Prime Day 2021: The 66 Absolute Best Deals (Updated)
Amazon’s Prime Day has grown into one of the biggest online shopping holidays of the year, thanks to the tech and retail giant’s massive commercial reach (which is also cause for concern). Rival sales from other retailers are plentiful now too. As we have for many years, members of the WIRED Gear Team are sorting through hundreds of thousands of deals, cross-checking our “Best of” guides, and debating what the absolute greatest Prime Day deals are right now. Below you’ll find our top picks. If you’re new to this shopping holiday, be sure to check our Prime Day shopping tips before you start clicking.
Note: We regularly update articles and strike through items that sell out or rise in price as of publishing, and we mark discounts based on recent product pricing or average price, not MSRP. Be sure to check discounts for yourself. Our picks come from research and our extensive experience reviewing products. You’ll need an Amazon Prime subscription to get most of these deals.
Updated: We’ve added deals for the Kitchenaid Professional Stand Mixer, Colgate Hum electric toothbrush, Native Union Dock Wireless Charger, and Moment phone lenses and cases. We’ve also updated pricing throughout.
Table of Contents
Phones and Tablets
Apple iPad Air
Photograph: AppleThis is the best iPad for most people, especially if you plan on using it for work (see our iPad guide for more details on why we think so). It’s powerful, has a modern design, yet retains features like Touch ID, which is integrated into the side power button. It works with the second-gen Apple Pencil too.
This is our favorite Android camera phone right now. It has an excellent and versatile camera system that lets you snap photos up to 10X zoom in great quality. It also excels in performance and screen quality, and it has an exceptional build. It’s full-featured, and you can read more about it in our review. The standard Galaxy S21 is also on sale for $675 ($135 off) when you add it to your cart; it gets you most of the same features, though the camera quality is a step behind.
The OnePlus 8 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) uses 2020’s flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and at this price, it’s one of the cheapest powerful Android phones around.
This is one of the lowest prices we’ve seen on an already cheap phone. It’s one of our favorites under $250. You get nearly three-day battery life, solid performance, and passable cameras. You can read more about it in our review.
This is our favorite wireless charging stand overall. The fabric won’t scratch your phone, and the steel base with silicone grips prevents it from wobbling around. Plus, the LED that signals it’s charging is on the back, so you don’t have a blinding light right in your face. There’s no power adapter included, but you do get a 6.5-foot-long USB-A to USB-C cable.
This wireless charger will recharge any phone that supports wireless charging, but it’s best paired with select Pixel phones that have the feature. It’s our favorite wireless charger for nightstands (seriously). Plop your phone on it and you’ll be treated to an interface that resembles a smart display. You can have it cycle through your favorite albums from Google Photos, get easy access to Google Assistant, and have your phone screen brighten up in a warm tone right before your alarm goes off to slowly pull you out of sleep.
Reviews editor Julian Chokkattu loves Moment lenses for stepping up his phone photography game. The Gold Flare Anamorphic lens is also discounted. They’re pricey even on sale, though, and you’ll need a Moment case for them to work. See below for case discounts.
This is a nice, thin case compatible with Moment’s lenses mentioned above, as well as MagSafe. You can get this case in yellow too. For different types of cases and phone types, see the rest of Moment’s Prime Day sales.
Headphone and Speaker Deals
From noise-canceling over-ears to nearly indestructible in-ears, some of our favorite headphones and Bluetooth speakers see steep discounts this Prime Day.
Sony WH-1000XM4 Noise-Canceling Headphones
Photograph: SonyThis is the lowest price ever on our favorite wireless headphones. The fourth generation of Sony’s flagship model brings better microphones and even better sound to an already great package. They have long battery life, a comfy fit, and some of the best sound quality for the price.
Bose’s flagship noise-canceling headphones are also cheaper than ever this Prime Day. They have even better microphones than the Sony model above, but slightly worse sound quality. They’re the best headphones for phone calls—even if you’re in a noisy coffee shop or the kids are yelling in the next room, they use special tech to silence the world around you so the person on the other end will hear you clearly.
The 45H are our favorite headphones under $100 for good reason. They have 40 hours of battery life, a comfortable fit, and pretty decent sound. If you need a cheap pair to go with your new phone, check these out.
Jabra’s lifeproof earbuds are cheaper than ever this Prime Day. They boast an IP57 dust- and water-resistance rating and come with noise canceling and four beam-forming mics for flights and calls. The newer Jabra 85T have taken this pair’s spot on our Best Wireless Earbuds list, but they’re still great.
