If you look at the list of the best selling electronic devices on Amazon right now, you’ll find a lot of Amazon devices in the top 10. But one device occupies the top three spots on the list: the third-generation Echo Dot.
Probably the biggest reason is because how cheap it is right now — normally retailing for $50, you can pick it up for just $25. That’s within $3 of the cheapest we saw it on Black Friday weekend, and cheaper than we’ve seen it sell for most of this year. But the price isn’t the only reason why the Echo Dot sells so well. It’s a quality speaker.
Anyone who’s had Echo devices has probably at some point owned a previous-generation Echo Dot. But with a design that you could equate to a plastic hockey puck and a painfully tinny-sounding speaker, they weren’t of exceptionally high quality — and seemed pretty fragile.
Amazon’s made improvements on all of those fronts. It feels less cheaply made, and the speaker is much improved. In fact, in our tests, we were surprised at how loud the speaker could get. The Echo Dot’s small size is also a benefit; you can place the speaker anywhere, and it fits perfectly into a stocking (hint hint).
There’s no difference in functionality from the larger Echos. This means you can control a whole host of smart home devices, TVs, and listen to music through the device. It’s also an excellent way to dip your toe into virtual assistants without spending a whole lot of money and a great way to introduce friends and family to smart home technology (be sure to pick them up a smart bulb or plug as well!)
Once you see how great it is to have a virtual assistant around, this Echo Dot can be moved to another room to work as a secondary device. In many of our homes, a fleet of Echo Dots helps to expand access to voice control to other more remote areas of the house.
We expect these sales to last through the holiday, so you do have some time to act. But don’t wait too long — deeply discounted Echo devices do run out of stock from time to time.
Few things ruin a quiet evening faster than a robot vacuum roaring through the living room. Most of us end up pausing the cleaning run, which defeats the whole purpose of owning one. Matic thinks it has the answer with its new Serene robot vacuum, and the big selling point is how little noise it makes.
The Matic Serene runs at 52 decibels even when cleaning at full power. To put that in perspective, Matic compares it to the hum of your refrigerator. It is available now for $1,695, which is $200 more than the original Matic’s current price.
Outdoor security cameras are not always practical if you live in an apartment or rental. Drilling into an exterior wall may be off-limits, while pointing a regular indoor camera through a window can create another problem once reflections start showing up after dark.
Baseus is trying to solve both issues with the new PrimeSentinel W1, a $69.99 security camera designed specifically to monitor the outdoors through glass. It mounts directly to a window without drilling and uses a 4K Starlight sensor with an F1.0 aperture for full-color monitoring during the day and at night.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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