Why You Can Trust CNET Friday finds: $9 wireless earbuds, $48 office chair, $129 Galaxy Watch Active 2
Who needs Prime Day? These deals are some of the best I've seen.
Unless you've been living under a rock that's under a house that's located in a cave, you know Monday is Prime Day. Yes, plenty of good deals to get excited about, but honestly I see exciting deals just about every day. It's my honor and privilege to share them with you, and I'm endlessly thankful for all the kind words you've sent my way over the years.
Anyway! Today's roundup has nothing to do with Prime Day; these are merely some decidedly noteworthy sale items. Enjoy your weekend, and I'll see you back here on Monday for the Amazon madness. 😜
Oh, almost forgot: These are available for a limited time and while supplies last. Codes can expire and products can sell out, sometimes very quickly.
Amazon seller: Axloie US
Price: $9 with on-page 10%-off coupon and promo code AEA90610
A question for the ages: How good can $9 earbuds possibly be? I haven't tried these myself, so I have to rely on past experience with similarly impossibly-cheap 'buds. Answer: Probably decent. Fine for exercise, listening to podcasts and other activities that don't demand awesome fidelity. Probably not great for calls.
That said, Axloie does tout "ENC" noise-canceling for the microphones. And the earbuds are "waterproof" (though no IPX rating is specified) and fast-charging via the USB-C case.
As for the user reviews, I suggest you ignore them; a good chunk are of questionable legitimacy, according to both Fakespot and ReviewMeta. But those tools don't tell the full story; for a mere $9 I think this is a "tale worth hearing" (see what I did there?).
Your thoughts?
Best Buy is having a 24-hour sale right now, and one of the notable items there is the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 44mm for $200. That's $100 off the regular price and $20 below Amazon's current price.
However! If you don't mind going the open-box route, QuickShipElectronics via eBay has it for just $129. That's with free two-day shipping, a 30-day return policy and -- best of all -- a full one-year warranty. (Not from Samsung, though; it's from the seller.)
This is a CNET Editors' Choice product, one that originally sold for $300 when it debuted in late 2019. Since then, Samsung has added an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) feature that helps this model rival the much pricier Galaxy Watch 3.
This is the lowest price in over a year for Amazon's basic office chair; right now it's actually cheaper than the one that has no armrests. (The latter was featured in my recent roundup of the best office chairs for under $100.)
Don't expect miracles, here; no $48 chair is going to be super-comfortable for all-day sitting. That said, this did earn a 4.3-star average rating from over 10,000 sitters. So if you need a place to park your keister and don't have a lot to spend, this is definitely worth a look.
Also part of the aforementioned Best Buy sale, Sony's WH-1000XM3 was CNET's top noise-canceling headphone until the slightly better WH-1000XM4 came along. The former had a list price of $350 and still sells for that at some stores.
Everything you need to know about it can be found in CNET's Sony WH-1000XM3 review, which concludes thusly: "With its comfortable fit and superb performance, the Sony WH-1000XM3 is the noise-canceling headphone to beat." (Again, that predates the newer model, but you get the idea.)
Should you consider the Apple AirPods Max, currently on sale for $499, instead? BWAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHA...no.
Adios for now, my fellow cheapskates!
CNET's Cheapskate scours the web for great deals on tech products and much more. For the latest deals and updates, follow him on Facebook and Twitter. You can also sign up for deal texts delivered right to your phone. Find more great buys on the CNET Deals page and check out our CNET Coupons page for the latest Walmart discount codes, eBay coupons, Samsung promo codes and even more from hundreds of other online stores. Questions about the Cheapskate blog? Answers live on our FAQ page.