Best Deals for Amazon's Big Spring Sale

This 65-inch 4K TV, the Samsung QN65QN90C, a high-end LED/LCD TV in the company’s Neo QLED lineup, delivers top-notch overall picture quality and impressive HDR performance thanks to very high peak brightness. It also has very good sound and support for many gaming features. It’s just below the company’s flagship model for 2023.

The Hisense 75A6H, currently at the lowest price we’ve seen, is an entry-level 4K TV in the company’s 2022 TV lineup. It doesn’t do as well as other Hisense TVs we’ve tested, with only decent overall picture quality and sound, and subpar HDR performance. It uses the Google TV smart system with Google Assistant built in.

Of all the kitchen appliances available at a discount during this sale, expert Tanya Christian found this one to be the most appealing:

"I absolutely love my toaster oven, but I have to admit that the Ninja Foodi has a certain versatility that mine simply doesn’t have. The Foodi features a double oven with separate controls for both, so you can make grilled asparagus at the top and roast a whole chicken at the bottom—temperature differences between dishes are never an issue. Beyond that, it’s easy to use, and bakes and toasts well. It also has a temperature range of 100° F to 450° F and an air-frying function, which makes it a great stand-in for my oven when making smaller meals."

The price has fluctuated a bit in recent months, and occasionally, it dips as low as $170, but this $70 discount is still a big savings and definitely worth consideration.

Keith Flamer, CR writer and blender expert, loves the versatility of this blender, even if it’s not the biggest discount.

"As CR’s blender expert, I was torn between buying a blender and a food processor for some time. I finally settled on the Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System BN801. While not a big discount, it has blender and food processor accessories that can satisfy most of your seasonal cravings, whether it’s soups, smoothies, or mixed drinks. It’s a highly rated blender that I use to make breakfast smoothies and Cuban mojitos—my favorite summer cocktail. And my daughter enjoys making salsas, so the food chopper accessory comes in handy too. It also has two 24-ounce cups that make good companions for morning walks."

A more affordable take on Ninja’s Coffee Bar brewers, the Ninja Specialty CM401 is a terrific all-in-one machine, capable of brewing hot and iced coffee, lattes, macchiatos, and other specialty brews. In our lab tests it receives an excellent rating for brew performance, and its glass carafe handles with ease. This model is also loaded with features, including an over-ice brew mode for iced coffee, a built-in milk frother, brew-strength control, and six brew sizes for everything from travel mugs to full carafes, making it one of the most versatile coffee makers we’ve tested.

This Amazon Basics kettle is made of stainless steel, and it’s one of the least expensive kettles in our tests. It’s small, though, holding just 4 cups of water—the least of the kettles we tested. It’s among the fastest to bring our testing standard of 4 cups of water to a boil, clocking in at just under 4 minutes and earning a very good rating in our time-to-boil tests. But this kettle is the hardest to clean of the models we tested.

The Ninja BL770 plays two roles: as a full-sized blender and a personal blender with an internal spinner and cup that’s meant for small batches. It’s a very good performer either way, handily crushing ice and capably preparing smoothies and other icy beverages. It’s also very convenient, though more so when using the full-sized blending jar. While puréeing, the personal-blender version is the star, though the full-sized version still purées very well. The Ninja BL770 is noisy, however, especially when using the full-sized jar. Predicted reliability and owner satisfaction are impressive with both versions.

Tempur-Pedic’s 3-inch memory foam cushion allows you to add Tempur’s unique, slow-sink design to any mattress. There’s a much firmer initial feel that slowly softens to a medium and contours to the body over the course of 30 seconds. It also allows you to move around freely, unlike some of the other memory foam toppers we tested. Our lab data found that the topper wasn’t particularly enveloping, so it didn’t trap a lot of heat. The Tempur Supreme comes with a removable polyester cover and can be flipped over after removing and replacing its cover. Tempur-Pedic doesn’t offer a trial period, so before you buy, try a mattress in a store to get a sense of what the topper might feel like. The product is backed by a 10-year warranty.

