Early Black Friday and Cyber Monday Tech Deals are here … and we’re here to let you know what to click and what to skip!
Retailers nationwide started rolling out incredible sales even before Halloween this year. It’s no wonder! Last year, Americans spent over nine billion dollars, and this sales season is expected to break even more records.
Here’s a look at some of our top picks, along with advice to stay safe and shop smart. Be sure to keep in touch with us across our social channels, and let us know what you think! Also, keep checking back here as we add new stuff pretty much every day during the busy holiday shopping season!
SAMSUNG’S GALAXY Z FLIP5: THE RETRO-FAB, FUTURE PROOF PHONE OF 2023:
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 is one of the hottest handsets of 2023. It’s a perfect fit for just about anyone on your list with its retro-fab vibe and future-proof specs. Plus, it’s literally one of the most powerful, thin, and durable foldable phones on the market today. Fold it in half, and the larger Flex Window (shown in the photo above) lets you do everything from capturing photos and videos to watching your favorite content. With incredibly strong Gorilla Glass Victus 2 (a new title that basically means in lab testing it survives drops on concrete of around four feet or so), this phone is built to last. Snag their Black Friday and Cyber Monday specials at Samsung.com.
Sale Price: $1,000 ($120 off normal retail price)
SMARTTAG2 HELPS KEEP TRACK OF ALL THE THINGS:
While we’re talking Samsung, check out their SmartTag2 trackers. These are great for keeping track of all the things, like your purse, suitcase, backpack, and even other gadgets. At $30, they make great stocking stuffers too.
Retail Price: $30
Ring’s Video Doorbell and Indoor Cam 2nd Gen bundle is another hot deal and smart buy. Both devices have Motion Detection and Two-Way Talk, so you can see, hear, and speak to people at your front door from anywhere in the world. You can also see across entire rooms at one glance with this new Indoor Cam. Starting Nov. 13, this Ring Security Essentials Bundle is $80 for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s HALF PRICE! (50% discount!) With that kind of savings you might even consider adding an optional Ring Protect Plan to unlock even more features, like Package Alerts, to keep those pesky porch pirates at bay.
Sale Price: $80 (50% discount on normal retail price starting November 13th)
ENHANCE YOUR LITTLE ONE’S SLEEP WITH A MAGIC SLEEP SOOTHER.
You know all the parents who… all they want for Christmas is a good night’s sleep? The VTech V-Hush Pro Sleep Training Soother is for them. It sits next to your child’s bed to work its magic and send your kids off to sleep. They’ve thought of everything: a colorful touch nightlight with more than 250 colors, a glow-on-the-ceiling projector and a powerful Bluetooth speaker that plays 200+ pre-programmed stories, classical music, lullabies and natural sounds. You can even record and upload your own voice, songs or stories using the subscription-free app. It’s great for infants, toddlers on up.
Price: $47.99
SUNNY, THE SMILEY STORY-TELLING NIGHTLIGHT. 
For kids ages 3-6, check out VTech® Storytime With Sunny™. It’s the most adorable storytelling, song-singing, stuff-teaching little nightlight I’ve ever seen. She has so much personality and totally engages kids in 300+ activities, including enthralling stories, classic songs, guessing games, silly jokes, daily routines and more. Reviews rave about this one too. She can help teach good manners, promote healthy habits like brushing teeth and even lead little ones in a bedtime routine as they fall asleep to her softly glowing night-light.
Price: $47.99
NO MORE MINDLESS SCREEN TIME. GET KIDS ENGAGED WITH STORYPOD:
For the younger ones on your list, you may have heard me talking about this one earlier this year. I’m obsessed with Storypod. It is a screen-free, interactive, educational audio player. It comes with a Craftie, a cute little yarn character that kids set on top to launch stories, games, and music. What’s really unique about it though is that anyone from parents to grandparents to family living far away can record a message. You do that through an app on your smartphone. Then parents can add the recording to a Recordable Story Sticker and put that on a photo or right on the book. And then, you have that voice and cherished moment captured forever. Can you imagine hearing your grandparents tell their favorite holiday story generations later?
