Best Deals Under $100

The Marshall Emberton II is $30 less than it has been recently, just $3 more than its best price. This is a good-sounding small portable Bluetooth speaker that differentiates itself with its styling. So if you want to avoid the typical cylindrical speaker in Skittles colors, the Emberton II is an elegant option. Channeling the styling of its namesake company, the Emberton II is a nice gift for the guitar geek in your life. Unlike Marshall’s larger models, which sport satisfyingly beefy knobs, the baby Marshall wasn’t particularly easy to use in our lab tests.

While Apple claims the AirPods 4 are improved over the AirPods 3, our testers were less impressed. They’re still solid headphones if you prefer not to have eartips stuck in your ear. The fit, despite Apple’s tweaks, is pretty much the same as previous models, as is the sound. These headphones were $15 less for Black Friday and may be cheaper for Prime Day, but this is still a nice price if your dad is an iPhone user and doesn’t already have a pair.

This wireless model from JBL delivers acceptable sound quality and top-notch active noise reduction. These earphones have an isolating design and an ambient sound monitoring feature; they will provide some muffling and electronic canceling of external noises and also reduce the amount of sound that escapes from the earpieces. As such, they are best for those who want highly portable earphones that reduce the amount of noise they hear from their surroundings, or don’t want the sound from the earpieces to disturb others.

We haven’t reviewed this exact model, but TP-Link routers generally perform very well in our ratings. And it’s rare to find a tri-band router, specifically one that supports WiFi 6E or newer, for less than $150. Unlike older routers that fight for space on crowded channels, this one opens up the 6GHz band. Think of this as a brand-new, empty express lane on the highway that only cutting-edge devices (like the latest phones and laptops) can use. If you live in an apartment building or a dense neighborhood where your neighbors’ WiFi slows yours down, this is the most cost-effective way to bypass the congestion.

This cost-conscious 11-piece stainless steel cookware set from The Cellar is at the lowest price we’ve ever seen, as it’s a final sale item. It includes two frying pans, two saucepans, a sauté pan, a stockpot, a silicone trivet, and four lids. The set, a Macy’s exclusive, aces our tests for cooking evenness, speed of heating, and food release. It’s also easy to clean, earning an excellent score. The handles stay safe and cool, but they aren’t so sturdy, earning a mediocre rating for that test.

The Instant Vortex 4 Plus Air Fryer 4QT is a standout for the legibility of its digital controls, relatively low noise levels, and ease of cleaning. What’s more, its square basket design makes it easy to fit in a small Pyrex dish or baking pan—great for turning out sweet treats. The measured 3-quart model has a 1-year warranty.

The BN701 Professional Plus with Auto iQ earns top scores in our tests for convenience and durability, and based on CR’s surveys, owners are very satisfied with their purchase. Though it also scored well in our pureeing and ice crushing tests, it got just a middling score on blending smoothies, so if that’s the main reason you want a blender, you may want to consider another model.

If you’re interested in making your own ice cream at home, this could be a great lower-cost option. We really liked the consistent, creamy texture of the sorbet and ice cream that came out of the Cuisinart. This was true both immediately after production and after we froze them overnight. The sorbet was a bit icier and less perfectly consistent than that made by the other ice cream makers we tried. But that was easily remedied by dragging a spatula around the sorbet to smooth out some of the ice midchurn.

The Meater+ meat thermometer is one of the most reliable digital thermometers. It’s easy to use, and given its top-notch accuracy, you won’t need guesswork to determine the doneness of brisket and other fleshy delights. It’s shaped like a thick ink pen with dual sensors—one for internal temperature and one for ambient temperature—and its size makes it better suited to girthier cuts. The Meater+ transmits temperature readings wirelessly to the companion smartphone app.

A conventional drip coffee maker with a modern twist, the Cuisinart DCC-T20 Touchscreen 14-Cup Programmable offers slick touchscreen controls and makes plenty of java for a full house, thanks to its 14-cup glass carafe. This model shines when it comes to brew performance and convenience in our tests. In addition to more standard features like programming, auto-shutoff, a cleaning indicator, and a permanent filter, it has less common perks like a water filter, brew-strength control, and a small-batch setting. It’s a bit pricey, but for the investment, you can count on an all-around great coffee maker for both busy mornings and dinner parties.

The GE G8H1AASSPSS Blender is an immersion model that comes with a whisk and chopper, and it’s available now at a sweet price. It showed excellent performance in our soup purée tests, and the chopper attachment did a great job grating cheese. The whisk attachment allows you to quickly whip egg whites to stiff peaks and easily turn heavy cream into rich whipped cream.

The large Cuisinart AIR-200 has a window and a light so you can see your food cooking, and its large six-quart capacity means there’s enough room to cook for a crowd or to air fry an entire meal. Touchscreen controls come with five cooking pre-sets, including one for frozen snacks and one for leftovers, and a toss reminder alerts you when it’s time to flip your food. The AIR-200 also comes with a generous three-year warranty.

The Instant Vortex Slim air fryer, which typically sells for $120, is an all-around strong performer, with intuitive controls and quiet operation, and we found it pretty easy to clean, too. At 11 inches in width and 12 inches in height, it won’t be overly obtrusive on your countertop, though it is fairly deep (18 inches). It has a measured capacity of 4.9 quarts, five cooking modes (air fry, broil, bake, roast, and reheat), and one-touch programs to cook a range of foods, including wings, vegetables, potatoes, cookies, and more. It comes with a 1-year warranty.

This massager, made famous on TikTok, falls in the middle of the pack in terms of pricing, compared with the other models we evaluated. The reviewer found the nodes pressed into their neck uncomfortably, but two others who tried it loved it, so you might find the massager is just right or not right at all (but don’t worry—there’s a 30-day return window on Amazon). However, when it came to heat, this massager really shone. It reaches temperatures of 109° F. You can use this massager on various body parts, and it even comes with a car adapter, making it a boon for road trips.