The La Crosse Soluna Light Alarm Clock features five light settings, including one that pulses for guided breathing exercises. In all, there are a total of 20 color settings. But when it comes to functionality, it falls a bit short. It has just one alarm sound (“melody”), one light alarm, and no FM radio nor white noise function. Worse, it’s challenging to set up. However, the display does show temperature and humidity—two contributors to sleep quality and something none of the other clocks offer. For those who prefer to will themselves awake, this clock helpfully leaves the light on when you press snooze, shutting off only the sound.

Dan Wroclawski, CR’s resident smart home expert, is the first person I call when I’m looking to buy new smart devices, and after scouring Amazon’s sale, he said this floodlight camera is the best offer you’ll find.

"I went all in on Ring cameras years ago, but if I were starting from scratch today, I’d definitely consider Amazon’s lesser-known camera brand: Blink. The new Blink Outdoor 4 Floodlight Camera is one of the few battery-powered floodlight cameras on the market, making it a good option if you want a floodlight camera but don’t have an existing light fixture to power one. This Blink model offers decent video quality and speedy motion alerts, but my favorite feature is that it can save video clips to a USB flash drive, saving you from paying up for yet another monthly subscription."

The TP-Link Kasa Cam Outdoor KC420WS provides impeccable video quality, speedy alerts, and strong data security in our tests. Its many features include two-way audio, voice and app control via Amazon Alexa and Google Home/Assistant, monitoring zones, person alerts, a built-in siren, color night vision, and local video storage when you insert a microSD card (not included).

Want a battery-powered video doorbell that isn’t made by Amazon or Google? This Arlo model is a great alternative and is currently on sale at the best price we’ve seen. In our tests, it receives high scores for its video quality and data security, but we found it to be a bit slow when it comes to response time for alerts and loading live video feeds. Its features include a rechargeable battery, optional wiring contacts to wire it to a home’s doorbell circuit, high dynamic range for clear video in brightly lit or dark spots, and voice and app control via Amazon Alexa, Google Home/Assistant, and Samsung SmartThings. Cloud video storage and additional features (such as person, package, vehicle, and animal detection) require an Arlo Secure subscription.

The Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly UltraPlush 81714 is indeed friendly to pet owners, earning a high rating in our test for removing pet hair. It’s also a champ at cleaning bare floors and a solid performer at cleaning carpet, making it a smart choice if you have a combination of flooring. It makes the grade in our emissions test, but in terms of noise, there are quieter choices. Strong airflow through the hose makes it a good choice if you use attachments often. Kenmore canisters earned a near-perfect rating for predicted reliability and an average score for owner satisfaction in our member surveys.

The 17-pound bagless Shark Vertex DuoClean has plenty of bells and whistles. Testers like the Duo brush roll, which is great for both carpet and bare floors. The vacuum also picks up pet hair especially well, earning an excellent rating on that test. It has exceptional suction power and does a solid job containing small dust particles in the dustbin. The lift-away canister makes it easy to clean out-of-the-way places.

The Coredy R750 Pro robotic mop is a hybrid mop and vacuum that can perform both functions at once. (As with other robomops in our tests, we assessed only the mopping function.) In our tests, it notched very good scores in both cleaning and navigation. It is WiFi compatible and comes with a remote, so you can operate it from either an app or its remote. This mop uses water as the cleaning agent, and you can control how much liquid it dispenses at a time, which is handy for the dirtiest spots. It traverses the room in a grid pattern, and at just 3 inches high, can easily scoot under furniture and cabinets. Run time is 90 minutes.

The Sony LinkBuds have an unusual design. They’re made with a big hole in the sides so that they don’t seal off your ears, which lets you listen to your music while still hearing everything that’s going on around you. That’s useful for runners concerned with traffic or anyone who wants to use their headphones where it’s important to keep an ear on their surroundings. They also have a novel feature that lets you control the headphones by tapping on the side of your head (though you can just tap the earbuds themselves if you prefer). Our tests show that the Sony LinkBuds deliver great sound quality. And according to Sony, they have a 5.5-hour battery life, with the carrying case charger adding 12 hours’ worth of battery life.

