Amazon, once a simple online retailer, is now making a dizzying array of smart home appliances. Chief among this is its excellent array of smart speakers and Echo smart screens, all of which feature Amazon’s Alexa AI voice assistant. These handy speakers can do much more than play music and videos: They can also serve as command centers for your wider smart home ecosystem (if you have one or set one up for the first time), but with so many models now available, choose the right one can be confusing. Let’s help you with this summary of the best Amazon Echo deals that present the different features of each along with the best prices you will find right now.
The best Amazon Echo deals today
- Amazon Echo Dot (third generation) – 30 USD, was $ 40
- Amazon Echo Dot (4th generation) – $ 40, was $ 50
- Amazon Echo Dot with Clock (Gen IV) – $ 50, was $ 60
- Amazon Echo Show 5 (second generation) – $ 50, was $ 85
- Amazon Echo Show 8 (second generation) – $ 130
Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen) – $ 30, was $ 40
Why Buy
- The cheapest Echo speaker
- Good sound for the price
- Compact and unobtrusive design
- Intuitive Alexa voice controls
The Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker is the most popular device in the entire Echo product line, mainly because it is the least expensive fully functional Alexa-compatible smart speaker. The third-generation Echo Dot is still available in two versions: the Echo Dot and the Echo Dot with Clock. The third-generation Echo Dot Children’s Edition appears to have been canceled with the introduction of the Echo Dot 4 Children’s Edition.
Despite its scaled-down hardware design, the Echo Dot 3 supports full voice interaction with Alexa – the digital voice assistant of Amazon Echo’s smart home platform. You can ask Alexa to play your favorite songs or playlists, set timers and alarms, or tell you the current weather, sports, or news. You can also use Echo Point as a command center for a house full of smart home appliances. There are more than 100,000 Amazon-certified Alexa Skills, the term for special-purpose programs that respond to voice commands.
In addition, you can use Points to make calls to other people with or without Points. The standard Echo Dot has microphones and a speaker, and although the current version has better music play quality than the first two generations, it won’t fill a room with sound for a party like the larger Amazon Echo or Echo Plus – but it’s by far the most a cheap entry point into Alexa’s smart speaker ecosystem. If you like the compact size of the Echo Dot and want a slight upgrade in sound quality, then you may want to consider the four-year-old Echo Dot instead.
Amazon Echo Dot (4th Gen) – $ 40, was $ 50
Why Buy
- Packes a surprising fist for its size
- A full set of Alexa sound controls
- The speaker to hit in the sub- $ 50 price bracket
- An optional LED clock is a great feature
After three generations of its successful puck-shaped Echo Dot speaker, Amazon launched the new four-year model in 2020, which had a complete redesign. Gone was the hockey puck, and in its place was something more like softball. The spherical Echo Dot 4th gene was a delightful surprise and brought with it some welcome upgrades over the third-gen smart speaker.
For starters, the sound quality is a remarkable improvement. Amazon has done a good job of improving the audio output of its smart speakers with each new release and hasn’t overlooked that while designing the fourth-gen Echo Dot. The spherical speaker design and interior driver give a surprisingly loud punch for such a small device, and although it’s slightly larger than its predecessors, the Echo Dot 4 still fits well in smaller spaces.
And, of course, it has all the Alexa AI features like the other Echo devices, so it’s good to go for your smart home ecosystem. The Echo Point with Clock adds LEDs on the side of the fabric-covered puck-shaped device. The LEDs can show the time, outside temperature or the remaining time on countdown – which makes it convenient in the kitchen. We felt that this should be a default on all newer Echo Dot models, but on the bright side, the non-Clock variant is barely more expensive than the Echo Dot 3.
Amazon Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen) – $ 50, was $ 85
Why Buy
- Compact and attractive design
- Smart screen adds many features
- Great for video calling and security systems
- Very affordable
Echo Show smart screens have all the features of an Echo smart speaker but they add touch screens. You may not want to watch a full movie on Echo Show, especially the smaller Show 5 or Show 8, which have 5.5-inch and 8-inch screens, respectively. More common uses for the various Echo Show models are to display news, step-by-step recipes or lyrics, digital photos, weather and news reports, your calendar and other visual content.
The Echo Show 5 is also great for video calls as all Show models include a video camera along with the standard microphone and speaker. You can use program settings or physical controls to block the camera lens for privacy, but the main use of the Show camera is for video calls. You can connect with friends and family via voice and / or video; even if they don’t have their own Echo Show, they can take your calls with their mobile phone using the Alexa mobile app.
