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  • The Best Black Friday Deals We’re Actually Shopping Ourselves

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    Good morning and happy Thanksgiving—it’s a great day for food, family, and football (not necessarily in that order), and it means that Black Friday deals are already arriving. We’ve been tracking discounts on our favorite products all month, and we’re excited to see many of the products we love have gone on sale.

    Featured Black Friday Deal

    Updated: Nov 27 2025, 11:50 AM

    Like the circulars that used to make the daily newspaper as thick as a phone book this time of year, the internet is slathered in red pixels and slashed-through dollar signs. Often, those roundups cover products the writer has never personally touched and feature prices that are not actual discounts. WIRED’s list of the absolute best Black Friday deals is different. Here you will only find products that a member of our Reviews team has tested and recommends. Also, we track prices, and any deal featured is actually cheaper compared to what you’d pay in April or October.

    Best of the Best Black Friday Deals:

    How does WIRED find the best deals?

    We spend our entire working lives testing products and, in part, tracking how much they cost. That way, we can spot a good deal from one that’s just a markdown of an artificially inflated price (a practice far too common, sadly). We also use price-checking tools like Camelcamelcamel, but since we only cover items we’ve actually tested, it’s not that hard for us to keep track of prices and know what’s a good deal and what’s not.

    What is the best time to shop?

    In a word: now. The best Black Friday deals are happening right now, and we’ve rounded up our favorites in this guide.

    In the olden days, Black Friday was just one day long. Shoppers would camp outside of stores, paper circulars in hand, eagerly awaiting the chance to bust down some doors and save a ton of cash. Fast-forward to the internet, and now Black Friday lasts more or less the entire month of November.


    Jump to section: Computers, TV & Audio, Mobile Devices & Charging, Home & Kitchen, Beauty & Wellness


    Computers

    Best PC Laptop Deal: Dell 14 Plus for $500 ($100 off)

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    It finally happened. A $500 Windows laptop that isn’t just decent or mediocre. It’s actually good. The resolution is 2560 by 1600, with decent color accuracy and brightness. The battery life isn’t just adequate—it’s downright impressive. And the touchpad, which is an area where many budget laptops compromise, actually feels smooth and responsive. This is something no other Windows laptop can pull off. The only catch is that it’s a Doorbuster-style sale, meaning once they sell out at this price, this discount will disappear. —Luke Larsen

    More PC laptop deals

    Microsoft

    Surface Laptop (7th Edition, 2024)

    The Surface Laptop is the MacBook of the Windows world, and the seventh edition has a brilliant, 3:2 aspect ratio display and great battery life. It’s normally priced at $1,000, but you can save 20 percent on Black Friday.

    Asus

    Vivobook 14 (X1407QA)

    If the Dell 14 Plus is sold out, the Asus Vivobook 14 is your next best bet for a budget laptop on sale.

    Best MacBook Deal: MacBook Air (M4) for $749 ($250 off)

    Front view of an open Apple MacBook Air 13-inch 2025  laptop sitting on a couch with the screen showing the desktop

    Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

    Apple

    MacBook Air (M4, 2025)

    The M4 MacBook Air came out in early 2024, and it’s remained the best laptop you can buy. The price has slowly dropped, too. It’s now down to $749, and when you compare this directly with the quality of similarly priced laptops, you’ll see why it’s still at the top of my list. The display quality and resolution is top-notch, while the performance and battery life remain best in class. Now, you might be wondering if you should wait for the M5 MacBook Air instead of pulling the trigger on this deal. If the rumors are true, we’re still at least a few months out from the M5 MacBook Air, making this M4 still worthy of a purchase at this price. —Luke Larsen

    More MacBook Deals

    Apple

    MacBook Pro (M5)

    The new MacBook Pro is only a month old, and it’s already on sale. It may not have been a significant revamp, but it’s currently the only Mac to get the latest M5 chip.

    Apple

    MacBook Pro (M4 Pro/M4 Max, 2024)

    While not a huge discount, the M4 Pro MacBook Pro remains a supremely powerful and premium laptop, still a meaningful step up in performance over the M5 MacBook Pro.

    Home Office Deals

    Best Wifi Router Deal: Asus RT-BE58U for $98 ($52 off)

    Asus RT-BE58U, a black angular wi-fi router with 4 antennae sticking up from the back

    Photograph: Simon Hill

    This is the Wi-Fi 7 router I recommend for most people in our best Wi-Fi routers guide because it’s easy to set up and will cover homes and apartments up to around 2,000 square feet with fast and reliable connectivity. It’s only dual-band, so you do miss out on the 6-GHz band, but you get all the other advantages of Wi-Fi 7. It also has a generous array of ports and comes with free security software and parental controls. Support for VPN service, separate IoT or guest networks, and Ai Mesh rounds out an excellent device. Simon Hill

    More Wifi router deals

    Amazon

    Eero Pro 6E

    One of my favorite mesh systems, this Wi-Fi 6E mesh is ideal for smart homes, provides reliably speedy Wi-Fi, and is oh-so-easy to set up and use. You can nab the three-pack for 40 percent off.

    TP-Link

    Deco BE67

    This high-performing, tri-band, Wi-Fi 7 mesh is the runner-up in my best mesh guide, and it’s a great value at this discounted price, which is $200 below standard.


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    TV & Audio

    Best TV Deal: TCL QM6k for $498 ($252 off)

    Image may contain: Electronics, Screen, Computer Hardware, Hardware, Monitor, TV, Person, Adult, Ball, Football, and Soccer

    Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    This is our favorite TV for most people, because it offers excellent color and great processing, and contains virtually every app you could want. Mini LED backlighting means that you’ll have excellent contrast and plenty of performance in bright rooms, and TCL’s anti-glare technology makes it nice even when sunlight hits it. Its price is the main appeal; you’ll pay hundreds of dollars more for a TV that looks any better. —Parker Hall

    More TV deals

    LG

    G5 OLED

    The G5 is LG’s highest-end OLED, and it is perhaps the prettiest screen we saw all year. With the price dropping below $2,000, it’s a no-brainer for your home theater update.

    Sony

    Bravia 8 II QD-OLED

    Sony TVs are high-priced for a reason: They have the best processing in the game, and they tend to look just a bit sharper than their competitors.

    Best Streaming Device Deal: Roku Streaming Stick Plus for $19 ($21 off)

    Image may contain: Electronics, Remote Control, Adapter, and Smoke Pipe

    Photograph: Parker Hall

    Roku

    Streaming Stick Plus (2025)

    The Roku Streaming Stick Plus is what I’d recommend for anyone who just wants to enable an older TV to stream modern apps. It looks fine, but I’d get a nicer stick if you have a newer TV. That said, you really cannot beat this $20 price. This is a device that can breathe new life into an older screen in your basement or garage, or which you can use to stream your shows in a hotel room without being too annoyed if you someday leave it behind. —Parker Hall

    More streaming deals

    Roku

    Ultra

    The highest-end Roku is the one we’d recommend if you want the highest possible streaming quality, thanks to its support for Dolby Vision.

    Google

    TV Streamer (4K)

    If you like casting to your TV from your phone, the Google TV streaming is a favorite for Android users, thanks to tight Google integration. You can save 25 percent during this event.

    Best Headphone Deal: Sony WH-1000XM6 for $398 ($62 off)

    Image may contain: Electronics, Headphones, Dining Table, Furniture, and Table

    Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    These are the best noise-canceling headphones from Sony, and among the best wireless headphones you can buy. They have insane processing power that can easily silence even the loudest sounds around you, and the included microphones are also awesome for Zoom calls. Sound quality is excellent, with custom-made drivers delivering Sony’s sleek and flat sound. —Parker Hall

    More Headphone deals

    Apple

    AirPods Pro 2 (With USB-C)

    AirPods Pro—even last-gen models like these—are absolutely still worth buying for iPhone owners. They have great noise canceling, decent (albeit somewhat bassy) sound, and they pair instantly with any iOS device. You can save 30 percent during this sale.

    Beats

    Powerbeats Pro 2

    These are some of our favorite workout headphones, thanks to their clip-based design and good integration with iOS, thanks to Apple’s Beats ownership.


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    Mobile Devices & Charging

    Best Smartphone Deal: Google Pixel 10 for $599 ($200 off)

    • Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

    • Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

    • Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

    • Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

    Google’s brand-new Pixel 10 is one of the best Android phones on the market right now—it’s rare to find a phone at this price, especially on sale, with a triple-camera system that includes a 5X optical zoom sensor. 5X! That means you won’t have trouble capturing sharp photos of birds up in the tree, your kid earning their diploma, or your favorite artist onstage. Not to mention this is one of the first flagship Android phones with Qi2 magnets, meaning, like Apple’s iPhones, you can magnetically attach the phone to wireless chargers and docks for speedy charging (and attach various fun magnetic accessories). Best of all is Google’s smart software; yes, there’s a lot of generative AI creep that isn’t super useful, but tools like Call Screen can filter out spam calls, and Now Playing automatically tells you what song is playing at the coffee shop without you having to lift a finger. Read our Best Pixel Phones guide for more details. Julian Chokkattu

    More Smartphone Deals

    Motorola

    Razr Ultra (2025)

    This is the hottest flip-style folding phone of the year. The Razr Ultra comes in snazzy designs, has a surprisingly strong camera, and a very useful external display for when you don’t want to open the whole thing up.

    Motorola

    Moto G Stylus 2025

    Want to spend as little as possible but still want a good smartphone? This Moto G Stylus (make sure it’s the 2025 model) is the best bang for your buck, with wireless charging, good performance, a headphone jack, a microSD card slot, and, naturally, a built-in stylus.

    Best Tablet Deal: Apple iPad A16 (2025) for $274 ($75 off)

    • Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

    • Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

    The current model of iPad (A16) has dropped below the $300 price we typically see on sales. This is a basic tablet that functions as a second screen for everything from watching movies on a flight to checking the news in bed without your reading glasses.

    More Tablet Deals

    OnePlus

    Pad 3

    OnePlus may have just announced a cheaper tablet—the OnePlus Pad Go 2—but the OnePlus Pad 3 is still a fantastic high-end tablet that has a large 13.2-inch screen without a crazy price. It has excellent multitasking features and great performance.

    Samsung

    Galaxy Tab S11 and Tab S11 Ultra

    I haven’t tested the Galaxy Tab S11 yet, but I did test its larger sibling, the Tab S11 Ultra. They share many of the same specs, though the Ultra has extra features like Wi-Fi 7 support, an extra ultrawide camera, and more storage, which are overkill. That means the smaller Tab S11 is a much better buy, especially at this price.

    Best Power Bank Deal: Nimble Champ for $20 ($5 off)

    Small rounded rectangular bright blue device beside a black rectangular device, both with strap handles.

    Photograph: Simon Hill

    The Nimble Champ has topped our best power banks guide for a few years, largely because we appreciate the 90 percent certified recycled plastic construction and fully biodegradable packaging. It’s smaller than a pack of cards, with an eye-catching speckled design and a handy carry loop. This 5,200 mAh capacity portable charger has USB-A and USB-C ports and can charge at up to 15 watts. If you need more power, there are deeper discounts on the larger capacity models. You get a 3.3-foot USB-C to USB-C cable in the box. —Simon Hill

    More Power Bank Deals

    Anker

    Nano Power Bank

    Despite the tiny form factor, this power bank will fully recharge most phones. It’s also easy to slide into place, and you can continue to use your phone while it charges.

    Anker

    622 MagGo Portable Charger (A1614)

    This slim MagSafe power bank is one of my favorites, and comes with a clever folding stand. It will wirelessly add between 50 and 80 percent to your iPhone battery. This deal is 40 percent below the normal price.

