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Should you buy an Amazon Echo on Black Friday 2021?

It’s coming: Black Friday weekend is the time of year when people start thinking about adding exciting new smart devices to their homes. We’ve heard plenty of questions about Amazon’s Echo brand and if it’s worth shopping for. These smart speakers and smart displays bring the voice assistant Alexa to your house and allow for all kinds of innovative smart home management.

There are a lot of Echos to choose from now, including smaller versions of your bedside, central speakers to fill a room with sound, small desk companions, and larger options like the Echo Studio that pair with entertainment centers. Let’s take a look at why Black Friday Amazon Echo deals are your best opportunity to pick one!

  • Best Amazon Echo Black Friday Deals at Amazon
  • Best Amazon Echo Black Friday Deals at Best Buy
  • Best Amazon Echo Black Friday Deals at Walmart
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Black Friday is the best time to buy an Amazon Echo — but shop early deals

Amazon Echo sitting on a sidetable.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’re thinking about purchasing from an Amazon Echo we highly recommend it — but go in with a plan! There are a few important reasons Amazon Echo smart speakers pair well with the Black Friday deals.

First, Amazon tends to discount plenty of electronics, including its own Echo models. Since there are so many Echo models these days, that means a wide variety of discounts to search, allowing you to find the right combination of model and discount for your needs.

Amazon also tends to offer excellent bundle deals around Black Friday weekend. So in addition to an Echo discount, you may be able to find a discounted bundle that offers a smart bulb or a smart plug, allowing you to build out your smart home more easily.

We’ve also heard concerns about supply issues this year. While that’s true, it’s not as much of an issue with Amazon’s own products, because the company has more reason to use its powerful supply chain to ensure it has a significant number of the latest Echos available for the holidays.

Why buy an Amazon Echo?

Amazon Echo Studio Alexa Smart Speaker on a table.

Amazon Echos are some of the most popular smart speakers around, providing all of Alexa’s voice assistant capabilities. You can search the web for answers with a voice command, set reminders or schedule events, ask about anything from the weather to traffic, and play a variety of music from popular services like Spotify or Apple Music. Alexa “Skills” also span many different games, quizzes, interactive stories, walkthroughs, and guides, allowing you to find more specific solutions. You can also use Alexa to set complex smart home routines or connect with certain smart devices and control them with a quick voice command to your Echo.

All this functionality is in the basic smart speaker lines. There’s also the Echo Show line, which adds a smart touchscreen display and features prominently on our list of best smart displays you can buy. You can switch to a manual search when necessary, pop on your favorite show or cooking video on demand, turn your Echo into a family photo slideshow, open a video chat with friends or family, and a whole lot more.

Whichever option you choose, few devices pair so well with the average smart home. Other reasons an Echo is a great smart home pick include:

  1. Amazon’s Alexa has great compatibility with smart device brands. Smart devices need to support assistants like Alexa for them to connect with an Echo. This is one area where Amazon excels: Alexa has some of the broadest compatibility around — and if you’re interested in finding more Black Friday deals, Amazon makes it very clear if a device is compatible with Alexa — anything from smart bulbs and smart thermostats to microwaves and air conditioners.
  2. Echo audio quality can vary between devices, but the larger models have generally great sound that makes a perfect fit for a central location in the home and can support music for parties and more.
  3. Echos can connect with your mobile devices via Bluetooth and play their music, so you can connect both iOS and Android devices this way.
  4. Amazon has given Echos plenty of privacy measures. You can manually shut off the mics and cam whenever you want. You can also go into Alexa settings and make sure none of your voice commands are being saved, along with other options.
  5. Alexa also has plenty of other capabilities, like broadcasting a message to all Echo devices in the house or calling someone on your contact list with just a word.
  6. You can even add more services onto Echos, like Alexa Guard and Guard Plus to help watch your home while you are away — or Alexa Together, a service for aging in place with the help of friends and family.
Tyler Lacoma
Former Digital Trends Contributor
If it can be streamed, voice-activated, made better with an app, or beaten by mashing buttons, Tyler's into it. When he's not…
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