Our Favorite Early Amazon Prime Day Deals

This 55-inch 4K TV is from Amazon’s step-up Omni series for 2024. It does well for overall picture quality, but not as good for high dynamic range. It does have a wider-than-average viewing angle for an LCD set. It’s a QLED model with a Mini LED backlight, which can help boost contrast and improve black levels. It supports Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+ HDR and a 144Hz variable refresh rate for gaming.

This 75-inch set, in Amazon’s step-up Omni series of QLED TVs with Mini LED backlights, delivers very good overall picture quality and a wider-than-average viewing angle for an LCD set. However, its high dynamic range performance had only limited effectiveness, despite the set having sufficient peak brightness. (It supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ HDR formats, plus Dolby Atmos audio.) It includes WiFi 6E for wireless connections and up to 144 Hz refresh rates for gaming.

differentiates itself with its styling. So if you want to avoid the typical cylindrical speaker in Skittles colors, the Emberton II is an elegant option. Channeling the styling of its namesake company the Emberton II is a nice gift for the guitar geek in your life. Unlike Marshall’s larger models which sport satisfyingly beefy knobs, the baby Marshall wasn’t particularly easy to use in our lab tests.

This OtterBox Fre waterproof case means business. It kept the phone completely dry during the 5-minute dunk in our tests. OtterBox claims it can protect a phone in 6.5 feet of water for up to an hour. The design is sturdy and protective without being bulky, which means you can keep it on your phone at all times, accessing the touchscreen (and yes, the camera) and easily pressing the side buttons. The model is compatible with magnetic wireless charging, too.

If you want a smaller, lighter, and even less expensive Amazon Fire tablet than the Fire Max 11, the Amazon Fire HD 8 (gen 12) is a good alternative. In our tests, its performance and camera both received below-average scores, and the display quality is only middling. But if you plan to use a tablet for just the basics, the Amazon Fire HD 8 could do the trick and save you some money 

If you’re looking for a tablet to do simple tasks, the Amazon Fire Max 11 is a solid pick. The device has an 11-inch display and is powerful enough to stream Netflix or Disney+, play simple games like Minecraft, and scroll through social media. It weighs just over 1 pound and has a battery that lasts an impressive 13.3 hours in our web-browsing test. You also get 64GB of built-in storage. 

The sphere-shaped Dot has been revamped with new speaker drivers and electronics that promise improved sound. Despite its small size and low price, the Dot offers the same smart speaker functionality as its far more expensive brethren. It can also serve as an inexpensive way to introduce smart speaker functionality throughout your home in an Alexa-based multiroom system. You can even pair an Echo to a Bluetooth speaker you already own to lend that one smart speaker functionality. The Dot provides an inexpensive way to test the smart speaker waters, and the price makes it a reasonable gift even if you’re on a budget.

The Amazon Echo Pop is the perfect way to test out a smart speaker in your home at a low cost. It’s 50 percent off right now, putting it at under $20, the lowest price we’ve seen for a smart speaker from the Echo family. The sound quality leaves a lot to be desired, so it may not be ideal if you’re looking primarily for music playback. But if you are more excited about adding smart functionality to any room in your house, this may fit the bill.

We didn’t test this Amazon soundbar, but it’s well-priced for a model with its features, including support for Dolby Atmos and DTS: X immersive audio formats. It’s a 3.1-channel soundbar with a dedicated center speaker, which can help make dialogue clearer, and a wireless subwoofer, but it lacks upfiring speakers for Atmos height channels. It comes with an HDMI cable and a wall-mount kit.

This budget-friendly mattress provides impressive support for most sleepers. (It’s not ideal for large and tall side sleepers.) Firmness-wise, it’s on the softer side and earns solid ratings in our durability tests.

If you’re in the market for a durable foam mattress under $300, the Marley mattress from Sleep Innovations could fit the bill. It’s best for petite and average back sleepers, as well as petite side sleepers who like their mattress on the softer side. It earns a very good score for stabilization.

This 2-inch memory-foam topper provides great support while still allowing you to sink into it. And at 8 pounds, it’s not overly heavy to maneuver. It’s flippable, but this deal doesn’t come with a cover (though you can add one on yourself), and a lack of corner straps means it might shift around. You can return Linenspa products for a full refund within 30 days of purchase.

Kate Spade’s 2-Slice Toaster nabbed an excellent score in our lab tests for color range and toasting time. That means it evenly browns your slices—no matter whether you like ’em light or dark—and it does it quickly, so you’re not drooling into those toaster wells (which happen to be big enough for bagels).

If you’re looking for a toaster on a budget and don’t need a ton of bells and whistles, this Bella 17612 two-slice model may be perfect, especially at this low price. It can toast bagels and bread quickly and evenly, whether you’re toasting one or two slices. Slight drawbacks: the Bella is a bit fiddly to use and clean, with just middling scores in those evaluations.

