Amazon Prime Day Sale: Deals on New Robot Vacuum Models and Cameras for the Smart Home, with Particular Requirements
It’s another Prime Day — or Prime Big Deal Days, in Amazon parlance — which means another day to save a dollar or two on some great new gear for your smart home. Whether you’re looking for a robot helper to clean your floors, an extra set of eyes to watch over your property, or another smart speaker to bark commands at Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant, there are some good bargains to be had during Amazon’s fall Prime Day event.
As usual, robot vacuums are seeing some decent sales, including on the top-of-the-line models that don’t see discounts as often as the rest of the bunch. (My advice is to never buy a bot that’s not on sale because they’re always on sale.) Ecovacs’ newest flagship robot vacuum, the X2 Omni, launched last week and is already $200 off. I’ve started testing it, and it’s an impressive machine; its square shape gives it the advantage of getting into corners better than most rounder bots.
The Ring Pro 2 doorbell and the Ring Floodlight cam with radar motion detection are both getting deep discounts, as well as the Ring smart security cameras. These are rarely on sale and are up to $100 off.
Amazon’s Smart Plug (Preliminary Review): An Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium and a Spherical Echo Show 10
The Roborock Q5 Plus is a great robot vacuum that can empty itself and features mapping and virtual keep-out zones with lidar navigation for the bargain price of $399.99. This is one of the few Roborocks that doesn’t have a mop and is a good choice for homes with lots of carpet.
The Echo is the best smart speaker on the market and it’s a good way to start with the smart home. Along with being a smart speaker it’s also a Matter controller, Thread border router, and Zigbee bridge, so it can connect all your gadgets to your smart home.
The Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium is very useful. It has an indoor air quality monitor, a smart speaker, and a hub for Ecobees smart security that is based on your location, whether you are at home or away.
Yes, it’s kind of a small Trojan horse to ensure you’re hooked on Amazon’s smart home ecosystem, but many of these devices offer some handy utility when it comes to around-the-house helpfulness — like playing music in multiple rooms, getting weather and news alerts, making video calls, and controlling connected devices like smart light bulbs via voice commands.
Amazon’s most recent full-size Echo from 2020 has a spherical build and better sound quality than previous iterations, with a broader sound than the smaller Echo Dots. Read our review.
It is possible to see the display in the Echo Show 10 while it is rotating because of the motor inside the base that makes it spin around. It is the best way to make video calls. Please read our review.
Amazon’s apt-titled Smart Plug doesn’t require a hub and lets you add Alexa functionality to any outlet, allowing you to control a range of devices with just your voice.
iRobot Roomba s9 Plus, Ring Floodlight Cam, and Video Doorbell: A Low-Energy Smart Home
The Roomba i4 has the same cleaning pattern as the j7 but doesn’t have clean zones or keep-out zones and isn’t able to answer questions about it.
The iRobot Roomba s9 Plus comes with filters to get rid of pet hair, mold, pollen, and dust mite allergens as well as a square front to wedge itself into corners and more efficiently sweep away debris.
The Ring Floodlight cam wired pro is a high-quality video recorder that has a good digital zoom, as well as a lot of light and motion detection. It doesn’t have any other smart home platform, it is only compatible with Ring or Alexa apps.
Blink’s Video Doorbell is the best if you’re looking a budget-friendly buzzer that offers motion-activated recording and alerts, night vision, two-way audio, and up to two years of battery life.