The Best Early Prime Day Deals Ahead of Amazon’s Second Sale (2026)

Amazon’s fall Prime Day sale—also known as Big Deal Days 2026—is live. The sale starts today, October 6, and runs through midnight tomorrow. As with all Prime Day sales, you'll need to be an Amazon Prime member to take advantage of the discounts.

It may only be October, but it's never too early to jump on that holiday gift shopping. We've combed through all the deals and found the best ones, based on our years of testing and reviewing. WIRED's picks for the best Prime Day deals only include products someone from our team has personally tested and reviewed. We track prices using several tools to avoid falling for fake discounts. There are no shoddy knockoffs or overpriced products among our recommendations, just good deals on great gear.

Updated 5 pm ET October 6: We've added new deals and ensured other deals are up to date.

Contributors: Louryn Strampe , Simon Hill , Nena Farrell , Kat Merck , Molly Higgins , Boutayna Chokrane , Luke Larsen , Harry Rabinowitz , Les Shu

As someone who’s tested dozens of laptops this year already, I still find myself recommending the MacBook Air M5 more than any other. It’s the most well-rounded laptop you can buy, sporting great performance, long battery life, and a razor-thin chassis. The price has gone up considerably over the past year, but that’s true of many of the best laptops . And now, it's at its lowest price since June, making it an absolute must-buy. —Luke Larsen

Despite all of Apple’s attempts to expand the iPad line , the most compelling reason to buy an iPad continues to be its original use case: casually leaning back on the couch with a book, game, or movie. It’s the device you bring with you on vacation to keep yourself from working. It’s the tablet every family with kids has. And even better: The 11-inch iPad on Amazon is one of the only iPad deals that survived Apple’s price hikes earlier this year. —Luke Larsen

It might be the most controversial laptop of the year, but its appeal is undeniable. From the outside, it’s as premium as any other MacBook. And if you’re someone with relatively basic computing needs, you might not notice the 8 GB of memory and iPhone chip inside and just enjoy the lower price. Just don’t think too much about how the MacBook Air with twice the storage and RAM was frequently selling for only $50 more throughout last year. This $10 discount is nothing new; it’s the cheapest way to buy a MacBook Neo (outside of Apple’s education discount). —Luke Larsen

The Mac Mini has been sold out for the majority of this year due to the rapid escalation of interest in using them as local, agentic AI machines. The brand-new M6 model is faster (and more expensive) than ever. But the fact that you can buy them at all right now feels significant, and Amazon has the best deal on the latest model you’ll find. —Luke Larsen

Jump to a section: Apple Deals , Kindle Deals , AV Deals , Tech Deals , Amazon Device Deals , Laptop and PC Deals , Phone Deals , Headphone Deals , Vacuum Deals , Mobile Charging and Accessory Deals , TV Deals , Deals on Toys and Games , Kitchen and Coffee Deals , Gaming Deals , Camera Deals , Outdoor and Home Deals

While almost all of Amazon's Kindles are on sale, the Colorsoft is one of the best. While it was also hit with a price hike at the end of August, with the base model rising to $290 from $250, you can get it for $100 off during Amazon's sale. It has everything we like about the Paperwhite, but with a color screen (and now with Dark Mode, which it originally lacked!). For only $20 more during Amazon Big Deal Days, I'd get the Colorsoft over the Paperwhite. — Nena Farrell

If you're looking to get the biggest discount on a new Kindle, the best sale is on the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft. It's got an 11-inch color screen and comes with a stylus to let it double as a digital notebook. It's the most expensive Kindle, but it also has the best discount during Amazon's sale event. — Nena Farrell

If you want a powerful new digital notebook that doubles as an e-reader, Kindle Scribe is one of my favorites. The newest version is good, and my main complaint is usually that you can get the second-gen model with almost all the same features for a better price. However, the third-gen Scribe is now on sale for under the cost of the older model, so it's a great time to buy. And the Scribes didn't rise in price, so no sale games with this model. —Nena Farrell