Retail Price: $100 (Look for Black Friday and Cyber Savings of around $15 throughout the Holidays.)
ROW AROUND THE WORLD FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME.
The Hydrow Wave Rower is Hydrow’s newest, lightest, and arguably coolest rowing machine to date. It’s the closest thing you can get to being on real water without leaving your house. It’s whisper-quiet and so engaging you don’t even realize you’re getting a full-body, high-energy workout. All you need is 20 minutes on this machine to get your strength and cardio done for the day. There’s something for everybody at any level of experience. You also get encouragement and camaraderie through the online portal. Workouts are led by expert Athletes and Olympians in waterways around the world.
Sale Price: $1,445 ($450 off normal retail price)
WHO DOESN’T WANT A ‘POOL ROBOT?’
The Aiper Seagull Pro is an incredibly tech-d out (and easy-to-use) robot pool cleaner. It’s hassle and cord-free. It also comes with the world’s first-ever quad-motor system which makes it super powerful and gives it the ability to climb walls and clean every inch of your pool. The best part? You just set it and forget it. It automatically travels across large pools to suck up dirt, leaves, hair and other gross stuff off the pool floor and walls.
For all of November, the Aiper Seagull Pro is $300 off the regular price of $890 with promotion code JENNIFER310.
Sale Price: $590 ($300 off normal retail price)
KEEP THOSE AI CYBER-SCROOGES FROM GETTING YOUR $$$:
Here’s a not-so-merry and bright statistic: while the holiday rush started sooner than ever before this year, so did the cyber-crooks! Last year, 1-in-3 Americans fell prey to online scams during the holiday season. Give yourself the early gift of protection with a tech tool like the McAfee+ Advanced Plan. (Makes a great gift for that person who has everything else too, like your parents…) It’s a whopping 65% from November 13th to December 7th. This package includes AI-powered Scam Protection that detects and blocks text messaging scams in real-time. It also offers Transaction Monitoring, which identifies unusual bank and credit account transactions to help prevent ID fraud. You know what I love about this one? It blocks those scam messages about totally bogus “urgent deliveries” or “updates on your recent purchase.”
Sale Price: $90/year (65% off normal retail price November 13th – December 7th)
TO MAKE SURE YOU GET THE BEST DEAL:
To know that you’re truly getting the best deal out there, start your shopping and set up deal alerts at Slickdeals. This is where some 12 million shoppers vet and vote-up the best deals from all the top retailers like Amazon and Walmart. It’s also one of the most surefire ways to find bargains on everything from toys to electronics. It’s like having millions of friends to help you share and understand big bargains at any given time. Be sure to set that Deal Alert so that you get notified when a product that matches your criteria gets posted to the site!
SAVE BIG WITH CASH BACK.
I just saw a survey that shows more Americans plan to take advantage of rewards and cashback for their Holiday shopping. This holiday season, shop smarter and stretch your gifting budget by maximizing rewards and earning cashback with PayPal. Discover cashback offers in the PayPal app that you can easily save and automatically apply when you checkout with PayPal. Plus, earn even more rewards by installing the PayPal Honey shopping extension which automatically discovers coupons and cashback deals online to help you save for the holidays. In the past 12 months, PayPal has put more than $200 million back in customer pockets with cashback and offers. Shop smart, don’t leave money on the table!
THERE’S SO MUCH MORE!
As Black Friday and Cyber Monday continue to blur into a month-long shopping extravaganza, keep checking back here to see what’s new, plus find out all the tips, tricks, and insider hacks to get everything you want and need at a price you can afford!
More soon!
THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, AND PURCHASES MAY GENERATE A SMALL COMMISSION TO HELP SUPPORT OUR WORK AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU. THESE ARE THE GIFTS WE’VE SCOURED THE TECH-ISH PLANET TO FIND, TEST, AND PASS ALONG TO YOU.
Our marketing department or production partners might work with some of the companies or products mentioned above to help offset studio and overall business costs. However, our comments, reviews, and content above are all our own.
Read Jennifer’s latest columns at USAToday.com/tech or follow her @JennJolly on Instagram.