    Best Kindle Deal: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (12th generation) for $125 ($35 Off)

    • Photograph: Nena Farrell

    • Photograph: Nena Farrell

    • Courtesy of Amazon

    Amazon

    Kindle Paperwhite (2024, 12th Generation)

    Amazon’s family of Kindle e-readers is popular for a reason, and our all-around favorite is the Kindle Paperwhite (12th generation). The latest generation came out last fall, and it’s got just about everything we want in an e-reader: an auto-adjusting warm light, a three-month battery life, snappy performance, integration with Overdrive so you can get your library books, and the ability to “speak” several languages. It doesn’t have a color screen, but it does have a proper dark mode, which Kindle’s color e-reader doesn’t have. The Signature version is also on sale. —Nena Farrell

    More Amazon Device Deals

    Amazon

    Kindle Scribe (2024)

    The Kindle Scribe is a great combo e-reader and digital notebook. There are a few new models coming this winter, but we still think this one is worth buying, especially since it’s on sale for $120 off.

    Amazon

    Echo Dot (5th Gen)

    If you’re looking for a great smart speaker on a budget, the older Echo Dot still has an upgraded bass quality compared to any other smart speaker this size (and certainly for this price).

    Amazon

    Kindle Colorsoft and Colorsoft Signature Edition

    The Kindle Colorsoft takes everything we love about Kindle’s e-readers and (finally!) adds a color screen. You’ll get most of the benefits of a Kindle Paperwhite with the bonus of color.

    Amazon

    Kindle (2024, 11th Generation)

    Amazon’s cheapest Kindle is still a powerful, snappy device, and comes in fun colors like matcha green.

    Best Digital Notebook Deal: reMarkable 2 Bundle for $408 ($70 Off)

    • Photograph: Nena Farrell

    One of the best digital notebooks you can get is the reMarkable 2. It’s my favorite budget option, which might seem weird since it’s not necessarily the cheapest option (it’s the same price as the Kindle Scribe) it’s the best for the features and the available accessories like a keyboard folio at the price point, and it is a lower price point than you’ll find for the rest of reMarkable’s lineup or competitors like Supernote. You can get bundles (you’ll need to choose both a marker and folio) of the reMarkable 2 for $70 right now, letting you add on your favorite folio or upgrade the marker without paying as much as you usually would. The digital notebooks from reMarkable are rarely on sale, so don’t miss this one. —Nena Farrell

    More Digital Notebook Deals

    Amazon

    Kindle Scribe (2024)

    The Kindle Scribe is a great combo e-reader and digital notebook. There are a few new models coming this winter, but we still think this one is worth buying, especially since it’s on sale.

    Kobo

    Libra Colour

    This is our favorite digital notebook for readers, and it’s a great affordable color option. It’s only $30 off the typical price, but that’s still some savings on our favorite e-reader.


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    Home & Kitchen

    Best Home Office Deal: Branch Ergonomic Chair Pro for $424 ($75 off)

    • Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

    • Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

    • Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

    • Courtesy of Branch

    Branch

    Ergonomic Chair Pro

    This is our top office chair recommendation for most people. Branch’s Ergonomic Chair Pro offers a ton of adjustments, from seat pan to lumbar support, all while looking pretty. It’s hard to find affordable, good office chairs, especially under $500, but Branch is one of the few companies delivering in this price bracket. We’ve rounded up more deals on Branch products here. Julian Chokkattu

    More Home Office Deals

    Secretlab

    Magnus Pro

    Secretlab might be a gamer-focused brand, but anyone should be able to appreciate its metal, magnetic Magnus Pro standing desk. The cable organization it allows is off the charts, largely thanks to the trench at the back and built-in power in one of the legs. Pick up magnetic accessories for more tidying up.

    Herman Miller

    Aeron

    Herman Miller’s Aeron is an iconic office chair. Yes, it’s expensive, but this is a chair you won’t have to think about for more than a decade. It’s supportive, can be tailored to your body size, and has an excellent 12-year warranty. We’ve rounded up more Herman Miller deals here.

    Best Vacuum Deal: Dyson V15s Detect Submarine for $699 ($351 Off)

    • Photograph: Adrienne So

    • Courtesy of Dyson

    Dyson

    V15s Detect Submarine

    This is the lowest price we’ve seen all year for this fantastic Dyson vacuum. It’s our favorite vacuum cleaner for both wet and dry cleaning, since it takes the technology we love from the V15 and adds a wet mop head attachment. You sadly can’t buy the attachment and use it with an existing V15, but if you’re already in the market for a new stick vac and want one that can do both, WIRED reviewer Adrienne So says this vacuum is one of the best things that has ever happened to her. —Nena Farrell

    More Vacuum Deals

    Dyson

    Gen5 Detect

    Save $300 on Dyson’s most powerful vacuum, and our favorite for vacuuming up pet hair. It’s often on sale for around $850, but it’s great to get this for a little cheaper.

    Best Air Purifier Deal: Dyson HushJet Purifier Compact for $300 ($50 off)

    Image may contain: Tin, Bottle, and Shaker

    Photograph: Lisa Wood Shapiro

    Dyson

    HushJet Purifier Compact

    The debut of Dyson’s first tabletop-sized air purifier was just announced in September; it’s finally here, and we’ve tried it. Its claim to fame is that it uses electrostatic filtration, which incorporates electrically charged plates to attract dust, pollen, dander, and other allergens. In our guide to the Best Air Purifiers, WIRED contributor Lisa Wood Shapiro notes this means the filter can last up to five years, as opposed to six to 12 months like a typical HEPA. She thought it was a little loud, measuring twice the advertised decibels on its highest setting, but is otherwise a great option for smaller areas like bedrooms. —Kat Merck

    More Air Purifier Deals

    Blueair

    Mini Restful Air Purifier Sunrise Clock

    It’s an air purifier! It’s a sunrise alarm clock! It’s an air purifier inside of a sunrise alarm clock! And it’s 25 percent off its normal price of $200 this Black Friday.

    Coway

    Airmega Mighty

    WIRED’s air quality expert, contributor Lisa Wood Shapiro, considers this Coway to be the best bang for your buck when it comes to air purifiers. That bang is even better at almost 40 percent off the normal price of $230.

    Best Smart Bird Feeder Deal: Netvue by Birdfy Smart Bird Feeder (No Solar/AI) for $100 ($100 off)

    • Courtesy of Birdfy

    • Photograph: Medea Giordano

    Netvue

    Birdfy Plastic Smart Bird Feeder

    This is the best price you’ll find all year for our all-around favorite smart bird feeder. It may not be the fanciest model, but it’s user-friendly and reliable. You can enjoy it without a subscription (though for the AI identification and image/video storage, you’ll want to spring for the extra $5 a month), and the app makes it easy to save and share great captures of birds. Note that Birdfy only works with 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, and the base model comes without a solar panel. I don’t mind this, as Birdfy’s panel has to be mounted separately and it’s hard to do this when the feeder is installed on a pole, which is what I recommend. —Kat Merck

    More Smart Bird Feeder Deals

    Bird Buddy

    Pro Smart Solar Hummingbird Feeder

    Our favorite smart hummingbird feeder is easy to clean and has a fun app.

    Camojojo

    Hibird DIY

    Make your existing bird feeder smart with this mountable camera that works on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi.

    Best Indoor Garden Deal: Gardyn Studio 2 for $412 ($137 off)

    • Photograph: Kat Merck

    • Photograph: Kat Merck

    • Courtesy of Gardyn

    Gardyn

    Indoor Hydroponic Garden

    I test indoor hydroponic garden systems all year round, and Gardyn has been my consistent favorite. I have two of them—the Home 4, with 30 plants, and the brand-new Studio 2, with 16 plants—and they both look like living works of art, overflowing with everything from peas and peppers to nasturtiums and even canna lilies. The systems do take a fair amount of maintenance, but as a busy, full-time working parent, it’s nothing I haven’t been able to handle. If you’ve been curious about these, all Gardyn systems are now 20 percent off for Black Friday, netting you $180 off a Home or $111 off a Studio. If you don’t mind the older, original studio, that’s on even deeper discount for just $337. They also come with a free 30-day trial of Kelby, the AI growing assistant that plans your watering and maintenance schedules for you. —Kat Merck

    More Indoor Garden Deals

    Auk

    Mini

    A Scandinavian garden we love, which is simple to maintain and lets you plant your own seeds.

    North Spore

    Boomr Bin Automated Mushroom Monotub

    Grow any mushrooms you want from scratch with this DIY system.

    Best Kitchen Deal: Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro for $300 ($100 Off)

    Image may contain: Device, Appliance, Electrical Device, Microwave, Oven, Burger, Food, Cooking, and Roasting

    Photograph: Lisa Wood Shapiro

    Breville

    Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro

    This is Breville’s top-line piece of kitchen hardware, an air fryer and oven with better precision than any other oven of its kind I’ve tested. It toasts evenly across the oven and can air fry chicken wings to admirable crispness, dehydrate fruit, and also roast a 14-pound turkey. The Breville Joule—the same oven, but with a handy autopilot feature— is on almost the same sale, and it’s $400. Both are the cheapest they’ve been this year. But this $300 price, for an oven I know to serve well for years, is hard to pass up. Matthew Korfhage

    More Kitchen Deals

    Field Company

    No. 8 Cast Iron Skillet

    Field Company’s cast iron skillets are something between a functional necessity and an actual work of art. They’re rarely on sale. But here they are for 20 percent off.

    Philips

    2000 Series 4.4-quart Air Fryer

    This 4.4-quart Philips is already my favorite budget air fryer: precise, reliable, as good as it gets for crispy fries at its price range. Now, it’s even $20 cheaper.


    Jump to section: Computers, TV & Audio, Mobile Devices & Charging, Home & Kitchen, Beauty & Wellness


    Beauty & Wellness

    Best Smartwatch/Fitness Tracker Deal: Apple Watch Series 10 for $310 ($120 off)

    • Photograph: Adrienne So

    • Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

    • Photograph: Adrienne So

    If you already own an Apple Watch, I generally do not advocate getting the latest and greatest because they’re all pretty iterative. I do think that this year’s Series 11 is worth getting because for the first time ever, it really does have a full 24 hours of battery life. But last year’s Series 10 (Apple’s 10th anniversary watch) has the same S10 chip as the latest watches. It also has the same slim case, large screen, and is compatible with watchOS 26 (with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone), so you can still enjoy the Liquid Glass design, Workout Buddy, and flick away Smart Stack with your wrist. —Adrienne So

    More Smartwatch/Tracker deals

    Samsung

    Galaxy Watch8 and Watch8 Classic

    The first Samsung smartwatches to use Google Wear OS 6, these also have the distinctive “squircle” cushion design.

    Best Beauty Deal: GHD Curve Soft Curl Iron for $167 ($72 off)

    Hand holding the GHD Curve Hair Curling Iron in black with a small illuminated circular button under the extension that opens and closes the barrel

    Photograph: Alanna Kilkeary

    One of our favorite curling irons because it heats up fast—in just 25 seconds, to be exact—and features an ergonomic design that’s intuitive for beginners who need help keeping their hair in place. It’s 30 percent off, priced at $167, which could cover the cost of one to three salon visits, depending on the shop. —Boutayna Chokrane

    More Beauty Deals

    Oral-B

    Pro 1000

    Our favorite oscillating toothbrush because of its powerful motor, round brush head that effectively reaches molars, and built-in timer. Most Pro models are a solid choice (and on sale right now), but the Pro 1000 offers the best value and is ideal for individuals with smaller mouths.

    LYMA

    The Lyma Laser

    Lyma has released a Pro version of this laser, but the older model is still a great option. If you want the original, now is the time to buy it on sale for 25 percent off.