The full discount is added once you’ve started the checkout process. The Powerbeats Pro by Apple are some of our favorite wireless workout earbuds. They get amazing battery life and sound excellent. The only downside to them might be that if you aren’t working out, they can be a little cumbersome to put on and take off, and their charging cradle is large. They’ve alternated between $200 and a $170 sale price most of this year.
1More ColorBuds
Photograph: 1MoreThese are our favorite wireless earbuds (8/10, WIRED Recommends) for most people. That’s because they’re affordable (especially on sale), offer up a comfy fit, are sweat-resistant so you can use them for your home workouts, and they manage to sound pretty great for the price. They hold six hours of battery life, but you can pop ’em in the case, which holds another 16 hours.
The only reason we don’t regularly tell our readers to buy Bose speakers is their prices. But at this discount, the Soundlink Revolve+ definitely deserves a look. There are cheaper options available from the likes of JBL or Ultimate Ears, but the Soundlink Revolve+ sounds great in all directions thanks to a 360-degree driver system, the IPX4 rating protects it from splashes, and the included handle makes it super easy to tote around, like a lantern full of party jams. It’s the “Fun” pick in our Best Bluetooth Speakers guide.
JBL Boombox
Photograph: JBLIf you miss the boombox era but you’re in love with Spotify or Apple Music, this giant Bluetooth speaker from JBL might strike your fancy. The speaker made our list solely because it’s so unique. It has a familiar handled design and big bass ports on each side, plus a giant battery that makes it capable of 24 hours of playtime. Plus, an IPX7 rating means you don’t have to worry about leaving it out in the rain.
Amazon Device Deals
Be sure to check out our full list of Amazon device deals this Prime Day. Plus, read about all our favorite Kindles, Echos and other smart speakers, Fire tablets, and streaming devices.
We’ve loved the basic Kindle for years, and now that it comes with a backlight, it’s the model we recommend in our Best Kindles guide. This is the best price we’ve seen in 2021, and it even comes with three months of Kindle Unlimited, which lets you read a huge number of ebooks for free.
If you’re a bathtub or beach reader, the Kindle Paperwhite is worth the extra cash. It features an IPX8 rating, which means you can chuck it in 2 meters of water (not that you should). Otherwise, it’s very similar to the standard Kindle. Read the differences here. You can get the Paperwhite in 8 gigabytes or 32 for $15 more.
The latest Echo Buds (8/10, WIRED Recommends) are a great value at this Prime Day price. Sure, you don’t get the same noise-canceling quality as the most expensive buds from Sony and Apple, but these come with a battery case that wirelessly charges, Alexa onboard, solid sound, and a price less than half as high as those options. They’re a super deal, provided you don’t hate Amazon’s voice assistant.
Echo Dot with Clock
Photograph: AmazonI (Parker Hall) have been using the Echo Dot with clock as an alarm clock for more than a year now, and it’s become indispensable. It’s the best Alexa speaker for the bedroom. I like that it tells you when you have an alarm set and counts down visually from timers, and it doubles as the best sleep sounds machine I’ve found. It sounds pretty good, too, with enough volume to fill most small rooms with your favorite tunes.
The latest Echo Show looks just like its predecessor, but it features a much better camera and the ability to follow you as you wander around your kitchen or living room. We like this size more than the 5- or 10-inch options because it fits nearly anywhere, and the screen remains big enough that it’s easy to see on the countertop. Read our Echo guide to learn more.
The swiveling screen of the Echo Show 10 makes it awesome for those with kids who are constantly darting in and out of frame, but it does require a bit more counter space than the smaller Echo Shows. The size does have a benefit when it comes to sound, with the rounded base pumping out a pretty surprising soundstage.
Adrienne So likes how cute the Echo Show kids editions are, and she says they have surprisingly clear sound. This deal also includes a year of Amazon Kids+ (formerly FreeTime Unlimited) content. After the first year, Amazon Kids+ is $3 per month, so definitely note that if you plan to cancel. You can also get it colored black and white with a panda face on it.
Fire TV Stick 4K
Photograph: AmazonThe Fire TV Stick 4K is one of the best streaming devices for your TV. It’s not as great as Roku or Android TV, but Fire TV is still a solid ecosystem, and for $25 this is a great way to upgrade from your TV’s built-in interface. Unsurprisingly, the main menu is geared heavily toward Prime Video content.
This is our favorite Amazon Fire tablet and the best budget tablet. Amazon added more RAM and a brighter screen to the Fire HD 10 earlier this year, making it a much more capable tablet than the 8-inch version. The Plus model with an extra gig of RAM is also on sale for $110 ($70 off), along with a new productivity bundle for $180 ($120 off). The above deal includes a keyboard, along with software tailored to working, making the Fire HD 10 a more capable device—so long as you don’t require Google Sheets or Docs, which don’t work on it.
