Amazon’s Big Deal Days for Prime members has begun, and we’ve collected some of our favorite deals offered. As usual, we’ve kept our picks simple, including only those that we’ve reviewed, use ourselves, or that are from brands we trust.

It’s worth noting that this sales event is focused on Prime members, so many of the deals require a Prime subscription. However, not all do.

Smart Home

I’m a big fan of Philips Hue Festavia string lights, which I reviewed on MacStories in 2023. I hung a strand on our balcony, which has provided great outdoor atmosphere year-round.

The lights are great for the holidays, too. The Hue app lets you pick all sorts of festive presets that animate and color the lights to mimic candles, stars, and more. Festavia lights are also compatible with Apple’s Home app, giving you multiple ways to control and automate them, which I love. Both the 65-foot and 130-foot models are on sale.

The Aqara G5 Pro camera is on sale, too. It’s been over 18 months since I wrote about this sturdy and reliable outdoor HomeKit security camera, and it’s still one of our most popular hardware reviews on the site. There’s a reason for that, too. The G5 Pro serves as a hub for your other Aqara devices, and stays connected reliably with clear nighttime footage, support for HomeKit Secure Video, and an onboard spotlight. Mine has been installed outside my home ever since I reviewed it, and it’s never missed a beat. I use the Wi-Fi model, but the PoE version is on sale too.

Travel Accessories and Headphones

I’m a big fan of batteries and one of the best is Anker’s 20,100mAh Prime power bank, which Federico added to his setup just before WWDC this year. I have a similar model, which is great for use with a laptop and other devices because it can deliver 220W of power with one USB-C port delivering 140W of charging.

Another interesting battery option is UGREEN’s 20,000mAh Qi 2 battery that delivers 25W of wireless power. I haven’t used this exact battery before, but I have a similar UGREEN model with a smaller capacity that I like a lot. This model also has a built-in USB-C cable and digital screen that shows how much charge is left.

A good travel wall charger is a must, too. When I’m on the road with my MacBook Pro, I always bring UGREEN’s 100W Nexode Pro GaN charger. It has two USB-C ports and one USB-A port, and its prongs fold flat so it’s easy to pack. Combined with its small size, it’s a great choice for any trip.

A portable Wi-Fi router is great for traveling with your family when you want to stream a movie at night or when you’re working away from home at a coffee shop. My favorite is the Slate 7 by GL.iNet, which I covered on MacStories last summer. It works well to extend an existing network or to connect to your iPhone to create an ad hoc wireless network.

Finally, I wanted to mention the Satechi USB-C 2.5Gbps Ethernet adapter, which I carry whenever I stay in a hotel room because even slow Ethernet is better than most hotel Wi-Fi. I’ve had this adapter for a couple of years and it’s been a lifesaver on the road more than once, including at WWDC this year where I found myself uploading 4K video to YouTube from the Mountain View public library.

My favorite wireless earbuds and over-the-ear headphones are on sale too. AirPods Pro 3 are my go-to everyday headphones for walking around the neighborhood or working remotely. The active noise cancelation is top tier, and I love both transparency mode for hearing what’s happening around me and the fit.

I’m also a fan of the Beats Studio Pro headphones for their versatility. They work wirelessly, with a 3.5mm headphone cable, or a USB-C cable, with both cables packed in the box. The sound and noise cancelation are excellent, too. Today’s sales price is one of the lowest I’ve seen, so it’s a great time to pick up a pair.

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Alright, that’s all for now. We’ll have more finds during Big Deal Days on the MacStories Deals social media accounts on X.com, Mastodon, and Bluesky.

And for more recommendations beyond the sale, visit the MacStories Setups page, where Federico and I share the hardware and apps we use for work and play. We’ll have an update to that coming tomorrow.

Amazon Prime Day is earlier than ever this year, with lots of deals to be had on our favorite gadgets. As you may have seen, we updated our MacStories Setups page last week, and as it turns out, some of that gear is deeply discounted for Prime Day. Below, you’ll find links to those items, as well as other gadgets we recommend, all on sale now.

For even more deals, join Club MacStories+ or Premier to become a part of our Discord community, where members are sharing their favorite finds, too.

Home Automation

It’s been over a year since I reviewed Aqara’s excellent G5 Pro Outdoor Camera Hub, but it’s still my all-time favorite outdoor HomeKit camera and has been a big hit with readers, too. The camera comes in Wi-Fi and PoE versions and works with HomeKit Secure Video. Before I tried the G5 Pro, my experience with outdoor HomeKit cameras was very spotty, but ever since I mounted the G5 Pro above my front door, it’s been a fixture of my Setups gear collection.

