34 Products on Deep Discount in December

The AirPods Max are stylish, high-performance over-the-ear headphones–with one drawback: the price. The sound quality, noise-canceling tech, design and build quality are all very appealing, especially to Apple fans. But the $500+ price tag can make you wonder if you’re getting good value. That’s what makes this discount so compelling. Yes, these are the prior-gen Maxes, but aside from the choice of colors and the Lightning charging port (instead of the industry standard USB-C), there’s little to separate the two options, and our testers found that they worked and sounded very much like the new ones.

These superb-sounding noise-canceling earbuds are a worthy successor to Sony’s popular WF-1000XM4 model. They’re smaller, lighter, and sleeker, and come packed with plenty of features, including variable noise cancellation, an ambient sound mode to actively pipe in audio from your surroundings, and Speak-to-Chat, which can automatically pause your music when you start talking. But most importantly, the sound quality of the XM5s is state-of-the-art for earbuds and the noise cancellation is top-notch.

Situated right below Samsung’s pricier flagship QD-OLED TV for 2024, the Samsung QN65S90D is a smart all-around buy, with commendable picture quality and HDR performance. It has a lot of features, including an ATSC 3.0 tuner for receiving NextGen TV off-air signals where available. Note that it’s at, or close to, this price at several retailers.

The Amazon QL65F601A is one of Amazon’s Omni-series QLED TVs, below the recently introduced Omni models that have Mini LED backlights. We tested this set, and it did well for overall picture quality, but it was subpar for HDR performance, not unusual at this price range. It uses the Amazon Fire TV smart system, with the Alexa voice assistant built in.

The Ninja DualBrew Pro 12-Cup is a dual coffee maker that can brew both ground coffee and K-cup pods. That means it can brew all of 13 preset quantities of coffee, from large servings of coffee in a carafe (from coffee grounds) to individual brew sizes (from either grounds or K-cups). Our tests do show that its first-cup speed is excellent, and it’s pretty quick to brew followup cups too. It performs very well in our overall brew tests, though it’s a little inconsistent in temperature when it comes to single servings of coffee. But it offers four brew styles, including settings for brewing over ice and for brewing pods of tea, and it has a built-in milk frother (though if you want your milk frothed hot, you’ll have to heat the milk yourself first).

If you’re looking for a pod coffee maker that’s versatile but not too fussy, the Keurig K-Elite is a strong option. It brews five cup sizes (and features a height-adjustable drip tray), has an iced coffee setting, a strong-brew button, and a hot-water button. In our tests, the first cup took a little while to brew, but subsequent cups went faster. It’s also pretty intuitive to operate and clean. Its large water reservoir means you can brew up to 8 cups before you need to refill it.

The Roborock Dyad Pro Wet and Dry Vacuum Cleaner Mop’s strength is its ability to clean up wet messes, such as cereal and milk. It’s also great at suctioning up dry debris and removing dried stains. Our evaluators found it easy to clean after usage, and it comes with convenient features such as an auto-drying function for its brushrolls.

The cordless Shark Stratos IZ862H has Shark’s signature DuoClean brush roll and a flexible wand for reaching under furniture. It earns top scores for cleaning bare floors and removing debris along edges. But if you have carpet, it’s only so-so. A dirt sensor increases suction when the vacuum senses debris and decreases when the floor is clean. It has a self-cleaning mechanism that prevents hair from getting tangled around the brush roll. The vacuuming mode and battery life are displayed on the console. 

The brand-new Apple Watch Series 10—reviewed here for CR members—comes with a bigger, brighter display and faster charging capabilities, which might make tracking your sleep easier. The model is also equipped for the first time with sleep apnea detection cleared by the Food and Drug Administration.

The Versa 4 is a great fit for fans of the Fitbit app who want a sleeker-looking smartwatch than the options of yore. You get a good-sized display and all the basics, like GPS-enabled workout tracking and heart rate monitoring. The new holistic Daily Readiness Score, which suggests when to ramp up your activity or take a break, is also handy.

This rugged-looking (and high-performing) Samsung smartwatch is aimed at outdoors enthusiasts—and anyone who wants the latest premium health- and fitness-tracking features. Just note that Galaxy Watches work only with Android devices. 

Why spend an extra $200 on the M2 MacBook Air when the M1 model is available at $600? Two words: the webcam. While the M2 is only marginally faster than the M1, the built-in webcam on this laptop is a clear step up, producing sharper and more vibrant video, even in sub-par lighting conditions. So if you spend much of your day on Zoom or Teams, the M2 model makes lots of sense.

This all-in-one desktop features impressive specs—an AMD Ryzen 7 processor, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB solid-state drive—plus a 23.8-inch anti-glare touchscreen. It won’t dazzle you at video game play, but it’s plenty fast for everyday tasks, from word processing to streaming movies. It comes with an AMD Radeon graphics card and a wireless keyboard and mouse.

This entry-level iPad from 2021 is a bargain at the usual price. At this price, it’s a steal. It features a 10.2-inch screen (measured diagonally) and boasts more than 14 hours of video play per charge, plus more than enough performance for everyday tasks like browsing the web and watching videos.

Released just a few weeks ago, this Fire tablet packs a lot of value into an 8-inch package—and that’s before you even consider the low Black Friday price. It doesn’t have high-end features and specs, but if you’re looking to do simple things like stream video, read books, or browse the web on something bigger than your phone, it’s hard to beat. We have yet to finish testing the model but expect it to perform just fine based on the results for the 2022 model.

The Amazon Echo Pop is the perfect way to test out a smart speaker in your home at a low cost. It’s 50 percent off right now, matching the lowest price we’ve seen for a smart speaker from the Echo family. The sound quality leaves a lot to be desired, so it may not be ideal if you’re looking primarily for music playback. But if you are more excited about adding smart functionality to any room in your house, this may fit the bill.

The Sonos 100 is an updated version of the classic Sonos One, with one big upgrade. The newer speaker delivers very solid stereo sound from a single speaker so you don’t need to buy a pair of speakers. Sonos products are rarely discounted so $50 off for this sale represents a nice deal.

This frying pan rarely goes on sale. The 10.5-inch pan cooks evenly and its ceramic coating rates well for food release and durability. The handle is super-sturdy and cool to the touch when cooking. Though made of aluminum, the pan is induction-compatible, says the manufacturer. 

The Circulon Scratch Defense A1 Series Nonstick 9-piece set receives top marks in CR’s tests for cooking evenness, holding sauces at a simmer, and nonstick food release. Plus, It had very good scores for speed of heating and durability of its traditional nonstick coating. While it’s dishwasher safe and induction cooktop-compatible, it’s only oven-safe to 400 degrees. This price has actually dropped $20 since Friday.

As the company’s largest and most expensive model, the Sonos Five is something of a classic. It achieves high-quality stereo sound from a single sizable box that can serve as the heart of a flexible Sonos-powered multiroom system to route music throughout your home. It simply sounds great, with solid bass and crystalline trebles that let you hear the detail of instruments ranging from the growl of a double bass to the shimmer of a ride cymbal, and the quality improves when two speakers are paired in stereo.

Looking for a really good, inexpensive small speaker? The Flip 6 is very similar to the venerable Flip 5, and that’s a good thing. It’s water and dust resistant, has a 12-hour battery life, and is just the right size to slip into a bag or even the water bottle pocket on a backpack. It’s a solid buy at $130, and that much better at $80.