The Fire HD 8 Kids Edition is our favorite tablet for kids under the age of 7. It’s compact enough for younger hands and well built enough that you won’t worry too much about drops. You also get a no-questions-asked two-year replacement plan, which is helpful for clumsy kiddos.
Home Theater Deals
There aren’t a ton of home theater deals this Prime Day, but the ones that exist are pretty impressive, including an OLED TV and one of our favorite soundbars.
Samsung HW-T650 Soundbar
SamsungJust ask Adrienne So, our senior associate editor: A basic soundbar will make your TV or movie viewing experience dramatically immersive. This is a quality bar from Samsung that usually costs a bit more, with a wireless subwoofer for better bass than stand-alone bars.
Big TVs are the new hot ticket for homebuyers, but most of them look pretty bad or cost a lot of money. This 85-inch model from Sony actually looks pretty good, and it’s seriously discounted this Prime Day. We listed the smaller X800H in our Best TVs roundup.
Kitchen and Home Deals
It’s actually a great time to buy stuff to cook, clean, or organize your home. There are great deals on Instant Pots, reusable storage bags, and even a Dutch oven.
Instant Pot Duo Plus
It wouldn’t be Prime Day without a few awesome deals on Instant Pots. Lots of Instant stuff is on sale, including its first ever air purifier, but this is the Instant Pot that members of the Gear team use every week, years after our initial purchases. You can even turn it into an air fryer with a lid attachment. It’s awesome.
If you live alone or with just one other person, you might not need the full 6-quart Instant Pot. This smaller version is just as good as the big model, but without forcing you to eat leftovers for days.
A KitchenAid stand mixer is a worthwhile purchase if you love to cook and bake. They’re made to last and look sleek in a kitchen, especially in the red or blue colors that give them a vintage vibe.
This is our favorite air purifier for small rooms. It’s rated to clean out the air of a 361-square-foot room, and a built-in air-quality monitor will help it automatically roar to life when it detects pollution. It’s a great price for a simple and reliable air purifier.
Senior associate aditor Adrienne So tests new robot vacuums every month, but Roomba vacuums seem to always make their way to the top of her lists. She’s tested several Roombas in the 690 series, and this is the best price you’ll find for one outside of Black Friday or other holiday sales. If you’re looking for a robot vac, now is the time to buy.
Adrienne also recommends this model, which received an update that brought a smart mapping feature from the Roomba i7+. It’ll learn the intricate pathways of your home and will follow them to pick up dirt with its powerful suction. It has a self-emptying bin, so you don’t need to empty it as much yourself.
We love Stasher bags. They’re better for the environment than single-use Ziploc bags, and they’re dishwasher-friendly. The only downside? They’re usually pretty spendy. So take this opportunity to stock up! You can also get the sandwich size for $9 ($3 off) and the snack bag for $7 ($3 off).
Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug
Photograph: ZojirushiZojirushi’s mugs are almost as good as its rice cookers. This is perennially one of our favorite travel mugs. These mugs keep drinks hot. Like hot hot. They’re so good we recommend people cool their drinks to the desired temp before sealing them, because otherwise it can be a bit of a wait.
I (Parker Hall) have cooked dozens of casseroles, soups, and other dishes in this Lodge Dutch oven, and I highly recommend it to all. I’ve cooked with fancier pots from Le Creuset at my mom’s house, and I just really can’t tell the difference. This is a steal. They even have Le Creuset-like colors. This also made our guide to cooking in a tiny kitchen.
Of all the robot vacuums that Adrienne So has tested, Roborock has emerged as the front-runner. It has an insanely long battery life, remarkable navigation capabilities, and a slightly bigger dust bin than average. This is one robot vacuum that won’t bug you more than it helps you.
Stop throwing La Croix cans in the recycling and make your own sparkling water. The Fizzi doesn’t even need electricity, so you can even use it when camping.
Wi-Fi-enabled security cameras can be immensely useful, but it can be hard to find a brand that hasn’t had a security breach or doesn’t share info with law enforcement. In our testing, we’ve found Arlo cameras to have good picture quality and never really break. An outdoor floodlight adds an extra layer of deterrent to would-be yard invaders, but be sure to place your camera in such a way that you’re not recording public spaces.
Click the coupon on the page to get some of this discount; the rest is taken out at checkout. This is our favorite electric toothbrush. It’s more affordable than any other smart brush we’ve tried when it’s not on sale, and this is the lowest we’ve seen it. It’s slim and light, with accurate tracking via an app that shows you exactly where you’re missing. Better yet, you don’t have to have the app open every single time you use it. You can still collect points (which translate to a few dollars off replacement brush heads) by connecting the brush to your phone every 10 days.