    Jump to section: Computers, TV & Audio, Mobile Devices & Charging, Home & Kitchen, Beauty & Wellness


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    Simon Hill, Louryn Strampe

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  • Save $900 on Sony’s Best Mirrorless Camera With This Early Black Friday Deal

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    It’s Too Early for the lame turkey and family jokes that always start Black Friday deals posts, so I’ll just cut to the chase. Sony’s top-of-the-line mirrorless camera, the A7R V, is on sale at the lowest price we’ve ever seen. If you’ve been thinking of updating, now is the time to buy.

    The A7R V isn’t our top-pick mirrorless camera, but that’s mainly because at full price it’s expensive relative to the rest of the market. At this price, though, it’s a steal, and while there is no truly best camera for everyone, the A7R V is unquestionably the highest-resolution camera you can buy. And I know, megapixels aren’t everything, but I have never taken an image with this camera and thought, darn, that’s just too many megapixels.

    Courtesy of Sony

    The massive 61-megapixel, full-frame sensor in the A7R V is the largest sensor you can get without moving up to a bigger, bulkier medium-format camera. If you want to go totally nuts, get this, landscape photographers: The A7R V can combine 16 shots into a single 240-MP image. It only works with static subjects, but if you ever worried if your images are hi-res enough to cover the side of a building in Times Square, well, you can rest easy with the A7R V.

    Yes, the megapixel race is silly and mostly over, but I will say that I’ve shot quite a bit with the A7R C—which uses the same sensor—and images from this 60-MP sensor are noticeable sharper, and the dynamic range is visibly better than what I get from the A7R II (which has a 40-MP sensor). This is obviously the case onscreen, when pixel peeping, but I also notice the difference when I print images.

    That the A7R V is $900 off does make you wonder if perhaps the A7R VI is on the horizon? Anything is possible, but I kind of doubt it’s coming imminently. The A7C R, which as noted above, is nearly identical in features, is still not on sale. Furthermore, rumor has it the A7 V (no R) is due before the end of the year, and Sony rarely announces cameras back to back.

    What if you don’t want all those megapixels? They do make for huge files, after all (80-120 MB per image in my experience). The Sony A7 IV (9/10, WIRED Recommends, which uses a 33-MP sensor, is on sale for $700 less than usual.

    Sony A7IV Camera Body

    Photograph: Sony

    While the sensor has only about half the resolution of the A7R V, it’s plenty sharp and boasts a few video-oriented features you won’t find in the higher-resolution model. It has very nearly the same excellent dynamic range and one of the best autofocus system on the market.

    Without getting too deep in the weeds of video technicalities, the A7 IV can record 4K/30p video by oversampling from a 7K sensor region. On the other hand, the A7R V employs what’s known as line-skipping to achieve the same 4K/30p recording. This method of recording results in reduced sharpness and sometimes causes aliasing issues.

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    Scott Gilbertson

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  • Our Favorite Wireless Headphones for iPhone Owners Are $150 Off

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    Yesterday I wrote about a deal on the Nothing (1) Headset, an awesome pair of active noise-canceling headphones that compete with some of the best available options at a fraction of the price. For those who don’t feel like compromising, and already have Apple devices, I also found a juicy discount on the Apple AirPods Max. That’s right, Apple’s biggest and baddest headphones are marked down to just $400 at both Best Buy and Amazon.

    Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

    Even for the steep price tag, the audio quality on the AirPods Max is nothing short of incredible. When WIRED writer Parker Hall reviewed them initially, he called them “the best-sounding wireless headphones [he’s] ever heard, and by a significant margin.” Even when stacked up against the big hitters from Bose and Sony, they have an impressively open soundstage, letting details shine in every genre, from highly-produced pop to soft jazz. The active noise canceling is extremely potent as well, with a pass-through mode that’s sharp and clear.

    As long as you’re in the Apple ecosystem, these have an impressive level of features and excellent coordination between devices. Like most AirPods, simply hold them near your iPhone or iPad and they’ll connect right away, no extensive pairing or app installations. Because they’re always running in a low-power state, you can remove them from their little case or put them on your head, and they’ll connect to the closest iOS device and start playing. It’s a neat trick, but one that’s always draining the battery slowly, so you may find them dead if you don’t use them for too long.

    While there have been occasional discounts on the headset, to my knowledge this is the lowest price yet for the updated USB-C model. It’s matched only by a similar markdown on the older Lightning port version in July of 2024, just before the update, although this time there don’t seem to be any rumors swirling about another update. While your availability may vary by location, as I write this all five colors are in stock and discounted at Best Buy, but Amazon is sold out of the orange.

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  • Hulu, Peacock, Prime: Full List of Black Friday Deals 2025 for Streaming Services

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    As Black Friday approaches, consumers are looking for the best deals on a wide range of products and services, including their favorite streaming subscriptions.

    Streaming platforms routinely offer major deals during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday time frame, and this year is no different.

    Why It Matters

    Shoppers can save a significant amount of money by timing their subscription purchases around Black Friday.

    In previous Black Fridays, Hulu offered subscriptions as low as 99 cents, while Max offered 6 months of streaming for just $2.99 per month.

    Amazon Prime

    Amazon Prime has historically offered up to 50 percent off movies and TV shows. There’s also typically a 75 percent discount on a two-month subscription for channels like Paramount+ and MGM+.

    Apple TV+ 

    Apple TV+ is charging $5.99 for six months as part of a Black Friday deal with Prime Video added on. That’s a total savings of $42.

    AMC+

    AMC+ is offering several Black Friday deals this year.

    If you prefer AMC+ with ads, you can pay $1.75 per month for two months. That’s a significant savings compared to the usual $6.99 monthly price.

    Meanwhile, AMC+ Premium is available for $2.50 monthly for two months, down from $9.99 monthly.

    BET+

    BET+ will give viewers unlimited access to BET programs for just $1.50 a month during its Black Friday sale. 

    Some of the top shows to watch on the platform include All the Queen’s Men, Tyler Perry’s Ruthless, Love & Hip-Hop and Basketball Wives.

    Starz

    Viewers can pay just $2.75 for a Starz subscription. That’s a 75 percent discount from the typical $10.99 monthly price.

    The deal is available temporarily for two months before the price goes back up.

    Hulu

    New Hulu subscribers can get the streaming service for just 99 cents monthly for an entire year if they sign up during Black Friday. The regular cost is $9.99, meaning shoppers will save more than $100 over the course of a year.

    Peacock

    Last year, Peacock offered new subscribers access to the Premium plan for $1.99 monthly for six months or $19.99 for the first year.

    Paramount

    Roku announced that on November 25, the Paramount Plus Essential and Premium plans will be available for $2.99 per month for two months. 

    What People Are Saying

    Kevin Thompson, finance expert and founder/CEO of 9i Capital Group, previously told Newsweek: “As cord-cutting continues, streaming has become the dominant choice for entertainment, but many are finding it just as costly—if not more—than traditional cable…To save money, consumers should review their streaming subscriptions and compare their total monthly costs to traditional cable. If expenses are higher, it may be time to cut back or consolidate.”

    What Happens Next

    Most Black Friday deals disappear after the holiday, so shoppers should act fast to secure the first few months of their subscription at a lower price.

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  • The Oura Ring 4 Is $100 Off Ahead of Black Friday

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    Looking for a health and fitness tracker that doesn’t require you to wear a big, bulky watch? You can grab an Oura Ring 4 for just $249 from Amazon, a $100 break from the normal price. It’s compatible with both iOS and Android apps, has a battery that last for days, and accurately tracks a ton of health data, from hiking and sleeping to period predictions and food intake.

    • Photograph: Simon Hill

    • Photograph: Simon Hill

    This generation of the Oura smart ring has a number of major improvements, but the biggest upgrade is to the overall wearability. The sensors have been recessed further into the body of the ring itself, which reduces the overall thickness considerably and allows for a wider available range of ring sizes. They also cover a wider portion of the ring, so there’s no need to keep it oriented in one specific direction to get proper readings.

    The battery life has improved a lot as well. The older Oura 3 could run for around three days before it needed a charge, Our reviewer, Adrienne So, reported that the Ring 4 tracked a full weekend of hiking and physical activity, as well as a music festival, and still had enough juice for at least a couple more days.

    You get a ton of health and physical fitness data from the ring, which is neatly sorted into daily physical data, detailed vitals, and longer trends over time, all organized in the app on your phone. If you want to also keep track of your food intake, a new Meals feature lets you take photos of what you eat and then track its effects on your body. Oura has also worked with Natural Cycles, a fertility tracking app, to predict periods using your basal body temperature.

    The Oura Ring 4 is an impressive health and fitness tracker in a surprisingly small package, and one of the only downsides from our review was the price point for the silver-colored finishes. Thankfully, the mirrored silver and classic black are marked down to the lower $249 price point, with varying discounts on the other options, like $299 for the brushed silver, or a larger $150 discount to bring the gold down to just $349.

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  • Best Buy’s Pre-Black Friday Sales Have Already Begun. Here’s What to Buy

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    Whether you like it or not, Black Friday is next week. The holiday shopping season is upon us, and it’s when some of the best deals of the year make their appearance. Ahead of Black Friday, Best Buy has been offering some really solid tech deals on some of our favorite products we’ve tested and reviewed, ranging from laptops and gaming mice to cordless vacuums. So, whether you’re shopping for the perfect gift for that tech lover in your life or if you’ve been waiting all year for prices to drop on something for yourself, there are a few great options below.

    For more great discounts, check out our Best Early Black Friday Deals roundup and all of our deals coverage here.

    The Latest MacBook Pro

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    The M5 MacBook Pro (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is only a month old, and it’s already on sale. It’s the only Mac so far to get the bump to the latest M5 chip, benefiting from improved performance all around. In my testing, there was a significant step forward everywhere you looked, including the GPU, the CPU, and the Neural Engine for AI tasks. It’s the GPU that’s seen the biggest leap, though, which should speed up both gaming and creative applications. Other than that, this is the same MacBook Pro you probably already know and love, with its bright mini-LED screen, robust speakers, and extra ports (over the MacBook Air, at least).

    This base 14-inch model doesn’t have the incredible value of the MacBook Air or the powerhouse performance of the M4 Pro and M4 Max MacBook Pro. Ultimately, when it comes to which MacBook you should buy, the answer is still the Air. But the M5 versions of these laptops aren’t coming until next year, so if you’re after the latest Apple Silicon in one of the best laptops you can buy, this deal on the M5 MacBook Pro is solid.

    The Best Bluetooth Speaker

    • Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    • Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    • Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    The JBL Flip 7 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is a Bluetooth speaker that has it all. As our A/V reviewer Ryan Waniata says, “JBL’s Flip strikes the perfect compromise between mobility and sound quality, offering clean detail with plenty of punch.” Waniata also praises the durability of the Flip 7, which is important in a Bluetooth speaker meant to be used outdoors. There are tons of different color options to match your vibe, and it gets up to 16 hours of battery life. The increased water resistance means it’ll bring the party to wherever you need it. Put simply, it’s the best Bluetooth speaker you can buy, and it’s at a great price.

    Our Favorite Dyson Vacuum

    • Photograph: Nena Farrell

    • Photograph: Nena Farrell

    • Courtesy of Dyson

    Everyone wants a cordless Dyson vacuum, but they tend to be exorbitantly expensive. It’s still not cheap, but at $300 off, this is as good a deal as we’ve seen on this vacuum. The V15 Detect is our vacuum expert’s favorite Dyson. In her testing, Nena Farrell says she was impressed by how much dust and dirt it sucked up from her carpet, as well as from hard floors. The V15 Detect also comes with an extra sensor that can actually count the number of dust particles. That’s overkill for most people, but if you have severe allergies (or have friends or family that do), the Dyson V15 Detect can actually verify what you’re picking up.

