which gives you ad-free viewing and 4K streaming, it’ll cost you $140 for the year (roughly $12 per month). The most affordable tier will set you back a total of $70 for the year, which works out to about $6 per month. Considering how often streaming prices have increased recently, a sale like this is a great time to invest in a year of access to shows like The Last of Us and movies from outlets like Studio Ghibli and A24.
Our top pick for the best cordless vacuum cleaner, the Dyson V15 Detect, is on sale for $600 right now directly at Dyson. We’ve seen this model drop to $550 in the past, but this remains a great sale on a cordless vacuum that’s typically priced at $750. The “Absolute” models are much the same as the standard models, but you can typically only get Absolute versions at Dyson.com. Also, this model has HEPA filtration, a built-in tool and an exclusive gold color. Otherwise, it’s the same as our top pick, which impressed us with its excellent suction power, lightweight design and good battery life. In general, we found Dyson stick vacuums to provide the strongest suction power of any brand we tried, and the V15 is noticeably stronger than older models like the V8. It comes with a number of attachments as well, including the Fluffy Optic cleaner head that illuminates your floors with a laser of light so you can see exactly where the most debris is as you clean.
As part of the Big Spring Sale, Amazon has a similar version, the V15 Detect Complete, for $690 as a Prime exclusive. The main difference here, aside from the lack of HEPA filtration, is that you get a standing dock with Amazon’s model, which will be handy if you aren’t keen on mounting your new cordless vacuum to a wall.
We’ll move beyond Amazon for our last few deals this week. First, a configuration of Apple’s 14.2-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip, 18GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is down to $1,799 at B&H. That’s close to an all-time low and comes in $200 below Apple’s MSRP. We gave the latest MacBook Pro a review score of 90 last year. It’s more Mac than most people need, especially after the recent refresh of the MacBook Air. But for video editors, 3D designers and other professional types who need more power, a wider port selection and a brighter display, it should still fit the bill.
The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard is back on sale for $80 at Amazon subsidiary Woot, a $20 discount that matches the lowest price we’ve seen. This is a tenkeyless mechanical keyboard we recommended in our retro gaming gift guide late last year. You’d mainly buy it for the aesthetic, as it looks like a companion piece for an old NES. Beyond that, it’s sturdily built, it works wirelessly and it comes with a pair of giant “Super Buttons” that you can customize to perform different macros. It’s comfortable for typing as well, though its clicky Kailh Box White V2 switches are fairly noisy. It also lacks any kind of backlighting. The stock switches are hot-swappable, however, so you can easily replace them if needed.
The latest Steam Spring Sale is underway, bringing an enormous range of PC game discounts along with it. There are simply too many deals for us to list everything, but some highlights include the acclaimed CRPG Baldur’s Gate 3for $54 (a small but rare discount), the frantic platformer Pizza Towerfor $13.39, the recently released Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth for $56, the FPS compilation Halo: The Master Chief Collectionfor $10 and the VR adventure Half-Life: Alyx for $20.39. These big Steam sales are always a good time to grab some older classics for dirt cheap, too: The two Portalpuzzlers are available for $1.48, for instance, while the co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2is just a buck. Valve says the sale will run until March 21.
Outside of Steam, the Epic Games Store has commenced its Spring Sale as well. The selection there isn’t as large, as usual, but it does include some well-reviewed exclusives like Alan Wake 2for $40 and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownfor $30. Before you go padding your backlog on either store, though, we’d recommend using a price tracking site like IsThereAnyDeal to ensure you’re getting a genuine discount.
However technologically impressive a foldable smartphone may be, they’re seriously expensive. A $500 discount can help if you’re ready to grab one. The Google Pixel Fold is one of our favorites, and it’s now down to $1,299 at the Goole Store. It beats the largest discount we’ve seen for the unlocked 256GB model, by $100. If you need more storage space, Google has the 512GB model for $1,419, another $500 discount and record low.
The Pixel Fold is the runner-up pick in our guide to the best foldable phones, and Engadget’s Sam Rutherford gave it a score of 85 in his review last June.
The discount is part of a larger sale Google is hosting on its storefront right now, perhaps in response to Amazon’s event.
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale has begun and if you’re interested in tech deals, you’ve come to the right place. This sale event may not be a boon for discounts on laptops, tablets, wearables and the like, but Amazon did roll out some solid early deals on tech we’ve recommended, and most of those sales are still available today. While most of these prices do not match those we saw around Black Friday last year, some do get pretty close — and, as a general rule of thumb, a good price in March isn’t necessarily the same thing as a good price in November. Here are the best Amazon Spring Sale deals on tech that you can shop right now. The sale officially runs through March 25, and we’ll continue to update this post with the latest offerings.
Best Spring Sale deals on Apple devices
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
Apple’s AirPods Pro are once again available for $189, which matches the best price we’ve seen for the latest iteration with a USB-C charging case. Apple normally sells the noise-canceling earphones for $249, though we often see them go closer to $200 at third-party retailers. Either way, they remain our favorite wireless earbuds for iOS users, as they provide an array of perks when paired with an iPhone, from faster pairing to hands-free Siri. Useful ANC, a superb ambient sound mode and a pleasingly warm sound profile help beyond that. Their battery life and mic quality are just OK these days, but this pair should serve you well if you’re all-in on Apple. We gave the second-gen AirPods Pro a review score of 88 back in 2022.
The second-gen Apple Pencil is down to $79, which is one the best prices we’ve seen. It’s important to note that it’s rumored that we’ll see new Apple Pencils when new iPads come out sometime within the next month — but if you already have an iPad and have been looking to snag this accessory on discount, now’s your chance. This is the Pencil that works with most of the latest iPad models and it magnetically snaps to the sides of the tablets for safe keeping. It’s one of our favorite iPad accessories thanks to that, and its generally stellar, little-to-no latency performance.
Best Spring Sale deals on headphones, earbuds and speakers
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Our favorite pair of budget wireless earbuds has dropped to a new record-low price of $50. The Anker Soundcore Space A40 impressed us with their solid sound quality, comfortable fit and impressive active noise cancellation for the price. We think they’re a great value at their normal $80 price, so this sale makes them even more attractive. In addition, they have good battery life and support for multi-device connectivity and wireless charging. They may not have the best call quality, and they don’t support automatically wear detection, but otherwise you’re getting a nearly-full package for a great price.
Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are back on sale for $328. This isn’t an all-time low, and it’s a deal we’ve seen numerous times over the past few months, but it’s still $70 off the noise-canceling cans’ list price. The XM5s are the top pick in our guide to the best wireless headphones thanks to their comfy fit, solid active noise cancellation (ANC), clear mic and handy bonus features. They’re bass-heavy by default, but you can adjust their sound profile with EQ tools in Sony’s companion app.
This XM5’s predecessor, the Sony WH-1000XM4, is also worth a note at $248. Again, that’s not an all-time low, but it’s about $50 below the pair’s average street price in recent months. This older model has many of the same benefits as its successor, plus its earcups can fold up, which makes the design a little easier to pack away. Its call quality is worse, however, and it’s not quite as light on the head. We gave the XM5 a review score of 95 in mid-2022, while the XM4 earned a 94 way back in 2020.
If you’re not tethered to Apple, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are another set of high-end earphones we recommend. Right now they’re down to $249 at Amazon, Bose.com and other storefronts. That’s a $50 discount. We’ve seen this price a few times before, but it still matches the best deal we’ve tracked. Bose says the offer will run until March 31.
We specifically highlight the QuietComfort Ultras in our buying guide for their noise-canceling prowess, as they do a superlative job of muting outside noise and allow you to lower the intensity of the ANC if it ever becomes uncomfortable. They’re another pair with a somewhat bass-heavy sound out of the box, but they don’t sound sloppy, and unlike the AirPods Pro you can customize their EQ through a companion app. That said, they don’t support wireless charging or multi-device pairing, and their six-to-seven-hour battery life isn’t anything special. The earpieces themselves are also fairly large, though we wouldn’t call them uncomfortable. We gave the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds a score of 88 in our review last year.
