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Amazon's Prime Day is in full swing, and now that two full days have passed, some of us have gotten past our decision paralysis and checked out our online shopping carts. It's no surprise that the Engadget team consists of people who are fans of tech (and non-tech) products, and we also love a good deal. As we've put together roundups and news stories about the best things to buy this week, we've also been tempted by the savings. Here's a list of what several of our team members bought, not only to share our lives with you but to also show you some of the deals we deemed good enough to spend our own money on.
(Ed. note: Igor Bonifacic saved a whopping $2 on this guitar tuner, but it was worth it to him. I'll let him explain.)
In Canada, the D'Addario tuner I ended up buying is normally a little more expensive at $20 CAD, but I figured there was a chance it would go on sale for Prime Day. So I set up a Camelcamelcamel alert, and on the morning of July 8 I got an email from the website saying it was… $2 off. Not the greatest discount, but hey, in such an expensive hobby, every dollar counts, right?
This past spring, I picked up the guitar for the first time in about 15 years. How it happened doesn't matter. What does matter is that now I play everyday, and I've been asking myself why did I ever stop in the first place. I feel more creative, my eyes feel healthier from less screen time and I'm better now than I ever was as a teenager.
As I've gotten back into the hobby, I've slowly been buying all the little accessories that can make it easier to maintain your guitar. With Prime Day around the corner, I set my sights on a headstock tuner. These little gadgets weren't around when I first started learning the instrument, but let me tell you they're great.
Like the name suggests, you attach one to the headstock of your guitar. It then allows you to tune the instrument by measuring the vibrations produced by the strings. While you could just as easily use an app like GuitarTuna to do the same, clip-on tuners aren't affected by ambient noise, making the entire tuning process fast and easy. Best of all, they're cheap. In the US, you can spend as little as $15 to buy the model I purchased for Prime Day. — Igor Bonifacic, senior reporter
Without even trying, I've become a devotee of Apple's Continuity Camera over the last few years. I think with my laptop and monitor setup, it's just always made more sense to use my iPhone as a camera rather than buying some kind of USB-C docking station or giving up another port on my computer. Unfortunately, I also find having my phone within arm's reach while I'm writing to be pretty distracting. Taking advantage of a Prime Day deal on a dedicated webcam this year is my solution.
I purchased an off-white Logitech Brio 500, which normally costs $130, but is $50 off for Prime Day through Amazon or Logitech. It's a kind of a long, tube-shaped 1080p webcam, so not the sleekest or best option out there, but it has the basics I need, like a manual shutter and auto-framing, and critically, it matches my Logitech mouse. If, like me, you can't stand the idea of paying over $100 for a webcam, I think it's a pretty appealing option at $80. — Ian Carlos Campbell, contributing writer
I recently discovered that as all my gear transitioned to USB-C, I no longer had any compatible thumb drives. Rather than buy an adapter dongle that I would inevitably lose, I figured it would be smart to have a new thumb drive that could handle both USB-C and USB-3. The discount on the SanDisk drive I bought wasn't huge, but Prime Day seemed like a good time to save a few bucks on a practical purchase. — Anna Washenko, contributing reporter
I made a very short, focused list of three things to buy on Prime Day — a Nori Press, a walking pad and the Ms. Rachel Tonie toy for the kids in my life. But when I was looking through our roundup of the best deals this week, the discounted entry-level iPad caught my eye.
My dad had been asking me repeatedly for weeks about an iPad for watching videos and movies while him and my mom were traveling, and I wasn't able to give them an answer as I was weighing a lot of concerns. What is the best operating system for them? Do they need something released recently, or could they save some money on an older model?
Seeing this current-generation iPad on sale prompted me to just buy it for them. It simplifies things as my dad uses an iPhone and is familiar with iPadOS, and apps like YouTube and Netflix would satisfy their desires to download videos to watch offline. Saving $70 on what is a very solid device felt like a great deal, but more importantly it earned me points with my family. — Cherlynn Low, managing editor
What we're still considering
As Prime Day goes on till the end of the week, many on the Engadget team are still weighing their decisions. Executive editor John Falcone, for example, hasn't bought Anker's UFO 3-device charger, but says he wishes he did. I'll update this post if he does, because he will save almost 30 percent on it.
Not all our purchases have been through Amazon, either. Editor-in-chief Aaron Souppouris is thinking about buying "a weird camera for too much money not on Amazon." It's a full-spectrum conversion camera, and if and when he does make that purchase, we will be sure to shame him here.
Finally, senior reporter Billy Steele has made arguably the best shopping decision all week, on or off Amazon. He bought "three Happy Meals trying to get the cool toys. I got three of the same toy. :("
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