Ecobee Smart Thermostat
Photograph: EcobeeEcobee’s smart thermostat remains our favorite smart thermostat for good reason. It’s super easy to install, and extra sensors pick up the temperature in different parts of your house and adjust your HVAC system accordingly. I (Parker Hall) also like that you can set it to sync up with your power utility, so that it saves money during peak hours. With good temperature scheduling, it also means that you can make it cooler at night if you’re a warm sleeper.
Clip the on-page coupon to see the full discount at checkout. The SKG F5 isn’t too powerful, but it’s a much more affordable Theragun alternative, and it even adds heat to help relax your tight muscles. This is the lowest price we’ve seen.
Target’s cat scratch houses are ridiculously cute and often make the rounds on TikTok. This Surf Shop design is a perfect summertime addition for any felines (and owners!) who like to hang ten.
The WIRED Gear team is obsessed with Zojirushi’s rice cookers, which come with a microcomputer that makes tiny adjustments to avoid burnt spots or soggy bits. It’s also great for oatmeal or steaming vegetables.
Gaming Deals
Some peripherals that we really love, like headsets and gaming mice, are on super sale this Prime Day. This is also a pretty good time to buy a late-model gaming laptop.
Razer Viper Ultimate Mouse
Photograph: RazerThis is our favorite mouse with a dock. Razer makes some of the best gaming peripherals, and this wireless mouse offers great features for the price. It has a narrow-body form factor and a really good optical sensor, and you won’t have to deal with annoying cables cluttering up your desk. It even has a compartment to stow the dongle in the mouse itself, which makes it great for people on the go.
The Pulsefire Surge has been one of our favorite gaming mice for a while now. It’s straightforward, unassuming, does everything you need a wired gaming mouse to do, and doesn’t bog you down with too many buttons. Plus, it has lights.The Pulsefire Core is also a great option for $14 less.
This bundle isn’t a huge discount, but it does give you a free 128-GB MicroSD card, which is an essential accessory for Switch. The Nintendo Switch has a lot of great games, and the Switch Lite is a cheaper way to play. The only downside is that it’s only made for handheld play. It cannot broadcast to a TV and has no built-in Joy-Cons for motion control. You’ll have to buy them separately if motion control is needed for a game.
SteelSeries Arctis 1
Photograph: SteelseriesThis is our top gaming headset under $50, and at $42 it’s a steal. It works on any system and is comfier and sounds better than many expensive headsets. It does have a more plastic build than higher-end Arctis models, but it’s still comfy and works great.
JBL’s Quantum 800s have some of the best spatial surround sound you’ll find, which makes them great for those who spend a lot of time playing first-person shooters or other massive online games, where hearing someone behind you can mean the difference between life and death. The Quantum 800 features active noise cancelling, but the Quantum 600 is also pretty affordable, and the Quantum 300 is a solid alternative if you’re looking for a wired headset.
It’s not the fanciest headset out there, but it sure is reliable. Logitech’s G935 is soft and cushiony, and thanks to its internal surround system, it does a great job of bringing in-game environments to life.
Razer Blade 15
Photograph: RazerThis is our favorite gaming laptop. A 6-Core Intel i7 with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card makes last year’s Razor Blade a capable gaming laptop for all but the most intense games. For $1,000, it’s also a good pick for students who are looking for a more powerful computer for coding, or for video or music work.
Dell’s gaming brand makes some of the best gaming laptops and PCs, and the M15 is no different. It’s slim and powerful, and it has an eye-popping screen with a 240-Hz refresh rate. The only catch, historically, has been the price. We reviewed a similar version here and put it on our list of the Best Gaming Laptops, and we think this is a good deal for enthusiasts.
Snappy Cherry MX switches and USB pass-through to charge your devices make the Corsair K95 a solid pick for gamers. It’s the exact opposite of a TKL, or 60 percent, keyboard like the one below. If you want all the media buttons and all the bells and whistles that you can get on a modern keyboard, this is it.
Razer Huntsman Mini Keyboard
Photograph: RazerThis cute little keyboard is our pick for the best mini keyboard. It fits on desks of all shapes and sizes, yet it absolutely crushes most off-the-shelf boards. It has backlit keys and double-braided cables, and it leaves plenty of real estate for an oversize mousepad.
Laptop and Home Office Deals
If you’re going to be working from home long-term, now is a good time to snag some discounts on displays, desks, and other necessities for your home office. See our guide on setting up your own WFH space.