One of our favorite pairs of budget wireless earbuds, Amazon’s latest Echo Buds are on sale for only $35 ahead of the Spring Sale. These buds have an open design, which means they purposely let sound in so you can stay more aware of your surroundings. They support adjustable EQ and, unlike many other earbuds at this price, auto-pausing and multi-device pairing. And, as to be expected, they have Alexa built in so you can call upon the voice assistant when you need to while wearing them.
One of our favorite headphones for running is on sale for a near record-low price. Jabra’s Elite 8 Active earbuds have dropped to $160, which is only about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen. They’re rated IP68, which is one of the best protective ratings we’ve seen on workout earbuds. Jabra even put these buds through military-grade testing, so it’s fair to say they can take a beating. They also have great sound quality (that has spatial sound with Dolby Audio), good ANC and HearThrough transparency mode, multipoint connectivity and an easy to use mobile app. Also included in this sale are our budget top pick, the Jabra Elite 4 Active, for only $90.
The Beats Studio Buds + are back on sale for $130 in various colors, which is roughly $20 off the true wireless earbuds’ average street price and $40 off Beats’ list price. The only time we’ve seen them go for less was a brief drop to $120 around Black Friday. This deal is also available at other retailers, including Target, Best Buy and B&H.
We gave the Studio Buds + a review score of 84 last year. As Beats is an Apple subsidiary, this pair provides many of the iOS-friendly perks you’d get from a set of AirPods, such as faster pairing, Find My tracking, hands-free Siri and Control Center integration. Unlike AirPods, they offer similar features on Android as well. A comfy fit, decent ANC and a mostly neutral sound profile also help. However, other AirPods features like audio sharing and automatic device switching (with Apple gear) aren’t supported, nor is wireless charging or wear detection. And the ANC and audio quality are a step down from the AirPods Pro. Still, if you dig the style and want to save some cash, the Studio Buds + are worth considering.
The Google Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139 from $200. The 30 percent discount doesn’t bring the earbuds to their all-time low, but this is the cheapest we’ve seen the Google Pixel Buds Pro so far this year. These are our choice for the best wireless earbuds for Android.
Engadget’s Billy Steele gave them an 87 in his review thanks to the addition of solid active noise cancellation, punchy bass and reliable touch controls. They also offer IPX4 water resistance so you can take them on a run without worry. The buds get up to 11 hours on a charge and 31 hours in total with the case. And when it’s time to recharge, wireless charging makes a refill a little easier. One catch is the call quality isn’t as great as it could be, but if you’re primarily using them for music and podcasts, you may not notice.
Sonos has kicked off a new round of discounts on its soundbars and portable speakers. The deals include the Sonos Move 2 for $359, which is $70 off its usual going rate and the second-best price we’ve seen outside of a very brief drop to $349 last year. The Sonos Ray soundbar is $56 off and down to an all-time low of $223, while the higher-end Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is available for $399, a $100 discount. The Sonos Sub Mini subwoofer is also down to a low of $343, which is $86 less than usual, while the compact Sonos Roam SL is $32 off at $127. A few speaker bundles are also discounted. These offers are available at several retailers, including Amazon, B&H and Sonos.com. Sonos says they’ll run through March 25.
None of these devices come cheap, but they all deliver relatively clean sound, easy pairing with other Sonos hardware, AirPlay support and an app that (mostly) makes it simple to set up and stream music. The Move 2 is a hefty yet powerful battery-powered speaker for those who are more concerned with sound quality over portability. The Roam SL doesn’t sound as rich, but it’s much more travel-friendly and has a better water-resistance rating. (It lacks built-in mics, though.) The Ray is an entry-level 2.0-channel soundbar meant for smaller rooms and budget buyers. The Beam is a 5.0 model with a more expansive sound, an HDMI eARC port and voice assistant functionality. It also supports Dolby Atmos, though it can’t take advantage of that quite as much as larger models. The Sub Mini, meanwhile, is a handy way to beef up the bass response of an existing Sonos system. You can check out our reviews of the Move 2, Ray, second-gen Beam and Sub Mini for fuller breakdowns of each device.
As part of a larger portable speaker sale, Anker’s Soundcore Motion 300 has dropped to $64, which is a record low. It earned a spot on our favorites list thanks to its solid sound quality featuring crisp highs and generally punchy, bright audio. Its IPX7 design weighs only 1.7 pounds and the built-in loop makes it easy to attach to a bag to take with you on the go. It also works with Anker’s Soundcore app, which lets you customize EQ, button brightness and more.
Our favorite midrange smartphone, the Google Pixel 7a is on sale for $374 right now, which is a record-low price. That almost puts it within our “budget” price range ($350) for Android phones, so while it’s still a splurge pick, it’s arguably the best Android phone you can get in that price range at the moment. It runs on Google’s Tensor G2 chipset, plus it has a lovely 90Hz touchscreen, long battery life and an excellent camera array that takes impressive photos in all kinds of light situations, and good selfies, too. While there are plenty of good budget Android phones available today, you won’t find one that offers a better value than the Pixel 7a when on sale like this.
Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have been discounted for the Spring Sale, down to $499 and $749, respectively. Both run on the Google Tensor G3 chip, and they have great battery lives and excellent cameras. We consider both of them to be the best Android phones available right now thanks in part to those features. Google also added a number of actually useful AI features like Best Take and Magic Eraser for photos, and more accurate voice typing and article summaries for the Google Assistant.
The Elgato Stream Deck Mk.2 in white is back down to $130. This is another deal we’ve seen pop up periodically in recent months, but it’s $20 off the device’s usual street price all the same. The Stream Deck is a macro keypad we recommend in our guide to the best game streaming gear. It has 15 programmable hotkeys that you can set to perform different commands, from launching an app to activating smart lights to triggering on-screen GIFs and sound effects. It’s really meant for content creators and power users first and foremost, but if you think you could benefit from having a bunch of shortcuts within arm’s reach, this is a decent time to pick one up.
Bundles that pair the PlayStation 5 with a digital copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are still $50 off, bringing the standard model down to $449 and the digital-only version down to $400. These deals aren’t tied to Amazon’s Spring sale, but larger discounts on the PS5 have been uncommon, so this is still a good opportunity if you’ve been looking to take the plunge. The offers are available at several retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy and Sony’s PlayStation Direct store. Sony says they’ll last through March 31. My colleague Nathan Ingraham gave Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 a glowing review last year, calling it a “perfectly balanced game with gorgeous graphics, delightful combat and traversal systems, a compelling storyline and characters, plenty of challenge and a huge map to explore.”
“Mario Day” has come and gone, but Nintendo is still running a handful of deals on Switch consoles and games. At Amazon, you can grab the OLED Nintendo Switch for $10 less than usual thanks to an on-page coupon. If you have any interest in the cutesy social sim Animal Crossing: New Horizons, note that Target is bundling the Switch Lite with that game.
It’s also worth noting that Nintendo is widely expected to launch a new console in the coming months. Even if the latest reports suggest that won’t arrive until 2025, it’s hard to call this a great time to invest in the console. But if you don’t care about hopping on the bandwagon late and just want to catch up with the Switch’s library, getting any sort of deal on a Switch is better than normal. Just remember that the Switch Lite can’t be docked to a TV.
The Google Nest Thermostat is on sale for $100 ahead of Amazon’s Spring sale, which is about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen over the past year but $30 below its typical going rate. We’ve highlighted this entry-level smart thermostat in past gift guides. Compared to the higher-end Nest Learning Thermostat, it has a cheaper plastic frame, doesn’t support remote temperature sensors and can’t learn your heating and cooling tendencies to make automatic adjustments throughout the day. That said, it’s a more affordable way to remotely control your home’s climate, and it still supports features like HVAC monitoring and voice assistant control. It’s also compatible with the Matter standard, unlike the pricier model, so it can work with third-party platforms like Apple Home.
The Tineco Pure One S15 is the runner up pick in our cordless vacuum guide and right now it’s on sale for $349, but an addition clippable $25 coupon brings the final price down to $324.