The Sony WH-1000XM4s may have been replaced by the newer and sleeker XM5, but our testers report that the models perform very similarly. The Sony XM4 is close to the top of our ratings in sound quality, and its noise cancellation gets top marks. At this sale price, the XM4 delivers solid sound quality, a nice array of features, and very decent value.

The Sennheiser Momentum 3 is a stylish true wireless noise-canceling headphone that’s aimed at the high-end market. Both the cloth-covered charger and the earbuds themselves exude elegance, and the model delivers sound that’s satisfying if not quite state-of-the-art, though it’s better than the previous Momentum 2. On the feature front, it’s sweat-resistant and compatible with both Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant.

Shopping for noise-canceling headphones on a budget doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice performance. Case in point? The SoundCore Life Q20s, which are back to their best price. These over-ear headphones have great sound quality and outstanding noise cancellation. They don’t sound quite as good as top-rated models, and you won’t get sought-after features like adjustable levels of noise cancellation. But at this price, those may be sacrifices worth making.

These headphones have some appealing perks, too, such as the ability to work over either Bluetooth or an audio cable, and a free app that adds features, including a bass boost EQ setting. According to the manufacturer, Anker, the headphones have a generous 40-hour battery life when Bluetooth and noise cancellation are both turned on.

This is the latest and best incarnation of the company’s top noise-canceling true wireless earbuds. The AirPods Pro include a transparency mode that can pipe in outside sound when you want to hear what’s going on around you. (The adaptive transparency mode, designed to reduce loud outside noises, is less impressive, though.) And the new USB-C charging case lets you refuel the battery using the same cables you’d use for a Mac laptop or the iPhone 15.

The Amazon Echo Dot is a great, low-cost way to add a smart speaker to your home (or expand your speaker system into a less-used room). We tested the version that has a clock display on its spherical surface, but expect the nonclock model that’s a bit cheaper to perform the same. As far as versatility, the Dot speakers always get top scores. Where they tend to fall short is in sound quality, so if that’s a major concern, you should look elsewhere (and probably spend a bit more). But if you’re seeking the voice-activated home assistant features without breaking the bank, you can’t go wrong here.

If you’re looking for a great-sounding speaker with a rechargeable battery that doesn’t have to be small enough to fit in a backpack, the Ultimate Ears Hyperboom is a great choice.

Our testers commend its robust bass and clean midrange, and report that the Ultimate Ears Hyperboom is plenty loud indoors and out. They also find the large controls to be easy to use, which helps the model earn good grades for versatility. The Ultimate Ears Hyperboom features an optical input, so it can double as a TV soundbar or upgrade the sound of a game console.

The Bose SoundLink Flex sounds quite good for a small, modestly priced portable speaker. But unlike most Bose speakers, it also has IP67 water and dust resistance, so you can take it to the beach or perch it by the pool. The Flex, which comes in four colors, can be positioned horizontally or vertically and adjusts automatically to the orientation. While the discount is modest, Bose speakers don’t often go on sale.

The Clip 4 is hardly the best-sounding speaker we’ve tested, but it does have two important things going for it—it’s inexpensive and it’s small. The tiny speaker fits easily into your palm and features a carabiner that can clip onto a backpack or a beach bag. JBL claims an IP67 rating, which means the speaker is both water-resistant and dustproof. Our testers find the Clip 4 to be easy to pair, and the prominent controls make it easy to turn up the volume.

This 13.3-inch notebook scored well in our ratings, earning praise for performance and display quality. It has an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of memory, and 256GB of solid-state storage. It’s also highly portable, weighing just 2 pounds and with a battery that lasts as long as 20 hours while browsing the web.

Nicholas De Leon is our resident router expert, and he spotted a great deal on the model he uses in his own home, so you know it’s a good one:

"Eero helped popularize mesh routers several years ago, so it’s no wonder the company’s latest models do well in our ratings. I personally own this particular model, which runs on the WiFi 6E standard, letting you connect to the 6 GHz band in addition to the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands. In plain English that means you’ll be getting faster and more reliable performance on your home WiFi network compared to older WiFi standards. After all, who wants a crummy WiFi connection to interrupt a Zoom call, or more importantly, a Netflix binge session?"

