Pay as little as $10 to protect your electronics from storm surges
This is one of those ounce-of-prevention things, because a fried TV or refrigerator will NOT be cheap to replace. PLUS: My CES report and lots more!
DISCLAIMER: Some of the links included herein are affiliate links (usually those in bold blue type), meaning if you make a purchase via one of them, I may get a small commission. I promise you, now and forever, that I won’t choose deals based on whether there’s an affiliate option available.
Greetings, everyone! Just hunkered down here in Michigan under several inches of new-fallen snow. Wherever you are, I hope you’re safe and warm — and protected against power spikes. More on that below.
A quick note: You may notice that some Amazon links now take you to a landing page, where you’ll need to click/tap to proceed. Sorry for the extra step; it’s a test of sorts. I won’t bore you with the details; I’ll just say thanks for putting up with it!
QUICK HITS
🧭 You know I love Tile item locators, which, unlike Apple AirTags, provide two-way tracking. So I also love this deal: For a limited time, Walmart has the Tile Mate 4-pack for $37.88, bringing your per-tracker cost down to just $9.47. Great buy.
CES? More like CE-Meh
That was an interesting CES… and by “interesting” I mean “meh.” I can’t point to a single new product that’s a must-have, either now or in the future. Everything felt very iterative, just slightly improved over what came before.
Transparent TVs? Um, sure, I guess. My current TV does block a window, so if I could see through it when not watching Fargo, that would be nice. And the machine that literally pulls water out of thin air? Awesome, if it ever becomes affordable.
The letters “AI” were everywhere, but I quickly got the sense that companies just pulled the word “smart” and replaced it accordingly. Hence, “smart backpack” became “AI backpack,” “smart pet collar” became “AI pet collar,” and so on. AI is going to transform the world, of that I have no doubt, but right now it’s a lot of labeling without a lot of value.
Honestly the coolest thing I saw was the Sony Afeela, a concept car made in partnership with Honda. Correction: The coolest thing I saw was the Afeela simulator, which had little to do with the car itself but displayed a jaw-dropping virtual city you could drive around in:
Remember the game Midtown Madness, which let you tool around downtown Chicago? This was like that, except the graphics were shockingly realistic. I thought I was looking at a video feed — until I spotted a couple “people” walking around. They were clearly computer-generated, but the streets, sky, buildings, other cars, and more were indistinguishable from real.
Someone told me this was generated by Unreal Engine 5, which is already responsible for some breathtaking games; here’s a quick video showing what it’s capable of. Unreal, indeed.
Stock up on surge protectors (affordable ones!) before storms fry your appliances and electronics
True story: As I was writing this yesterday, the power went out! Just briefly, thankfully, but then a short while later it flickered off/on again. A while after that, it went out for about a minute. Luckily it came back and stayed back, but, wow, talk about illustrating my point…
As you’re no doubt aware, it’s storm season. Actually, when is it not? Whether it’s snow and ice in the winter or garden-variety rain and lightning the rest of the year, you never know when the power might go out (see above).
Or when it might surge. Anytime the lights flicker, or the power drops for a second and then pops back on, it’s potentially deadly to electronics. I’ve seen this firsthand: A couple years back I lost both a soundbar and a refrigerator (!) to storm surges.
For large appliances, I recommend something like the Bseed Voltage Protector (above), which usually sells for $17 but is currently marked down to $11.89. I bought something similar after the fridge-pocalypse; I like that it has a 3-minute safety cycle to help protect against repeated power spikes.
For TVs and the like, consider this Sanus Low Profile Surge Protector ($10), which includes three protected outlets, three regular ones, and a 5-year warranty with a $25,000 insurance policy against fried electronics.
Bottom line: You don’t have to spend a lot to get decent surge protectors, but you definitely do need them as a line of defense for appliances and electronics alike.
Oh, and while we’re on the subject of storm prep, there’s a pretty exceptional deal on a power station right now: The Runhood Rallye 600 Pro drops to an all-time-low $650 with promo code 50RUNHOOD. It’s regularly $1,300!
This is the only power station I know of that has hot-swappable batteries, and this bundle includes four of them — for a total of 1,296 watt hours (Wh). You also get the adapters needed to use the batteries outside the station and Runhood’s folding solar panel for potentially limitless extra power.
Here’s my Runhood Rallye review from early last year if you’re interested; as you can see, it was $699 for the base model without the extra batteries, solar, etc.
Price mistake? The Ninja Speedi SF303 Rapid Cooker & Air Fryer is just $70 at Sam’s Club
About a year ago I reviewed the Ninja Speedi SF301 and found it a mostly great multi-purpose cooker — save for the $200 price tag. Now, the 12-in-1 appliance is down to around $130 at Amazon, or you can get a lower-tier, 10-in-1 model (the SF300) for $99 at Walmart.
But then there’s this: Sam’s Club has the Ninja Speedi SF303 for $70; it’s a 14-in-1 version that appears to be exclusive to that store. From what I can tell, the extra two functions are Reheat and Keep Warm buttons, which are far from essential but welcome all the same.
The Speedi’s claim to fame is that it can cook things like rice and noodles in the bottom and meats and such on its tray — all at the same time. Meanwhile it does steaming, slow-cooking, sauteing, bread-proofing, and lots more. I don’t love the handle-less basket or lid design, but I absolutely do love this for $70.
Not part of the club yet? Here’s a Sam’s Club 1-year Membership for $25, which is 50% off the regular price. You could buy that and the Speedi and still come out ahead of buying just the lesser model from Amazon.
Thanks for reading Deal Secrets! Questions? Comments? Hit me up on Twitter or Facebook, or shoot me an e-mail. I’ll do my best to respond to all inquiries! Want to show your support? Buy me a coffee!
ANOTHER Great listing of Great Deals! You are a Bargain Hunter’s ‘Best Friend’ Rick!
Can't find your article on Tile vs AirTag.