This model is slightly less powerful than our top pick from Dyson but it handles dry messes well — including pet hair. It also automatically adjusts suction power depending on the amount of dirt it detects through the sensor. It’s app-connected, though that feature is admittedly not super necessary in a cordless vac. Still, it can help keep you apprised of your filter and battery levels.
The top pick in our guide to the best air purifiers is the Levoit Core 400S. Amazon’s sale is knocking the price down to $190 thanks to a clippable $30 coupon. That’s about $15 more than the all-time low, but still a decent deal on a purifier we found to be better than its higher-priced competition. It removes odors, dust, and small particulates like pollen from your indoor air with a three-layer system combining a pre-filter, activated charcoal layer and a HEPA filter. It’s app-connected and includes an optical sensor to monitor particulate matter levels and adjusts the fan speed accordingly.
The self-emptying Shark AV2501AE AI Robot Vacuum is 46 percent off for the Big Spring Sale. That makes it $350, which is $300 off the regular price and not too far away from its record low. This model is a variant of one of our top robot vacuum recommendations and comes with a base that holds up to 60 days of dirt and has a HEPA filtration system to capture dust and allergens. It uses 360° LiDAR to map your home, has an app to set schedules and even works with Alexa or the Google Assistant for literally hands free floor cleaning.
The is the runner up in our and thanks to the Amazon Big Spring Sale it’s now half price, making it just $300. That’s not quite an all-time low — it was $2 cheaper for much of February — but still a significant discount on one of our recommendations.
Engadget’s Valentina Palladino found this one to have powerful suction and an easy-to-use app. She also appreciated the upgraded obstacle detection that particularly avoids pet poop. The bot does take a couple runs before it can create a full map — and it doesn’t clean while it does that, so be prepared to wait a little after unboxing before your floors are truly on auto-pilot.
A number of Amazon’s Fire tablets are on sale right now, including the new Fire HD 10 for $95. That’s about $15 more than its record-low price, but it’s still a decent deal for this time of year. Updated in 2023, the Fire HD 10 has a 10-inch 1080p touchscreen, an octa-core processor, up to 13 hours of battery life and it charges via a USB-C port. We still think Fire tablets are best as secondary devices rather than daily drivers — that slab you keep next to the couch to check email or shop online on the fly, or by your bedside to read books and comics. And when they’re discounted like this, it’s much easier to justify getting a secondary device like that in the first place. A bunch of kid-friendly Fire tabs are on sale, too, most of which come with a childproof protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.
A variety of Amazon Blink devices are now discounted as part of the site’s Big Spring Sale. A three pack of the new Blink Outdoor 4 is down to $150 instead of $260. That’s a 42 percent discount and the lowest price we’ve seen this year (the set hit an all-time low of $135 for Black Friday).
If you just need one camera, take advantage of the sale on a single Blink Outdoor 4. It’s currently down to $65 from $100 — a 35 percent discount.
The Blink Outdoor 4 came out last August with a lot of upgrades including a larger field of vision, up to143 degrees and better low-light sensitivity and image quality. Blink claims the devices will go for two years before needing their AA batteries replaced.
The Samsung SmartTag 2 is on sale for only $21 for the Big Spring Sale, which is only $1 more than its record-low price. It’s one of our favorite Bluetooth trackers and it’s easily the best one for those with Samsung smartphones. Its finder network is large and its setup with the SmartThings Find app is quick and painless. If your stuff with the tag is left somewhere, you’ll get alerts when Lost Mode is activated. You can also just use the app to locate your items if you misplace them nearby. Out of all the Bluetooth trackers we tested, we liked the design of the SmartTag 2 the best thanks to its oblong shape, big keyring hole and support for colorful cases.
The Google Pixel Tablet makes a good smart display and tablet hybrid. Right now the 11-inch slate-plus-dock is back down to $399 at multiple retailers for the 28GB model. In addition to Amazon you can save at Target and the Google Store. This matches the lowest price we’ve seen and works out to $100 below the variation’s usual going rate. If you need more storage, the 256GB version is $150 off and available for $449, also an all-time low.
Engadget’s Cherlynn Low gave the Pixel Tablet a score of 85 in her review last June, and we mention the device in our tablet buying guide, though it’s not one of our top picks. But if you’re looking for a tablet that can also be your smart home command center, this is a good pick for controlling smart home devices, showcasing photos, streaming music with the improved speakers, and even cast video from your phone.
Plugable TBT4-UDZ gets a mention in our guide to the best laptop docking stations and right now it’s 20 percent off and down to $239. It’s a rare discount for the brand and the lowest price we’ve tracked. We were a little disappointed that the dock only has one downstream USB-C port, but it has plenty of USB-A and display connections and worked well with the MacBook and Dell laptops in our test, but didn’t work with a Chromebook.
New subscribers can get 40 percent off a Max subscription when you pay for one year upfront. If you want to go all-in on the highest tier, which gives you ad-free viewing and 4K streaming, it’ll cost you $140 for the year (roughly $12 per month). The most affordable tier will set you back a total of $70 for the year, which works out to about $6 per month. Considering how often streaming prices have increased recently, a sale like this is a great time to invest in a year of access to shows like The Last of Us and movies from outlets like Studio Ghibli and A24.
Our top pick for the best cordless vacuum cleaner, the Dyson V15 Detect, is on sale for $600 right now directly at Dyson. We’ve seen this model drop to $550 in the past, but this remains a great sale on a cordless vacuum that’s typically priced at $750. The “Absolute” models are much the same as the standard models, but you can typically only get Absolute versions at Dyson.com. Also, this model has HEPA filtration, a built-in tool and an exclusive gold color. Otherwise, it’s the same as our top pick, which impressed us with its excellent suction power, lightweight design and good battery life. In general, we found Dyson stick vacuums to provide the strongest suction power of any brand we tried, and the V15 is noticeably stronger than older models like the V8. It comes with a number of attachments as well, including the Fluffy Optic cleaner head that illuminates your floors with a laser of light so you can see exactly where the most debris is as you clean.
As part of the Big Spring Sale, Amazon has a similar version, the V15 Detect Complete, for $690 as a Prime exclusive. The main difference here, aside from the lack of HEPA filtration, is that you get a standing dock with Amazon’s model, which will be handy if you aren’t keen on mounting your new cordless vacuum to a wall.
We’ll move beyond Amazon for our last few deals this week. First, a configuration of Apple’s 14.2-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip, 18GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is down to $1,799 at B&H. That’s close to an all-time low and comes in $200 below Apple’s MSRP. We gave the latest MacBook Pro a review score of 90 last year. It’s more Mac than most people need, especially after the recent refresh of the MacBook Air. But for video editors, 3D designers and other professional types who need more power, a wider port selection and a brighter display, it should still fit the bill.
The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard is back on sale for $80 at Amazon subsidiary Woot, a $20 discount that matches the lowest price we’ve seen. This is a tenkeyless mechanical keyboard we recommended in our retro gaming gift guide late last year. You’d mainly buy it for the aesthetic, as it looks like a companion piece for an old NES. Beyond that, it’s sturdily built, it works wirelessly and it comes with a pair of giant “Super Buttons” that you can customize to perform different macros. It’s comfortable for typing as well, though its clicky Kailh Box White V2 switches are fairly noisy. It also lacks any kind of backlighting. The stock switches are hot-swappable, however, so you can easily replace them if needed.
The latest Steam Spring Sale is underway, bringing an enormous range of PC game discounts along with it. There are simply too many deals for us to list everything, but some highlights include the acclaimed CRPG Baldur’s Gate 3for $54 (a small but rare discount), the frantic platformer Pizza Towerfor $13.39, the recently released Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth for $56, the FPS compilation Halo: The Master Chief Collectionfor $10 and the VR adventure Half-Life: Alyx for $20.39. These big Steam sales are always a good time to grab some older classics for dirt cheap, too: The two Portalpuzzlers are available for $1.48, for instance, while the co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2is just a buck. Valve says the sale will run until March 21.