Tech editor Chris Raymond has his finger on the pulse of all things tech, and he found the mesh router he uses in his own home at a discount during the sale.

"I bought this mesh router system back when I started working at home full-time, and it still makes me smile. It’s inexpensive (especially at this price), easy to set up (using the TP-Link mobile app), and effectively eliminates the WiFi dead spots in my modest-sized home. In fact, I even get a reliable signal on the backyard patio now."

Blackstone all but built the category of outdoor flat-top grills. This entry-level model proves you don’t need to spend a ton to get great performance from its products, either. It’s the fastest of the top models we tested to get hot. It maintains even temperatures across the surface on both low and high heat. And it’s one of the few to feature only two burners, not three; as a result, you might have a slightly harder time maintaining two drastically different temperatures on the surface at once.

The Monument Grills 77352 is not only a good large grill for the money but also one of the highest-scoring gas grills in our ratings. It earns top marks across our performance tests for heating evenness, temperature range, and preheating, as well as a solid rating for indirect cooking. It comes with an electronic ignition, stainless steel grates, and four casters to make it easier to move around. And while the grill itself has a typical one-year warranty, it includes an eight-year warranty on the six burners.

It’s that time of year—your lawn needs a little love to get ready for the warmer months, and lawn tool expert Paul Hope found this highly rated string trimmer, which he also owns, is at a discount during the Big Spring Sale:

"It’s rare to get a deal on a string trimmer at the start of the season, and rarer still to get a deal on such a stellar model. I actually own this tool myself and paid $80 more in the summer of 2023. It essentially ties its lowest price over the last year. It offers stellar performance and boasts one of the easiest-to-load trimmer heads I’ve ever seen. For me, that alone is worth the price of admission."

This Greenworks pressure washer gets solid ratings in CR’s tests, especially when it comes to ease of use, in which it got top marks. It also scored above average for cleaning and noise. It gets a middling score for power. Our testers also noted that it has a manual trigger lock, a small spray angle, and a shorter hose than most models, all of which are less ideal. On the flip side, we found that it’s very effective at removing stains, and it’s easy to move and operate.

Ginger Cowles, one of CR’s managing editors, knows a thing or two about hair tools, and she pinpointed this flat iron as a deal worth a look during the Big Spring Sale:

"I’ve tried probably a dozen flat irons in my 20 or so years of using them, and this one is THE BEST of them all. It gets hair smooth and shiny with minimal passes—even for curly textures like mine. All of our evaluators chose it as their favorite, and it passed our lab tests with flying colors. Also, if like me you struggle to curl or wave your hair with a flat iron, the rounded edges of this tool make it about 10 times easier. It’s on sale for $245 (from $279), so snag this while you can."

This curling iron, chosen as the best for creating loose curls, is always a bargain. The price varies a bit from day to day, maxing out around $32, so you’re really saving only a few bucks, but this is roughly the average low price (with a few outlying dips to $24). It’s worth noting that the loose curls this iron produced for our testers tended to fall out pretty quickly after styling, so this could be a great tool for a night out, but you may want to look elsewhere if you want an all-day style.

There’s a lot to like about the RüK veggie dicer. It’s fairly stable and secure, thanks to rubber feet and a top that seals securely to the basin when you press down. It also includes extra inserts for different cuts, such as grating and julienne and mandoline cuts, along with the standard ½-inch and ¼-inch chopping blades and a garnish slicer. But perhaps the best part is that this dicer is dishwasher-safe and easy to disassemble.

This food storage set from Bayco could be a great option if you’re looking to add reusable containers to your kitchen. It comes with 12 containers (and 12 matching lids) in different sizes and shapes for any and all of your storing needs, and the lids use a snap closure to ensure a top-notch seal. In CR’s tests, this set got top marks for seal quality, ease of use, and durability, with a near-perfect score for storage.

