Black Friday is well-known as the day when retailers slash prices to kick off the holiday shopping season and clear out stock ahead of the new year. The rise of online shopping expanded the season to include Cyber Monday and the week that follows. You don’t have to wait to carve the Thanksgiving turkey and watch the Cowboys lose to snag discounts because the best early Black Friday deals are live already.
The WIRED team boasts decades of experience in product testing and a nose for sniffing out the best deals, backed by price tracking tools. For Black Friday, we cross-reference our buying guide recommendations with the latest sale prices to find the best early Black Friday deals on gadgets and gizmos worth owning. Someone from the WIRED Reviews team has tested every product we include in our deals coverage so you can rest easy knowing we don’t highlight low prices on low-quality goods.
We strive to find deals at their best price ever, or very close to it (some match previous discounts, but we have never seen them lower unless stated). Bear in mind that many of these picks will likely remain at these prices through Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
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Tech Deals
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
The Google Pixel 9 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is one of our favorite phones of the year. WIRED Senior Reviews Editor Julian Chokkattu raves about the camera system, smooth OLED display, and helpful software features you won’t find on other phones. Easily one of the best Android phones you can buy right now, the Pixel 9 only dropped recently, so this is a surprisingly deep and tempting discount.
The Apple MacBook Air (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is our favorite Apple laptop. WIRED Reviewer Brenda Stolyar says it offers great performance for everyday tasks, has a bright display, and provides solid battery life. This lightweight device is the MacBook pick in our best laptop guide. The 15-inch model is also on sale at $1,099 ($200 off) and has a bigger display, better battery life, and more speakers, but is otherwise identical.
Some of the best wire-free earbuds you can get for under $100, the Anker Soundcore Space A40 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) impressed WIRED reviewer Ryan Waniata with noise cancellation, detailed sound, multipoint pairing, and a wireless charging case at a very reasonable price. These earbuds are regularly discounted, but you can clip this Amazon coupon now to get them for the lowest price we’ve seen.
Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft
You can shrug off battery anxiety with the HyperX Cloud Alpha Wireless (10/10, WIRED Recommends) because this gaming headset can go for an amazing 300 hours between charges. WIRED Reviewer Eric Ravenscraft says it also delivers rich, booming sound, has comfortable ear cups, and boasts intuitive controls. All it really lacks is a headphone jack. Discounts are common on this headset and it may have dipped slightly lower, but this is still a bargain worth grabbing.
Offering a big screen and solid performance, the Fire HD 10 is our favorite Amazon Fire tablet. It also boasts Alexa with Show Mode support, enabling this tablet to double as an Echo Show smart display. It is already the best tablet you can buy for under $200, and this discount makes it a real bargain. Sadly, you must pay an extra $15 to get rid of ads on the lock screen, and you will need a workaround if you want Google apps.
If you just want a simple fitness tracker that can track your steps, sleep, and blood oxygen, this could be the one. It also comes with loads of watch faces and accessories. This is the budget pick in our best fitness tracker guide, and it is good value at the regular price. It is often discounted, but we have not seen it lower than this.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
The Google Pixel Watch 3 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a good-looking smartwatch with accurate health and fitness capabilities. The bigger 45-mm size offers a day or more of battery life, and the Auto Bedtime Mode is handy when the day is over. This is our pick of the best smartwatches if you have an Android phone, and this is the lowest price we have seen for it yet.
These are the best trackers for folks with an iPhone, and you can use them to keep tabs on your keys, travel luggage, bike, or whatever else you worry might go missing. The location of each AirTag is marked clearly in the Find My app. The battery should last you a year, and we have a guide on how to replace your AirTag battery. Just please don’t use them to track people. This is the lowest price we have seen on the four-pack.
This excellent 3-in-1 charger for your iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch is one of the best MagSafe chargers around. You can fold it away to a very compact size, making it an ideal travel companion. Charging for your iPhone goes up to 15 watts via a magnetic pad that can adjust to your preferred angle. There’s another pad for AirPods or other wireless earbuds, and a fold-out Apple Watch charger on the back. A 5-foot USB-C cable and wall adapter are included.
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
Samsung’s second-tier OLED (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is one of WIRED Reviewer Ryan Waniata’s favorite TVs of the year. This QD-OLED panel boasts fabulously rich colors, can get slightly brighter than the LG C4, and has the same perfect black levels and excellent picture quality from any angle that makes OLED the dominant TV tech today. This TV has HDMI 2.1 support across all four inputs, and Samsung’s Game Hub lets you stream from loads of services, including Xbox. The only obvious downside is the lack of Dolby Vision. You can find more options in our best early Black Friday TV deals.