These sale events are a great time to stock up on gifts for the family, and if you have a young reader in yours, the Kindle Paperwhite Kids is a great choice. It has everything we already like about the Paperwhite ( our top Kindle pick! ), a fun cover to protect it from drops, and six months of free Kids+ content. Kids+ will offer your young reader free, age-appropriate content to read on their brand-new Kindle—it's like Kindle Unlimited, but for kids. — Nena Farrell

Once again, the best Kindle deals are on the color models. Kids are naturally the best candidates to enjoy the color screen since they're more likely to select books with illustrations. The Colorsoft Kids is almost $100 off and comes with both a case and a full year of Kids+ content. This makes it a worthy upgrade from the Kids Paperwhite while it's on sale. — Nena Farrell

If you're getting a new Kindle , the Paperwhite is an excellent all-around choice with its adjustable warm front light and long battery life. The bad news is that this sale is the worst we've seen, but unfortunately, since Amazon raised prices for the Paperwhite (among other Kindle models), I don't expect to see a lower price in the future anymore. It's better than paying full price, and I'd only get it on sale. — Nena Farrell

This soundbar plus subwoofer is a fantastic way to upgrade your TV audio system for a reasonable price, especially at 25 percent off. The Polk Signa S4 is one of our favorite soundbars for that very reason: It’s simple, easy to use, sounds great, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Sure, it doesn’t have more advanced features like Wi-Fi connectivity, voice assistant support, or multi-speaker surround sound. But if you’re coming from built-in TV speakers, this is a great first upgrade. — Harry Rabinowitz

I’ve seen this same sale a few times this year, but it’s still worth taking a look at, simply because the Sonos Arc Ultra is such a great soundbar . It’s the best all-in-one solution, delivering rich, clean sound for shows, movies, games, and music. The Sonos app offers extensive remote control, automatic room calibration, and grouping with other Sonos speakers. — Harry Rabinowitz

Sonos recently launched the Sonos Beam Ultra, so it’s no wonder that the 2021 Beam is on sale right now. While it can’t compare with Sonos’ newer models, it doesn’t really have to at this great price point. I used the Sonos Beam Gen 2 for years as my main soundbar . It’s incredibly small and compact but manages excellent sound, especially when paired with a small space and small-ish TV. — Harry Rabinowitz

This is our favorite portable Bluetooth speaker . It delivers huge sound, and is small and durable enough to carry on any adventure. It also has IP68 water resistance, an easy-release strap, and a two-hour battery boost (or four if you reduce the bass). — Louryn Strampe

This tri-band Wi-Fi 7 mesh is the best subscription-free mesh system for most people. A two-pack will be enough to cover most homes, and each router has two 10-Gbps Ethernet ports, one Gigabit port, and a USB 3.0 port. Asus allows you to tinker with and configure everything and offers comprehensive security software and parental controls at no extra cost (you can even redeem a free year of NordVPN service with this mesh). Clip the on-page coupon to save. —Simon Hill

Ready to upgrade your home network to enjoy the speedy delights of Wi-Fi 7 ? The Netgear Orbi 770 Series is easy to set up and use, delivers rock-solid, reliable performance, and offers expansive coverage. Currently topping our best mesh routers , this is the sweet spot in Netgear’s lineup, and I think it’s an ideal mesh system for most homes right now. — Simon Hill

Families seeking a reliable, set-and-forget, Wi-Fi 7 mesh system that doesn't require configuration should consider Amazon’s Eero brand. The Eero Pro 7 is a solid pick that will serve you well for the next few years. It’s a tri-band system that performs extremely well in a busy family home, delivering impressively low lag and stable bandwidth sharing across many devices. The app is also very easy to use, but the pricey subscription is required if you want full parental controls, advanced security, and additional features. —Simon Hill

Currently top of our best Wi-Fi routers guide, this router will cover most homes and apartments up to around 2,000 square feet, with fast and reliable connectivity. It’s only dual-band, so you miss out on the 6-GHz band, but you get all the other advantages of Wi-Fi 7 . It also has a generous array of ports and comes with free security software and parental controls. Support for VPN service, separate IoT or guest networks, and AiMesh rounds out an excellent device. — Simon Hill

This tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router is reasonably priced at its regular price. It offers excellent close-range speeds on the 6-GHz band, and good performance on both the 5-GHz and 2.4-GHz bands. TP-Link has also built in a generous array of ports, including one 10 Gbps and four 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports, and a USB 3.0 port. I don’t love the design, but the six adjustable antennas are useful. — Simon Hill

My favorite digital wall calendar is from Skylight. It's easy to use to connect your events, organize meals and to-do lists, and even plug in entire recipes to convert to your shopping list. It also doubles as a digital photo frame, so long as you pay the subscription (unfortunately). The Max is the largest size and is most frequently on sale, reaching a massive 27 inches. — Nena Farrell

Apolosign's digital calendar runs on Android OS and has two modes: Calendar and Android. The Calendar mode is easy to navigate and comes with sections like Calendar, Routines, and Meals, but the Android mode lets you customize more and add a photo screensaver. Best part, though, is neither option needs a subscription. — Nena Farrell

Arlo ticks all the boxes with crisp 2K video, a wide 160-degree field of view, two-way audio, and direct Wi-Fi connection, and the Pro 6 tops our best outdoor security cameras guide. The Arlo app is swift to load, offers rich notifications, and supports two-factor authentication and biometric login, so you can log in with your fingerprint or face, phone permitting. The catch is a pricey, but crucial, subscription ($10 per month or $96 a year for a single camera, $20 per month or $216 a year for unlimited cameras) for subject recognition, smart alerts, and cloud storage. —Simon Hill

Security cameras with floodlights are great for your garage or backyard, and this is the best floodlight security camera for most people. The E340 is a dual-lens camera with a 3K wide-angle lens and a 2K telephoto lens for up to 8x zoom to capture details up to 50 feet away. Adjustable light panels provide up to 2,000 lumens. It also pans 360 degrees and tilts 120 degrees, and records locally to a microSD card or to a HomeBase 3 (both sold separately). — Simon Hill

If you want a really great, reliable automatic litter box but don’t need extras like AI recognition or an internal camera to watch, I think this is the best model. In fact, it’s the automatic litter box I recommend for most people. It’s an upgrade from the Petkit PuraMax 2 (which I also loved). It has a larger opening and better odor control than the previous model. It also has a connected app, where you can monitor usage and adjust settings from afar. At less than $400, this is a pretty cheap price point for a model of this caliber. —Molly Higgins

After testing nearly two dozen automatic litter boxes , I have pretty strong opinions on what people should look for when shopping, and which ones are actually worth investing a chunk of change in. This model has everything I look for: a built-in AI-enabled 1080p camera with a 210-degree wide-angle view, audio recording, night vision, and 2.4-GHz and 5.0-GHz Wi-Fi network support. The larger opening is ideal for my beefy cats, and the connected app makes it easy to monitor pets’ habits and adjust settings from afar. At $85 off, this is the lowest price we’ll see until Black Friday sales. — Molly Higgins

This pet fountain holds up to 3 liters of water, supports both 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz Wi-Fi, has an intuitive connected app, a wireless pump, and an easily removable (and easier to clean) detachable basin. It can sit on the dock plugged in with a continuous flow, or be cordless and move around the house unplugged for up to 28 days on intermittent flows. Plus, I love Petlibro’s easy-to-use app, where you can monitor your pet's water intake, water levels, and battery life, and set cleaning and filter-replacement reminders. — Molly Higgins

I recommend that every cat parent invest in an automatic pet water fountain . The moving water keeps cats interested in drinking, and increased hydration helps fight against a myriad of potential health issues, especially in dehydration-prone housecats. This glass model not only looks elegant, but the glass is naturally less bacteria-harboring than porous plastic, making it more hygienic. This model is large, heavy, and needs a bigger footprint, but water stays cleaner and fresher for longer. This is the lowest price we’ve seen this year by about $10. — Molly Higgins