Flexispot Standing Desk
Photograph: AmazonReviews editor Julian Chokkattu really likes Flexispot’s EN1 standing desk. This version is better than that one, with USB charging ports (two USB-A and one USB-C) and a drawer. You can keep settings for multiple people (there are four height memory buttons), and this one even has a child lock that prevents kids from operating the desk. Click the on-page coupon for the full discount.
This 32-inch monitor is large enough for two full internet tabs to sit side by side, and you also get high resolution (2,560 x 1,440) and support for AMD’s FreeSync if you plan on gaming. The array of ports on the back include HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C, USB-A, plus a headphone jack, and it can be VESA mounted if you want to ditch the stand. This ties the cheapest we’ve ever seen it.
If you’ve got the desk space, there’s really nothing as glorious as a 49-inch ultrawide. This is the lowest price we’ve ever seen for this monitor, which works well for both gaming and everyday work. The VA panel has a 120-Hz screen refresh rate—great for racing or first-person shooter games—and has a whopping 5,120 x 1,440 resolution. You’ll need a pretty powerful computer to get the most out of this, but if you’ve got one it’s a great deal.
This is our favorite laptop stand for most people. It can get higher than most, and you can adjust it to pretty much any angle you want. It’s also sturdy enough that you don’t have to worry about heavier laptops or tablets.
Nnewvante laptop desk
Photograph: NnewvanteIf you find yourself often typing on the couch or in bed, then get this mini desk. It has a wide surface area to fit most laptops or tablets, and you can elevate one side of it to angle it to your liking. The other end stays put, so you can keep your coffee there. Our Best Laptop Stands guide has more options.
Chromebooks are often underpowered, but not this 13-inch Lenovo, which packs an Intel Core i3 processor. It’d be nice if there was a little more RAM, but the i3 chip, combined with the 4 gigabytes of RAM, should be able to handle most of what the web throws at you.
Samsung has come out with a newer version of the Galaxy Chromebook than this, but this is still one of the best we’ve used. The only problem is the battery life, which is pretty bad—you’ll rarely get more than 5.5 hours of juice before a trip to the wall.
Even with Apple’s recent AirTag launch, Tile is still one of our favorite ways to find all your stuff. I (Parker) have been using this set for about six months, and I never lose my stuff. This 2-pack comes with both a Pro and a Slim tile. The Pro attaches to your keys and the Slim slides in your wallet, making it a perfect one-two combo.
Eero Pro
Photograph: EeroAmazon-owned Eero makes easy-to-use mesh routers. If you’ve been noticing your internet speeds aren’t up to par, this can fix it. Amazon promises they won’t spy on you.
For a traditional, mesh-less router, this Netgear has support for the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard, which lets you connect more devices and still get enough data throughput to all of them. (Your devices need to support Wi-Fi 6 too.) Still, it’s fast, has broad coverage, and offers up five gigabit Ethernet ports so you can get speedy internet on all your primary devices.
Outdoor and Fitness Deals
Whether you’re building an emergency kit or just stocking up for this year’s camping season, there’s a ton of good outdoor gear for sale right now.
LifeStraw
Photograph: AmazonIf you don’t already have one or several, a Lifestraw is a good thing to stow away in your emergency supplies kit. It’ll filter more than 99.99 percent of bacteria (including E. coli and salmonella), parasites (including Giardia and Cryptosporidium), and microplastics from 1,000 gallons of water, as well as sand, dirt, and other impurities that cause cloudiness.
This is the best all-around fitness watch we’ve tested. There aren’t many affordable smartwatches that come with GPS, which is why we like the Fitbit Charge 4. It’ll also track your sleep habits if you wear it to bed, letting you know how well you’re catching z’s. Senior associate editor Adrienne So gave it an 8/10, WIRED Recommends in her full review at the higher price.
Apple Watch Series 6
Photograph: AppleThe Series 6 is the Best Apple Watch and still one of the Best Fitness Trackers and Best Smartwatches. It pairs perfectly with iPhones and is super easy to pair with Strava, Map My Run, and many other wrist-based workout apps.
WIRED reviewer Matt Jancer swears by these boxers for hikes and climbs—two of his favorite activities. The material is both breathable and moisture-wicking, so you can give it your all outdoors without feeling gross at the end of the day. These get pricier depending on the color you select.
Good coolers are oddly spendy these days, which is why this one from Coleman is such a good option. Coleman is a beloved cooler brand for good reason—many of us have been using them for decades.
Retailer Sale Pages
If you’d like to check more deals yourself, here are some links to sales going on this week.
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