Refreshes
I’ll be sharing some buying tips from the TechRadar team throughout the day as well. To get you started, here’s our TV staff writer, James Davidson, with some tips on what to avoid if you’re buying a big TV this year.
We’ve all dreamed of having a big screen TV at some point in our lives. And we all wanted to feel like we were at the movies in the comfort of our homes. Now that TV prices have become more affordable, it’s easier to get large-screen TVs (say 75 inches or more) at budget-friendly prices — and they’re always one of the most popular Black Friday deals.
But hey, as tempting as those big screens are, there are some giant screens you should definitely avoid.
The main culprit is lit TVs. Using LEDs around the edge of the screen to illuminate the image, edge-lit TVs often have difficulty accurately processing large, black, shadowed areas on the screen. Dark areas often end up with a cloudy gray effect as well. On larger screens, this looks worse as the LEDs around the edge have to work harder to try to illuminate the wider surface area.
So, as tempting as a big screen may be, avoid edge lighting. We recently tested two cheap 4K sets, one of them edge-lit, and found out how important the type of panel you get is.
This is the best and most popular deal we’ve seen so far in the Amazon Black Friday sales: it’s the all-new Echo Show 5, on sale for $39.99. This represents a massive 56% discount and a new record price.
It also beats the deal on Prime Day by $5, which is a surprise considering Amazon usually offers its lowest price to Prime members. Based on that, I expect you won’t see a better deal on this throughout Black Friday.
The latest Echo Show 5 features a built-in 5.5-inch display but has impressive sound with deeper bass and clearer vocals. Use it to listen to podcasts, watch movies, play music, and more with the help of Amazon Alexa.
Echo Show 5 (2023): He was $89.99 now $39.99 at Amazon
Welcome to our Amazon Black Friday sale live blog
Hello, I’m James Pickard, senior deals editor at TechRadar, and thank you for joining me for live coverage of the best Amazon Black Friday deals you can buy today.
Although the actual day itself is a week away, Amazon is one of many retailers getting an early start and has dropped its full Black Friday sales today, meaning there are hundreds of excellent deals already available.
With a lot to digest, I’m here to help guide you through the best early deals, including some cheap smart home tech, record-low TV prices, and excellent value headphones. It’s a crazy idea to have a job, but I’ve been a full-time bargain hunter for nearly a decade, so I have a lot of experience separating the garbage from the real gems.
But you won’t just have to take my word for it because I’ll also be relying on the solid knowledge of the full TechRadar team as they also share their top picks, buying tips and recommendations from all the products we’ve tested and love. Over the years.
Let’s get started!
