The best Prime Day smart home deals we found

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Our smart home reviewer rounds up her favorite deals on video doorbells, robot vacuums, smart lights, and more.

By Jennifer Pattison Tuohy, a smart home reporter who’s been testing connected gadgets since 2013. Previously a contributor to Wirecutter, Wired, Dwell, and US News.

Oct 8, 2024, 4:22 PM UTC

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• The Echo Hub is seeing a nice discount to $125, down from $180. This is Amazon’s first bona fide smart home controller, a flat panel designed to be mounted to the wall or popped on a desk. It’s great for quick access to smart home devices like lights, locks, cameras, and music and can double as an alarm panel for your Ring security system. Read my review.
• The Echo Pop smart speaker is back down to $18 at Amazon and is a great way to add voice control with Amazon’s Alexa to every corner of your home. Read my Echo Pop review.

• If you want a better sound boost for listening to music and podcasts, the excellent Echo Dot is down to $23. This is a great price for a fully featured smart speaker. Pairing two is a good way to add stereo, and it works well on either side of a bed for some room-filling tunes.

• The Ring Battery Doorbell Plus is down to $100. This is my top pick for a battery-powered doorbell, offering a crisp 1536 x 1536 video resolution along with a head-to-toe view of your porch. You’ll have to pay for a Ring subscription for alerts when there are people or packages at your door, but it’s very accurate with its notifications.

• For a subscription-free doorbell option, the Tapo D225 video doorbell is $20 off, down to $80 at Amazon. It offers free smart alerts for people, packages, and pets and the option of free 24/7 recording if you pop in a microSD card. Otherwise, it’s $2.79 a month for motion-activated recording, about half the price of the Ring subscription. Read my review of the Tapo D225.
• The Aqara G4 Video Doorbell is one of only a few doorbell cameras that works with Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video option, an end-to-end encrypted video storage service. At $89.99 on Amazon (with the on-page coupon), it’s the cheapest video doorbell compatible with Apple, and the battery-powered doorbell can be wired, too. It also works with Alexa and Google Home. Read my review of the Aqara G4.

• iRobot’s Roomba j7 Plus, my previous top pick for the best robot vacuum, is just $400 at Amazon. That’s 50 percent off for a self-emptying robot vac with superb cleaning power and the best obstacle recognition of any brand I’ve tested — meaning it won’t get tangled up in your shoelaces. Read my review of the j7.
• My pick for the best budget robot vacuum, the Roomba i3 Plus, is down to $250 from $550 at Amazon. This includes the self-empty dock, and while the robot lacks the obstacle recognition and mapping of the j7, it’s a true workhorse and will keep your carpets and hardwood floors spotless. Read my i3 review.
• The Eufy S1 Pro is $500 off, down to $999.99 at Amazon. This is a superb mopping robot vacuum that can also self-empty, refill, and clean its long roller mop. Its square-ish design allows it to get into corners more easily, and its wide and long mop tackles hardwood floors quickly and efficiently.

• My pick for a simple budget robot vacuum for tackling pet hair, the Roborock Q5 Pro, is down to just $180 — a savings of $250. Its huge 770ml bin means less manual emptying. It also mops, and dual rubber brushes do a great job of getting up pet hair. Unlike the i3, it features mapping and keep-out zones to keep it away from pet bowls.
• The excellent, if noisy, Shark AI Ultra robot vacuum is on sale for $249.99, 55 percent off, at Amazon. A previous pick in my best robot vacuum guide, this self-empty vacuum is a solid bot. I particularly like that it doesn’t need bags; you can just rinse out the bin.

• The Philips Hue lighting system is on sale at Amazon this week. The best place to start is with the Philips Hue Smart Light Starter Kit, which has two White and Color Ambiance A19 bulbs and a Hue Bridge. It’s $90, down from $129.99. This is all you need to get going with Hue’s fun, color-changing smart light bulbs.
• If smart switches are more your speed, the superb Lutron Caséta smart switch line is on sale for 17 to 20 percent off. Pick up a starter kit to get the Lutron bridge, which provides rock-solid reliability for your smart lighting and one dimmer switch and wireless remote. Pick between the more classic Diva switch look — $99.95, down from $119.95 — or save some more money with the nontraditional look of the original Caséta switch, with the Lutron Caséta Smart Lighting Kit going for $79.95, down from $99.95. I have these in my home, and they are the most reliable product I own. Read more about smart lighting and the differences between smart bulbs and switches in my guide to smart lighting.
• For some smart lighting fun this holiday season, Govee’s smart curtain lights are 30 percent off. These are a great addition to your holiday decor. I strung them up in my window last year and loved the option to create different animations with the touch of a button. They’re $85.99, down from $129.99 for a one-pack at Amazon, or $167.99 for a two-pack.
• Philips Hue’s Festavia string lights are on sale ahead of the holidays. Decorate your tree with the 130-foot string of indoor / outdoor smart lights for $252, down from $359.99 at Amazon. Read my Festavia review here and learn more about smart holiday string lights in my guide.