    The Best TV Deal Right Now

    Image may contain: Electronics, Screen, Computer Hardware, Hardware, Monitor, TV, Person, Adult, Ball, Football, and Soccer

    Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    OLED TVs might be the best TVs you can buy, but if you’re shopping for a TV under $1,000 like most people are, the TCL QM6K QLED (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is what you should be eyeing. It’s a 4K mini-LED screen, and our TV reviewers call it “a versatile display that does just about everything well, from naturalistic colors to rich black levels and impressive clarity.” It’s not the brightest TV in the world, but it does come with a 144-Hz refresh rate for gaming and a smart Google TV interface for your streaming needs. There are screen options ranging from 55 inches up to 98 inches, all of which are on sale ahead of Black Friday, with the happy-medium 65-inch model starting at $500.

    The Best Phone Under $300

    Image may contain: Electronics, Phone, and Mobile Phone

    Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

    Motorola

    Moto G Stylus 2025

    No one is calling the Moto G Stylus 5G the best phone in the world. In fact, our phone expert (and tech editor extraordinaire, Julian Chokkattu) recommends Nothing’s Phone 3a as the better cheap phone. But the 2025 Moto G Stylus is not only the best Moto G phone you can buy, it also has a lot of high-end features, such as a large 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with a 120-Hz refresh rate. It even has a beautiful blue back, a built-in stylus, and a headphone jack. That’s a lot of uncommon features in a remarkably cheap phone, especially at its discounted pre–Black Friday price.

    A Classy Gaming Laptop

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    The Razer Blade 14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a gaming laptop. The RGB-backlit keyboard and green snakes logo on the lid give it away. But if not for those elements, you could easily mistake the Blade 14 for a true MacBook Pro rival made for content creators and pro users. It’s around the same thickness as the MacBook Pro, despite the fact that it has a powerful discrete graphics card for gaming. That’s what makes it such a great hybrid device that could work just as well for school and work as for late-night gaming.

    The Razer Blade 14 didn’t get a massive revamp in 2025, but the new model did make some tweaks. It now has an OLED panel, which is high-resolution (2880 x 1800) and color-accurate, and it sports a faster 120-Hz refresh rate. It’s not the best gaming screen I’ve seen on a laptop, but again, it’s a great comparison to the MacBook Pro. And for this price, it’s a must-buy.

    The Perfect Travel Partner

    Sony WF-1000XM5 Earbuds

    Courtesy of Sony

    These earbuds came out a couple of years ago, but they remain some of the best you can buy. When they came out, Sony’s fifth-generation of high-end wireless earbuds were trimmed down to around 25 percent smaller and 20 percent lighter than the previous generation. You also get two extra full charges from the case, for a total of up to 36 hours of listening. That all makes it the best pair of earbuds for traveling in particular. There’s no compromise in noise canceling either. In fact, our A/V experts say the XM5 have “some of the most advanced functionality in terms of EQ, touch controls, and adaptive noise canceling available on the market.” They’re $100 off the retail price ahead of Black Friday, which is the best discount we’ve ever seen on them.

    An Incredible OLED Gaming Monitor

    Black desktop monitor with silver screen as screen shows a scene from a game

    Courtesy of Samsung

    Samsung

    Odyssey G6 OLED Gaming Monitor

    Samsung makes some of the prettiest gaming monitors, especially in the past couple of years. Within its Odyssey lineup, there’s now just about every size and form factor of monitor you can imagine. The Odyssey G6 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a 27-inch OLED with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 and a 360-Hz refresh rate, which should be great no matter what game you’re playing. Want extreme frame rates for competitive shooters? You can drop the resolution to 1080p and explore the higher echelon of the 360-Hz refresh rate. For slower-paced single-player games, the 1440p resolution is crisp, and the OLED panel gets you gorgeous HDR in games. It’s $250 off the full price ahead of Black Friday, down now to $650.

    A Dirt-Cheap Chromebook

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    • Photograph: Luke Larsen

    You can’t expect a laptop this cheap to be without compromises. But when it comes to budget Chromebooks, this is as good as it gets. It’s a reasonably affordable and attractive laptop, with lots of ports, decent performance, and a comfortable keyboard. For a Chromebook, the specs aren’t bad either, coming with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. Unfortunately, the touchpad isn’t the best, nor is the display. It’s not bright enough, and the colors look off. For a laptop under $300, though, the CX14 should do the trick, especially for a student or a first-time laptop owner.

    A Gaming Mouse

    Image may contain: Computer Hardware, Electronics, Hardware, and Mouse

    Photograph: Henri Robbins

    Corsair

    Scimitar Elite Wireless SE

    If you play MMOs, you know how useful it is to map various actions to buttons on your keyboard or mouse. Well, this gaming mouse from Corsair gives you a ton of options to customize your gameplay. There are 12 reprogrammable side buttons, but the mouse also has a high 33,000-dpi optical sensor and 1,000-Hz polling for low input lag and high responsiveness. It can connect via a 2.4-GHz dongle instead of Bluetooth, too.


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  • These Beats Headphones Are Marked Down to $150 for Black Friday

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    Say what you will about Beats fans, but at least they know what they like. These headsets and earbuds are instantly recognizable for their slick styling and bass forward sound profile. If that sounds like your speed, the Beats Studio Pro are currently marked down as low as $150 Amazon, depending on your color preference. I spotted them at the lower price in matte white, sand gray, and dune, with a slightly higher $170 price tag for the remaining colors, though your availability may vary.

    Courtesy of Beats

    While the Studio Pro lack some of the Apple-exclusive features you get with AirPods, for example, the upside is that they’re much more friendly with Android devices. Both platforms get access to one-touch pairing and the helpful Beats app, while iPhone owners also get the benefits of Hey Siri and Find My Device. The other features are a bit of a mixed bag, with a decent battery life of up to 24 hours with ANC on, or 40 with ANC off, but no auto pause when you take them off, or multi-point pairing beyond Google’s Chromebook and Android option.

    Like most headphones from Beats, the sound profile is decidedly bass-forward, but Apple’s ownership has tempered that tendency over the last few years. As a result, this generation is more balanced than previous eras, with our reviewer Ryan Waniata complimenting the expansive sound stage and sharp details. Unfortunately, most Beats headsets don’t have any equalizer, and the Studio Pro are no different. For better or worse, you’re stuck with how they sound coming out of the box. These at least support high-resolution audio, up to 24-bit/48-kHz, but only in the wired USB-C mode.

    For the Beats enthusiast looking for an upgrade or a second headset for the gym, these are a solid option at a deeply discounted price. They lack some of the richer and more advanced features found on more expensive headsets, but that may be the right compromise for some folks who just want something simple that works every time. If you’re not sure you can stand the bass, make sure to check out all of our favorite wireless headsets.

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  • This Lightweight Laptop Is Almost Half Off

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    On the hunt for a lightweight and budget-friendly laptop that won’t let you down? Best Buy has the Asus Zenbook A14 discounted from its usual $1,000 price point to just $550 for an early Black Friday deal. This featherweight laptop is a Windows Copilot+ PC, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus at its core, and is a great deal for students or occasionally putting in some hours from your local café.

    Photograph: Christopher Null

    Weighing in at just 2.1 pounds, this Zenbook is one of the lightest laptops we’ve tested to date, with most machines starting closer to 2.4, and only Lenovo’s Thinkpad X1 Carbon coming anywhere close at 2.2 pounds. That’s largely thanks to a material developed by Asus called Ceraluminum, a combination of ceramic and aluminum that’s both extremely light and very durable.

    Like a lot of laptops in the Copilot+ range, the Zenbook sports an FHD+ (1920 x 1200) resolution screen, but it’s at least an OLED panel, which is great news for those of you who put your laptop on the coffee table to watch movies. Our reviewer Christopher Null ran a video playback test, and even with the screen at full brightness, the laptop managed to run for over 20 hours. That’s a truly impressive feat, particularly for a laptop so thin and light.

    The heart of this machine is a Snapdragon X Plus from Qualcomm, a brand you might be more used to seeing in mobile phones than Windows machines. While it does help give you that awesome battery life, the performance leaves a bit to be desired. While it’s totally fine for web browsing, text documents, and email, don’t expect to play the latest games, or do anything more strenuous than some light graphics work.

    Qualcomm chips are slowly becoming a more appealing option for laptops, and if you’re trying not to spend a ton of money on a laptop, they’re worth a look. While gamers and video editors should swing by our laptop roundup for more serious options, at just $550 the Zenbook A14 offers a surprising amount of value in a petite package.

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  • This Excellent LG OLED Is Deeply Discounted Before Black Friday

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    If you’re looking to make the move to an OLED screen, but don’t feel like stomaching the high price tag usually associated with the tech, you might consider the LG B5 OLED. It’s already a great screen at the full price, but Best Buy currently has it marked down to just $600. That’s a significant markdown for this TV, which can typically be found between $1,000 and $1,200.

    • Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    • Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    • Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    • Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    The star of the show is LG’s OLED panel, the type typically found on TVs twice the price. If you’re curious why that’s so important, we have a great explainer that breaks down the difference between all the different panel types. The important takeaway here is that the pixels emit their own light, allowing individual spots of the screen to be perfectly black. The result is impressive, with incredible contrast between the brightest and darkest spots that’s best understood by seeing it in person.

    The other areas of the screen are excellent as well. Our reviewer Ryan Waniata opined that “there’s a sumptuous touch to images of all sorts,” and liked the colors as well, which were accurate and sharp without any adjustment. The screen has a natural and vivid performance to it that feels all the more impressive when you consider the price point.

    It has the chops for some gaming too, with feature support that meets or beats higher-end screens. With four proper HDMI 2.1 inputs, your consoles won’t need to fight for the good ports, which is a nice surprise for the price point. It can reach a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, which is just fine for most console gamers, and has both AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync to make sure everything is smooth, plus Auto Low Latency Mode for quick response times.

    Overall, the LG B5 OLED is a solid value at its full price, but the steep discount here makes this a really sweet upgrade or first OLED. If you’re still not sold, make sure to swing by our roundup of all the best TVs available, including the B5 and other OLEDs.

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  • This Quest 3S Bundle Is $50 Off and Includes a Game and Gift Card

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    If you’ve been dreaming of getting into virtual reality but you’ve been holding out for a good deal, this may be your moment. I spotted a Meta Quest 3S bundle at Best Buy that not only knocks $50 off the normal price, but also includes Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners and a $50 Best Buy digital gift card. That’s quite the deal on a product that doesn’t often see major discounts, and you can use that gift card to accessorize your new headset.

    Courtesy of Meta

    Meta’s lineup of stand-alone headsets has slowly improved over the last few years, with frequent updates adding functionality and growing the library of games. You don’t need a computer or console to power them, which makes it easy to just toss the headset on and start playing without any extra steps. With object and hand tracking, sometimes you don’t even need controllers, and the pass-through camera lets you blend the real world and the virtual one for awesome mixed reality experiences.

    While the Quest 3S is the more budget-friendly offering in the current generation of headsets, the compromises aren’t as major as you might be thinking. The screen is slightly lower resolution, and the pass-through isn’t quite as sharp, but otherwise the Quest 3S plays the same games and experiences as the more expensive Quest 3. Both headsets suffer from limited battery life, so don’t expect more than a couple of hours of play at a time.

    I haven’t had a chance to play the included game, Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, but it’s described as a survival action game set in a zombie-ridden version of New Orleans. You’ll have to make tough decisions about how to deal with other survivors, and it looks like there are plenty of opportunities to slay zombies. My vibe is usually more mini-golf than shotgun-wielding, but the game has overall positive reviews, and scary stuff can be a lot of fun in VR.

    If you’re ready to pull the trigger on this deal, make sure to swing by my guide to the best Meta Quest games. I’ve got some picks over there that can help you calm down after a long day of swinging your axe at zombies.

