Amazon drops prices on bestselling Alexa-compatible Echo speakers and displays

The holiday season and the mega-sales that went with it have ended, but you still can find compelling deals for bestselling core smart home products. Amazon dropped the prices on its top-selling Alexa-compatible Echo smart speakers and Echo Show smart displays. Smart speaker and displays are the essential first components for new smart home configurations. Also, many households own several Echo Dots and Echo Shows in order to access Alexa in multiple rooms for a wide range of digitally assisted functions.

Amazon’s Alexa digital voice assistant on the Amazon Echo smart home platform continues its market-share lead over Google’s Nest Home with Google Assistant. Google Nest is a strong platform, but the Alexa ecosystem still leads in installations, in compatible apps called skills, and in third-party hardware options. We’ve tracked the best deals for smart home devices from Amazon and other merchants to save you the time. Whether you’re looking for your first smart speaker or display or adding to an existing Alexa configuration, these five deals can help you save up to $30.

Echo Dot (3rd Gen) — $15 off

The Echo Dot is the world’s bestselling smart speaker. When you connect the Dot to your home Wi-Fi, you can use the Dot to ask Alexa questions, to request music tracks or playlists, set timers and alarms, control compatible smart home devices, and much more.

Normally priced $50, the third-generation Echo Dot is $35 during this sale. If you want to get started with Alexa or if you’re ready to use the digital voice assistant in more rooms or areas in your home, this is a good deal on the least expensive fully featured Alexa smart speaker.

Amazon Echo (3rd Gen) — $10 off

The first Alexa-compatible device was the first-generation Echo, launched in 2014, which not only introduced users to the digital voice assistant but also quickly gained a reputation for music quality. The Echo Dot is lower priced and quickly became the bestselling Echo device, but Dot’s audio pales against even in comparison to the first Echo. The third-generation Echo has all the smart speaker functionality you could want, but this is the one to buy if you want better than just passable music quality. The Echo has Dolby-powered premium speakers the project audio 360 degrees with crisp vocals and responsive bass.

Usually $100, the third-generation Echo is on sale for $90. If you want a smart speaker that can fill a room with quality audio, this is the one to buy.

Echo Show 5 — $20 off

Smart displays do everything smart speakers do, but they also have a screen. Whether you use the display to show your photos, play a live view of your security camera, present local weather and news reports, play TV clips, watch YouTube videos or films, or even follow a recipe step-by-step, smart displays add a great deal to digital assistant’s functionality. The Echo Show 5 has a 5.5-inch color touchscreen with an ambient light sensor that dims or brightens to match the room lighting.

Ordinarily $90, the Echo Show 5 is just $70 during this sale. If you need a smart display for any purpose, take this opportunity to acquire a Show 5 at a compelling price.

Echo Show 8 — $30 off

The success of the Show 5 must have convinced Amazon to develop an incrementally larger smart display. The Echo Show 8 has an 8-inch diagonal, HD color touchscreen. The higher resolution and larger size make the Show 8 more suitable for extensive viewing than the Show 5.

Instead of the usual $130 price, Amazon cut the Echo Show 8 price to $100 for this sale. If you want a smart display for visibility futher than is practical with a Show 5 or for moderately heavy video watching, The Show 8 is a good deal at not much more than the Show 5’s sale price.

Echo Dot Kids Edition — $15 off

Kids like to talk with Alexa, too, to ask for music, stories, jokes, and games. The Echo Dot Kids Edition has all the functions of the third-generation Dot but adds kid-friendly content, a parental control panel, and a 1-year subscription to FreeTime Unlimited, a collection of age-appropriate books, video, music, games, and more.

Regularly priced $70, the Echo Dot Kids Edition is $55 during this sale. If you’re shopping for an Alexa smart speaker for a child’s room, the Kids Edition Dot is a good choice.