Outside of Steam, the Epic Games Store has commenced its Spring Sale as well. The selection there isn’t as large, as usual, but it does include some well-reviewed exclusives like Alan Wake 2for $40 and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownfor $30. Before you go padding your backlog on either store, though, we’d recommend using a price tracking site like IsThereAnyDeal to ensure you’re getting a genuine discount.
However technologically impressive a foldable smartphone may be, they’re seriously expensive. A $500 discount can help if you’re ready to grab one. The Google Pixel Fold is one of our favorites, and it’s now down to $1,299 at the Goole Store. It beats the largest discount we’ve seen for the unlocked 256GB model, by $100. If you need more storage space, Google has the 512GB model for $1,419, another $500 discount and record low.
The Pixel Fold is the runner-up pick in our guide to the best foldable phones, and Engadget’s Sam Rutherford gave it a score of 85 in his review last June.
The discount is part of a larger sale Google is hosting on its storefront right now, perhaps in response to Amazon’s event.
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale is now live. The early deals of the past few days gave us some insight into what to expect, but now it’s official. Unlike the company’s Prime Day sales in July and October, this sale is by and large for anyone, non-Prime members included. That’s good news for those who don’t pay the $79 yearly membership fee. In another departure from Prime events, the Amazon spring sale looks to be focused on seasonal fare, particularly Spring apparel and home decor. While that’s not our beat, we did find a good number of deals on some of the gadgets and devices we recommend, including a new low price on our favorite Android smartphone, $72 drop on our top wireless Sony headphones and up to 43 percent off Anker charging accessories.
The Big Spring Sale runs through Monday, March 25th. From now until then, we’ll continue to sift through Amazon’s offerings to find the best tech deals on the site, updating this guide as we do. And, since there’s nothing like a sale to inspire other discounts, we rounded up some deals from other retailers across the web at the very end. Here are the best tech deals we could find in the Amazon Big Spring Sale.
Best Spring Sale deals on Apple devices
Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget
Apple’s AirPods Pro are once again available for $189, which matches the best price we’ve seen for the latest iteration with a USB-C charging case. Apple normally sells the noise-canceling earphones for $249, though we often see them go closer to $200 at third-party retailers. Either way, they remain our favorite wireless earbuds for iOS users, as they provide an array of perks when paired with an iPhone, from faster pairing to hands-free Siri. Useful ANC, a superb ambient sound mode and a pleasingly warm sound profile help beyond that. Their battery life and mic quality are just OK these days, but this pair should serve you well if you’re all-in on Apple. We gave the second-gen AirPods Pro a review score of 88 back in 2022.
The second-gen Apple Pencil is down to $79, which is one the best prices we’ve seen. It’s important to note that it’s rumored that we’ll see new Apple Pencils when new iPads come out sometime within the next month — but if you already have an iPad and have been looking to snag this accessory on discount, now’s your chance. This is the Pencil that works with most of the latest iPad models and it magnetically snaps to the sides of the tablets for safe keeping. It’s one of our favorite iPad accessories thanks to that, and its generally stellar, little-to-no latency performance.
Best Spring Sale deals on headphones, earbuds and speakers
Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
Our favorite pair of budget wireless earbuds has dropped to a new record-low price of $50. The Anker Soundcore Space A40 impressed us with their solid sound quality, comfortable fit and impressive active noise cancellation for the price. We think they’re a great value at their normal $80 price, so this sale makes them even more attractive. In addition, they have good battery life and support for multi-device connectivity and wireless charging. They may not have the best call quality, and they don’t support automatically wear detection, but otherwise you’re getting a nearly-full package for a great price.
Sony’s WH-1000XM5 headphones are back on sale for $328. This isn’t an all-time low, and it’s a deal we’ve seen numerous times over the past few months, but it’s still $70 off the noise-canceling cans’ list price. The XM5s are the top pick in our guide to the best wireless headphones thanks to their comfy fit, solid active noise cancellation (ANC), clear mic and handy bonus features. They’re bass-heavy by default, but you can adjust their sound profile with EQ tools in Sony’s companion app.
This XM5’s predecessor, the Sony WH-1000XM4, is also worth a note at $248. Again, that’s not an all-time low, but it’s about $50 below the pair’s average street price in recent months. This older model has many of the same benefits as its successor, plus its earcups can fold up, which makes the design a little easier to pack away. Its call quality is worse, however, and it’s not quite as light on the head. We gave the XM5 a review score of 95 in mid-2022, while the XM4 earned a 94 way back in 2020.
If you’re not tethered to Apple, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are another set of high-end earphones we recommend. Right now they’re down to $249 at Amazon, Bose.com and other storefronts. That’s a $50 discount. We’ve seen this price a few times before, but it still matches the best deal we’ve tracked. Bose says the offer will run until March 31.
We specifically highlight the QuietComfort Ultras in our buying guide for their noise-canceling prowess, as they do a superlative job of muting outside noise and allow you to lower the intensity of the ANC if it ever becomes uncomfortable. They’re another pair with a somewhat bass-heavy sound out of the box, but they don’t sound sloppy, and unlike the AirPods Pro you can customize their EQ through a companion app. That said, they don’t support wireless charging or multi-device pairing, and their six-to-seven-hour battery life isn’t anything special. The earpieces themselves are also fairly large, though we wouldn’t call them uncomfortable. We gave the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds a score of 88 in our review last year.
One of our favorite pairs of budget wireless earbuds, Amazon’s latest Echo Buds are on sale for only $35 ahead of the Spring Sale. These buds have an open design, which means they purposely let sound in so you can stay more aware of your surroundings. They support adjustable EQ and, unlike many other earbuds at this price, auto-pausing and multi-device pairing. And, as to be expected, they have Alexa built in so you can call upon the voice assistant when you need to while wearing them.
The Google Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139 from $200. The 30 percent discount doesn’t bring the earbuds to their all-time low, but this is the cheapest we’ve seen the Google Pixel Buds Pro so far this year. These are our choice for the best wireless earbuds for Android.
Engadget’s Billy Steele gave them an 87 in his review thanks to the addition of solid active noise cancellation, punchy bass and reliable touch controls. They also offer IPX4 water resistance so you can take them on a run without worry. The buds get up to 11 hours on a charge and 31 hours in total with the case. And when it’s time to recharge, wireless charging makes a refill a little easier. One catch is the call quality isn’t as great as it could be, but if you’re primarily using them for music and podcasts, you may not notice.
Sonos has kicked off a new round of discounts on its soundbars and portable speakers. The deals include the Sonos Move 2 for $359, which is $70 off its usual going rate and the second-best price we’ve seen outside of a very brief drop to $349 last year. The Sonos Ray soundbar is $56 off and down to an all-time low of $223, while the higher-end Sonos Beam (Gen 2) is available for $399, a $100 discount. The Sonos Sub Mini subwoofer is also down to a low of $343, which is $86 less than usual, while the compact Sonos Roam SL is $32 off at $127. A few speaker bundles are also discounted. These offers are available at several retailers, including Amazon, B&H and Sonos.com. Sonos says they’ll run through March 25.
None of these devices come cheap, but they all deliver relatively clean sound, easy pairing with other Sonos hardware, AirPlay support and an app that (mostly) makes it simple to set up and stream music. The Move 2 is a hefty yet powerful battery-powered speaker for those who are more concerned with sound quality over portability. The Roam SL doesn’t sound as rich, but it’s much more travel-friendly and has a better water-resistance rating. (It lacks built-in mics, though.) The Ray is an entry-level 2.0-channel soundbar meant for smaller rooms and budget buyers. The Beam is a 5.0 model with a more expansive sound, an HDMI eARC port and voice assistant functionality. It also supports Dolby Atmos, though it can’t take advantage of that quite as much as larger models. The Sub Mini, meanwhile, is a handy way to beef up the bass response of an existing Sonos system. You can check out our reviews of the Move 2, Ray, second-gen Beam and Sub Mini for fuller breakdowns of each device.
As part of a larger portable speaker sale, Anker’s Soundcore Motion 300 has dropped to $64, which is a record low. It earned a spot on our favorites list thanks to its solid sound quality featuring crisp highs and generally punchy, bright audio. Its IPX7 design weighs only 1.7 pounds and the built-in loop makes it easy to attach to a bag to take with you on the go. It also works with Anker’s Soundcore app, which lets you customize EQ, button brightness and more.
