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Hot or Not: The best (and worst) Amazon Prime Day tech deals, chosen by experts

by - Unknown on - 4:45 AM

Hot or not text next to an air fryer with a mouse cursos moving across the screen

(Image credit: Future)

The second day of Amazon’s Prime Day October sale is underway this morning - and we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the quality of some of the deals so far: there have been some absolute bargains. We’re talking A-grade discounts on products people actually want. (That’s not always a guarantee on Prime Day.)

As with any Amazon sale, of course, there’ve been some clangers too. Polished and wrapped in glitter, sure, but inevitably best avoided.

So are today’s Prime Day two deals hot? Or not? We’ll be the judge of that. We’ve pulled in the entire TechRadar team and asked our experts to rate Amazon’s plate. We’re scoring each deal on a scale of 1-5 for quality: 1 is extremely poor; 5 is off-the-chart hot.

Here's our heads-up on the tech deals you need to buy now - and the ones that should be swiftly sidestepped. (We test this tech all year around, so we know a bargain when we see it.)

Prime Day in October sale in the US: quick links

7 of the best deals at Amazon.com

Prime Day in October sale in the UK: quick links

Hot or not! Let's go...

Welcome to TechRadar's roundup of the very best - and very worst - Amazon Prime Day tech deals. We've brought in the entire TechRadar team to rate the quality of offers today: we'll tell you the bargains you need to drop everything to grab... and the 'deals' to walk away from. 

Sony WH-1000XM5 on orange background

(Image credit: Future)

HOT! Sony WH-1000XM5: $399.99 $348 at Amazon.com / £316 £299 at Amazon.co.uk 

Becky Scarrott, Senior Staff Writer, Audio

If you've stumbled upon this missive and you want a deal on new wireless over-ear headphones, look no further – you've found the ultimate Prime Day October deal. This 22% saving (in the UK) or 13% (if you’re Stateside) on Sony’s winning 2022 cans is the best deal in Amazon’s October Prime Day. Fight me. 

Why? They’re the latest in the frankly game-changing and iconic WH-XM lineup (see the WH-1000XM4 and WH-1000XM3 as proof of their noble bloodline), they only came out in May 2022, and because the sound and skillset is even a little bit better than the cans they supersede, to see them discounted at all for Prime Day Early Access is a double-take inducer of the highest order. And check out the deal! The XM5 are every inch a class-leading set of Sony cans – we don’t have the word-count to give them the praise they deserve here but our five-star review is the place to go for clarification (note the phrase "still the best in the business").

OK so they don’t fold up into the headband any more. What of it? What do you need to tote around with you that’s more important than good-quality music? Believe me, they’re worth the extra space in your bag… 

Sony WH-1000XM5: $399.99 $348 at Amazon
Save $51.99 Sony's latest wireless over-ears only came out in May 2022 and because they're every bit as talented as the excellent WH-1000XM4 they supersede, to see them discounted at all for Prime Day Early Access is a welcome surprize. And what a deal it is! The XM5 are every inch a class-leading set of Sony cans – just check out our five-star review (note the phrase "still the best in the business"). As long as their non-folding design works for you, these are the noise cancelling headphones to beat. View Deal

Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless headphones: £316 £299 at Amazon
Save £17 - This is another deal with a small discount, but the important part is that it's the first time we've ever seen the latest Sony five-star headphones drop under £300. It's the lowest price so far for these excellent-sounding, massively noise-stopping wireless cans – if you've been waiting for a great drop from their £349 launch price, this might be the time to jump.

Becky Scarrott
Becky Scarrott

Becky is a senior staff writer at TechRadar focusing on all things audio – and she loves a good bargain. Before joining the team, she spent three years at What Hi-Fi? testing and reviewing everything from wallet-friendly wireless earbuds to huge high-end sound systems.

Anker Soundcore 2 on blue background

(Image credit: Future)

NOT! Anker Soundcore 3 £39.99 £27.99 at Amazon

Becky Scarrott, Senior Staff Writer, Audio

OK yes, it's a rugged thing and a 30% saving on an already inexpensive Bluetooth speaker is arguably not to be sniffed at, but we have seen it cheaper once before by a few pennies and, as you'll see in our review, it is an older model and was superseded in 2020. 