We think Amazon’s Audible Premium Plus is the best audiobook service, as it bundles a library of Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts, with one credit per month to use on any audiobook title you fancy, and regular exclusive deals and discounts. Usually, you get one month free, after which it costs $15 per month, but any non-subscriber can get three months for $1 until the end of the year. Remember that you get to keep titles purchased with credits, even after your subscription ends.
Home Deals
Photograph: Adrienne So
Sitting pretty at the top of our best robot vacuum guide, the Roborock Qrevo S has everything you need, according to WIRED Senior Associate Reviews Editor, Adrienne So. There’s multifunctional vacuuming and mopping, automatic bin emptying, and mop washing. It uses lidar to navigate, so no need to worry about a camera inside your home, and it has an AI-enabled feature called SmartPlan that works surprisingly well.
Simple to set up and use, Amazon’s Eero mesh systems are easy to recommend and can act as smart home hubs with support for Matter, Thread, and Zigbee. The tri-band Eero Pro 6E (7/10, WIRED Recommends) mesh adds the 6-GHz band to the familiar 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz bands. It’s a great choice for busy households with many devices and a 1 Gbps or faster connection. Performance is excellent, but the 6-GHz band is short-range. The Eero Plus subscription is expensive ($10 per month or $100 per year) but includes comprehensive parental controls, advanced security, ad blocking, and even a password manager and VPN service.
Folks with smaller homes and connections up to 500 Mbps, should consider the Eero 6 (3-Pack) on sale at $150 ($50 off), but the more heavily discounted Eero 6+ (3-Pack) at $195 ($105 off) is a better deal if you can afford it.
Speed, reliability, and smart features like face recognition make Google’s Nest Doorbell our pick of the best video doorbells. Several doorbells boast higher 2K video resolutions than the Nest at 1080p, but Google’s doorbell combines a higher frame rate at 30 frames per second and HDR support to record clear quality footage. Smart notifications are great for letting you know when the kids are home or if a stranger is lurking on your porch. The catch is you need a Nest Aware subscription at $8 a month ($80/year), but it does cover all your Nest cameras, so it doesn’t seem as pricey if you have a multi-camera system.
Photograph: Simon Hill
While it’s not our top pick, Google’s Nest Cam does make our list of the best outdoor security cameras and is a solid choice if you have a Nest Doorbell or other Google gadgets. The HD resolution is limited, but that’s offset by the HDR and high frame rate, and the face recognition is the best we have tested in a security camera. The Nest Aware subscription at $8 a month ($80/year) is too much if you only have a single camera, but that price covers multiple devices.
This affordable security camera is our pick of the best indoor security cameras because it offers clear 2K footage, with a starlight sensor that enables color night vision. Smart detection (people, pets, and vehicles) is handy, and the slightly laggy two-way audio is fine. Pop in a microSD card (up to 512 GB) for local recording, or opt for a Tapo Care subscription for 30 days of cloud storage that starts at $3.50 per month. It also has an IP66 rating, so can be used outdoors.
These smart Christmas lights won a place on our tree last year thanks to a versatile app packed with premade light combinations and the option to customize your own colors and effects. Twinkly’s Strings also come with a black or green cord that blends in with your tree, support for Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit, or Google Home, and a weatherproof IP44 rating.
Photograph: Branch
With a pleasing range of adjustments, including seat depth, recline level, and armrest length, this dependable office chair is easy to assemble. It can serve you well, no matter what height you are, and even boasts adjustable lumbar support, which is essential for folks who sit for hours every day. This is the lowest price we have seen yet on the best office chair for most people. Use code BFCM for 15 percent off. You can find more bargains in the Branch Black Friday sale.
Described as a men’s travel backpack, we think anyone will find this bag useful for all kinds of trips. WIRED reviewer Louryn Strampe has been using it for six years and loves the storable backpack straps, padded handles, and plethora of pockets. She says it is comfortable and breathable if you’re carrying it on your back, and sports a padded compartment for your laptop, tablet, e-reader, or Nintendo Switch.
We love Cozy Earth’s bamboo sheets and hoodies, but this pajama set hits new comfort highs. Soft and stretchy, smooth and luxurious, my wife has been wearing these pajamas to test them for an upcoming gift guide and says they are the best she has ever worn. The big catch with Cozy Earth clothing is the high prices, so this Black Friday sale offering up to 35 percent off is worth a look.
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