Our favorite midrange smartphone, the Google Pixel 7a is on sale for $374 right now, which is a record-low price. That almost puts it within our “budget” price range ($350) for Android phones, so while it’s still a splurge pick, it’s arguably the best Android phone you can get in that price range at the moment. It runs on Google’s Tensor G2 chipset, plus it has a lovely 90Hz touchscreen, long battery life and an excellent camera array that takes impressive photos in all kinds of light situations, and good selfies, too. While there are plenty of good budget Android phones available today, you won’t find one that offers a better value than the Pixel 7a when on sale like this.
Both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro have been discounted for the Spring Sale, down to $499 and $749, respectively. Both run on the Google Tensor G3 chip, and they have great battery lives and excellent cameras. We consider both of them to be the best Android phones available right now thanks in part to those features. Google also added a number of actually useful AI features like Best Take and Magic Eraser for photos, and more accurate voice typing and article summaries for the Google Assistant.
The Elgato Stream Deck Mk.2 in white is back down to $130. This is another deal we’ve seen pop up periodically in recent months, but it’s $20 off the device’s usual street price all the same. The Stream Deck is a macro keypad we recommend in our guide to the best game streaming gear. It has 15 programmable hotkeys that you can set to perform different commands, from launching an app to activating smart lights to triggering on-screen GIFs and sound effects. It’s really meant for content creators and power users first and foremost, but if you think you could benefit from having a bunch of shortcuts within arm’s reach, this is a decent time to pick one up.
Bundles that pair the PlayStation 5 with a digital copy of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 are still $50 off, bringing the standard model down to $449 and the digital-only version down to $400. These deals aren’t tied to Amazon’s Spring sale, but larger discounts on the PS5 have been uncommon, so this is still a good opportunity if you’ve been looking to take the plunge. The offers are available at several retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy and Sony’s PlayStation Direct store. Sony says they’ll last through March 31. My colleague Nathan Ingraham gave Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 a glowing review last year, calling it a “perfectly balanced game with gorgeous graphics, delightful combat and traversal systems, a compelling storyline and characters, plenty of challenge and a huge map to explore.”
“Mario Day” has come and gone, but Nintendo is still running a handful of deals on Switch consoles and games. At Amazon, you can grab the OLED Nintendo Switch for $10 less than usual thanks to an on-page coupon. If you have any interest in the cutesy social sim Animal Crossing: New Horizons, note that Target is bundling the Switch Lite with that game.
It’s also worth noting that Nintendo is widely expected to launch a new console in the coming months. Even if the latest reports suggest that won’t arrive until 2025, it’s hard to call this a great time to invest in the console. But if you don’t care about hopping on the bandwagon late and just want to catch up with the Switch’s library, getting any sort of deal on a Switch is better than normal. Just remember that the Switch Lite can’t be docked to a TV.
The Google Nest Thermostat is on sale for $100 ahead of Amazon’s Spring sale, which is about $10 more than the best price we’ve seen over the past year but $30 below its typical going rate. We’ve highlighted this entry-level smart thermostat in past gift guides. Compared to the higher-end Nest Learning Thermostat, it has a cheaper plastic frame, doesn’t support remote temperature sensors and can’t learn your heating and cooling tendencies to make automatic adjustments throughout the day. That said, it’s a more affordable way to remotely control your home’s climate, and it still supports features like HVAC monitoring and voice assistant control. It’s also compatible with the Matter standard, unlike the pricier model, so it can work with third-party platforms like Apple Home.
The self-emptying Shark AV2501AE AI Robot Vacuum is 46 percent off for the Big Spring Sale. That makes it $350, which is $300 off the regular price and not too far away from its record low. This model is a variant of one of our top robot vacuum recommendations and comes with a base that holds up to 60 days of dirt and has a HEPA filtration system to capture dust and allergens. It uses 360° LiDAR to map your home, has an app to set schedules and even works with Alexa or the Google Assistant for literally hands free floor cleaning.
The is the runner up in our and thanks to the Amazon Big Spring Sale it’s now half price, making it just $300. That’s not quite an all-time low — it was $2 cheaper for much of February — but still a significant discount on one of our recommendations.
Engadget’s Valentina Palladino found this one to have powerful suction and an easy-to-use app. She also appreciated the upgraded obstacle detection that particularly avoids pet poop. The bot does take a couple runs before it can create a full map — and it doesn’t clean while it does that, so be prepared to wait a little after unboxing before your floors are truly on auto-pilot.
A number of Amazon’s Fire tablets are on sale right now, including the new Fire HD 10 for $95. That’s about $15 more than its record-low price, but it’s still a decent deal for this time of year. Updated in 2023, the Fire HD 10 has a 10-inch 1080p touchscreen, an octa-core processor, up to 13 hours of battery life and it charges via a USB-C port. We still think Fire tablets are best as secondary devices rather than daily drivers — that slab you keep next to the couch to check email or shop online on the fly, or by your bedside to read books and comics. And when they’re discounted like this, it’s much easier to justify getting a secondary device like that in the first place. A bunch of kid-friendly Fire tabs are on sale, too, most of which come with a childproof protective case, a two-year warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.
A variety of Amazon Blink devices are now discounted as part of the site’s Big Spring Sale. A three pack of the new Blink Outdoor 4 is down to $150 instead of $260. That’s a 42 percent discount and the lowest price we’ve seen this year (the set hit an all-time low of $135 for Black Friday).
If you just need one camera, take advantage of the sale on a single Blink Outdoor 4. It’s currently down to $65 from $100 — a 35 percent discount.
The Blink Outdoor 4 came out last August with a lot of upgrades including a larger field of vision, up to143 degrees and better low-light sensitivity and image quality. Blink claims the devices will go for two years before needing their AA batteries replaced.
The Google Pixel Tablet makes a good smart display and tablet hybrid. Right now the 11-inch slate-plus-dock is back down to $399 at multiple retailers for the 28GB model. In addition to Amazon you can save at Target and the Google Store. This matches the lowest price we’ve seen and works out to $100 below the variation’s usual going rate. If you need more storage, the 256GB version is $150 off and available for $449, also an all-time low.
Engadget’s Cherlynn Low gave the Pixel Tablet a score of 85 in her review last June, and we mention the device in our tablet buying guide, though it’s not one of our top picks. But if you’re looking for a tablet that can also be your smart home command center, this is a good pick for controlling smart home devices, showcasing photos, streaming music with the improved speakers, and even cast video from your phone.
New subscribers can get 40 percent off a Max subscription when you pay for one year upfront. If you want to go all-in on the highest tier, which gives you ad-free viewing and 4K streaming, it’ll cost you $140 for the year (roughly $12 per month). The most affordable tier will set you back a total of $70 for the year, which works out to about $6 per month. Considering how often streaming prices have increased recently, a sale like this is a great time to invest in a year of access to shows like The Last of Us and movies from outlets like Studio Ghibli and A24.
We’ll move beyond Amazon for our last few deals this week. First, a configuration of Apple’s 14.2-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip, 18GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is down to $1,799 at B&H. That’s close to an all-time low and comes in $200 below Apple’s MSRP. We gave the latest MacBook Pro a review score of 90 last year. It’s more Mac than most people need, especially after the recent refresh of the MacBook Air. But for video editors, 3D designers and other professional types who need more power, a wider port selection and a brighter display, it should still fit the bill.
The 8BitDo Retro Mechanical Keyboard is back on sale for $80 at Amazon subsidiary Woot, a $20 discount that matches the lowest price we’ve seen. This is a tenkeyless mechanical keyboard we recommended in our retro gaming gift guide late last year. You’d mainly buy it for the aesthetic, as it looks like a companion piece for an old NES. Beyond that, it’s sturdily built, it works wirelessly and it comes with a pair of giant “Super Buttons” that you can customize to perform different macros. It’s comfortable for typing as well, though its clicky Kailh Box White V2 switches are fairly noisy. It also lacks any kind of backlighting. The stock switches are hot-swappable, however, so you can easily replace them if needed.
