From helping me as a caregiver to cracking me up with fart jokes, Amazon’s budget-friendly smart speakers have added a lot of value to my life. That’s why I own one for almost every area of my home — and why I got excited when I saw Amazon is selling the Echo Pop for $22.99 with a free Kasa Smart Color Bulb. That equates to a savings of about $40, though you can also buy the standalone speaker for $22.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, which is just $5 shy of its all-time low.
For a mere $20 or so, the colorful Echo Pop packs a lot of tech into a small, semi-spherical package. Like the fifth-gen Echo Dot, it offers a host of Alexa-based smarts designed to make your life easier, including the ability to quickly check the news and weather, schedule multiple timers, and control other smart devices with your voice. At the same time, it can function as an Eero mesh Wi-Fi extender or an intercom thanks to Amazon’s helpful Drop In feature, which lets you easily “drop in” on another Echo device once set up. And, of course, it’s a relatively good speaker for its size, one that might not rival the Echo Dot’s rich sound but still sounds good enough to listen to music and podcasts in smaller rooms.
If you’re looking for a great wireless gaming headset, you can pick up the HyperX Cloud III Wireless from Amazon, Walmart, and HyperX for $114.70 ($55 off). That’s a new low on the wireless gaming headset, which is compatible with PC, PlayStation, and the Nintendo Switch (while docked), thanks to the included 2.4GHz wireless receiver.
The new Cloud III is almost better in every way than its predecessor, the Cloud II Wireless, which we once called one of the most comfortable we’ve ever worn. Its thicker ear cups add a little more pressure, and it’s slightly heavier than the last-gen model at 330 grams, but otherwise, most changes are a notable improvement. For one, it offers clearer voice quality now that its detachable microphone sports its own mesh pop filter, which helps it cut down on plosives and unwanted ambient noise. It also offers the same balanced, punchy sound as the prior model, albeit with a slightly smaller soundstage. That said, the biggest changes have to do with the fact it supports USB-C charging and a whopping 120 hours of battery life — a figure that’s quadruple that of its predecessor.
