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Tablet Tuesday: Get a refurbished Fire HD 6 for $29.99

From the Cheapskate: That's a crazy deal on one of my favorite little tablets, storage-challenged though it may be. Plus: Get "The Walking Dead," Season 1, for just 99 cents!

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
2 min read
Sarah Tew

CNET's Cheapskate scours the Web for great deals on PCs, phones , gadgets and much more. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Find the answers on our FAQ page. And find more great buys on the CNET Deals page.


Before Amazon released the $50 Fire last year, the Fire HD 6 was my favorite dirt-cheap tablet. For a mere $99 (a steal back in 2014), you got a cute little slab of a tablet that I found especially ideal for kids.

Today only, and while supplies last, Woot has the refurbished Amazon Fire HD 6 for $29.99, plus $5 for shipping. That's one of the lowest prices I've ever seen for any tablet, let alone something in Amazon's lineup. Price for a new HD 6: $69.99.

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This is the yellow version; alas, the deal has only one color option: black.

Sarah Tew

Let me hit the caveats first. The Fire HD 6 comes in "used - good" condition, meaning they will have "minor cosmetic blemishes," but also have been fully inspected and tested by Amazon. Woot backs the tablets with a 90-day in-house warranty.

Next, you can have this in any color you like -- as long as it's black. That's a bummer, because the HD 6 comes in a variety of nice colors.

Finally, this model gives you only 8GB of storage, and it's not expandable.

So why not just spend $15 more for a new 7-inch Fire? After all, it has a slightly larger screen and an expansion slot. I'll tell you my reasons. First, the Fire HD 6 has a faster processor and higher screen resolution. Indeed, if there's one complaint about the 7-inch Fire, it's the decidedly pokey performance.

Second, the limited storage may not be an issue if you're using this primarily for media consumption: books take very little space, and music and movies can be streamed. Plus, if you have an Amazon Prime subscription, you get unlimited cloud storage for any photos you take with the Fire HD 6 (and 5GB for any videos).

Plus, there's just something appealing about the chunky little HD 6. If it's possible for a tablet to be adorable, this is that tablet.

And $29.99! You can't even buy a Kindle ereader for that.

Your thoughts?

Bonus deal: Hey, do you like zombies? There's a TV show you might want to check out. It's called... wait, let me double-check the name... okay, right... it's called "The Walking Dead." Can't imagine it'll catch on, but if you're interested, Google Play has "The Walking Dead," Season 1, for 99 cents. That's not for a rental; you'll own all six episodes.