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  • Our Favorite Compact Soundbar Is $100 Off

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    If your current TV speakers aren’t impressing you, the easiest way to upgrade your movie night is with a sound bar. Our favorite compact option, where you might have limited space or a smaller room, is the Bose Smart Soundbar. It’s currently marked down to $400 at retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, a discount of at least $100. It’s easy to use, small enough to squeeze into tight spots, and still has all the features you’d expect from a soundbar.

    Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    Despite the tiny footprint, the Bose Smart Soundbar is capable of surprisingly expansive sound, which our reviewer Ryan Waniata calls out in particular, even if you’re just watching sports. Without a dedicated subwoofer, it lacks some punch in the bass department, but is still impressive, with surprising clarity, especially considering how little space it takes up. Because it sports Bluetooth, you can even use it as a dedicated speaker for music, a role it handles quite well.

    The Smart Soundbar comes with a variety of intelligent features designed to enhance your viewing experience. We called out the AI Dialogue mode in particular, and were impressed by its ability to help speech stand out, without distorting the other background audio and music. If you often find yourself rewinding or asking what a character said, this soundbar is worth looking into for this feature on its own.

    It also has another neat trick Bose calls Personal Surround. By pairing the soundbar with a set of the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, you can incorporate them into your surround setup. The open earbuds still let you hear the soundbar, creating an immersive mix that’s made even more potent by Dolby Atmos support.

    If you have the extra space, you may still want to consider one of our other favorite soundbars, which can take advantage of that room to add a dedicated subwoofer, or more drivers. For anyone just looking to upgrade their living room’s audio setup, the Bose Smart Soundbar is an excellent pick that doesn’t take up any extra space, and still sounds surprisingly good.

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  • 8 sites where you can order holiday cards that don’t cost a fortune

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    The holiday season is fast approaching, so now is the time to order your holiday cards. Stop saying “I’ll get to it” and use these affordable sites to get personalized holiday cards at a low price. You can choose from pre-made cards with messages already inside, or you can completely personalize your cards with family photos and unique, holiday-themed designs.

    Choose from hundreds of different Christmas cards. 

    Choose from hundreds of different Christmas cards.  (CVS)

    CVS has always been a go-to for holiday cards. With a huge catalog of options, there’s something for everyone. You can get a classic postcard Christmas card that you can customize with a family photo, or go with a minimalistic photo card featuring the festive phrase “Wishing you a merry Christmas”. For a more whimsical option, CVS has a Christmas card lined with holiday lights, featuring a photo option in the middle, perfect for pictures of kids, pets or the whole family. Prices typically sit around $2.98 per card. 

    Shutterfly offers holiday cards that are completely customizable.

    Shutterfly offers holiday cards that are completely customizable. (Shutterfly)

    Shutterfly has hundreds of holiday and Christmas cards you can personalize with family photos. You can completely design your own card from scratch or go with pre-made options like this plaid stamp holiday card. There are even pet holiday cards you can customize with adorable pictures of your animal. No matter what holiday you celebrate, Shutterfly has an option for you, including Hanukkah cards featuring Menorahs and classic “happy holiday” cards with simple script. 

    Prices for Shutterfly can vary. For example, the classic script holiday card is on sale for just under $2 per card. You can choose your quantity, from a single card up to 1,000. 

    THE BEST GIFTS UNDER $50 FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST

    Find funny cards, colorful options or classic Christmas designs. 

    Find funny cards, colorful options or classic Christmas designs.  (Paper Culture)

    Paper Culture also has customizable holiday cards for every holiday. Include the whole family in this fun family Christmas tree card, or have a little more fun with this Western-themed holiday card that features the saying “Happy Holidays, ya’ll” on one side. Paper Culture has unique foil options, too, so you can brighten up your cards even more. You can choose from gold, silver, green, red and copper. Prices vary depending on the card design you choose, but generally, you’ll pay around $1 to $3 per card.

    GotPrint holiday cards have designs to choose from, or you can upload your own. 

    GotPrint holiday cards have designs to choose from, or you can upload your own.  (GotPrint)

    GotPrint has custom Christmas invitations and holiday cards from traditional sizes and designs to fun options included a square five-by-five card size. Choose from this fun black and gold Christmas card, which is perfectly squared, this fun Santa card and more. Complete the look by customizing your envelope with these personalized and festive address labels. These cards come in a range of prices but many start near $20 for a box of 50 cards.

    Choose from minimalist designs or bold, colorful Christmas cards. 

    Choose from minimalist designs or bold, colorful Christmas cards.  (Minted)

    Minted offers modern and festive holiday cards for Christmas and other holidays. You can go simple with this watercolor Merry Christmas card that can feature a family photo. The card has a simple ribbon design that can be customized with a color of your choosing. If you’re looking for something even simpler, go with this happy holidays card that you can add a photo to. Featuring a simple script and an option to add foil, you can customize the card as much or as little as you’d like. For some more Christmas cheer, go with Minted’s Bold & Bright Christmas card. Bold red and white stripes give you that holiday feel, and the small family photo in the center makes this card a keepsake the whole family will want. 

    Generally, you’ll pay about $80 for 30 cards, but the exact price varies depending on the design and customizations you add. Adding foil or choosing a larger sized card will increase the overall price.

    HOLIDAY GIFTS FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST FROM FITNESS FANATICS TO HOME CHEFS

    Paper Source has everything from cat-themed cards to classic Christmas tree designs. 

    Paper Source has everything from cat-themed cards to classic Christmas tree designs.  (Paper Source)

    Paper Source features generic holiday cards with a variety of festive designs and artwork. Instead of personalizing the card with family photos, you can choose from different boxed sets and write personal messages in each. Some cards even have messages in them already. Each card set is a different price, but they generally run from $20 to $40 for a box of 20 or so cards.

    These cat-themed Christmas cards feature adorable kitties on each card that are playing with tinsel, batting around mistletoe and other holiday shenanigans. You can also go with a classic Christmas tree card set with the phrase “May the holiday season fill your home with Joy, your heart with Love, and your life with Peace” printed on the inside. For an even more elegant look, these Snowman cards bring the blue and white Christmas theme to life.

    Zazzle cards range from about $1 to $3 per card. 

    Zazzle cards range from about $1 to $3 per card.  (Zazzle)

    Zazzle’s holiday and Christmas cards range from bright, fun designs to elegant and minimalistic motifs. In other words, there’s a card option for everyone. These classy plaid cards can be personalized with any photo. The simple “Merry Christmas” text on the top paired with your family name on the bottom keeps the card simple enough to display all winter long. For a simple and fun option, go with this colorful Merry Christmas and Happy New Year card, filled with family photos. Pet parents can join in on the Christmas card fun with this Happy Howlidays card.

    Similar to other options on our list, you’ll pay around $1 to $3 per card on Zazzle. Some of the more intricate designs are more costly, while the simpler versions with just one image are cheaper.

    For more deals, visit www.foxnews.com/deals

    Moonpig lets you personalize cards for every occasion.

    Moonpig lets you personalize cards for every occasion. (Moonpig)

    With Moonpig, there are plenty of ways to spread holiday cheer. Whether you want to personalize your Christmas card (as seen in this bright red option) or stick to a pre-designed option (like this snowglobe one), there are several to sift through. A single card costs just under $10, with a pack of 25 coming out to $250.

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  • I’ve Been Writing About Black Friday for 12 Years. Here’s My Advice

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    Black Friday used to actually just be one day long. Shoppers would camp outside of stores, paper circulars in hand, eagerly awaiting the chance to bust down some doors and save a ton of cash. Over time, the sales event has grown. Now, the entire month of November is a hydra where the heads are “slashed prices” and the sword-wielding hero is an overwhelmed customer.

    Nearly every deal is available online, meaning you don’t need to leave the couch to participate. But all the marketing and chaos can get confusing. How can you tell if a deal is worth your time and money? When do sales start and end? Do you really need that gadget? I’m a Black Friday veteran who’s been shopping the sales since early childhood and writing about them since 2013, and I’m here to help.

    When Is Black Friday?

    In 2025, Black Friday falls on November 28. It’s followed by Cyber Monday on December 1, 2025. Most of the official sales start on Wednesday or Thanksgiving, though some of the best deals start on Friday, sometime in the early hours.

    I have been Black Friday shopping for over 20 years. My advice, if you’re on the hunt for killer deals, is to stay up late the day before Thanksgiving to check for online sales starting around midnight Eastern time on Wednesday, November 26. WIRED will also cover major sales later in the day on Thanksgiving. Early Black Friday deals are available now, as they usually are during the weeks leading up to the event.

    Can You Get Black Friday Deals Online?

    You can—and should. We exclusively cover online deals at WIRED because the majority of Black Friday deals are available on the web. The best deals often sell out quickly, so it’s a good idea to pay attention to your favorite store’s sale pages (and our coverage).

    Make a list of what you want to buy ahead of time—this can help you keep a clear head when it’s time to start shopping. You shouldn’t buy things just to buy them. Everyone’s on a tighter budget these days; sales will happen again. Take a deep breath and don’t get sucked into the frenzy.

    Which Retailers Will Have Black Friday Deals?

    Nearly all of them. There are obvious stores, like Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy, but chances are every retailer and brand will have some sort of sale, spanning deals on clothing, shoes, books, electric scooters, tech, health and beauty items, or fitness specialty goods, to name just a few categories. There might even be promotions going on at your favorite coffee shop or restaurant. When in doubt, visit a retailer’s website. Usually, Black Friday sales are highlighted proudly on the homepage.

    Here are a few Black Friday sales pages from major retailers:

    Is Black Friday Worth It?

    In a word: Usually. Most of the time, Black Friday deals are the best we see all year, and they set the precedent for what dictates a good price in the months that follow.

    However, some Black Friday deals aren’t all that great or are repetitive from year to year. For instance, you’ll predictably see low prices on some smart-home tech, like the Amazon Echo Dot or Google Nest Mini. In previous years, those speakers have sold for around $20 or so, every single November. This year, they’ll probably dip to the same price. Even if a price is technically a historic low, consider whether you truly need another cheap little speaker before you place your order—especially considering that these deals tend to pop up repeatedly throughout the year.

    Discounts aren’t jaw-dropping if the products go on sale every few months, and unfortunately, we have seen more and more repeat sales as the shopping holidays start to blur into one big ball of madness. But the deals are still worth it if you are in the market for a specific item and want to save some cash. Just keep in mind that price research is important, and if you miss out on a deal, don’t fret; there’s a strong chance it will come around again at some point in the future.

    How Much Money Can I Save on Black Friday?

    That depends on what you’re shopping for. There are so many deals up for grabs in so many categories that it’s impossible to list them all here.

    For example, TVs are usually a great purchase to make around Black Friday, if you can find the right model. They are at their cheapest this time of year, especially if you don’t want to wait until Super Bowl season. In the same vein, you’ll be able to save on clothes, toys, and home goods, but those deals may not be as enticing when you look at specific dollar amounts. It’s safe to assume that everything is less expensive than usual, though.

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    Louryn Strampe

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  • Black Friday Is Coming, but These Deals Will Give You a Head Start

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    Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest shopping holidays of the year. Falling on the Friday and Monday after Thanksgiving, it’s safe to expect Black Friday deals on thousands of items big and small. As always, the WIRED Reviews team will be scouring the Internet to find truly good deals on items we’ve actually hand-tested and would recommend to a friend. While the official sales have not yet started, there are already some great early discounts on reliable gear. Find our favorites below.

    Don’t miss our other recent deals roundups about the REI Holiday Sale and the Home Depot Black Friday Sale.

    Featured in this article

    The Best MacBook

    Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2025)

    Jump to Deal

    The Best Bamboo Sheets

    Cozy Earth Bamboo Sheet Set

    Jump to Deal

    Apple Watch SE 3 for $200 ($50 off)

    Photograph: Adrienne So

    The Apple Watch SE 3 is the best Apple Watch for most people. It has excellent value and most of the tracking metrics you’d want, like skin temperature sensing and sleep apnea notifications, in addition to common stats like steps, sleep, and workout efficacy. It doesn’t have blood oxygen or ECG capabilities, but we like the watchOS 26 operating system, the long-lasting battery, and the very affordable price tag.

