Live deals
None yet. This section is updated in place when Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on the products we cover go live. Each entry will name the product, link to our existing write-up, and carry the live dated price from the same data layer as every other button on this site — never a typed-in number. If a listing shows a struck-through list price and a percentage, that is what the retailer is reporting, and it renders on the button automatically. Bookmark this page; the URL does not change from year to year.
What actually discounted last year
These are logged Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025 prices for the product lines this site covers, taken from dated coverage we fetched on the access date shown against each source. Where an outlet printed only a percentage rather than a list price, we show the percentage. The full citations are in the sources at the bottom.
| Product (2025) | Logged sale price | List / discount stated | Logged by |
|---|
| Blink Video Doorbell + Sync Module | $28.99 | $59.99 | Bob Vila, Nov 28 2025 |
| Ring Battery Doorbell | $49.99 | $99.99 | Bob Vila, Nov 28 2025 |
| eufy Video Doorbell E340 (dual camera) | $89.99 | $149.99 | Bob Vila, Nov 28 2025 |
| Blink Mini 2K+ (indoor, plug-in) | $24.99 | 50% off | PCWorld, Dec 1 2025 |
| Ring Indoor Cam (wired) | $24.99 | 50% off | PCWorld, Dec 1 2025 |
| Amazon Echo Dot | $32 | $50 | 9to5Toys, Nov 22 2025 |
| Amazon Echo Pop | $22 | $40 | 9to5Toys, Nov 22 2025 |
| Amazon Echo Show 8 (2025) | $160 | $180 | 9to5Toys, Nov 22 2025 |
| SwitchBot Curtain 3 | $61.99 | $99.99 | Matter Alpha, Nov 20 2025 |
| SwitchBot Smart Lock Pro | $58.79 | $119.99 | Matter Alpha, Nov 20 2025 |
| SwitchBot Hub 3 | $79.99 | $119.99 | Matter Alpha, Nov 20 2025 |
| Yale Assure Lock 2 (Wi-Fi) | up to $199 | 20-25% off | Gearbrain, Nov 2025 |
Two patterns are visible in that list without needing to invent anything. Amazon’s own hardware — Echo and Blink — and the mainstream doorbell and camera brands were cut hardest, with the Blink doorbell bundle, the Ring Battery Doorbell and the eufy E340 each logged at roughly half or less of their list price. And SwitchBot ran deep discounts across its range, including the curtain robot and the lock we recommend for renters. Consumer Reports’ holiday roundup, updated on December 23, listed cameras, doorbells, plugs, lighting and locks as the smart-home categories that reliably discounted, and noted that many Black Friday prices were still available in late December — which is worth knowing if you miss the weekend.
What rarely discounts, or did not show up at all
This is the honest half, and it is stated carefully because absence from coverage is weaker evidence than a logged price.
- Google Nest cameras. PCWorld’s December 1 roundup stated outright that Nest cams are rarely on sale, and its logged Nest discounts (20-25%) were the shallowest in the list. We do not recommend Nest cameras for renters anyway, because recording is subscription-based.
- Mainstream smart locks from the big lock brands. Gearbrain’s 2025 smart-lock roundup logged Yale, Schlage and Kwikset discounts clustered at 20-30%, with the deep cuts limited to lesser-known brands. A quarter off a lock is real money; it is not the half-off a doorbell sees.
- Mounting hardware, adhesive strips, contact alarms and portable locks. None of the 2025 coverage we reviewed for this page featured a no-drill mount, a pack of Command strips, a six-pack of door alarms or a portable door lock. We cannot say they never discount; we can say they were not part of last year’s headline deals, and that at their price the saving would be a few dollars. These are buy-when-you-need-them items.
- Smart plugs, in single units. Plugs discount, but from a low base: Consumer Reports logged the Kasa EP25 four-pack in late December at two dollars above its lowest recorded price. The saving on a single plug is the price of a coffee. Buy it when you want it.
Buy now or wait, by product class
These are our calls, made from the logged prices above and from what each product costs today on the buttons. They are judgments, not predictions.
Video doorbells: wait if you can
The clearest case for waiting on this page. Last year the three doorbell lines we cover were logged at half of list or less, and a doorbell is the one item a renter can live without for eight more weeks. If you need one now — a parcel problem that will not wait — buy the renter doorbell we already recommend and do not feel bad; the discount is a reason to buy sooner, not a reason to go without. Whatever you do, do not let a sale price talk you into a wired doorbell or a subscription-only one; the no-subscription doorbell page explains which is which.
Amazon Echo devices: wait
Amazon discounts its own hardware at its own events, and last November the Echo Dot was logged at $32 against $50 and the Echo Pop at $22 against $40. The hub in our hub roundup is an Echo Dot. If it is a gift, November is the time to buy it. If it is for you and you want it today, the live button shows what that costs.
Indoor cameras: wait for the Amazon brands, buy the rest when needed
Blink and Ring indoor cameras were logged at half off. Our own camera pick, the Wyze on the no-subscription camera page, sits under forty dollars year-round; the coverage we cite did not log a deal on this model, and at its price the difference between waiting and not is small. If you want it, buy it. If you are buying a Blink, wait.
Smart locks: it depends which one
SwitchBot’s lock line was logged at 51% off last year; the mainstream lock brands at 20-30%. If the SwitchBot adhesive lock is the one you want, waiting was worth a lot last year. For the Yale keypad retrofit or the August, a quarter off is the realistic ceiling based on last year, and a lock is something you usually want the week you decide you want it. Our call: buy when you need it, and check the live button on the day.
Curtain and blind robots: wait
The SwitchBot Curtain 3 was logged at $61.99 against $99.99. Nobody needs a curtain robot urgently. Our smart blinds and curtains page covers which version fits which window; buy it in November.
Plugs, bulbs, alarms, mounts, memory cards: buy when you need them
Cheap already, absent from last year’s headline coverage or discounted by a few dollars from a low base. The no-drill security kit is mostly made of these, and the right time to buy it is the week you move in, not the last week of November. The one exception to note: memory cards for cameras do see discounts through the year (the live button on our memory card page shows the current list-versus-sale gap when Amazon reports one), but the amounts are small.
How to read a Black Friday price
Three habits keep you honest when the banners start. First, the “was” price on a listing is whatever the retailer reports; our buttons show it struck through with the percentage exactly as reported, and nothing else. Second, compare the sale price with what the item cost in October, not with its list price — the logged 2025 prices above are the more useful yardstick than any percentage. Third, and renter-specific: read the install method and the subscription line on our product write-up before you buy anything on sale. A half-price doorbell that needs a wire, or a half-price camera that needs a plan, is a full-price mistake.
How this page will be updated
Amazon has announced its October event: Prime Big Deal Days runs October 6-7, 2026, starting at 12:01 a.m. Pacific on the 6th, with new deals dropping three times a day. (Its June Prime Day ran June 23-26; in 2025 the October event ran October 7-8.) The October sale is the first real read on what this year’s doorbell and camera prices will do, so if a product we cover drops then, it is posted here the same way a November deal would be. When Black Friday deals on products we cover go live, they are listed under “Live deals” above with live pricing. When the season ends, the logged prices join the table so that next year’s version of this page is built on two years of data rather than one. The URL stays the same throughout.