This is a stellar Prime price on a great stand mixer, one that we haven’t seen before. While the Instant Pro 140-1560-01 does not come from an iconic brand, it mixes it up with the best of them in our tests. It earns top marks for kneading bread dough, and its ability to whip heavy cream and mix large batches of cookie dough is above average. And we aren’t disturbed by the noise as it hums along. This tilt-head mixer has a 7-quart bowl and can handle enough dough for two loaves of bread.

The Cosori Dual Blaze is a bit expensive, even when it’s on sale, but we think it’s still worth highlighting, given its large measured capacity (4.7 quarts), smartphone integration, and all-around strong performance in all the areas we test. The monolithic exterior might not be to everyone’s taste, but with few nooks and crannies in its design, this machine is easy to clean. It also comes with a two-year warranty, a year longer than many air fryer warranties.

This price is only a few dollars more than last fall’s Prime Big Deal Days sale, and it’s about $7 less than the lowest price we’ve seen this year.

The Instant Vortex 4 Plus Air Fryer 4QT is a standout for the legibility of its digital controls, relatively low noise levels, and ease of cleaning. What’s more, its square basket design makes it easy to fit in a small pyrex dish or baking pan—great for turning out sweet treats. The measured 3-quart model has a 1-year warranty.

The Instant Vortex 4 Plus Air Fryer 4QT is a standout for its digital controls’ legibility, relatively low noise levels, and ease of cleaning. What’s more, its square basket design makes it easy to fit in a small Pyrex dish or baking pan—great for turning out sweet treats. The measured 3-quart model has a 1-year warranty.

This 8-quart Instant Pot is one of the largest pressure cookers we’ve tested. It’s also one of the best performers in our lab tests. The 1,500-watt cooker boasts excellent ratings for both pressure-cooking and slow-cooking, and it does a very good job at sautéing. It’s loaded with features, such as an air-frying mode (including a two-tier air-fry basket), a dehydrating function, a stainless steel inner pot, and a storage cover.

The NuWave Flex Precision packs in lots of features despite being the least expensive option we tried. Although the interface is a bit cluttered (our expert likened it to an airport cockpit), once you’re over the learning curve, the performance isn’t bad. It browned well and simmered impressively, particularly in the lab, where it evenly maintained melt temperatures. However, it was a bit slower to heat.

At 50 pounds, the Coway Airmega ProX is quite heavy, but it also delivers high-quality performance. On both higher and lower speeds, this model excels at clearing rooms of dust, pollen, and smoke. And it scores well when it comes to noise. It accommodates indoor spaces up to a whopping 2,126 square feet. But the ProX’s top-tier performance comes at a hefty price, plus about $247 annually, according to our estimates. The ProX features three speeds, a filter indicator, and a dirt sensor. In our surveys, CR members say they’re highly satisfied with their Coway air purifiers. The brand earns top marks for predicted reliability, too.

Blackout curtains that can double as decor are a win in our books. These blackout curtains earn top marks in our tests. Both the darkest color (warm black) and the lightest (porcelain white) we tested completely blocked a beam of light from a powerful flashlight. The panels also offered good insulation against the blazing heat of the summer sun and winter drafts.

A few drawbacks: These heavy curtains look and feel more like buttery faux suede than plush luxe velvet, which may or may not be your cup of tea. Also, the curtains are sold as single panes instead of in pairs, so you may need to buy two, paying double the price shown here. Depending on where you shop, you can choose from more than two dozen colors. 

You can save a few bucks on this packing cube set from Amazon. The cubes come in small, medium, large, and slim. Overall, the quality is reflected in its name: It’s good but basic. And though it might not have extra features such as pockets or buckles, the Amazon Basics 4-Piece Packing Travel Organizer Cubes Set is perfect for people who don’t want to deal with too many cubes and just want something simple and functional.

This AcuRite weather station offers a solid set of features for tracking conditions indoors and out. It accurately measures and displays temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, and rainfall, providing a comprehensive picture of the weather.

The display is clear and easy to read, showing rainfall totals for the day, month, and lifetime of the device, as well as temperature and humidity readings. Additional features include a 12/24-hour forecast, a heat Index, a wind chill Index, moon phase info, and a 24-hour history. Alerts and barometric pressure readings are also provided.

This Amazon Basics Dish Soap had our favorite conventional clean scent. It cleaned dishes well, produced long-lasting suds in a bucket of water, and is available in a large size, so you don’t have to stock up as often. The larger bottle size is great for cutting back on shopping frequency, but it has no handle, so it was the most uncomfortable to dispense dish soap from.

The Hon Ignition 2.0 is a good all-around pick, especially given this price. Our panel found the chair to be comfortable and well-designed with plenty of adjustment options for the armrests, seat pan depth, and lumbar support. Those features make this chair a worthwhile purchase, but you’ll need a measure of patience to assemble it and master the controls. The diagrams in the instructions can be overly complex, and they don’t always match the chair. They don’t say how to use the controls, either. For that, you have to go online.