    Apple

    Watch Series 10

    The last-gen Apple Watch is still fantastic, though we wish its battery lasted longer. But this price is a goodie.

    Dyson

    V12 Detect Slim

    Here’s a great deal on a capable Dyson vacuum, which is ideal for small spaces like a studio apartment.

    Amazon

    Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Generation)

    If you watch a lot of Amazon Prime Video content, this is a solid 4K streaming stick with an easy-to-use operating system that favors Amazon content.

    Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, 2025) for $750 ($249 off)

    • Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

    • Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

    • Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

    • Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

    Apple

    MacBook Air (13-inch, 2025)

    The 2025 MacBook Air is the best MacBook on the market right now, and this price matches the best we’ve tracked (and is $50 lower than we’d seen up until this month). It can handle the tasks you’d expect, including multiple Google Chrome tabs with applications running in the background. It also has an upgraded 12 MP webcam and a few different ports, including a headphone jack. We do recommend going for upgraded unified memory if you’re a power user, and while it can handle some photo editing or other content creation, it’s probably not the best choice if you’ll be editing videos or other graphics-intensive tasks. But for just about anyone else, it’s worthwhile, especially at this price.

    Boox

    Palma 2

    This little tablet works well as an e-reader, especially if you’re traveling.

    Apple

    AirTags (4-pack)

    These trackers can add just about anything to Apple’s Find My network, and the price comes close to the best we’ve seen.

    Nothing Ear (a) for $89 ($20 off)

    Left: Two yellow in-ear buds on a wooden surface. Right: Hand holding one in-ear bud, showing the panel that extrudes.

    Photograph: Parker Hall

    These ultra-stylish earbuds are the very best on the market. The Nothing Ear (a) are on sale for this price relatively often, but it’s just $10 higher than the best we’ve tracked, and we’ve seen them sell out before when they do hit $79. The on-board touch controls and small, sleek charging case are nice, but the battery life and noise cancellation are nothing to sneeze at either.

    Ekster

    Vacuum Travel Kit

    This waterproof vacuum bag can hold a lot of stuff, though it’s best if you don’t need to separate items.

    Cadence

    Parcel

    These TSA-approved magnetic containers are great for travelers who like to decant their own products. Note that this 10 percent discount jumps to 20 percent off if you spend $200+, and 30 percent off for $300+.

    bb.FONTS

    Birds of a Feather Tote Bag

    This giftable vegan leather tote bag has space for a 16-inch laptop, plus much more.

    LYMA

    The Lyma Laser

    This pricey, easy-to-use laser can tighten and brighten skin, and it basically never goes on sale.

    Cozy Earth Bamboo Sheets for $246 ($62 off)

    • Photograph: Nena Farrell

    • Courtesy of Cozy Earth

    Cozy Earth

    Bamboo Sheet Set

    These decadant, soft sheets are silky, smooth, and slightly chilly when you first get into bed. WIRED reviewer and sheets expert Nena Farrell likens them to climbing in a puddle of melted butter—which sounds about as luxuriant and comfortable as falling asleep can possibly feel. They get warm in the night, so they’re especially nice to have during the cooler months of the year, and they’re deep enough to fit most mattresses. This deal is part of a larger sitewide sale at Cozy Earth—we also like its pajamas and slippers.

    Dreo

    TurboPoly Fan 508S

    Our favorite pedestal fan is quiet, it looks nice, and it has smart capabilities and optional RGB lighting too.

    Dreo

    Humidifier 524

    The best budget humidifier is user-friendly and customizable, and the indicator light provides at-a-glance air quality information.

    Great Jones

    All Aboard Cutting Board

    This oversize, nonslip cutting board is one of our favorites for prepping large quantities of basically anything.

    Great Jones

    Spout

    This little container is a great gift. It’s eye-catching and perfect for dispensing liquids like olive oil or salad dressing.

    Netvue Birdfy Plastic Smart Bird Feeder for $120 ($80 off)

    • Courtesy of Birdfy

    • Photograph: Medea Giordano

    Netvue

    Birdfy Plastic Smart Bird Feeder

    The best smart bird feeder goes on sale pretty often, but this time of year usually brings it to the lowest price we’ll see. Right now you can save on the base model with a solar panel. It might be worth forking over the extra cash for a lifetime subscription to its AI-powered bird identification services, though there’s a chance those lifetime subscription models will get cheaper on Black Friday. Otherwise, the subscription costs $5 per month. The feeder is easy to set up and use, with a 1080p wide-angle camera and an easy-to-clean, IP65 water-resistant plastic housing. You’ll have to mount the solar panel separately, if you go with that option, but the process isn’t too tricky.

    Birdfy

    Bath Pro

    This gift-worthy smart birdbath has a camera that’ll show adorable footage of birds—and probably other visitors, like raccoons and squirrels.

    Kiwibit

    Beako 4K Smart Bird Feeder

    This smart bird feeder has many thoughtful design touches, like a removable seed reservoir and intelligent recording times.

    FabFitFun

    Quarterly Subscription Box

    Beachwaver

    Blow Brush with Diffuser

    This blow-dry brush includes a few different attachments, and it works well with or without them.

    Dreamegg Sunrise 1 Alarm Clock for $60 ($40 off)

    • Photograph: Nena Farrell

    • Courtesy of Dreamegg

    Our favorite budget sunrise alarm clock gets surprisingly bright, and it has nine different colors of dimmable light to choose from. Also onboard are 29 different sleep sounds, and everything can be controlled on the clock itself rather than with a smartphone app or remote control. It doesn’t have a sunset routine, but the sunrise routine in the morning can help rouse you from sleep gently and naturally—which will especially come in handy during this time of year, when it feels like sleep schedules and circadian rhythms just go out the window.

    3i

    G10+ Robot Vacuum

    If you don’t need a ton of bells and whistles, this is a great deal on a basic robot vacuum that has a “startling” number of features per our expert reviewer.

    Branch

    Ergonomic Chair Pro

    We’ve tested nearly 60 office chairs. This option is the very best we’ve found, and it doesn’t go on sale for cheaper than it is right now.

    Lovesac

    Radiant Footsac Blanket

    I’m head over heels for this plush heated blanket, which has a built-in pocket to keep your feet warm. It’s my around-the-house sidekick during winter.


    Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting and exclusive subscriber content that’s too important to ignore. Subscribe Today.

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    Louryn Strampe

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  • Our Favorite Webcam Is Marked Down by $35

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    Looking to upgrade your home office setup and impress your fellow remote workers? Consider the Logitech Brio 500, a variant of our favorite webcam, which is currently marked down by $35 at Best Buy, bringing the price down to just $95. While not everyone needs a webcam this loaded with features, it’s a good choice for anyone who frequently hosts meetings or presentations via software like Teams or Zoom.

    Photograph: Brenda Stolyar

    This upgraded webcam has a 4-megapixel sensor, which results in a sharp image. It’s capable of capturing 1080p video at 30 fps, or you can lower the resolution to 720p to raise the frame rate to 60 fps. It has an adjustable field of view with three options at 90, 78, and 65 degrees, so you can really lock in the perfect picture for that next presentation. The stereo microphone has a stated range of up to 4 feet, so you can sit back and relax and know that you’ll still be heard. You can attach it to your monitor or laptop with either the included clip, or using the adhesive on the mount, which we found stayed nice and sticky even when moving it frequently.

    You’ll also get access to a variety of helpful features bundled into the Logitech G Hub software. The classics are here, like autofocus and white balance, or you can let Logitech’s RightSight tech automatically tune everything, including centering you in the frame and zooming to get a good shot of your face. For anyone who needs to demonstrate or show off products, you can easily tilt the webcam down to point it at your desk.

    If you’re wondering about the numbers, I did some poking around on the Logitech site, and the cameras have essentially identical specifications. It looks like the Brio 500 is the one that’s sold on most consumer sites with a one year warranty, while the Brio 505 is targeted at businesses, with a longer three year warranty. If that’s important enough to warrant the full $30 price point, you can find that webcam here, or check out the other options on our roundup of the best webcams.

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    Brad Bourque

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  • The Best Deals From REI’s 2025 Holiday Sale

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    This year marks a decade of REI’s observance of the consumer high holy day, Black Friday. For the past 10 years REI has shut its doors for Black Friday, suggesting that instead potential customers should get outside and enjoy the world around you. That’s great advice, but of course Black Friday is also one of the biggest retail spending days of the year, and REI is a for-profit co-op—what to do? Have your holiday sale early, of course.

    This year the REI Holiday Sale runs from November 14-24. There are two member-exclusive coupons with the Holiday Sale. The first is for 20 percent off a regular-priced item at REI, the second is 20 percent off any item at REI Outlet. Many of the best REI deals this year are on the company’s house brand gear, but we’ve also pulled in deals from competing sales at Backcountry, Six Moon Designs, Zenbivy, and other cottage industry retailers. Below are the best deals on all our favorite tents, backpacks, sleeping bags, pads, cookware, outdoor apparel, and more.

    Not sure what you need? Check out our many outdoor gear guides, including guides to the best backpacking tents, best sleeping bags, best sleeping pads for backpacking, best base layers, best merino wool clothes, best rain jackets and many more for all our well-tested picks.

    WIRED Featured Deals

    Can’t You Just Put Links to All Your Outdoor Guides Right Here?

    Sure. Here you go:

    Hiking & Backpacking Gear Guides:

    Camping Guides

    Outdoor Apparel Guides

    Winter Sports

    Deals on Backpacks

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

    The Flash 22 is possibly the best value daypack on the market, especially now, on sale. This is a very lightweight, minimalist pack, but it’s surprisingly comfortable. It’ll handle loads up to 15 pounds without straining your shoulders, and the side stash pockets are large enough for a Nalgene bottle or rain jacket. The Flash 22 is made of 70-denier recycled ripstop nylon, which is on the lighter side, but mine has held up well, even on some rough cross country hikes in the North woods.

    The ultralight cousin to the Flash 22, the Flash 18 lacks the hip belt, side stash pockets, and floating lid. The result is a stripped-down, bare-bones pack that we like because you can stuff it in your carry-on, and have a nice backpack whenever you need it. Don’t load it up with more than 8 pounds of gear, and avoid anything with pointy bits, as there’s no padding here, but so long as you recognize its limitations, this is a great little pack.

    This travel backpack from Six Moon Designs makes it so you no longer have to pick between optimizing for air travel or carrying long distances at your destination. It’s the only bag I’ve used that maximizes your allotted carry-on space while remaining comfortable for a walk across a mid-sized European city or even a day on the trail. The bag’s square shape and suitcase handle make it easy to show the flight crew you’re compliant, but once you deplane, you have adjustable shoulder straps built by a brand that makes gear for serious backpackers. There’s also a padded harness with water bottle holders and a zipper pouches for Clif Bars or a flashlight. —Martin Cizmar

    Which GoRuck Backpack GR2 green bag on wood floor

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

    If I were going to live out of a single bag—traveling the world for the rest of my life—this is the bag I would bring. The GR2 is a gear-hauling monster with a ton of built-in organization options. This deal is on the 40L version, which I think is the perfect size for #onebag travel. It still manages to qualify as a carry-on bag for US flights (you may have trouble with that overseas though). The 34L waxed canvas version is also on sale for $340 ($115 off). And yes, it can double as a rucker, though there are better options if that’s your main use case. See below.

