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This story is part of Holiday Gift Guide 2019, your source for the season’s best gifts and deals, hand-picked by the experts at CNET.
Black Friday arrives on Friday (ahhh, the hint was in the name!) but if you’re scrolling through sales on Thanksgiving, we have good news: loads of deals have started early! Best of all, a lot of the discounts mean gadgets that have come way down in price, giving you good options for under $30. And no, we haven’t just chosen all the $29.99 options — you can get MAXIMUM Tom Cruise for $20 and Amazon Music Unlimited for under a buck! If you’re looking for a stocking stuffer or late-days-of-Hanukkah gift, these are the deals for you.
We’ll be making regular updates to check the prices below, but changes happen quickly this time of year. In the meantime, check out our master list of the Black Friday sales happening now.
Black Friday deals under $30 available now
These are the Black Friday bargains that are available right now.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The JBL Clip 3 debuted last year for $72, and CNET’s David Carnoy called it “a top-notch waterproof travel speaker.” Today, you can get it for just $29.95 on Amazon, which is an absolute steal.
Walmart
Sorry, Bond and Bourne: Pound for pound, there’s no action-movie series that delivers the goods like Mission: Impossible. This set includes all six titles in both Blu-ray and digital formats. It normally sells for anywhere from $48-$60.
The bundle is also available at Amazon for the same price.
Best Buy
It’s identical in almost every way to the legendary Instant Pot, just priced considerably lower. And if you’re not sure about Insignia, Best Buy’s “house brand,” look no further than the 4.7-star average rating on this thing from nearly 2,000 buyers.
Homgeek
Turn cold milk into hot, frothy, latte-ready milk with this magical metal pitcher. Sold by Regisbelle, it drops to this exclusive price when you apply promo code F9ITDAIJ.
I recently tested the Homgeek frother alongside a Nespresso one that, while a bit more compact, costs $100. Result: The Homgeek worked just as well.
Sony/Marvel
Last year’s hottest PS4 game originally sold for $60 — and that was without extra content. Right now, you can get the GOTY Edition (which includes lots of extra goodies) for this all-time-low price. It’s a must-have for PS4 owners. Shipping is free if you order from Best Buy, but if you’d rather grab it in-store,
Walmart has the game for the same price.
Read our Marvel’s Spider-Man review.
David Carnoy/CNET
They’re back: Best Buy again has the JLabs JBuds Air on sale for $30. They normally retail for $50. JLabs makes a lot of true wireless earphones and this is its most affordable — and frankly, the only one I’d buy. It’s a decent set of true wireless earbuds that’s a relative bargain at $30.
David Carnoy/CNET
We saw this deal last year but it’s still a good one: Sony’s micro Bluetooth speaker, the SRS-XB01, is on sale for $15 at Best Buy.
Read our Sony SRS-XB01 review.
EarFun
EarFun makes one of my favorite AirPods alternatives, and while I haven’t yet had the chance to test this speaker, it sounds great on paper: Waterproof, Bluetooth 5.0, support for dual-speaker pairing, 24-hour battery life and USB-C charging. Use promo code EARFUN10 to get this exclusive deal.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Updated for 2019 with more storage and a faster processor, the Fire 7 remains an incredible buy at its regular $50 price. So for $30? Yeah, there’s honestly no better choice for anyone looking to read, watch videos, play games and all that. It’s an especially good pick for kids.
Amazon
If you’re a newcomer to Amazon’s music-streaming service, it’s hard to beat a buck for four full months of service. After that, you’ll pay the regular rate of $9.99 per month, though you can cancel if you like, without penalty.
Roku
Has there ever been a cheaper Roku streamer? Not to our recollection. The Walmart-exclusive comes with an HDMI cable and three-month subscriptions to both Hulu and Pandora. Take note, however, that the SE doesn’t do 4K video.
As of Thursday night, It looks like the discounted price on the Roku SE has expired, but don’t be surprised if this one comes back online. We’ll update here if we see anything change.
For a sub-$30 Roku streamer that does support 4K, you’ll want the Roku Streaming Stick Plus. It was an Editors’ Choice winner here on CNET last year with an overall score of 9.6 out of 10.
Amazon had this one discounted down to $29 but as of Thursday night, the price has gone back up to $39. But it’s worth keeping an eye out in case that changes — and we’ll update here as soon as we see anything.
Amazon
Amazon Echo Dot deals are about as routine as the tides, but this one is about as good as they get. The common sale price is $30; occasionally it might dip to $25. So $22 is notable. It’s the third-gen Dot (but not the slightly modified new one with the clock), great for flinging Alexa commands in just about any room, decent for playing tunes.
Assuming you’re not already vested in the Echo ecosystem of smart speakers, the Home Mini is a no-brainer buy at $19. Granted, there’s a newer model (the Nest Mini) that’s even better, but that’ll run you $49. The Home Mini still sounds very good for its size and offers a wealth of Google Assistant-powered features. It’s even better if you pair two together.
The link below will take you to Walmart, but the Home Mini is also on sale for $19 at Best Buy, Target and several other stores.
Read our Google Home Mini review.
Have you found any other great Black Friday deals for under $30 that are worth sharing? Tell us about them in the comments!
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CNET Holiday Gift Guide 2019
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Originally published earlier.