Yes, it impressed us for its 24-hour battery life, durable build quality and water resistance. It's also a compact and likeable thing, but its sound quality leaves a bit to be desired.

What to look for instead? Why, the newer Anker Soundcore 3, which is also part of Amazon's Prime Day Early Access sale! This is slashed by 32% so it'll only cost you £37.99 (regular price £56!) if you snap it up today. You're very welcome. 

Acer Chromebook 512 next to a flame icon on orange background

(Image credit: Future / Acer)

HOT! Acer Chromebook 512: $199.99 $79.99 at Amazon

Matt Hanson, Managing Editor, Computing and Entertainment

Okay, okay, I know what you're probably thinking: Chromebooks aren't the most exciting devices. However, as soon as I saw this deal pop up, I had to drop everything and tell everyone about it.

It's not often you see a laptop for under $100 - and it's even more rare to find one that you'd actually want to use. In previous sales events I've seen Windows 10 laptops drop below the magic $100 mark - but I'd never recommend buying them, as thanks to their underpowered specs, Windows would run as slowly as a slug dipped in molasses (please don't do this, I hate cruelty to slugs as much as I hate crap laptops).

However, Chromebooks are different, as the Chrome OS operating system they run can still perform well on under powered hardware, and the Acer Chromebook 512 is a great example of this. At just $80, this is dangerously close to impulse purchase territory. For anyone who is after a second laptop to do a spot of browsing on while sat on the couch, or you're looking for a laptop for any young students in your life, then this is a fantastic choice for the price. 

Matt Hanson
Matt Hanson

Matt has been covering Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day deals for longer than he'd like to remember - but it means he has a keen eye for excellent offers, especially when it comes to laptops and computers. His best tip for getting a great laptop deal is to keep an eye on the specifications – if you buy a device that's not powerful enough for your needs, then you're going to be wasting your money, no matter how good the price cut appears.

Western Digital hard drive next to a snowflake icon on blue

(Image credit: Future / Western Digital)

NOT! Western Digital 20TB WD Red Pro hard drive: $499.99 $359.99 at Amazon

Matt Hanson, Managing Editor, Computing and Entertainment

There aren't that many deals I've seen that I would definitely tell people NOT TO BUY - but this is one of them. Not because it's a bad product, nor a terrible price (though it's not great), it's just that for the vast majority of people you simply won't need a 20TB hard drive.

If you're in any doubt, 20 terabytes is a huge amount of storage. It's enough to hold around 6.2 million photos or 340,000 hours of music (which would take 39 years to listen to if you played them none stop).

So, for normal consumers, you just won't need that kind of space. Even professional photographers would struggle to fill 20TB. This is only really suitable for enterprise-grade stuff, and it's unlikely businesses are scouring Amazon during Prime Day.

Also, hard drives are slow these days - you're much better off getting a smaller, and much faster, SSD. If for some reason your do need 20TB of storage, I'd still not recommend you put all that data on a single drive - if the drive fails or gets damaged, that's a massive amount of data to lose. So, you'd ideally need at least one more 20TB drive as a backup to mirror all that data, pushing the price of this up to at least $710. 

Look, just don't buy it, OK?

ChomChom Pet Hair Remover

(Image credit: ChomChom)

NOT! What's going on with these pets?

Alex Whitelock, deals editor

I know the theme of this blog is 'what's hot, what's not' but I'm going to diverge slightly because I'm constantly distracted by how strange some of the images are on Amazon's pet-themed listings.

Take the ChomChom pet hair remover. It was listed with the image above (and with a deal) yesterday.

I can't decide if this image is cute or horrifying. The dog's eyes in particular are incredibly unnerving in a way that no dog's eyes should ever be. Obviously, photoshop exists but I can't help thinking they slipped something into the pet food dish. It's like the dog is looking into the future. Or perhaps it's seen too much already.

KTL Grooming Brush for Dog & Cat

(Image credit: KTL)

Here's another one - the KTL Grooming Brush for Dog & Cat

This one is just more adorable than weird. I don't even have a dog but I'm now wondering if I need this brush due to the extreme level of good vibes I get from the product image. 

This brush is either really good or this dog knows something we don't. I think I'll just keep the page open in a background tab while I write up actual Prime Day deals, just in case I feel the need to look at his/her little happy face.



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