Best Buy's $170 Echo Studio bundle is an insanely great deal - CNET

Proof positive that Amazon isn't always the best place to buy Amazon gadgets, Best Buy currently has the craziest deal I've ever seen: Buy an Amazon Echo Studio smart speaker for $170 and get an Echo Show 5 plus a Philips Hue A19 smart bulb for free. Let that sink in a moment: $170 is $30 off the regular price and the best price ever for Amazon's biggest, baddest smart speaker. But Best Buy isn't stopping there. The retailer is throwing in $105 of free stuff when you spend $170.

Until recently, the Echo Studio was selling for the full price of $200 at Amazon, but Amazon has dropped the price to $170, and Best Buy appears to have matched it -- while continuing to include the freebies. That makes this perhaps the best deal I've ever seen on a smart speaker. The Echo Studio itself earned high marks in its CNET review, with Ty Pendlebury concluding that "the Amazon Echo Studio produces a monstrous cloud of sound that works great with action movies and spacious styles of music. It offers a lot of features, including Dolby Atmos, excellent connectivity and Fire TV hookup, for a relatively affordable price." So pair that "relatively affordable price" with an Echo Show 5 -- usually priced at $90 -- and a Philips Hue light and you're definitely in business.

The Echo Studio isn't an audiophile-grade speaker, to be sure, but it's the best one that Amazon has released in its smart speaker line, and its combination of audio and assistance features make it a really good value. I don't know why Best Buy is quite so generous at the moment -- turf war with Amazon? Massive overstock of Echo Show 5s? -- but I am not complaining. 

To make sure you're really getting the same deal I'm talking about, go to the Best Buy product page, scroll down a little and expand the Overview section. Make sure it includes the Echo Show and Hue light. Or add it to your cart and make sure all three items show up on the checkout page. This deal could expire at any time, so I'm not making any promises it'll still be here later in the week. 

By the way, if you like getting free smart speakers with a purchase, let me remind you that Best Buy is also giving away an Echo Show 5 with every 3-piece Eero mesh Wi-Fi router.   

This article was first published earlier in the week. 

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