This automatic litter box is a little too big for my small apartment, but it was one of the first models of its kind to use a camera and AI technology to monitor litter box usage to help you more closely monitor your cat’s health. It uses a camera on a swiveling arm to follow and record your cat. Through the connected app, you can monitor usage, engage in two-way audio, and watch 24/7 streaming. It also has auto-bagging and sealing features, so you never have to deal with the stool, which is a plus. — Molly Higgins

This automatic pet feeder is ideal for greedy pets in a multi-pet home. For this techy device, the pet wears a collar with a tag that opens the feeder’s lid only with that tag and retracts back over the kibble when the pet leaves, ensuring that only the chosen pet with the collar can access the food. Through the app, you can adjust scheduled feedings, including amounts and on-demand feeds. —Molly Higgins

If you’re looking for a cheap automatic pet feeder in a home with two pets and you don’t need all of the bells and whistles, I recommend this model. It’s a solid, inexpensive dual feeder with a connected app where you can customize feeding plans of up to six meals a day, and it also has a knob on the front to plan meals if you want to go analog. Plus, I loved the hygienic stainless steel inserts that can be removed for easier cleaning. This is the lowest price we’ve seen all year. —Molly Higgins

If you’re looking for the most reliable smart bird feeder at the best price, you won’t do better than Birdfy’s original plastic feeder. Birdfy recently surpassed 1 million units sold and continues to advance its app with new features, including the ability to identify multiple birds on a feeder at once. The plastic feeder body comes with blue or yellow accents and is a bit lightweight, so you’ll want to make sure to mount it away from squirrels who could damage it. This model comes with an auxiliary solar panel and has no paywalled subscription features, so you won’t have to stress about hidden post-purchase fees. —Kat Merck

If you’re not sure if you’ll like a smart bird feeder , this is an inexpensive, low-stakes way to experience Birdfy’s excellent app and 1080p camera for yourself. The plastic housing is about as basic as it gets—it reminds me of a little gravity pet feeder, and is pretty lightweight. The lid to my test unit blew off in a gust of wind. Still, this is the best smart feeder configuration you can buy at this price point, and even though it doesn’t include a subscription for AI ID, you can still screenshot unfamiliar birds and Google them. —Kat Merck

Top pick for photo quality in my guide to the Best Smart Bird Feeders , this well-engineered feeder offers 4K HD video and 32 MP image captures, plus remote streaming in 1080p HD. It operates on both 2.4 and 5 GHz Wi-Fi bands and features sturdy, heavy construction that stood up well to squirrel chewing in my testing. Without the $54/year subscription, you'll get 20 uses of AI ID per month, but be forewarned this feature isn’t great, and you also won’t be able to search past videos by bird, as free storage is capped at three days’ worth. —Kat Merck

If you want to brighten up your holiday season, the Philips Hue Festavia are the best smart Christmas lights you can buy. This 65-foot string is easy to drape on an indoor or outdoor tree (the lights are IP54 rated) and sports 250 tiny LEDs. You can pick any color, animate with twinkly effects, and even tune white to find your preferred color temperature. Cozy and classy, these smart string lights can be scheduled with different colors or effects for different times of day, paired with other Hue lights, or synced with music. — Simon Hill

This is the older version of our top air purifier pick, the Coway Airmega Mighty2 , but I still recommend it for most people. This small air purifier is just under a foot and a half tall, weighs 12 pounds, and is super portable with its easy-to-grab back handle. We think this is the best model for your bedroom or other small room, since it can clean a 361-square-foot room at the recommended 4.8 air exchanges per hour. — Molly Higgins

This large (50-pound), boxy air purifier is ideal for high-ceilinged homes over 8 feet tall. It can clean the air four times per hour in an impressively large 1,000-square-foot space at its highest setting. It’s a behemoth, but its hidden handles and built-in lockable wheels make moving a bit easier. Plus, we also like that it has Coway's built-in air quality indicator light, where blue is good and red is bad—an easy way to monitor your air quality at a glance without needing to whip out an air quality monitor . — Molly Higgins