The latest Steam Spring Sale is underway, bringing an enormous range of PC game discounts along with it. There are simply too many deals for us to list everything, but some highlights include the acclaimed CRPG Baldur’s Gate 3for $54 (a small but rare discount), the frantic platformer Pizza Towerfor $13.39, the recently released Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth for $56, the FPS compilation Halo: The Master Chief Collectionfor $10 and the VR adventure Half-Life: Alyx for $20.39. These big Steam sales are always a good time to grab some older classics for dirt cheap, too: The two Portalpuzzlers are available for $1.48, for instance, while the co-op shooter Left 4 Dead 2is just a buck. Valve says the sale will run until March 21.
Outside of Steam, the Epic Games Store has commenced its Spring Sale as well. The selection there isn’t as large, as usual, but it does include some well-reviewed exclusives like Alan Wake 2for $40 and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownfor $30. Before you go padding your backlog on either store, though, we’d recommend using a price tracking site like IsThereAnyDeal to ensure you’re getting a genuine discount.
However technologically impressive a foldable smartphone may be, they’re seriously expensive. A $500 discount can help if you’re ready to grab one. The Google Pixel Fold is one of our favorites, and it’s now down to $1,299 at the Goole Store. It beats the largest discount we’ve seen for the unlocked 256GB model, by $100. If you need more storage space, Google has the 512GB model for $1,419, another $500 discount and record low.
The Pixel Fold is the runner-up pick in our guide to the best foldable phones, and Engadget’s Sam Rutherford gave it a score of 85 in his review last June.
The discount is part of a larger sale Google is hosting on its storefront right now, perhaps in response to Amazon’s event.
as march flies by, you might be itching to get started on spring cleaning—especially with the start of the season only a few days away. Whether you’re looking forward to deep-cleaning your home or not, it’s a great excuse to upgrade your vacuum or add a new air purifier to your space. Below, we found a variety of great deals on a bunch of our favorite air purifiers and a variety of Dyson cordless vacuums. We also threw in some solid discounts on our top-rated Bluetooth speakers, so you can blast your favorite tunes or podcasts to help you get through those chores.
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Bluetooth Speaker Deals
Sonos Beam (Gen 2) Soundbar
Photograph: Sonos
The Beam (Gen 2) has a lot of upgrades from the first-gen version, including enhanced sound with support for Dolby Atmos (with compatible TVs and streaming apps), a faster processor, and an HDMI eARC port for higher-definition audio. On the front is also a polycarbonate grille instead of a fabric cover. It also comes with support for Google Assistant, Alexa, and AirPlay 2. It dipped this low back in December, but we still think this is a great deal.
This is our favorite micro speaker in our Best Bluetooth Speakers guide. Equipped with a built-in strap, it sits flat in a bike basket, making it a great speaker for riding. It also has up to 16 hours of battery life, an IP67-rating for dust and water resistance, and the option to link two speakers together for stereo sound. It dipped as low as $37 back in November, but this is still a solid deal.
If you’re looking for a soundbar that won’t take up too much space, we recommend the Sonos Ray (9/10, WIRED Recommends). It’s compact, so you can easily place it on your dresser or entertainment center, but you can also mount it if you want to free up space. It delivers crisp, clear sound that will easily fill up your space. You can also adjust the audio settings using Sonos’ companion app.
Photograph: Ultimate Ears
If you’re looking for an excellent medium-size speaker, the EpicBoom is our go-to pick. The pill-shaped, curvy body is easy to haul, and it projects sound well in medium-sized outdoor areas. You can also pair it to other Ultimate Ears speakers using the companion Boom app.
The Sub Mini (8/10, WIRED Review) is small, but you can rely on it to deliver a clear sound and thumping bass. It’s wireless—aside from plugging it into a power source. It pairs with your system through the Sonos app, where you can also fine-tune the subwoofer. You’ll be able to adjust sub and height audio, as well as set volume limits and bass and treble levels. You can add surround-sound speakers too.
Sonos Move 2 Portable Speaker
Photograph: Sonos
The second-generation Move (8/10, WIRED Review) comes with a variety of notable upgrades, including 24-hour battery life (a huge increase from 11 hours the last-gen delivered), a touch interface for media controls (instead of physical buttons), and the option to connect via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 (instead of having to choose between the two). In terms of sound quality, it comes with a second tweeter and third digital amplifier, which delivers punchy, detailed sound.
Air Purifier Deals
Coway Airmega 200M
Photograph: Conway
The Airmega 200M is effective in spaces up to 361 feet, making this our top recommendation for small rooms. It’s compact and attractive, so it’s easy to find a space for it in your home. It’ll also save you energy—the built-in air quality monitor increases the fan speed whenever it detects particles and turns the device off when it doesn’t impact pollution.
If you’re looking for an air purifier more suitable for a larger space, the Coway Airmega 250 is a great option. It captures 99.99 percent of particulates down to 0.1 microns (making it capable of tackling wildfire smoke and big-city pollution), and the washable prefilter allows the replaceable HEPA filter to last longer. It’s also on sale at Coway for $300 ($99 off).
Rated to clean up to 1,560 square feet, this air purifier is suitable for very big rooms. It cycles all the air in that space twice per hour, but in a room half the size, the HEPA filters cycle the air four times per hour. Changing the filters is also a simple process—the magnetic covers are easy to take off, and the filters conveniently snap in and out. The air purifier feels intuitive to use too, thanks to the touch controls and color-coded air quality monitor ring. This discount only applies to the white colorway. Both the white and black versions are also on sale through Coway’s site for $441 and $457, respectively.
Levoit Core 300S
Photograph: Levoit
This is our favorite smart air purifier. It can cycle air five times per hour in spaces up to 219 square feet, making it ideal for bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens. It also comes with a prefilter, an activated carbon filter, and an H13 True HEPA filter that captures 99.99 percent of bacteria and mold. Although it’s technically a tabletop air purifier, it’s on the larger side (we’ve been keeping it on our living room floor), but it’s easy to carry from room to room. While you can control it using the touch controls on top, you can also use the VeSync companion app to adjust the settings and check the air quality indoors.
This air purifier looks like an end table, so it’ll easily blend in with your furniture. It doubles as a Qi wireless charger too—set your phone right on top of it and it’ll start charging. It should work with any phone that has support for wireless charging, but you might need to take the case off. It’s also powerful (with the ability to clean up to 649 square feet) as well as easy to control and clean. This discount only applies to the white colorway.
The Airmega Aim is advertised as an air purifier that’s small enough to sit on your desk, but it’s bigger than it looks in photos (coming in at 18.5 x 19.7 x 8.03 inches). It’s still pretty compact compared to other air purifiers we’ve tested. Rated for rooms between 246 and 492 square feet, it works well in smaller spaces. It doubles as a fan too, which auto-oscillates up to 80 degrees and tilts to 90 degrees—so it’ll come in handy once the weather gets even warmer.
Robot Vacuum Deals
Roborock Q5 Pro+
Photograph: Roborock
We’re fans of the Roborock Q5+ (9/10, WIRED Recommends), and the Pro model is basically the same vacuum for the same price. But it does come with a few additional features, including a detachable mop pad, a larger dustbin (770 milliliters instead of 470 ml as seen on the previous version). It has slightly stronger suction and a bit more run time too. You’ll also get lidar detection and software features like automatic cliff detection, the ability to create multiple maps and set different cleaning zones via a companion app, and more.
This is our favorite vac-mop combo in our Best Robot Vacuums guide. Shark’s AI Ultra 2-in-1 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is much more affordable than its competitors and packs about 90 percent of the functionality. It does a good job vacuuming and scrubbing your floors with the included mopping bin (we used Shark’s proprietary cleaning solution that’s sold separately, but you can also use water). We also like that it uses laser navigation instead of cameras. Once it maps your home, you can use the companion app to set vacuum and mopping zones.
