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While November tends to bring cool weather, falling leaves, and a blessed food-first holiday, it also rings in the official beginning of the holiday shopping season. While Black Friday — which has, traditionally, been the day after Thanksgiving — has long been revered for offering the biggest sales of the season, the event itself is no longer relegated to a single calendar day.
In fact, these days retailers big and small are known to stretch the Black Friday sales event out over the entire month of November. You can count The Home Depot among the major retailers going all in on Black Friday month this year, with the big box home improvement retailer indeed running deep discounts on all manner of gear through its online outlet with weeks to go before the official post-Thanksgiving bonanza.
As you’d likely expect, power tools, appliances, and homewares have been a big part of those early Black Friday discounts, including DeWalt’s free tool and battery deals. The retailer is, however, expanding the scope of the sales as the month progresses, and has recently applied some serious discounts to several items in the “Smart Home” section of its online storefront. Those sales include everything from televisions and security systems to home hubs, lighting, and thermostats. Here’s a look at a few items with discounts we think it’ll be hard for many consumers to ignore.
Ring Doorbell 2K
Few brands in the smart home arena have seen quite as meteoric a rise in the market as Ring. The company was, after all, only a few years into its existence when Amazon ponied up more than $1 billion to bring the then-startup under its ownership umbrella.
In the years since, Ring has essentially become the industry standard for doorbell cameras, with its devices now a fixture on the front doors of millions of users across the globe. Part of the draw of Ring is, of course, that the devices don’t cost an arm and a leg. If you’re shopping with The Home Depot this holiday season, prices are even more budget-friendly, with the retailer listing Ring’s Doorbell 2K for just $39.99.
The device typically lists for $99.99, by the way, with the outlet’s Black Friday deal marking a whopping 60-percent reduction in price. As far as deals go, this one will be pretty hard to beat, particularly one that features retinal 2K video with 6X enhanced zooming, WiFi and Alexa smart hub connectivity, a built-in 2-way speaker, and motion detection abilities. This is also the battery-operated model, meaning it should be an easy DIY install for users, with Ring including mounting hardware in the box. As far as the battery goes, it is rechargeable, with Ring making it easy to remove the device whenever a power-up is in order.
Sensi Smart Thermostat
While Ring has a pretty tight grip on the smart doorbell sector of the smart home market, the smart thermostat arena is a little more wide open. Such is the case that Copeland (formerly Emerson) may not be a brand name many are familiar with, even as its Sensi line of smart thermostats is regarded among the best of the major players in the market.
That fact should make The Home Depot’s Black Friday sales price on this Sensi Smart Thermostat all the more appealing to those in the market for a new platform. For the record, that sale price is a mere $89.99, with the big box retailer applying a 31-percent discount on the item to slash $40 from its original $129.99 sticker price. Yes, that’s a very appealing price for a smart home device that Lifewire recently dubbed the best in the market without a C-wire installation.
That no C-wire design makes installing the Sensi Smart Thermostat an easy DIY job for most homes. Once connected to Wi-Fi, it’s also compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, as well as Apple HomeKit on supported models with a C-wire. Yes, that Wi-Fi connection also allows users to control the thermostat’s settings remotely, and according to Copeland, the Sensi Smart Thermostat could help you save upwards of 23 percent on your HVAC bill. The brand also backs the device with a 3-year manufacturer’s warranty.
LG 55 C6 OLED 4K Ultra HD Smart TV
Many of you likely came here hoping to find high-picture-quality smart TVs with deep discounts as part of The Home Depot’s early Black Friday sales event. Sadly, there are not many of them on the list just yet, though this 55-inch LG C6 OLED model may hold you over until the smart TVs get their own Black Friday close-up.
If you’re curious, prior to the sale, The Home Depot was selling the LG TV for $1,999.99. As part of the sale, the retailer has applied a substantial 35-percent discount, bringing the pre-tax price to a reasonable $1,299.99. Call us crazy, but a $700 discount seems like a pretty good deal whether you’re shopping on Black Friday proper or a couple of weeks ahead of time.
As for the TV, it’s been deemed a solid investment by many THD shoppers, as well as the pro reviewers over at TechRadar. The device is powered by LG’s Gen3 Alpha 11 AI Processor, which the brand claims is its most powerful AI engine for enhanced picture and speed. It should also allow you to personalize your viewing experience in ways not possible with past models. Along with various viewing modes, the TV delivers 8.3 million self-lit smart pixels with Perfect Black and Perfect Color technology to viewers, as well as a variable refresh rate of up to 165Hz, NVIDIA G-Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, and a 0.1ms response for the gamers.
Ring Floodlight Cam 2K
Given Ring’s status in the smart home market, it should hardly come as a shock that the Amazon-owned brand placed two items on this list. In fact, there are several other Ring-branded products showing notable discounts as part of The Home Depot’s early Black Friday event. Like the Doorbell 2K, however, this Floodlight Camera 2K has one of the biggest, with THD marking it down by 50% for the holiday season.
If you’d prefer that number in proper dollars and cents, the smart home device typically sells for $199.99, with the deep discount bringing the price down to just $99.99. For that price, homeowners and business owners may be tempted to purchase more than one and give their properties a serious security makeover. If you’re among that lot, the only bad news about Ring’s Floodlight Cameras is that they require hardwiring to function. Apart from that, they’re packing some security features that should be appealing to anyone in need.
That includes the ability to cast 2,000 lumens over the immediate area, and yes, the floods are indeed motion-activated. So too is the camera attached to those floodlights, which also features Retinal 2K video and 6x enhanced zooming features. Likewise, the camera is equipped with live views and 2-way talk through the Ring app. If you’re curious, users seem particularly happy with the lights as well, rating them 4.8 stars on the product’s THD page.
SimpliSafe Smart Home Security System
If you are serious about upgrading the security of your home or office space, The Home Depot does have a couple of full systems available in the smart home section of its early Black Friday sale. As far as discounts go, however, this SimpliSafe system boasts one of the more significant reductions, with THD marking it down by 57%.
That discount brings the pre-tax cost down from $229.99 to just $99.99, begging the question of what, exactly, shoppers get at that budget-friendly price point. This is a full-home set that comes with seven pieces of SimpliSafe smart home tech, including a base station, one motion sensor, one keypad, three entryway sensors, and a key fob with a built-in panic button for remote activation. That is a fair amount of gear for just under $100.
For the record, all of that gear can be installed without drilling, tools, or hardwiring. That includes the base station, which connects all of the other devices and is equipped with a 95-decibel siren to alert homeowners when something is wrong. It’s also got a 24-hour battery backup and can connect to Wi-Fi and cellular networks when needed. The entryway sensors can be applied to either windows or doors, and you can purchase additional SimpliSafe sensors to connect to the network. Best of all, the set can function as a basic home security system without a monthly subscription, though you can add professional monitoring and other features with SimpliSafe if you prefer.
