30 Great Deals From Best Buy’s Early Black Friday Sale (2022): Phones, Stand Mixers, TVs
The retailer has a flexible holiday return policy, and the discounts are going strong….
It’s not just you. It really does seem like Black Friday lasts longer every year. Best Buy is either in a festive mood or hasn’t checked its calendar because it kicked off its Black Friday sale a whole month early. That’s good news since you can leisurely check for discounts right now and won’t have to give up your precious post-Thanksgiving leisure time. Even better, we’ve whittled down the best deals right here, from smartphones and laptops to headphones and action cameras.
Crossed-out products are out of stock or no longer discounted. Check back to see if they’re back on sale at a later date.
Updated November 3, 2022: We’ve added several new deals, like the Apple MacBook Air M1 and HP HyperX Cloud Alpha wireless headphones.
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Best Buy’s Extended Returns and Guarantees
Too afraid to buy because you think prices will be lower on Black Friday? We’ve all been there. Don’t worry—Best Buy says products marked “Black Friday Deal” will remain the same price on the big day, so you don’t have to worry that you might overpay right now.
The retailer is also offering an extended return window so any purchases made through the end of the year can be returned through January 14, 2023. That way, if you buy a holiday gift for someone early, they still have time to exchange or return it after the new year. If gifts are on your mind, be sure to check out our gift guides and buying guides for inspiration.
Phone and Wearable Deals
The Pixel 6A (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is our favorite Android phone. It comes with many of the benefits of the higher-end Pixel line—including Google’s Tensor chip, a crisp OLED display, and all the camera and AI wizardry Google typically puts in its phones—in a much less expensive package.
Samsung’s powerhouse Galaxy (9/10, WIRED Recommends) comes in three trims: the S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra. But it’s the latter that’s at one of the lowest prices we’ve seen to date. It’s powerful, the battery lasts more than a day with normal use, and the bright, 6.8-inch, 120-Hz screen will satisfy any big-screen lovers. Best of all, you get an optical 10X zoom camera for excellent close-up photos.
If you want to pay as little as possible, the Moto G Stylus 2022 (6/10, WIRED Review) is our pick for the best smartphone under $200. There’s no 5G network support or NFC for near-field contactless payments, but the battery will last you two full days of typical use, and there’s a headphone jack and MicroSD card slot. It also comes with a stylus to use on the screen, if you want more precision than your fingertips.
This budget OnePlus phone (7/10, WIRED Recommends) has a surprisingly great array of features for the price, including an AMOLED display (true blacks, vivid colors), daylong battery life, and excellent performance. It even includes NFC for contactless payments, a MicroSD card slot, and a headphone jack. OnePlus will deliver security updates to it for three years too. The downsides? It will only get Android 12 (which makes it already out of date). It only works on T-Mobile and AT&T, and with the latter carrier, you’ll only access 4G LTE.
It’s no surprise that the best smartwatch for iPhones is the Apple Watch. While the Series 7 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) isn’t the newest model, this discount makes it an attractive, more affordable option.
Despite Google getting into the smartwatch hardware game, Samsung still makes one of the best smartwatches for Android users right now. The Galaxy Watch5 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) has a lot of fitness features that are comparable to those on the Apple Watch, though some—like electrocardiogram measurements—only work if you pair the Watch5 with a Samsung phone.
Laptop Deals
Usually, a laptop with a 16-inch screen is cumbersome and heavy. Not the LG Gram. It’s lightweight and slim, and it doesn’t compromise performance. This model comes with an Intel 12th-gen Core i7 chip, 16 GB of RAM, and a 1-TB SSD. It’s an excellent price for those specs. The downside is the keyboard, which doesn’t feel as satisfying to type on, as it doesn’t offer a ton of key travel.
Even though it’s been superseded by the M2-powered MacBook Air, the M1-equipped Air from 2020 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is the best cheap MacBook, and now it’s even cheaper. It’s plenty powerful for most tasks. We’ve even had fewer thermal issues and performance hiccups with this model than with the latest.
This is our top pick if you’re after a gaming laptop. Yes, it’s still quite expensive, but you’re getting powerful specs, like a 12th-gen Intel Core i9 chip, an Nvidia 3070 Ti graphics card, and a 1-terabyte SSD in an all-black chassis that offers plenty of ports.