We deemed this air purifier model the “Best Air Purifier for VOCs and Odors” because of its whisper-quiet ability to capture particulate matter, odors, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—the microscopic, potentially harmful stuff that you definitely don’t want in your home or penetrating deep into your lungs. The small 30-inch cylinder tower weighs just under 25 pounds and has easy-to-maneuver wheels and a hidden handle. It also has a handy built-in air-quality sensor that illuminates the large circular indicator light on the top of the tower to indicate the room’s pollutant level. — Molly Higgins

I’ve tested air purifiers that cost 10 times as much as this budget Levoit, but I keep coming back to this affordable pick. I really love the connected app, which lets me adjust settings like fan speed and modes from afar and check filter life. Plus, the app sends notifications when air quality is poor and updates when it reaches clean levels again. You can also see historical indoor air quality levels and the corresponding action the purifier took, which helps track patterns. It’s also compatible with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant for voice control. —Molly Higgins

I think this model is the best air purifier for most people—it’s quiet, compact, reliable, and relatively affordable, with minimal maintenance. It has two filters combined into one that only needs to be replaced once a year, which is twice as long as a typical air purifier filter, and will save you money over time. It also has helpful real-time AQI detection and a MegaScan laser to evaluate a full spectrum of particles, including PM 1, 2.5, and 10. It’s the lowest price we’ve seen this year. —Molly Higgins

If you value aesthetics and still want a solid small-to-midsize room air purifier , you may like this discounted model from Windmill. It has a chic Scandinavian look, with bamboo paneling that makes it look more like furniture than most other models I’ve tested. It has an intuitive connected app that integrates with other products in the Windmill ecosystem. It also has an internal sensor and indicator light that make it easy to tell the air quality at a glance. —Molly Higgins

Amazon launched two new Echo Show smart displays last year, and the Echo Show 11 was easily the better of the two. The sound is better, and the screen is larger—but not so large that it's a pain to put on a kitchen counter. Amazon did raise the price by $30 at the end of August , but this is still the lowest deal price I've seen for it since its launch. —Nena Farrell

I really like the Echo Spot. It's got a small screen that displays the time, information like the weather, and what song it's currently playing, but leaves out the camera, ads, and other screen clutter you'll get on an Echo Show. It doesn't have the best sound out of Amazon's smaller Echo models, but it's fine for casual listening. The price did rise from $80 to $110 in August, but $55 for this is still a good sale price. —Nena Farrell

Amazon's smallest speaker is its most affordable, but the price hikes the company rolled out in late August moved it from being a $50 speaker to an $80 speaker. It's definitely not worth that, but it's a good speaker and a fine purchase for $40. It has clearly improved sound over the older models like the puck-shaped Echo Dot, but I am bummed with how much the price has increased. I'd only buy it now while it's on sale. — Nena Farrell

The Echo Studio has been our favorite Echo speaker for the sound quality since the original model, and the second-generation version packs fantastic sound like its predecessor. I also love that its price didn't increase between the two generations, or after Amazon's price hike in August . It's still one of the more expensive models, even on sale, so I'd choose it only if you have a massive room you're trying to fill with sound. But it's also the only new Echo that didn't get a price increase, so this sale isn't just a trick of the numbers. —Nena Farrell

The Echo Dot Max takes the once-cheap Echo Dot model and gives it better sound and a built-in smart home hub, but amps up the price to match. It has much better sound than Amazon's previous pint-sized speakers, but it's still a big price to pay for something that doesn't have a screen. The price also went up $20 at the end of August, so you could argue this is really only $20 off. I do really like this speaker, but you'd be just as happy with the cheaper Echo Spot and older Echo Dot if you're just looking for a small smart speaker . —Nena Farrell

Amazon updated my usual favorite Echo Show last year, but the sound on the fourth-generation Echo Show 8 isn't quite as good as the older model. To be honest, I'd recommend the older model over …

The Best Early Prime Day Deals Ahead of Amazon’s Second Sale (2026)

Related

Microsoft Copilot AI Predicts Unbelievable Chainlink (LINK) Price

McKinsey is making job applicants spar with a fake AI client

Starknet Considers Becoming an L1 to Reach Quantum Resistance by 2027

The best feature of Apple’s HomeView might be its simplicity