The best perk about Amazon devices is the price. What the company’s tablets lack in power, they make up for by being so cheap it’s almost too good to be true—especially when they’re on sale like they are right now. Kindles are a slightly different story. They’re more expensive and go on sale less often, making them an even better deal.
The best time to buy any Amazon device is Prime Day, when they’re usually about half off, but right now Fire Tablets and Kindles are 30 percent off, which is about as good of a deal as you’ll find outside of Prime Day. Be sure to read through our guides to finding the right Kindle and Fire Tablet to figure out which of these deals make the most sense for you.
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Kindle Deals
Kindle
Photograph: AmazonThe entry-level Kindle remains a solid ebook reader, and the latest model includes a backlight for the 6-inch E-Ink touchscreen, meaning you can read in the dark. It’s our favorite Kindle for the money. This is very close to the best price we’ve seen on the Kindle this year (it’s just $5 more than it was on Prime Day). Be sure to grab the three free months of the Kindle Unlimited deal, which gives you access to a massive library of ebooks. After the three months is up, Kindle Unlimited is $10 per month so set a reminder to cancel if you don’t want to keep it.
The Paperwhite’s higher-resolution screen and waterproofing make it an upgrade worth considering. For not a lot more money than the plain Kindle, it opens up the joys of reading in the pool, beach, and bathtub without fear. The display is flush and the device is rated IPX8, meaning it can sit in 2 meters of water for two hours. Read more about its features here.
The Kindle Kids Edition is the basic Kindle at the top of this list with some parental controls and—more importantly—Amazon’s two-year worry-free guarantee. The guarantee means should your Kids Edition Kindle go crashing down the stairs because your child decided to see if it would bounce like a slinky, Amazon will replace it. That alone is worth the extra money, but you also get a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+, which gives your children access to a vast array of kid-friendly books. After 1 year, the subscription will automatically renew at $3 a month, so be sure to set a reminder if you don’t want to keep it going.
Fire Tablet Deals
Fire HD 10
Photograph: AmazonAmazon’s latest Fire HD 10 arrived earlier this year with more RAM and a brighter screen, reaffirming it as a more capable tablet than the 8-inch version. It’s our favorite cheap tablet and the best Amazon tablet you can buy, with speedier performance, more storage, and a 10-inch HD screen that looks much nicer. The Plus model with an extra gigabyte of RAM is also on sale for $130 ($50 off), and the new productivity bundle is $210 ($90 off). The bundle includes a keyboard, along with software tailored for work, making the Fire HD 10 a more capable device—so long as you don’t use Google’s office suite, which won’t run on Amazon hardware.
While the HD 10 is nicer, the Fire HD 8 is a very capable tablet for the price. The smaller form factor is easier to hold to. It’s our preferred choice for traveling. The Plus model with extra RAM (3 gigabytes instead of 2), is the model we’d go for and it’s on sale for $80 ($30 off).
The Fire HD 8 Kids Edition is our top pick for kids under 7. It’s small enough for younger hands, and it’s padded so it won’t likely break when they drop it. Like the Kindle Kids above, you also get a no-questions-asked, two-year replacement plan, and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+.
If you’ve got older kids (about 8 and up), the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro Edition has a less bulky case and more app options. It still has plenty of parental controls in the settings.
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