The Roomba j7+ has powerful suction, a bin that automatically empties itself when it’s full, and a feature called Genius that teaches your Roomba about your cleaning schedules and personal preferences—rather than manually programming the information yourself. It’s worth noting that Amazon acquired iRobot back in 2022, but iRobot has assured WIRED that there is no way Amazon can use the data gathered from inside your home. The price dipped slightly lower to $440 earlier this month, but we still think this is a good deal.
Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid
Photograph: Eufy
Eufy’s RoboVac X8 Hybrid is a great option if you have pets. It has twin turbines—each of which generate up to 2,000 Pa of suction energy—so it can suck up twice as much in just one pass. WIRED reviews editor Adrienne So said that the X8 Hybrid’s maps were too wonky for her to trust it to lug a full 250-milliliter tank of water around her house, but it was the perfect vacuum to deep-clean debris and dog hair. It’s ideal if you have an enclosed area that regularly needs deep cleaning.
Dyson Vacuum Deals
Dyson Gen5detect Cordless Vacuum
Photograph: Best Buy
This is Dyson’s latest top-of-the-line cordless vacuum. It has a single power button instead of a trigger, a brighter Laser Slim Fluffy cleaner head (which shoots out a green laser to illuminate dust particles), and the company’s fastest motor yet—spinning at 135,000 revolutions per minute with a suction power of 262 AW. Dyson also added a HEPA filter that it claims traps 99.99 percent of particles down to 0.1 microns. If you don’t want to shop at Amazon, it’s also on sale at Best Buy and Dyson for $800 ($150 off).
The Omni-Glide is best for hard floors. The head has two soft rollers and four swiveling casters, allowing you to push it in any direction. Weighing in at only 4 pounds, it’s also lightweight and easy to maneuver. It has a small dust bin that fills up quickly and isn’t powerful enough to work well on carpets, so we only recommend it if you’re using it for a small space that’s free of carpet. It’s also worth noting that if you’re purchasing this vacuum from Target, you’ll see the discount at checkout.
Dyson Ball Animal 3 Extra
Photograph: Dyson
If you prefer a corded vacuum over a stick vacuum, the Ball Animal 3 Extra (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is an excellent choice—especially for unruly pet hair. As the successor to the Animal Ball 2, it has a bigger bin, a Motorbar cleaner head, and three different power modes—one for deep- and medium-pile carpets, another for low-pile carpets, and a third for hardwood floors. This model also comes with a tangle-free turbine tool (for removing dirt and pet hair from upholstery) and a grooming tool for pets with medium or long hair.
The Ball Animal 2 is older and more expensive than the third-generation version. It offers the same powerful suction (at 290 AW) and some of the same accessories (like the tangle-free turbine tool). But it also comes with a self-adjusting cleaner head that automatically raises and lowers the base plate to seal in suction on all floor types. The Motorbar cleaning head on the Ball Animal 3 requires you to switch floor types manually via a switch.
If you’re not a fan of vacuuming, a robot vacuum can make your life much easier — or, at the very least, give you back some time in your day. While it’s not wrong to assume that many robot vacuums land on the high end of the price spectrum, a growing market with many new players entering over the past few years means there are more budget-friendly machines available now than ever before. Gone are the days where it was necessary to spend at least $500 to get one of these robot-vacs home; now, you can find plenty of decent models for $300 or less. After testing dozens of robot vacuums at various price points, we’ve narrowed down our top picks for the best robot vacuums to buy when you’re on a budget.
Are robot vacuums worth it?
Since I’ve tested dozens of robot vacuums, I’m often asked if these gadgets are “worth it” and I’d say the answer is yes. The biggest thing they offer is convenience: just turn on a robot vacuum and walk away. The machine will take care of the rest. If vacuuming is one of your least favorite chores, or you just want to spend less time keeping your home tidy, semi-autonomous robotic vacuum is a great investment.
There are plenty of other good things about them, but before we dive in let’s consider the biggest trade-offs: less power, less capacity and less flexibility. Those first two go hand in hand; robot vacuum cleaners are much smaller than upright vacuums, which leads to less powerful suction. They also hold less dirt because their built-in bins are a fraction of the size of a standard vacuum canister or bag. And while robo-vacs are cord-free, that means they are slaves to their batteries and will require docking at a charging base.
When it comes to flexibility, robot vacuums do things differently than standard ones. You can control some with your smartphone, set cleaning schedules and more, but robo-vacs are primarily tasked with cleaning floors. On the flip side, their upright counterparts can come with various attachments that let you clean couches, stairs, light fixtures and other hard-to-reach places.
What to look for in a budget robot vacuum
When looking for the best cheap robot vacuum, one of the first things you should consider is the types of floors you have in your home. Do you have mostly carpet, tile, laminate, hardwood? Carpets demand vacuums with more suction power that can pick up debris pushed down into nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, there isn’t a universal metric by which suction is measured. Some companies provide Pascal (Pa) levels and generally the higher the Pa, the stronger. But other companies don’t rely on Pa levels and simply say their robots have X-times more suction power than other robot vacuums.
So how can you ensure you’re getting the best cheap robot vacuum to clean your floor type? Read the product description. Look for details about its ability to clean hard floors and carpets, and see if it has a “max” mode you can use to increase suction. If you are given a Pa measurement, look for around 2000Pa if you have mostly carpeted floors.
Size is also important for two reasons: clearance and dirt storage. Check the specs for the robot’s height to see if it can get underneath the furniture you have in your home. Most robo-vacs won’t be able to clean under a couch (unless it’s a very tall, very strange couch), but some can get under entryway tables, nightstands and the like. As for dirt storage, look out for the milliliter capacity of the robot’s dustbin — the bigger the capacity, the more dirt the vacuum cleaner can collect before you have to empty it.
You should also double check the Wi-Fi capabilities of the robo-vac you’re eyeing. While you may think that’s a given on all smart home devices, it’s not. Some of the most affordable models don’t have the option to connect to your home Wi-Fi network. If you choose a robot vac like this, you won’t be able to direct it with a smartphone app or with voice controls. Another feature that’s typically reserved for Wi-Fi-connected robots is scheduling because most of them use a mobile app to set cleaning schedules.
But Wi-Fi-incapable vacuums usually come with remote controls that have all the basic functions that companion mobile apps do, including start, stop and return to dock. And if you’re concerned about the possibility of hacking, a robot vac with no access to your Wi-Fi network is the best option.
Obstacle detection and cliff sensors are other key features to look out for. The former helps the robot vacuum navigate around furniture while it cleans, rather than mindlessly pushing its way into it. Meanwhile, cliff sensors prevent robot vacuums from tumbling down the stairs, making them the best vacuum for multi-level homes.
How we test
When we consider which robot vacuums to test, we look at each machine’s specs and feature list, as well as online reviews to get a general idea of its capabilities. With each robot vacuum we review, we set it up as per the instructions and use it for as long as possible — at minimum, we’ll use each for one week, running cleaning cycles daily. We make sure to try out any physical buttons the machine has on it, and any app-power features like scheduling, smart mapping and more.
Since we test robot vacuums in our own homes, there are obstacles already in the machine’s way like tables, chairs and other furniture — this helps us understand how capable the machine is at avoiding obstacles, and we’ll intentionally throw smaller items in their way like shoes, pet toys and more. With robot vacuums that include clean bases, we assess how loud the machine is while emptying contents into the base and roughly how long it takes for us to fill up the bag (or bagless) base with debris.
Best budget robot vacuum overall: iRobot Roomba 694
iRobot
Max mode: No | Wi-Fi capabilities: Yes | Object detection: Yes
Both iRobot and Shark impressed with their affordable robo-vacs. But we think iRobot’s Roomba 694 will be the best cheap robot vacuum cleaner for most people thanks to its good cleaning power and easy-to-use mobile app. The Roomba 694 replaced the Roomba 675 last year but, aside from an updated exterior, it has the same build quality and is fundamentally the same vacuum. It looks much sleeker now with its new all-black design, giving it an aesthetic similar to some of the more expensive Roomba models. It has three physical buttons on it — start, dock and spot — and it connects to Wi-Fi so you can control it via the iRobot app. Unfortunately, your $274 gets you the vacuum and its necessary parts only so you’ll have to pay up immediately when you need a replacement filter or brushes.