    This deal is only on a couple of colors, and only the X-Pac fabric, but this is the cheapest we’ve seen the GR1 go for in quite some time. The GoRuck GR1 (7/10, WIRED Review) is the pack that launched the company, and it’s still the best and most versatile of the GoRuck lineup. This deal is on the smaller, 21L pack which I think is the perfect size for rucking, everyday carry, and weekend trips. I have lived out of the 21L bag (with a shoulder bag for my camera gear) during a weeklong trip. It was a squeeze, but it worked. The 21L GR1 is deceptively large and always seems to swallow more gear than I think it can.

    If rucking is your thing, this is the GoRuck to get. It’s very close to the GR1 in size, layout, and fabric options, but the Rucker adds more handles, one on each side. The handles are so that the Rucker can be used as a weight (or kettlebell) in workouts. The interior has a Ruck Plate pocket for holding weight (the 20L version can handle up to 3-pound plates while the 25L can do up to 45-pound plates). The interior pockets are the same as the GR1, but instead of zippers, you get Velcro closures.

    Camping and Backpacking Deals

    The 31 Best Deals From REIs 2025 Holiday Sale

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

    Six Moon Design’s Lunar Solo (7/10, WIRED Review) is my favorite single-wall ultralight solo tent. It’s not without its quirks (read the pitching tips), but if you want something more than a tarp, that still weighs just 26 ounces (740 grams), this one is hard to beat. It’s well ventilated for a single-walled tent, with the ability to raise up the front door when weather is nice. I also like that it only needs one trekking pole (or one pole if you don’t hike with trekking poles. You’d be hard pressed to find a tent even half this nice at this price.

    I’ve noticed that, when trying to lighten their load with a smaller, lighter backpack, people then struggle to fit all their gear. The answer for sleeping bags and clothing is this compression stuff sack, which smashes anything soft down to about half the size of the same item in a regular stuff sack. This works well with sleeping bags and clothing, especially puffer jackets, but also fleece and merino wool.

    The Flexlite Air camp chair is a great example of the promise of REI brand gear: it offers 90 percent of the designer item, for 70 percent of the price. It’s not quite as nice as the Nemo below, but it’s still comfortable (it does wobble a little, side to side when you move) and it’s nearly half the price.

    Nemo Moonlite Elite Chair front view in the woods

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

    I rarely bring a chair backpacking, but if I did, the Nemo Moonlite Elite would be in my pack. At 18 ounces, it’s one of the lightest chairs around, and it packs down nice and small. It’s comfortable and reasonable stable. Nemo also solved the main problem with all pole chairs; The included base pad keeps it from sinking into soft ground.

    This is my favorite backpacking sleeping pad. With an R-Value of 5.4 and weighing just 18.2 ounces, the All-Season has the best R-Value-to-weight ratio of anything we’ve tested. There are lighter pads, like the Therm-a-rest NeoAir Xlite, but they are not as warm, nor as comfortable. The Tensor All-Season packs down well, rolling into a tiny stuff sack. It’s about the size of a 16-ounce Nalgene bottle. I often pair this with a closed cell foam pad like the Therm-a-Rest Z-Lite when camping in snow for a little extra insulation.

    I have never slept so well camping as I have on this mat. Technically I have the car-friendly model, but in terms of comfort, they’re the same. In our guide to car camping pads the Therm-a-rest MondoKing edges out the Megamat for top pick among the monster sleeping pads, but I prefer the Megamat for it’s extra warmth (it has an R-value of 8.1 to the MondoKing’s R 7.0) and the soft texture of the top. It’s comfortable enough to sleep directly on the Megamat.

    If you get the Exped Megamat, you’ll inflate it without this pump exactly one time. Then you will come back and buy this pump like a sane person. Save yourself even the one time and just get the pump with the pad. You’ll never know how much you should thank me, but that’s OK. Just carry on and have a good night’s sleep.

    The 31 Best Deals From REIs 2025 Holiday Sale

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

    My favorite stove for actually cooking real food in the backcountry, the Firebox Nano is a titanium (or steel, but I highly recommend titanium) shell that you can fit with an alcohol burner like the Trangia Spirit burner, or an isobutane burner. You can also use wood to cook directly over flames the way your ancestors did, and you should. For backpacking, with its frequent and pesky burn bans, the Firebox Gas Burner with its diffusion plate is hands down the best backcountry cooking system. It won’t win you any prizes at the next /r/Ultralight get-together (the Firebox Nano on its own weighs 4.25 ounces for the titanium version), but you could be eating some delicious food in the backcountry.

    Outdoor Apparel Deals

    REI CoOp Rainier Rain Jacket

    Courtesy of REI

    This is still the best budget rain jacket you can buy. REI’s Rainier Jacket is impressively waterproof and reasonably long-lasting for $70. The durable water repellent (DWR) is PFAS-free, but still pretty good. You also get taped seams and an adjustable hood, two nice features you generally don’t find in jackets this cheap.

    REI’s Sahara Shade Hoodie offers UPF 50+ fabric (a polyester and spandex blend) to protect you from that high-altitude sun (or any sun). It’s soft and stretchy, so you have a good range of movement, and there are thumbholes in the sleeves to keep them from riding up and exposing your arms. The three-panel hood has a drawstring you can use the cinch it down and keep your neck covered as well. I do prefer merino sun hoodies, but they’re double the price, if not more.

    The 31 Best Deals From REIs 2025 Holiday Sale

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

    Smartwool’s 100 percent merino Classic Thermal base layer is a nice, heavy 250-gsm merino, base layer, making it a great base layer for cold weather. It’s our top pick heavyweight base layer. It fits looser, making it feel more like a comfortable shirt. The looser fit makes it possible to use this as a second base layer over something like Ibex Woolies when it’s extremely cold (this combo is something I wear all the time here in Northern Wisconsin). The bottoms are also on sale (Men’s/Women’s).

    Icebreaker’s 200 Oasis base layer is a 200-gsm base layer. This is about what most of us call a midweight base layer, making it a good choice for everything from cool weather hiking in the fall or spring, to skiing in the front country. The 100 percent merino fibers here are not quite as soft at the Smartwool above, but they’re equally good at regulating body temperature and wicking away moisture. This is also the fastest drying merino top in our base layers guide.

    REI’s base layers are a solid value. If you want one base layer to do it all and don’t want to spend a fortune, these are the base layers to get. You can have a crew top and bottom for less than a single garment of merino or a brand name synthetic. This is the midweight version, which is 220 GSM (92 percent recycled polyester, 8 percent spandex). They’re comfortable with a tight, but not overly-tight, fit that makes them easy to layer over, and there’s nice extras like thumb loops on the sleeves.

    There are tons of neck gators out there, but this is my favorite (I actually have the slightly longer version, but this is close). Like most things merino it puzzles me how this keeps me warm in the winter, and keeps the sun off my neck in the summer without making me overheat. Somehow it manages this. These make great gifts for your outdoorsy friends too.

    These Fjällräven pants are among my favorite hiking pants. The G-1000 fabric is 65 percent recycled polyester and 35 percent organic cotton. They’ve got pockets everywhere and extras like ventilation zippers, reinforced knees (with openings for pads), and a loop on the leg to hold a axe. Do your pants have a axe loop? Didn’t think so. Note that Fjällräven recently changed the fit, so if you’re an old school wearer of these, size up.

    Sleeping Bag and Quilt Deals

    Grey sleeping bag on top of light blue inflatable sleeping pad both laying in the grass

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

    REI’s Magma 15 is one of our top sleeping bags. It’s warm (comfort rated to 21 degrees Fahrenheit) with a 15-denier nylon ripstop nylon shell (Bluesign approved, with a non-fluorinated DWR coating to keep moisture at bay). Baffles are variably spaced and not stitched through, which helps the fill stay put and minimizes cold spots. I also really like the Magma hood, which is warm and stays on your head throughout the night. There’s a nice interior stash pocket I use to keep my headlamp handy.

    Nemo’s Forte 20 is a 30-degree (comfort rated) synthetic-fill sleeping bag, making it a good choice for summer. It’s our favorite synthetic bag. What I like most about this bag, and nearly all of Nemo’s sleeping bags, is the wider cut through the torso area down to the knees. This bag is almost a hybrid of a mummy bag and your father’s good old 1970s square sleeping bag. Which is to say, this bag is roomy.

    We’re still working on a guide to backpacking quilts, but it will probably surprise no one to learn that this is our current pick for best value quilt. Like the Magma 30 sleeping bag, the Magma quilt is not the lightest, nor the warmest, but you get a lot, for not a lot. The 15-denier shell encloses 850-fill-power water-resistant goose down that’s comfort-rated down to 30 F. Weighing just 1 lb. 6 oz for a long, the Magma is on the light side for the temp rating. The footbox uses a zipper and drawstring system to be either completely open and flat, or zipped up and cinched down like a sleeping bag on cooler nights.

    Nemo Pulse backpacking quilt in gray and lime green

    Courtesy: Nemo Equipment

    Nemo’s Pulse quilt is made of 1,000-fill duck down that keeps you warm while remaining extremely lightweight (just 18 ounces for the regular size). I’ve found this to be one of the warmest quilts I’ve tested. Nemo rates it to 20F, but I’d be willing to go down below that provided you have a good, well insulated sleeping pad. Part of the weight saving is the 10-denier ripstop shell, but it’s held up just find in my testing. My only complaint here is the footbox which does not come completely apart to lay flat.

    Our favorite sleeping bag for summer car camping, the Siesta isn’t fancy, but hey, it’s car camping. If all else fails, there’s a car to retreat to. With that in mind, don’t spend a fortune on a car camping bag if that’s all you need. The Siesta gives you a nice, roomy, rectangular cut, and the 20-degree rating makes it enough for three-season trips. The bonus here is the hood, which you don’t often find in this type of bag. If you don’t need the hood, REI also has the new Campwell 30 degree bag on sale for $70 ($30 off).

    Think of a Rumpl blanket as if your sleeping bag had a baby with the coziest lap blanket that your grandma knitted for you. They’re made from DWR-treated ripstop polyester, so they’re sturdy, durable, and resist getting soaked or stained. But they’re also soft and warm enough to fall asleep under on the couch, and they come in a wide variety of colors and patterns. —Adrienne So

    Puffer Jacket and Winter Gear Deals

    It’s already snowed once where I live. Now’s the time to score some new ski gear—jackets, helmets, gloves, and googles are all on sale.

    A person with wearing the REI Magma 850 Puffer Jacket in twotone grey standing against a light brown wall

    Photograph: Scott Gilbertson

    With an 850-fill-power goose down and a recycled ripstop nylon shell, this is one of the warmer jackets in our best puffer jackets guide. I like the zippered chest pocket (there are also two zippered hand pockets, one of which the jacket stuffs into), and at 12.5 ounces this jacket is surprisingly light for how warm it is. The front zip has a wind flap, and there’s even a draft collar, something you hardly ever find in a puffer at this price. Even better, you can cinch the hood to keep cold air from blowing in the sides.

    Our favorite bargain three-season puffer jacket, the REI 650 down jacket isn’t as warm as the Magma above, but it’s hard to argue with this price. If you need a cheap, packable jacket for those cold summits or star gazing on chilly nights, this is the jacket to get. The stitched-through baffles mean this one isn’t as warm and is more susceptible to wind, but at this price, it’s worth buying.

    Initially I did not like the idea of a down vest. If it’s cold enough to need a down jacket, my arms are probably cold too, right? But then I moved somewhere cold (Why? I don’t know, but I did) and realized there is an infinite variety of shades when it comes to cold. For some shades of cold, the vest is the right move. Pair it with a good base layer, maybe even a hoodie, and you have something that’s warm, but leaves your arms free to swing an ax or whatever you might be doing.

    Fjällräven’s hybrid fill jacket uses 700-fill-power down for most of the jacket but adds recycled polyester insulation over the shoulders to help resist moisture. That later works quite well when the snow is really coming down. The hood does a good job of keeping you warm while staying out of your way thanks to two drawcord tabs at the front, and an elastic drawcord at the back. It also, as the name suggests, packs down pretty small.