You can also get a great deal on the Aqara Smart Home Hub M3 during Prime Day. It’s not required to run the G5 Pro Outdoor Camera, which is a hub itself, but for anyone with other smart home gear, it’s an excellent addition because it handles Zigbee 3.0 devices and acts as both a Thread border router and a Matter controller, all in one compact unit. Plus, because automations are saved to the device, they continue to run even if your Internet service fails.

To round out the Aqara picks, it’s worth mentioning its UWB Smart Lock U400. This is Aqara’s most advanced smart lock, which uses an Ultra Wideband chip to allow you to unlock your door by simply approaching it from the outside of the door. The lock also works with Home Key, NFC cards, your fingerprint, its own app, a number pad, and more. This smart lock hasn’t been out long, and this is the first time I’ve seen it on sale anywhere.

The ecobee Smart Video Doorbell Camera that I’ve used since I moved into my place in North Carolina is also on sale during Prime Day. I used to have a doorbell camera that overheated in the sun, but the ecobee has stood up like a champ in the direct sunlight all afternoon even as summer temperatures approach 100° F.

If you’re deep into the Hue lighting scene, the Play HDMI Sync Box 8K is a great way to sync your lighting to your entertainment system or computer display for gaming. I reviewed the Sync Box last year along with the Play Wall Washer lights that are also on sale for Prime Day and still part of my gaming setup.

Another MacStories Setups mainstay on sale for Prime Day is Hue’s Festavia string lights, which I reviewed a couple of years ago. The color of the lights can be adjusted in the Home app, and the Hue app lets you add animations to simulate a flickering candle or twinkling stars. I love how they look on my balcony.

It’s hot where I live, so fans make a big difference. I’ve been using the SwitchBot Smart Desk Fan for about six months in my office and love it. It works with HomeKit and can be automated to turn on and off based on triggers like your room’s temperature. There’s even a cloud-based API that you can use to write your own scripts to control the fan. It and the newer Smart Pedestal Fan are both on sale for Prime Day.

Schlage’s Encode Plus smart lock is one of the few HomeKit-compatible locks that features Apple’s Home Key integration, which enables tap to unlock with an iPhone or Apple Watch. With new UWB locks coming out, this well-reviewed lock is a bargain at its Prime Day price.

Apple Gear

Amazon has a refurbished version of the M4 15-inch MacBook Air in Starlight with 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage on sale for Prime Day. The laptop is from the Amazon Renewed Store, which is generally reliable. And with rumors swirling that base prices of Apple hardware may increase later this month, this MacBook Air might look like an even better bargain in a few weeks, so it’s worth considering if you’re in the market for a new laptop. The 13-inch MacBook Air with an M3 chip, 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD is also deeply discounted for Prime Day.

I’m partial to the AirPods Pro 3, but Amazon has the AirPods 4 and AirPods Max 2 on sale, too. Either way, you’re getting great sound and noise cancellation. The Beats Studio Buds + are deeply discounted for Prime Day as well.

Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch SE 3 are also on sale. With summer in full swing, both offer a great way to track your outdoor activities and get notifications without having to pull out your iPhone.

Batteries and Chargers

Having a central hub to charge your gear is nice. I’ve had a 200W version of UGREEN’s hub for a few years now and plug things into it every day for overnight charging. For Prime Day, UGREEN’s even more powerful 300W charging hub is on sale. It features four USB-C ports and one USB-A port that can charge at up to 140W.

The Anker MagGo Slim Power Bank is about as slim as a 10,000mAh battery can get. It’s Qi2 certified, which means it will charge your iPhone at 15W, and it’s white, making it the perfect fit with an iPhone Air, too. If you’d prefer a similar battery but with a kickstand (and who doesn’t love a kickstand?), Anker has you covered with its MagGo Power Bank, also on sale for Prime Day.

To charge all your Apple devices overnight, I recommend the Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station that can handle an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods all at once. It’s Qi2 certified for 15W charging of your iPhone, and has everything charged up and ready to go as soon as you wake up in the morning.

Odds and Ends

I’m a fan of the Logitech MX Creative Console, a Stream Deck competitor with a nine-button programmable keypad and a separate pad with a dial, scroll wheel, and additional buttons. Both are perfect for automating workflows in specific apps or with macros and Shortcuts. I reviewed the MX Creative Console in 2024, and it’s still sitting on my desk.

The ASUS ProArt Display 32-inch 6K Professional Monitor is on sale for Prime Day, too. The display is bigger, significantly cheaper, and competitively spec’d compared to an Apple Studio Display.

I’ve tried lots of iPhone controllers over the years, and one of the most comfortable and versatile is GameSir’s G8, which can even accommodate an iPad mini. The G8 works with the iPhone 15 and above and is a great choice for summer vacations when you don’t want to bring along a dedicated gaming device.

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That’s it for now. As we spot more deals, we’ll post them on the MacStories Deals Bluesky and Mastodon accounts, as well as in the Club MacStories+ Discord community.