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Four-deal Friday: Watches, Kindles, Motos, and more!

Hope you didn't have other plans for your money this weekend.

Rick Broida Senior Editor
Rick Broida is the author of numerous books and thousands of reviews, features and blog posts. He writes CNET's popular Cheapskate blog and co-hosts Protocol 1: A Travelers Podcast (about the TV show Travelers). He lives in Michigan, where he previously owned two escape rooms (chronicled in the ebook "I Was a Middle-Aged Zombie").
Rick Broida
3 min read

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MetaWatch

Whew! You are looking at one exhausted cheapskate, friends. That's in part due to the whirlwind couple days I just spent in Chicago, groping some pretty sweet new toys from Motorola (see below), and in part because I've wrangled four supah-sweet deals for you.

Coffee kicking in in 3, 2, 1...

1. Watch and learn

The new Moto 360 smartwatch ? Oh, heavens, is it sexy. But with a starting price of $250, it's definitely not for cheeps. (It's also not for iPhone users, alas.)

So maybe dip your toe into smartwatch waters with this: For a limited time, Best Buy has the MetaWatch Strata for $39.99 shipped (plus tax).

Available in your choice of snazzy colors, the Strata works with iPhones and some Android phones. The monochrome display delivers all kinds of notifications: calls, text messages, appointments, and so on, plus widgets for things like weather and stock prices. And you can use the buttons for music controls, a nice perk.

The user reviews are mixed, though, and PCMag was also lukewarm on some aspects of the device. But that was last year, when it listed for $179. At $40, I'll bet you can put up with a few quirks. I've certainly never seen a watch this capable this cheap.

2. More Kindlin'

Regular readers know of my fondness for Kindle tablets, which offer plenty of amenities iPads can't match -- for considerably less money.

In fact, for a limited time, Amazon is selling the refurbished Kindle Fire HD 8.9 (16GB) for $129 shipped. That's a nearly 9-inch tablet, as feature-rich as they come, for a pittance. A pittance, I say!

Like all refurb Kindles, this one comes with a one-year warranty. And based on my past purchases of them, it'll arrive in like-new condition. $129, people!

3. Mo' Moto, less money

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The new Moto G: Bigger, better, still cheap. Motorola
The big news from Motorola this morning: a new Moto X , the aforementioned Moto 360 , and the very intriguing Hint headset .

The bigger news, in my mind: the new Moto G , which I'm just going to go ahead and call the Best Smartphone Value of 2014.

Indeed, while this isn't a deal in the traditional Cheapskate sense, it's definitely a deal: quad-core processor, 5-inch HD screen, beefy camera, lots of colored-shell options, microSD slot, and more, all for $179.99 unlocked. I'm particularly impressed at how solid and durable the Moto G feels -- not cheap or plasticky.

For the first time, there's a budget smartphone that doesn't seem in any way like a budget smartphone.

4. Store more

You know all those quad-copter videos you're shooting nowadays? All that footage needs to go somewhere. Like here: Newegg has the Samsung D3 Station 3TB USB 3.0 hard drive for $94.49 shipped when you apply coupon code EMCPAPE28 at checkout.

In case you don't speak tech, that's 3 terabytes of storage. I defy you to fill it all! This desktop drive features built-in encryption, an auto-backup option, and a three-year warranty. Reviews are mixed, but that tends to be the case with most hard drives these days. (Sad state of the industry, I guess.)

OK, cheeps! Who's buyin' what?