Our best budget gaming laptop is also on sale right now. The 15-inch display and plasticky build won’t blow you away, but you get a Full HD panel and a 144-Hz screen refresh rate to keep up with the Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti powering it.
This is our favorite gaming laptop if you’re after the best battery life. This model comes with a Ryzen 7 6800H processor, 16 GB of RAM, an Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti graphics card, and a 512-GB SSD. The spacious 15-inch screen is nice, as is the 120-Hz screen refresh rate, and you’ll be able to play most games at high settings sitting around 60 frames per second. Read more about it in our Best Budget Gaming Laptops guide.
Apple introduced a new design with its latest MacBook Air (7/10, WIRED Recommends), which is also powered by the new M2 chipset. It has plenty of power for most everyday tasks, solid battery life, and a 1080p webcam. You also get a MagSafe connector so the laptop won’t fly off if you trip on the cable. It’s pricier than its predecessor, but this discount helps remedy that. Just remember that the chipset doesn’t let you connect this machine to more than one external display.
Audio Deals
It’s not every day you see something score a very rare 10/10 review score on WIRED. With an absolutely astounding 300 hours of battery life (when most of the competition offers 30 to 40), the HyperX Cloud Alpha will outlast even the longest gaming session. Add to that a rich sound quality, comfortable ear cups, and a decent mic and you’ve got the best pair of gaming headphones.
Google may be a relative newcomer to the world of earbuds, but the Pixel Buds Pro (9/10, WIRED Recommends) impressed us with seven hours of playtime, intuitive touch controls, and the ability to easily swap between devices. Unfortunately, they’re missing some features if you use them with iPhones.
These Beats headphones (8/10, WIRED Recommends) are particularly great if you’re in the Apple ecosystem. They pair easily with iPhones and other Apple devices, get an incredible Bluetooth range, and have at least 20 hours of battery. Unfortunately, Android users might not enjoy the same battery life.
Our resident audiophile, Parker Hall, called the Galaxy Buds2 (9/10, WIRED Recommends) “the new standard in midrange wireless earbuds.” They’re comfortable, with active noise canceling and enough water resistance to survive your workouts.
If your workouts are more intense than those of the average person, you might prefer headphones designed to keep up with you. On that front, the Jabra Elite 7 Active is our favorite. In our testing, they fit people with wildly different ear sizes without falling out. They also have great noise canceling and at least eight hours of battery life.
One of the only things we didn’t like about the Jabra Elite 85T (9/10, WIRED Recommends) was the high price. With this sale, they’re nearly perfect. They have a comfortable design, physical button, a wireless charging case, some of the best noise canceling we’ve seen on earbuds, and even a two-year warranty against water damage.
Camera and Security Camera Deals
The Hero11 from GoPro (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is one of our favorite action cameras. This model adds a taller sensor that’s great for vertical video, if you’re into that sort of thing, and can record up to 5.3K video—though you’ll need a new-ish phone to edit that footage via the company’s Quik app.
Security camera companies like to lock you into subscriptions. If you want to avoid that, check out the Cam2 Pro, which includes two cams and a hub. It’s one of our preferred outdoor security cams, thanks to its 2K resolution and wide 140-degree field of view. Each camera also includes two-way audio and a siren to discourage theft.
If you don’t want all the bells and whistles of a sophisticated (and expensive) indoor security cam, check out the Blink Mini. We gave it top marks for being cheap and compact in our Best Indoor Security Cameras guide. It offers good-quality video, two-way audio, and Alexa integration. The motion detection is accurate, but it can’t distinguish between people and pets. Remember that this is an indoor-only security cam and is not weatherproof.
Ecosystem lock-in is real in the camera world, and if you’re a die-hard Canon fan, the EOS-R is our top pick for you. It’s a hefty camera with satisfying machined metal bits, phase-detect autofocus, and even a handy cover that pops out to protect your sensor when you change lenses.
Sales on Nikon gear don’t come too often, though this is a small discount on what’s arguably one of the best cameras from the company. There’s excellent dynamic range, a superfast autofocus system, and great video quality. The interface is intuitive and the camera is comfortable to hold. The only strange thing? It uses dual-interface cards: one XQD/CFexpress and one SD card.