Setting up this powerful robot vacuum is straightforward: Open the companion app and follow the instructions. Once it’s connected to your home Wi-Fi network, you’re able to use the app to control the vacuum whenever you don’t feel like using the physical buttons. However, the spot-clean function is only available as a button, which is a bit of a bummer.
iRobot’s app is one of the biggest selling points for any Roomba. It’s so easy to use that even someone with no prior experience will be able to quickly master the robot’s basic functions. iRobot’s app puts most pertinent controls on the homepage, so you rarely (if ever) need to navigate through its menu to do things like set a cleaning schedule.
We recommend setting cleaning schedules to really get the most out of the device. After all, these are semi-autonomous robots, so why not make it so you rarely have to interact with them? Doing so will ensure the Roomba runs through your home on a regular basis, so you’re always left with clean floors. The Roomba 694 in particular did a good job sucking up dirt and debris on my carpets as well as the tile flooring in my kitchen and bathrooms. The only thing I try to do before a cleaning job is get charging cables off of the floor – the Roomba will stop if it sucks something like that up and it’s relatively easy to extract a cable from the machine’s brushes, but I’d rather not have to do so if I can avoid it.
When it comes to battery life, the Roomba 694 ran for around 45 minutes before needing to dock and recharge. iRobot says run times will vary based on floor surfaces, but the 694 is estimated to have a 90-minute battery life when cleaning hardwood floors. While 45 minutes may be enough time for the robot to scuttle around most rooms in my apartment, those with larger homes may have to wait for it to recharge in order to clean everywhere.
iRobot has made a name for itself in the autonomous vacuum market for good reason. Its machines are polished, dead simple to use and the accompanying app is excellent. That ease of use (and the reputation of the iRobot name) comes with a slightly higher asking price, which many will be willing to pay. But there are plenty of solid options now that didn’t exist even just three years ago.
The Shark RV765 is the updated version of the RV761 that we previously recommended. Like the Roomba 694, the Shark RV765 has a slightly different design and a longer run time than the RV761, but otherwise they’re the same vacuum. You can still find the RV761, but it’s a little difficult to do so now that the latest model is available. Although we haven’t tested the RV765, we feel comfortable recommending it since we found the previous version to be a great affordable robot vacuum.
One thing that the RV765 fixes about the previous version is the latter’s ugly bowling-shirt design. The new model nixes that and opts for a sleeker, all-black look with three buttons for docking, cleaning and max mode. You could rely just on the buttons, but it also connects to Wi-Fi so you can use the Shark Clean app. As for the longer run time, that’s just a bonus. The RV761 ran for about 90 minutes before needing to recharge, which was plenty of time for it to clean my two-bedroom apartment. The additional 30 minutes of battery life on the RV765 should allow it to clean larger spaces more efficiently.
Some other things we liked about the RV761 include its spot-clean feature; adjustable wheels, which raise and lower automatically depending on the “terrain” and the obstacles in its path; and its intuitive companion app that allows you to start and stop cleaning jobs, set schedules and more.
Pros
Sleek design
Improved battery life
Handy “spot clean” feature
Easy to use mobile app
Cons
Can be difficult to find across many retailers
$260 at Target
eufy
Max mode: Yes | Wi-Fi capabilities: No | Object detection: Yes
Anker’s $250 Eufy RoboVac 11S was one of the cheapest vacuums I tested but it also proved to be one of the most versatile. First thing to note: This robot vacuum doesn’t have Wi-Fi, but it does come with a remote that gives you most of the functions and smart features you’d find in an app (including a schedule feature). Eufy also includes additional brushes and filters in the box.
The “S” in this robot’s name stands for slim, and it’s roughly half an inch thinner than all of the other vacuums I tested. Not only does this make the 11S Max lighter, but it was the only one that could clean under my entryway table. This model has a physical on-off toggle on its underside plus one button on its top that you can press to start a cleaning. It always begins in auto mode, which optimizes the cleaning process as it putters around your home, but you can use the remote to select a specific cleaning mode like spot and edge clean.
The 11S Max has three power modes — Standard, BoostIQ and Max — and I kept mine on BoostIQ most of the time. It provided enough suction to adequately clean my carpeted floors, missing only a few crumbs or pieces of debris in corners or tight spaces around furniture. The cleaning session lasted for roughly one hour and 15 minutes when in BoostIQ mode and it has remarkable obstacle avoidance. Sure, it bumped into walls and some large pieces of furniture, but it was the only budget vac I tried that consistently avoided my cat’s play tunnel that lives in the middle of our living room floor.
As far as noise levels go, you can definitely hear the difference between BoostIQ and Max, but none of the three settings is offensively loud. In fact, I could barely hear the 11S Max when it was on the opposite end of my apartment running in BoostIQ mode. Thankfully, error alert beeps were loud enough to let me know when something went awry, like the machine accidentally getting tripped up by a rogue charging cable (which only happened a couple of times and neither robot nor cable were harmed in the process).
Overall, the Eufy RoboVac 11S Max impressed me with its smarts, despite its lack of Wi-Fi. The lack of wireless connectivity is arguably the worst thing about the robot and that’s saying a lot. At this point, though, the 11S Max is a few years old, so you could grab the RoboVac G20 if you want something comparable but a bit newer. We recommend getting the $280 G20 Hybrid if you’re just looking for a Eufy machine with some of the latest technology, but don’t want to spend a ton. It has 2500Pa of suction power, dynamic navigation and Wi-Fi connectivity with support for Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands.
TP-Link came out with the Tapo RV10 Plus vac-and-mop combo earlier this year, and while its standard price is $400, we think it’s worth a mention. It vacuums and mops, which is remarkable in itself since you don’t see many combo devices in this price range, it has a comprehensive yet fairly easy-to-use companion app and it comes with a self-emptying base. Top all of that off with the fact that you can often find this machine on sale for $300 or less and you have a robot vacuum that gives you a ton for your money.
Compared to the other cheap robot vacuums on this list, TP-Link’s did a similarly good job sucking up debris and mopping hardwood and tile floors. It also has a decent battery life as well: after one hour of cleaning, it was only down to 55 percent, so you should be able to get roughly 2-hour cleaning sessions out of this model regularly. The self-emptying base holds up to 70 days worth of debris, but note that it does use a propriety garbage bag that you’ll have to refill.
TP-Link’s companion app provides an impressive amount of control over your robot-vac, too. You can easily change the suction power level, the watering level when you’re mopping and cleaning run times. A dedicated “maintenance” page lets you know how long before you’ll have to replace parts like the main and side brushes, and extra settings like spot clean, child lock and emptying settings let you make this vacuum truly your own. Plus, the companion app is also the home for other TP-Link IoT devices, so you could build onto your ecosystem with more of the brand’s gadgets and control them all from one app.
Pros
Affordable for a robo-vac with a self-emptying base
Good suction power
Can mop floors with its pad and water reservoir
Cons
Base uses proprietary garbage bags
$354 at Amazon
Robot vacuum maintenance tips
First and foremost, always empty your robot vacuum’s dustbin after every cleaning job. Simply detach and empty the dustbin as soon as the robot is done cleaning, and then reattach it so it’s ready to go for the next time. It’s also a good idea to take a dry cloth to the inside of the dustbin every once in a while to remove any small dust and dirt particles clinging to its insides.
In addition, you’ll want to regularly examine the machine’s brushes to see if any hair has wrapped around them, or if any large debris is preventing them from working properly. Some brushes are better than others at not succumbing to tangled hair, but it’s a good idea to check your robot’s brushes regardless — both their main brush and any smaller, corner brushes they have. These parts are often easy to pop off of the machine (because they do require replacements eventually) so we recommend removing each brush entirely, getting rid of any tangled hair or other debris attached to them and reinstalling them afterwards.
Robot vacuums also have filters that need replacing every couple of months. Check your machine’s user manual or the manufacturer’s website to see how long they recommend going in between filter replacements. Most of the time, these filters cannot be washed, so you will need to buy new ones either directly from the manufacturer or from other retailers like Amazon or Walmart.