The Waterpik Ion Professional Cordless is $10 less than it was last month. It has a somewhat unusual design; it’s a countertop water flosser with a rather large footprint (about 6x6 inches). It’s rechargeable, so instead of a wall outlet plug, you use a magnetic USB-A cable. Waterpik claims that the flosser can last up to 4 weeks between charges.

The large opening on this product’s removable reservoir makes it quite easy to fill, and it earned top marks for ease of use. There’s one downside, though: It’s one of the noisier models in our ratings, which may bother some users. The Ion has a timer that alerts you at 30 seconds and 1 minute to let you know when to switch to another part of your mouth.

The Oral-B Water Flosser Advanced earned top marks for ease of use, both in battery charging and general operation. It offers an on-demand button, which allows you to activate the water jet only while you’re pressing a button. This flosser’s battery is particularly easy to charge; all you have to do is place it on top of the plugged-in charging unit. The device is on the quieter side, too. Its main flaw in our testing was its smaller tank capacity.

This portable ice bath from Pod Company is now $20 less than I’ve ever seen, making it an even better deal than usual. It’s a great option if you’re thinking of investing in something like this to keep at home. In our evaluations, it was easy to set up and take apart. It is smaller than the comparable Cold Pod XL (which costs a bit more), but otherwise, the two are very similar. So it may be better suited for smaller individuals. For example, one of our evaluators was around 6 feet tall and about 200 pounds and found this one to be a bit cramped compared to the other model. That said, if you don’t mind close quarters and like the price to test out ice baths at home, this could be just what you’re looking for.

The Ring Battery Doorbell (2024 Release) is Ring’s entry-level battery doorbell, and it’s $20 less than it was last month. It performs well in our tests, offering especially speedy response times for alerts and decent video quality. Its features include motion zones, schedules for alerts, and voice/app control via Amazon Alexa. Cloud video storage and additional features (such as person detection) require a Ring Home subscription.

The Petlibro Dockstream Smart Pet Fountain is a WiFi-enabled device that lets you accurately monitor your pet’s water intake. It holds more than half a gallon of water, and the whole fountain is wireless. It even has a motion sensor, so it only runs when your pet approaches it, making the battery last even longer. The app can also alert you when water levels are low, which is especially nice since the container is opaque. I own the non-smart version and rely on the indicator light (and the pesky sound of the pump struggling to suck up water when the level is too low), which isn’t ideal.

The Cube, which is back down to its best price, is not specifically intended for pet tracking but to help people keep track of a range of possessions, including cars, luggage, and kids’ backpacks, as well as pets. That puts the Cube at a disadvantage as a pet tracker, despite its competent core tracking abilities. The device is relatively large and heavy, but most dog collars won’t fit through its thin slots, so you need to purchase an add-on collar clip for $25. More significantly, the app lacks pet-specific features like fitness and activity tracking and a light beacon for spotting your dog at night.

On the other hand, it does let you set a home “safe zone” and virtual fence and emits a fairly loud sound alert. It’s also very solidly constructed, creates detailed and easy-to-read location histories, and, like the Link, is capable of delivering high-temperature alerts.

The PetSite 3-in-1 is multifunctional, easy to assemble and fold, lightweight, and sturdy—and it’s at the lowest price we’ve seen. It’s also really versatile for travel. It serves as both a car seat and portable carrier, complete with a carrying strap. It has a maximum capacity of 33 pounds, so you could potentially fit two small animals, and the mesh top makes it easy to keep an eye on them. Our evaluator reported that it was easy to assemble, and the stroller moved easily, even on bumpier surfaces.

The Inno Stage is down to the best price we’ve ever seen. It used to sell for around $80 when it was on sale, so this is a great price. It differs from most smokeless fire pits because it’s designed to burn wood pellets, not logs. When we tested it, we found that using pellets with additives to accelerate lighting—sold at most home centers and hardware stores—worked particularly well, resulting in robust small or large fires with minimal smoke. Results weren’t as good when we used plain wood pellets, which tended to smoke quite a bit. It’s only about half as deep as the Cuisinart above and has considerably less capacity. We found that the Inno Stage burned pellets thoroughly, with minimal ash and unburned pellets left behind. The ash collects in a tray on its stand, making for easy removal. This model is a great choice if you want a modest pellet fire and prefer to avoid the hassle and labor of moving and lighting logs.

This bag fits five beach towels, one water bottle, two bottles of sunscreen, a hardcover book, four small packs of pretzels, and sunglasses. The Simple Modern beach bag is made of soft EVA material and has the thickest hand straps of all the bags we tested. The handles folded backward and forward easily and never got twisted.

Hot Tools hair styling tools are a common sight at hair salons, and for good reason. Our evaluators found that this flat iron heated up fast and was easy to use. It has variable heat settings to give users more control, and the plates are slightly longer than most straighteners, a feature that could be useful for styling longer hair. It’s important to note that the temperature consistency isn’t reliable and could vary by as much as 20 degrees from the set temperature during use. It has a 2-hour window before it automatically shuts off, so you’ll want to remember to unplug it after every use.

The Dirt Devil Compact Portable Spot Cleaner is a light little carpet cleaner at just 9 pounds with a full tank of solution. Amazon’s price is just $10 more than the best we’ve seen. While the portable cleaners in our tests don’t measure up to full-sized machines in terms of their cleaning abilities, this model did well, especially when it comes to drying. It’s also one of the quieter models we tested. The tank isn’t huge (partly why the cleaner is so light), but if you’re just using it for spills and spot-cleaning, this model will do the trick.