The Echo Show 5 smart display also works with Alexa-compatible video bells and security cameras with support for two-way chat with compatible security devices so you can see and talk to visitors without opening your door. Echo Show smart screens automatically adjust the screen brightness based on ambient light, making them suitable as digital liter assistants, always ready for your voice request.
Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) – $ 130
Why Buy
- An 8-inch screen is a great size
- Solid sound quality
- Responsive touch screen
- Simple configuration and use
Choosing between the Echo Show 5 and Echo Show 8 is a linear process: larger screen size also means higher image resolution, sound quality and price. If the larger 10- and 15-inch Show models are too expensive and the Show 5 screen is a little too small for your taste, then the Show 8 may be suitable for most users with the best compromise of all four factors. At 8 inches, it sits in the Goldilocks belt in terms of size, and it’s also a pretty great value.
We found that the Echo Show 8’s eight-inch touch screen is a bit more responsive than the 5.5-inch Echo Show 5’s touch screen, which can sometimes feel a little sluggish. The on-device setup process for the Echo Show 8 couldn’t be easier either and doesn’t even require a smartphone, companion app or anything external to get it up and running. Connect it to your local internet, enter your account credentials, and you’re ready to start syncing it with your other smartphones and enjoy its many features.
The Echo Show 8 has all the features you’d expect from a Alexa-powered smart display, including the ability to make video calls with friends and family (even if they don’t own a Show device themselves). It is also a great hub for smart home security devices, such as cameras and video bells. It’s more expensive than the other Amazon Echo deals on our list, but for about a hundred dollars, the Echo Show 8 hits the perfect sweet spot in price-to-effectiveness, in our opinion, and it’s the Echo device to get if you want. smart screen and have the budget for it.
Frequently Asked Questions about Amazon Echo
When are the best Amazon Echo deals?
Amazon usually joins the action during big seasonal and holiday sales (think July 4th, Labor Day and Black Friday), so any of these events are great opportunities to buy Amazon Echo deals. However, since this is Amazon we are talking about, we would fail if we didn’t mention it Prime Day, which is rivaled only by Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday in terms of annual sales.
Prime Day is an annual celebration of Amazon’s birthday, which usually takes place in July. You can think of it as Black Friday in the summer, although Prime Day itself is exclusive to Amazon and the official offers are limited to Prime members. That said, other retailers compete with Amazon by selling at the same time as Prime Day, though Best Buy is the only place you’ll find Amazon Echo deals. If you don’t have a Prime membership, check out Best Buy instead (or you could always take advantage of an Amazon Prime trial if it’s available to you).
How much do you spend on Amazon Echo?
The short answer is: Not much. If you’re buying your first Echo speaker, we recommend staying with one of the cheaper Echo Dot models, as this is a cheap way to give Alexa a spin and grab all the features. Because many households eventually purchase more than one Echo device, there is no reason to purchase one of the most expensive Echoes or Show devices at once.
If you start with Echo Dot or Echo Show 5 and then want to add more devices or choose another device with a better sound or a bigger screen, the first device is sure to find a home quickly elsewhere, like your bedroom. Also your Echo devices will all sync together, so you can control everything with any of them. If, on the other hand, you find that you don’t use your Echo device much or not at all by buying a less expensive model, you won’t feel like you’re wasting a lot of money.
If you still have trouble choosing which model you want, just know that they all have the same features when it comes to Alexa AI. The most important difference between the Echo smart speakers is sound quality. The Echo Dot is good in the kitchen or home office for background music, but if you want to fill a room with sound or use Echo-wise speakers for a party, choose a full-size Echo or even an Echo Plus. You can pair two same models of Echo smart speakers for stereo sound and also connect them with Echo Sub to function as a subwoofer. If you connect your TV for Fire TV video streaming, you may even decide to equip your audio video setup with Echo-wise speakers.
Echo Show screens, as mentioned before, vary in screen size, video resolution and sound quality, directly proportional to price. Note that you can also use a Fire TV setup with a Fire TV Stick or Fire TV 4K Stick or an integrated Fire TV as an Echo-wise display. Newer models of Fire TV remotes are Alexa hands-free, so you can ask Alexa to show you the front door camera, for example, to see who’s on your porch on a big screen. A smart display adds a lot of features to Echo’s original smart speaker design, but you’ll have to decide for yourself whether it makes sense to pay extra for it or whether it’s too much for a simpler smart home system.
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