The Echo Pop is down to one of its best prices to date with a free smart bulb

2024-04-16 15:47:22

The HyperX Cloud III Wireless has also fallen to a new low.

From helping me as a caregiver to cracking me up with fart jokes, Amazon’s budget-friendly smart speakers have added a lot of value to my life. That’s why I own one for almost every area of my home — and why I got excited when I saw Amazon is selling the Echo Pop for $22.99 with a free Kasa Smart Color Bulb. That equates to a savings of about $40, though you can also buy the standalone speaker for $22.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, which is just $5 shy of its all-time low.

For a mere $20 or so, the colorful Echo Pop packs a lot of tech into a small, semi-spherical package. Like the fifth-gen Echo Dot, it offers a host of Alexa-based smarts designed to make your life easier, including the ability to quickly check the news and weather, schedule multiple timers, and control other smart devices with your voice. At the same time, it can function as an Eero mesh Wi-Fi extender or an intercom thanks to Amazon’s helpful Drop In feature, which lets you easily “drop in” on another Echo device once set up. And, of course, it’s a relatively good speaker for its size, one that might not rival the Echo Dot’s rich sound but still sounds good enough to listen to music and podcasts in smaller rooms.

The Echo Pop is Amazon’s newest Alexa-enabled smart speaker. It offers a unique semisphere form factor and can function as an Eero mesh Wi-Fi extender.

If you’re looking for a great wireless gaming headset, you can pick up the HyperX Cloud III Wireless from Amazon, Walmart, and HyperX for $114.70 ($55 off). That’s a new low on the wireless gaming headset, which is compatible with PC, PlayStation, and the Nintendo Switch (while docked), thanks to the included 2.4GHz wireless receiver.

The new Cloud III is almost better in every way than its predecessor, the Cloud II Wireless, which we once called one of the most comfortable we’ve ever worn. Its thicker ear cups add a little more pressure, and it’s slightly heavier than the last-gen model at 330 grams, but otherwise, most changes are a notable improvement. For one, it offers clearer voice quality now that its detachable microphone sports its own mesh pop filter, which helps it cut down on plosives and unwanted ambient noise. It also offers the same balanced, punchy sound as the prior model, albeit with a slightly smaller soundstage. That said, the biggest changes have to do with the fact it supports USB-C charging and a whopping 120 hours of battery life — a figure that’s quadruple that of its predecessor.

The HyperX Cloud III Wireless is a 2.4GHz wireless headset for PC, PlayStation, and the Nintendo Switch that sports 120 hours of battery life, large 53mm drivers, USB-C charging, and a detachable boom mic with a built-in pop filter. It also continues the Cloud’s legacy of relatively low weight and excellent comfort.

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A few more for the road

You can buy a Sonos Era 300 in refurbished condition for $359 directly from Sonos, which is $90 cheaper than buying it in new condition. The Era 300 offers better spatial audio than any other standalone speaker we’ve tested and can even natively play Dolby Atmos tracks from Apple, which is rare to find in third-party speakers. It also comes with Bluetooth and supports line-in playback via a separate $19.99 adapter. Read our review.
The new OnePlus 12R is available in select colors from Amazon and OnePlus with 256GB of storage for $529.99 ($70 off), marking a new all-time low on the higher-end config. The phone delivers a lot of high-end features for the price — including a top-notch 120Hz screen and a speedy Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip — which is why it’s one of our favorites for under $500. The lower price tag means you miss out on some more premium features, though, including robust water resistance and wireless charging. Read our review.
The new Apple Pencil with USB-C support is down to its all-time low of $69 ($10 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. It’s a bit of an odd duck in Apple’s lineup, given it lacks pressure sensitivity and the ability to charge while docked, but it does offer tilt sensitivity and can magnetically attach to the side of an iPad. It also works with most models, including the 10th-gen iPad, the latest iPad Mini, and most iterations of the iPad Pro — the latter of which can also take advantage of Apple’s newer hover feature.
Sony’s InZone Buds for PC and PlayStation are available for around $178 ($21 off) from Amazon, Best Buy, and Sony, which is a new all-time low. Along with delivering fantastic sound and Bluetooth support, the wireless earbuds come with a USB-C dongle and 12 hours of battery life per charge. They also pack the same drivers and many of the same noise cancellation capabilities as Sony’s WF-1000XM5 — our pick for the best wireless earbuds — as well as robust customization via Sony’s InZone Hub software.