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    Scott Gilbertson

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  • The New Apple Watch Ultra 3 Is $100 Off

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    Apple enthusiasts know that the latest generation of watches only rarely go on sale, so imagine my surprise this morning to spot the Apple Watch Ultra 3 marked down at Amazon. Like the other Apple Watches, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 comes in a variety of case color and band combos, so your mileage may vary on which are discounted. I spotted three at the lower $700 price point: Black Titanium Case with Black Alpine Loop, Natural Titanium Case with Blue/Bright Trail Loop, and Natural Titanium Case with Light Blue Alpine Loop.

    Photograph: Adrienne So

    WIRED editor Adrienne So got a chance to test it out, and was impressed with the upgraded battery life. It has a quoted 42 hours, and she found it was enough to get her through a weekend camping trip, using it for navigation, activity tracking, and even sending satellite messages, a new feature found specifically on the Apple Watch Ultra line, which lets you communicate or even send an SOS signal when you’re out of normal cell signal range. Managing multiple days of wear makes this a much more appealing option, now that you won’t be hunting for a charging brick on a long trip.

    Of course, it has all the great features you also expect from any of the latest series of Apple Watches. The screens all got an upgrade this time around, not just in terms of clarity, but to the protective outer layer as well, which should make them more ready for adventure. These watches have a raft of physical and biological tracking options, including an upgraded heart rate sensor that can help keep an eye out for medical issues like high blood pressure. It has sleep tracking as well, and can sense and track a variety of physical activities, like running, swimming, and cycling.

    Ultimately, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is great option for the truly adventurous. Anyone who likes to go diving, spend time in the wilderness, or just wants to go multiple days without having to charge their wristwatch, should consider this early discount on the device. Make sure to check out our full breakdown of the latest Apple Watch updates, or mosey on over to our favorite smartwatch roundup to check out the other options.

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    Brad Bourque

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  • Smart Home Deals and Half-Off Tools at the Home Depot

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    Apparently, it’s always Friday at the Home Depot. Or at least, the Home Depot Black Friday deals have slipped all customary bounds of the calendar: Online deals started November 5 and will go all the way to December 3.

    This includes some very steep discounts on flagship tool brands like Milwaukee, Ryobi, and DeWalt tools—by which I mean half-off and buy-one-get-one steep. Seemingly half the store is on sale. But here’s an early look at some of the best deals to look out for as Black Friday rings in early.

    Discounts on Google Nest and Other Smart Home Devices

    A couple of WIRED’s top-tested smart home devices from Google Nest have significant discounts at Home Depot right now, alongside discounts on a mess of smart home devices from Echo, Eufy, and others.

    Photograph: Nena Farrell

    Google

    Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Generation)

    The newest Nest Learning Thermostat is a genuine blockbuster device in its category, and the Home Depot is selling it for the lowest price I can find at any retailer right now. The Nest is pretty on the eyes and has no trouble with disconnections or irregularities in the temperature readout, which are surprisingly common among smart home thermostats. It also offers a bunch of fun features, including a readout that changes depending on your proximity to the device. Even better, the Nest thermostat comes with an external temperature sensor that lets you prioritize the readings in a specific room (or part of a room). This allowed WIRED reviewer Nena Farrell to tune the device to her toddler’s bedroom to keep it from getting too stuffy. The larger screen size is also a noticeable upgrade from previous generations, she noted.

    • Photograph: Simon Hill

    • Photograph: Simon Hill

    • Photograph: Simon Hill

    Google

    Nest Cam Outdoor 2K (Wired, 2nd Gen)

    The Nest Cam Outdoor 2K requires a little installation, sure: You’ll need to screw in the mount and run a cable. But the cam offers 2K video quality and two-way audio, and doesn’t waste your time with a string of ambiguous notifications like a lot of outdoor cameras: It can accurately detect people, animals, and vehicles. The camera offers sharp video with a 152-degree field of view. It’s the wired outdoor cam that WIRED reviewer Simon Hill recommends above all others—but note that while notifications and live feed don’t require a subscription, you’ll need a $10- or $20-a-month subscription to access more advanced features that include detection of Familiar Faces and 30 to 60 days of video history. Anyway, it’s 20 percent off for Black Friday at the Home Depot, alongside sales on a whole host of other smart home devices.

    Buy-One-Get-One Deals on DeWalt Tools

    A few tools from home improvement staple DeWalt are on sale for buy-one-get-one at the moment. It’s a bit tough to sort out on the Home Depot’s site, but essentially you’ve got a mix and match of a few select DeWalt tools.

    Buy one, and any of the other tools is free. This includes the 13-Inch Cordless String Trimmer ($139), the 20V Cordless Leaf Blower ($179), the 20V MAX XR Cordless Brushless Jigsaw ($239), and the 20V MAX Cordless Brushless Circular Saw ($229)

    Aside from that BOGO deal, you can get a free DeWalt tool with the purchase of a battery, or a free DeWalt battery with the purchase of a tool, as detailed here. Or, kinda most of the rest of the DeWalt toolkit is on sale this month for somewhere between 20 percent and 50 percent off. It’s not the steepest discount on the list, but might I suggest WIRED’s absolute favorite drill and driver kit, on sale now for $50 off?

    DeWalt cordless drill set and bag

    Photograph: Home Depot

    DeWalt

    20V Max 1/2-Inch Cordless Drill

    The Home Depot Milwaukee Tools for 50 Percent Off

    During the Home Depot’s month-long Black Friday sale, you can also opt to go with buy-one-get-one or 50-percent-off deals on a number of Milwaukee tools. WIRED Reviewer Scott Gilbertson is already on record as loving the Milwaukee Tool ecosystem as a smart investment—to make use of Milwaukee’s excellent battery tech. He now owns dozens, from impact guns to circular saws and a drywall screw gun.

    Anyway, the most essential tool in the kit, Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel Brushless Cordless Hex Impact Driver ($179), is on a buy-one-get-one sale alongside other select Milwaukee tools as part of a buy-one-get-one deal that also includes Milwaukee’s brushless cordless grinder ($229) and cordless personal inflator ($199). Other tools include free batteries with select tools, or vice versa.

    It’s not always easy when browsing the general site to see which tools are on the BOGO deal, but click the button below and take note of the tools marked “Free With Purchase.”

    Buy-One-Get-One Makita, Ryobi, and Ridgid Tools

    Once you’ve bought into a tool ecosystem, it’s kinda part of your life now: You’ve chosen a battery pack that will power a whole world of powered implements. Different WIRED staffers have their own preferences. For WIRED reviewers Julian Chokkattu and Pete Cottell both, their personal world is Makita. And Makita is one of the brands with a killer buy-one-get-one at the moment: Just buy one of the Makita tools here and you can select either a free battery pack, or a freebie among seven other Makita tools in the $200 range.

    WIRED has not tested all these tools, but Ryobi has a similar deal, on its affordable tool sets, with a BOGO deal on multiple tools and batteries, including an 18-volt, oscillating, sanding, and cutting multitool ($79) for wall and panel work, and an impact wrench ($99).

    Ridgid has a similar deal, with a different product set. Ridgid tool bundles with batteries are up to 60 percent off, especially a cordless blower deal with a battery starter kit for more than half off.

    Ridgid

    18V Brushless Cordless Battery Leaf Blower with Battery and Charger

    Free Christmas Tree Delivery

    I remember two things about Christmas-tree shopping as a kid, which was always the best and the worst day. Picking out the tree was, of course, plenty exciting. But then you had to load it. And you had to move it, after wrangling it into a pickup truck. Then you had to unload it, and get it into the house. By the time you’re clear of all that, you might as well just forget Christmas spirit.

    Well, the internet is a many-splendored thing. The Home Depot is offering free delivery on Christmas trees during Black Friday, on anything from artificial trees (here’s the best-seller right now) to fresh-cut fir, which is already coming into stock but only from online-only vendors. (Or, if you’d rather, check out WIRED’s roundup of the best artificial Christmas trees, as tested by professionals.

    Artificial trees or real ones show up at your doorstep at no additional charge, no pickup truck required. Because we already live in the future.


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    Matthew Korfhage

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  • The Nike x Hyperice Hyperboot Is $200 Off

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    For the first time, the Nike x Hyperice Hyperboot is on sale. The recovery boots are $200 off—normally $899, now $699—through December 1. They’re also HSA/FSA eligible. Normally, I’d point you toward the Normatec 3 Legs; they cost the same and offer more leg coverage, but at this discounted price, the Hyperice Hyperboot’s portability and comfort are a hard deal to pass up.

    The discount is part of Hyperice’s Black Friday sale, which runs from November 20 to December 1. Stay tuned, as we’ll be tracking all the best Hyperice holiday deals as they roll out.

    • Photograph: Kristin Canning

    • Photograph: Kristin Canning

    • Photograph: Kristin Canning

    • Photograph: Kristin Canning

    Nike × Hyperice

    Hyperboot

    Hyperice’s Normatec recovery boots are a favorite among athletes, but their one downside is that you have to stay put while using them. The Hyperboots pack the same air compression tech as the Normatecs, but in a wearable, high-top design, courtesy of Nike. You can get a foot massage while you do the dishes.

    Each boot offer three levels of compression and heat (up to 125 degrees Fahrenheit), adjustable via a built-in control panel. The two sync automatically when worn together, and battery life is about 90 minutes per charge. They’re IP54 rated, meaning they’re dust- and splash-resistant, but not waterproof.

    Reviewer Kristin Canning tested the boots on her drive back home after a day of snowboarding and said it was a game changer. She could flush out lactic acid and thaw her toes before she even got home. While they’re recovery boots, they do have a warmup mode that makes them just as useful before workouts to get your blood flowing.

    Canning did point out that the air pumps make an airplane-like hum, but it’s nothing too overwhelming. If you’ve already bought your season pass and are doing your one-leg squats and hip rotations, there’s no better time to grab a pair of the boots that will keep your legs fresh all the way through March.


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    Boutayna Chokrane

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  • This Beats Pill Bluetooth Speaker Has Upgraded Features, and It’s Just $100

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    While the Beats Pill used to be a common sight around parties and campfires, it slowly fell out of favor as Bluetooth speakers with better battery life and more advanced features hit the scene. In 2024, Apple decided to update the Pill, and it was a big jump in terms of catching up, or even passing the competition. That updated model, with bigger sound, more longevity, and a raft of mobile-focused features, is marked down by $50 at both Amazon and Best Buy, bringing the price down to just $100.

    • Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    • Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    • Photograph: Ryan Waniata

    Beats speakers and headphones have a signature sound, and the updated Pill is no different. It’s decidedly bass-forward, although Apple’s influence has smoothed out some of the sharper edges that can result in that decision. Our reviewer Ryan Waniata wrote a really in-depth breakdown of the sound across several genres in his review, in case you want details about how it matches with your musical preferences. There’s no equalizer, so you’re stuck with the sound it comes out of the box with, for better or worse.

    The newer Pill is also more capable of adventuring than its predecessors. It has a new IP67 dust and waterproof rating, which should make it better for your beach trips, even if it isn’t quite as rugged as some of our other favorite Bluetooth speakers. It has super-long battery life, though, with a quoted 24 hours of charge at half volume, and even better at low volumes. It can charge your other devices with the built-in USB-C port as well.

    Like the older Pills that came before it, the newer model comes in a handful of both subtle and eye-catching colors. I spotted the discounted price on the classic Black, Light Gray, and Dark Gray, as well as the bolder Champagne Gold and Statement Red options on Amazon, but your mileage may vary at other retailers.

    Despite some minor quibbles, this is a really excellent speaker with a signature sound profile that Beats fans know and love. If that doesn’t sound like you, make sure to check out our full roundup of the best Bluetooth speakers for some alternatives.

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    Brad Bourque

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