The Echo Spot is just $45, beating its Black Friday price

If you want a cheap gift that feels expensive, the Echo Spot is

a great pick. The versatile smart display can handle dozens of everyday tasks, and right now it’s back at its all-time low of $44.99 ($35 off) at Amazon, Target, and Best Buy. That actually beats its Black Friday and Cyber Monday pricing and marks the first time it’s dropped this low since Prime Day.

I’ve always thought of my (ancient) Echo Show 8 and Echo Pop as tiny digital assistants that help me get through the day, which is why Echo devices are some of my favorite gadgets. The latest Spot kind of combines the best of both worlds; it’s small enough that it won’t clutter your nightstand like a smart display, for example. Yet it also offers a customizable 2.83-inch screen, letting you check helpful information like the weather, timers, reminders, and calendar at a glance — which you can’t on a smart speaker like the Echo Pop. And because there’s no camera, you don’t have to worry about covering anything up for the sake of privacy.

At the same time, it delivers everything you’d want from an Alexa-enabled speaker. It can wake you gently with music or alarms, and you can use it to turn on the lights, adjust the thermostat, lock the doors, or control other smart-home devices before you’ve even gotten out of bed. You can even use it to call other Echo devices around your home and ask Alexa questions, and even recipes. And you can, of course, listen to podcasts, get sports scores, and play games, making it a gift that’s both practical and fun.

Read our Echo Spot review.

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Some more ways to save

• You can grab the official Nintendo Joy-Con 2 Wheel (set of two) for $21.50 ($3.50 off) at Amazon, which is a small discount but the first deal we’ve seen yet. The set makes racing games on the Nintendo Switch 2 feel more immersive. Each steering-wheel shell magnetically snaps onto your Joy-Con 2 controller, letting you steer as if you were behind the wheel. And there’s two, as well, so you can play with a friend.
• The Epicka Universal Travel Adapter is on sale for $17.99 ($7 off) at Amazon, matching its best price to date. Quite a few of us at The Verge — myself included — own Epicka’s adapters and swear by it. They’re reliable and versatile, with three USB-C ports and two USB-A ports so you can charge everything from your phone and smartwatch to a tablet, power bank, camera, or handheld console. It also works in over 200 countries, from most of Europe and the UK to Australia, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina.
• The Nothing Ear (3) earbuds are on sale for $149.99 ($30) at Amazon, Walmart, and directly from Nothing, which is their first discount to date. They deliver punchy sound with a customizable EQ and spatial audio, and they also offer a low-latency mode and multipoint support so you can stay connected to two devices at once. Nothing also added “Super Mics” to the charging case, which do a great job boosting call quality and tuning out background noise — though the noise canceling for listening to audio isn’t quite as impressive. Read our review.

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