Black Friday 2022: We reveal the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals that ARE worth it
Following extensive research this Black Friday, we’ve picked out the very best deals that are still live right now
Everywhere you look, there are headlines telling you that the best Black Friday deals are not as good as they first appear. Indeed, an analysis of 200 offers last Black Friday showed that 98% of the products were the same price or cheaper at another time in the year.
Here at Expert Reviews, we’re only too aware of this problem. We check every product’s price history, so that we know which deals are worth it (and which are not) and if the deal isn’t good, we simply won’t highlight it to you, our readers.
Although truly earth-shattering deals are few and far between, the good news is that if you’re planning a big purchase, there’s a strong chance you’ll find it – or something very similar – at its best price during Black Friday.
With that in mind, it’s worth browsing our main Black Friday hub if you’re trying to find the best deal in a particular product category. In this article, however, we’ll outline our favourite deals that are still live this Black Friday weekend to demonstrate that there are plenty of bargains to be had.
We’ll put the price of each deal fully in context, giving you all the info you need to decide if it’s right choice for you. Without further ado, here are our top deals that are worth it on Black Friday 2022.
Black Friday 2022: The very best deals
1. Pixel 6a – Was £400, now £260 | Buy now from Vodafone
Google’s Pixel 6a is one of our favourite mid-range phones . Our in-house smartphone expert Nathan Spendelow describes it as “providing top-notch hardware at a near unbeatable price”, and it especially stands out for the quality of its camera, which can compete with those in phones that cost more than double the price.
Reviewed at £400 this summer, it’s dropped to its all-time lowest price of £297 on Amazon. However, Vodafone has gone one better and offered it for just £250 when you buy it with a Pay As You Go SIM. The cheapest of Vodafone’s bundles is £10, bringing your total outlay to just £260. For Google’s current-gen mid-range handset, that really is a superb price.
2. Sony WF-1000XM4 – Average £190, now £159 | Buy now from Amazon
Sony’s WF-1000XM4 are our favourite overall in-ear Bluetooth earphones, but they don’t normally come cheap, costing £250 at launch last June. Since December, they’ve hovered around the £190 mark, dropping once to around £170 at the end of August. Now, for Black Friday, Amazon has cut their price to £159, which makes it the very best time to buy these superb headphones.
3. Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 – Was £630, now £499 | Buy now from Amazon
When we reviewed the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 earlier this summer, we gave it a five-star rating and our coveted Best Buy award. Our Head of Reviews Jonathan Bray wrote, “it’s powerful enough to be your main machine, small and light enough to carry around in a bag all day, has a great screen and it’s superbly well made”.
His main criticism was that the two more expensive models didn’t look as reasonable as the cheapest Surface Laptop Go 2, but that’s all changed now. The Intel Core i5 8GB RAM build was £630 at the time of writing and it’s now been cut to £499. The best price we’d seen before this was around £550, so this is another veritable bargain.
4. Sonos Roam – Was £159, now £124 | Buy now from Amazon
When we tested the Sonos Roam last spring, we gave it a glowing five-star Best Buy review. Jonathan Bray wrote “With support for every wireless music streaming service you can think of… voice assistant and AirPlay 2 support… you’ll be hard-pushed to find a more fully featured, rounded and better-sounding compact speaker than this. It’s genuinely brilliant.”
The good news is that this outstanding portable speaker has been cut to an all-time low price for Black Friday. We’ve very rarely seen it drop below £159, so its current price of £124 makes it a highly tempting prospect indeed.
5. GoPro Hero 11 – Was £400, now £348 | Buy now from GoPro
The GoPro Hero 11 Black is the best action camera we’ve tested to date and we gave it a 5-star rating and a Recommended award when we reviewed it recently.
Costing £450 at launch, GoPro subscribers have always been able to buy it for £400. However, for Black Friday, it’s been reduced further. When bought from GoPro.com, a brand new Hero 11 Black with a 12-month GoPro subscription – which includes a no-questions-asked camera replacement, among other perks – will cost you just £348, which is its lowest price to date. To take advantage of this solid saving, simply add the camera to your cart.
6. Nespresso Vertuo Next – Average £118, Now £69 | Buy now from Amazon
Nespresso’s Vertuo Next is one of our favourite pod coffee machines. When our Kitchen Editor Danielle Amato reviewed it, she gave it our Recommended award, writing “if you’re a casual coffee drinker that wants quick, tasty coffee at the touch of a button, then the Vertuo Next is a great buy”.
Costing £149 at the time of the review, it’s occasionally dropped a little below £80 but for Black Friday, it’s at an all-time low price of £69. If you’ve been considering buying a Nespresso machine, our favourite one has never been a better price.
7. Simba Hybrid Pro – 45% off | Buy now from Simba
Mattresses are one of those product categories that seem to be forever increasing in price but endlessly discounted, which can make it tricky to work out whether you’re getting a good deal or not.
When we reviewed the Simba Hybrid Pro early in 2021, it cost £1,200 in a king size and we wrote in our review that “discounts of up to 25% are not uncommon on the Simba website” – which would bring it down to £900.
Today, you can pick up the same mattress for £907 thanks to Simba’s 45% Cyber Monday discount. That’s not a saving in absolute terms, then, but it’s arguably a better deal than it looks at first glance. For starters, the trial period has been extended from 200 nights to a year, but you’ll also receive a free mattress protector. It’s certainly not earth shattering, but with inflation at nearly 10% over the last 12 months (£900 of goods in 2021 would cost £1,018 in 2022), it’s not a bad price at all.
Putting its money where its mouth is, Simba has also pledged that you won’t see the Hybrid Pro at a better price this year and that if you do, it will refund the difference. If you’ve been tempted to buy this brilliant hybrid mattress, this is certainly a good time to do so.