The portable Blue Pure 211i Max features an indicator light to alert you when you need to change or clean the filter. It also has a dirt sensor and four speeds. On its higher setting, it’s terrific at removing dust, pollen, and smoke, but expect a bit of noise. Try it on low and you’ll have more quiet while still experiencing top-notch results. This model is designed for use in a large space of 350 to 650 square feet and costs about $109 a year to maintain—just more than half that of the Pure 211+. It also weighs just 17 pounds, making it easy to move around. CR members found Blueair air purifiers highly reliable and were quite satisfied with their purchase.

Exclusive Offer: CR All Access and Digital members can save 30 percent on this model, which is about $20 less than the existing sale price—when buying directly from Blueair. Just use the code CRSLEEP30 at checkout. The offer expires at the end of March, and it’s also valid for the Blue Pure 311i+ Max, which CR has not tested.

The kid sister to the 211i Max, Blueair’s 411i Max has a similar design but for a smaller space: CR recommends a medium-sized room or smaller. The portable air purifier is primarily filter-based and has three speeds, a filter indicator, and a dirt sensor. On its higher speed, it delivers pretty average results, and as with many air purifiers, it’s less effective on its lower speed. The model is easy to use and has a relatively low annual operating cost. Blueair came out on top for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction during CR’s first member survey.

The Kaqinu 12.6-inch carbon steel wok is flat-bottomed, has a hammered texture and comes pre-seasoned. In our tests it aced the cooking evenness test; its speed of heating was very good, and we found it easy to use. Cleaning, however, was a bit of a challenge. The metal section of its handle is short, and so is less likely to be grabbed by unwary cooks. It lacks an extra handle, making it harder to move when full. This wok comes with a wooden lid and a variety of stainless steel utensils.

The GreenPan Padova Reserve is now at the lowest price we’ve ever seen. With its pink blush exterior, white ceramic interior, and gold handles, this set certainly makes a style statement. But how is it on substance? Not too shabby. In fact, its scores on all of our major cooking tasks are top-notch, including an excellent rating for speed of heating. Its handles are sturdy and stay fairly cool to the touch. The nonstick coating is durable, although some other nonstick pans we tested perform better on that assessment. This 10-piece set includes two frying pans, two saucepans, a sauté pan, a stockpot, and four lids.

Think of the elegant Pixel Watch as the Apple Watch of the Android world. It’s designed to integrate smoothly with Google’s devices, like the Pixel phone and earbuds, as well as those Google-owned services that dominate the internet. The watch sits near the top of our ratings, with strong scores for ease of use, readability in bright and low light, and heart rate accuracy. Battery life is a bit of a disappointment at only 24 hours.

While we’ve seen these smartwatches selling for about $60 less during major holidays, this is still a good deal.

The Garmin Vivomove 3 is a watch-based fitness tracker with a 1.8-inch OLED display, a real-time heart rate monitor, step tracking, sleep tracking, and a calorie estimator. Overall, this model was very easy to use, somewhat accurate for counting steps, and very good at measuring heart rate accuracy. With recent iPhones, our experts found it very easy to pair and somewhat easy to interact with, and for recent Android phones, very easy to pair, attach to the body, and recharge. In our water immersion test, it passed the manufacturer’s claim of 164 feet for 10 minutes. It has Connected GPS, meaning you have to bring your smartphone with you to control music from your wrist. The manufacturer claims a battery life of five days.

The Babysense monitor, now back to its best price, comes with its own display and handles the video feed locally, so it doesn’t have the privacy and security issues of internet-connected models. It has a 5-inch 720p display that falls a bit short of the best models we tested, but it should still work fine for most users.

This Hauture sterilizer performed the best of all the sterilizers we tested, and its design was intuitive and easy to use, too. Its “auto mode” runs both a sanitizing and drying cycle, and a digital timer shows the progress while they run. It also has selectable drying times and a storage mode that restarts the heated dry cycle periodically to keep items clean for up to 72 hours. You can fit up to 11 bottles in the sterilizer. They won’t have their own prong, but with that many bottles, they’ll be close enough together that they won’t fall over.