This week's best deals: AirPods, Nintendo Switch game sale and more
Plus deals on the latest MacBook Air and the Apple Watch Series 3.
As another week comes to a close, there are a number of gadget deals to pick from as well as some leftovers from the July 4th holiday. Apple’s AirPods with wireless charging case remain on sale for $150 and you can still grab a bunch of first-party Nintendo Switch titles on sale at GameStop. Weber’s SmokeFire connected grills are also discounted by $200, creating a prime opportunity for those who want to level-up their grilling game during the rest of the summer. Here are the best deals from this week that you can still get today.
AirPods with wireless charging case
Amazon’s sale on Apple’s AirPods with wireless charging case drops their price down to $150. That’s $50 off and the lowest price we’ve seen since May. We gave these AirPods a score of 84 for their improved wireless capabilities (thanks to Apple’s H1 chip) and their solid five-hour battery life. The included wireless charging case with this model makes it even easier to power up the AirPods if you have a Qi-capable charging pad.
Buy AirPods with wireless charging case at Amazon - $150
GameStop Nintendo Switch game sale
GameStop’s latest sale remains ongoing, so you can grab some first-party Nintendo Switch games for less. Some of the discounts are even better than those we saw in Nintendo’s own start of summer sale a few weeks ago. Notable titles on sale include Super Mario Bros U Deluxe for $40, Splatoon 2 for $40 and Yoshi’s Crafted World for $40.
Buy New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe at GameStop - $40
Buy Splatoon 2 at GameStop - $40
Buy Yoshi’s Crafted World at Gamestop - $40
Apple Watch Series 3
The Apple Watch Series 3 remains at $169 at Amazon, the lowest price ever for the smartwatch. While not the newest Apple Watch, the Series 3 has most of the features you’d expect a solid wearable to have including all-day activity and exercise tracking, built-in heart rate monitor and GPS, and on-watch apps and smartphone alerts. We gave it a score of 82 when we first reviewed it thanks to all of the features previously listed as well as its solid performance and good battery life.
Buy Apple Watch Series 3 at Amazon - $169
Macbook Air
The base model of the latest MacBook Air is still on sale for $899 at Amazon, which is $100 off its normal price (just be sure to clip the $50 coupon on the page before adding it to your cart). It has a Core i3 processor, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, plus the much improved Magic Keyboard that replaced Apple’s butterfly mechanism recently. It’s one of the reasons why we gave the new MacBook Air a score of 87, in addition to its sharp Retina display, smooth trackpad and accurate TouchID sensor.
Buy MacBook Air at Amazon starting at $899
Amazon Echo Plus
Amazon’s smart speaker turned home hub is down to its lowest price ever, only $80, and that includes a free Philips Hue smart light bulb. The Echo Plus normally costs $150, so this is a great deal if you’ve wanted a smart speaker that pulls double-duty as a smart home hub. Any Zigbee-compatible device, like the Hue bulb included in the bundle, can be connected directly to the Echo Plus — no other hubs required. We gave the Echo Plus a score of 86 for its much improved audio quality, more attractive design and its new stereo audio ability that let’s you connect two devices at once.
Buy Echo Plus bundle at Amazon - $80
Weber SmokeFire connected grills
Now’s a good time to upgrade your grill while Weber has its SmokeFire series on sale. You can get $200 off both fo the grills in the lineup, bringing the SmokeFire EX4 down to $799 and the SmokeFire EX6 down to $999. We originally gave these grills a score of 71 but recently bumped it up to 80 thanks to the updates Weber has made to its connected platform. Both grills now feature remote temperature adjustment and shutdown, better push notifications and more efficient handling of temperature fluctuations.
Buy SmokeFire EX4 from Weber - $799
Buy SmokeFire EX6 from Weber - $999
New deal additions
Aukey USB-C portable charger
Engadget readers can get Aukey’s 30,000mAh USB-C power bank for $42 by using the code ENGADGETY3 at checkout. That’s $18 off its normal price and the lowest price we’ve seen it. this high-capacity power bank can charge any USB device you throw at it including the newest iPhones and Android devices as well as the Nintendo Switch. It also supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 to power up compatible devices quickly and safely.
Buy Aukey 30,000 power bank at Amazon - $42
Amazon Echo Show 5 and Show 8
Both Amazon’s Echo Show 5 and Echo Show 8 are on sale right now — the Show 5 is down to $60 and the Show 8 is down to $90. This is a decent sale, even if they’re not the lowest ever prices we’ve seen for the two smart displays (that’s $50 and $80, respectively). We gave the Echo Show 5 a score of 85 for its sunrise alarm feature, good sound quality and its compact design that makes it a good nightstand device. The Echo Show 8 is much better as a communal device thanks to its larger display. If you plan on using it as a cooking guide for recipe instructions and videos, you should consider the deal Amazon has that includes one free year of Food Network Kitchen (which typically costs $40) when you buy the Echo Show 8.
The Echo Flex is also on sale for $17.49. This is the lowest price we’ve seen on the handy little adapter — it plugs into a wall outlet, allowing you to put Alexa in rooms that maybe don’t have room for a standalone smart speaker.
Buy Echo Show 5 at Amazon - $60
Buy Echo Show 8 at Amazon - $90
Buy Echo Flex at Amazon - $17.49
SteelSeries Arctis 1 gaming headset (PS4)
The SteelSeries Arctis 1 is one of our favorite wireless gaming headsets and now the PS4 model is on sale for $80 at Amazon. That’s $20 off its normal price and close to the lowest we’ve seen it. We like the Arctis 1 for its clear, consistent wireless connection and its detachable microphone. Also, SteelSeries makes some of the most attractive gaming headsets you can get.
Buy Arctis 1 (PS4) at Amazon - $80
Amazon Music Unlimited (3 months)
Prime members can try out Amazon Music Unlimited for free for three months with this offer. Aside from being an Amazon Prime subscriber, you also have to be new to Music Unlimited (so you can’t have paid for it or tried it out before). If you meet those requirements, you can snag this offer and try out Amazon’s Spotify competitor. It offers most of the same features as other music subscription services: unlimited music listening, an ad-free experience, unlimited offline listening and convenient voice control with Alexa. Just keep track of time — your subscription will renew at the standard $10-per-month price after the trial is up.
Get Amazon Music Unlimited (3 months)