It’s not our absolute best recommendation for a security camera, but the Nest Cam is great if you’re already in the Google smart home ecosystem. You can check the feeds of your cameras on Google’s Nest Hub display or even the Chromecast With Google TV. The battery needs charging after a little more than a month.
Sony’s A7 cameras are consistently among our top picks for most people, and while the A7 IV (9/10, WIRED Recommends) is our favorite, it’s also really expensive. If you don’t mind missing out on some newer autofocus features, however, the A7 III is also a great pick, and it’s on sale right now.
Another step down from the A7 III (though still a great camera in its own right), this AII kit comes with a 28- to 70-mm variable lens. If this is your first mirrorless and you don’t already have Sony lenses, this is a great place to get started without unloading a ton of cash.
Home Theater Deals
We call the QN90B (8/10, WIRED Review) the best TV for bright rooms for its impressive contrast and brightness. That’s not an easy task for a TV manufacturer, as bright rooms tend to wash out colors on many TVs. Add in the fact that the QN90B has a very wide viewing angle so you can watch from nearly anywhere in the room, and you’ve got a versatile screen for difficult spaces.
The Hisense’s U8H (8/10, WIRED Recommends) delivers excellent picture quality and includes an easy-to-use Google TV interface, which also supports casting from your smartphone. The Mini LED panel offers great contrast too. There’s a 55-inch model on sale for $700.
Roku is our favorite streaming service around the WIRED Gear Team, thanks to its ease of use and the wide variety of channels available. The Ultra adds faster Wi-Fi and is capable of streaming 4K-resolution content, which makes it the top-tier choice among Roku’s lineup. You might already have a 4K TV with streaming apps built in, but the default interfaces are usually awful. A streaming device changes that.
OLED TVs have some of the richest highlights and contrasts, and the Vizio is the cheapest on the market. We gave the 55-inch version (9/10, WIRED Recommends) positive remarks in our Best TVs guide, thanks to its ability to work with the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 at 120 frames per second in 4K resolution. As far as balancing cost to image quality, this screen is arguably the best value OLED on the market.
This M-Series soundbar from Vizio (9/10, WIRED Recommends) strikes the perfect balance of detailed surround sound audio without breaking the budget. We particularly like this one for gaming as it makes it easy to hear that enemy sneaking around behind you.
Home Deals
This is one of the lowest prices we’ve seen on this model. These stand mixers can stand (pun intended) the test of time and will prove useful to any home baker’s arsenal.
Google’s Nest Hub Max (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is our favorite smart display overall. It has great speakers, a spacious 10-inch touchscreen, and a camera for video calls. Google’s software can also identify specific members of the house to show only the reminders and events that are relevant for that person, and it even has a guest mode so other people can use it without seeing your personalized results.
If you prefer your smart display without a camera (and there are plenty of reasons you might), the smaller 7-inch Nest Hub (7/10, WIRED Recommends) does most of what the Max can, in a cheaper package. It supports gesture control so you can pause videos with a hand movement, making it great in the kitchen, but it can also use radar to track your sleep habits, so it’s a solid option for the bedroom too.
The Nest Audio (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is what you want if you primarily plan on pumping music with a smart speaker. It still has Google Assistant inside, so you can ask the voice assistant all sorts of queries and use it to control your smart home devices. What makes it great is its audio quality—you get bold sound with plenty of bass. You can pair two together for stereo sound.
There’s no cheaper way to get into the Google smart home ecosystem than with the Nest Mini (7/10, WIRED Recommends). At $20 each, you could put one of these in most rooms of your house. They don’t have the robust speakers of more expensive options, but if all you need is to set timers and get reminders, this is an excellent entry.
The fourth-generation Echo (8/10, WIRED Recommends) provides a nice upgrade over the basics. It comes with room-filling sound, a 3.5-mm output to connect to a bigger sound system, and the usual host of Alexa commands.
Amazon’s smart display, the Echo Show, is great if you prefer Alexa’s ecosystem. While it doesn’t integrate quite as well with the rest of your digital life as Google’s display might, it’s got solid speakers and handy alarm tools that make it a great kitchen companion. The smaller 5-inch version is also on sale for $35.
Lenovo makes some pretty great smart home accessories for the Google Assistant ecosystem (sometimes even nicer than those from Google itself). This alarm clock is a great example. It offers a 4-inch smart display and alarm clock features to help you wake up, and it comes with a spot to wirelessly charge your phone at night.
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