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New York Times
2 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
The Best Data Removal Service Can Help You Scrub Your Internet Presence
Michael Hession/NYT Wirecutter By Max Eddy Max Eddy is a writer who has covered privacy and security—including password managers, VPNs, security keys, and more—for over a decade. Updated June 27, 2025 If you've ever Googled yourself — who hasn't? — you've probably found your personal information for sale on websites belonging to data brokers. These companies collect phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, and even information on family members, and then sell your information to anyone willing to pay. You can manually submit opt-out requests to data brokers yourself, but there are hundreds of them. Data removal services do the heavy lifting for you — for a price. After testing nine services, we've concluded that the set-it-and-forget-it design and reasonable pricing of DeleteMe make it the best choice for most people. Our budget pick, EasyOptOuts, has fewer features, but for $20 a year, it provides a cheap and easy way to improve your online privacy. DeleteMe is easy to set up and even easier to use: For $129 a year, you receive periodic reports on what data it has removed on your behalf, but otherwise it does the work for you. The most interaction you'll have with a data removal service is when you enter your data, and DeleteMe does an excellent job of streamlining this process. It's comprehensive — covering names, addresses, and even relatives — but flexible enough that you don't need to remember every little detail to reap the benefits. Once you've done your part, you might never need to interact with it again. DeleteMe sends periodic reports that list what information it found and what steps it took to remove your data. EasyOptOuts matches its barebones design with an affordable annual price. It's the cheapest data removal service we've tested, and it gets the job done. EasyOptOuts is a less flexible service than others we tested, and it provides minimal information about the data it has removed on your behalf. But the price, just $20 a year, makes it easy to overlook this basic service's limitations. If you're interested in getting your personal information off the internet but reluctant to pay the high price of other services, EasyOptOuts is a solid option. Explore all articles I'm a senior staff writer at Wirecutter, covering security, privacy, and software. I have reviewed products designed to safeguard online privacy for 13 years. For this guide: I researched 16 data removal services and enrolled with nine of them, granting them as much information as they requested. I personally evaluated those services over a period of two months. I designed a long-term testing experiment to evaluate the efficacy of data removal services. Five Wirecutter staffers will be using the services for at least a year to inform our recommendations. Anyone concerned about their online privacy may benefit from a data removal service. If you type your name with 'address' or 'phone number' into a search engine, there's a good chance you'll find data brokers who have your personal information for sale. Although you can sometimes manually request that these brokers take your information down, doing so is a tedious process that you need to repeat for each data broker. Data removal services promise to handle the nitty-gritty of removing your information from data broker sites for a fee. They also keep looking for your data across the galaxy of data brokers and continue filing removal requests as long as you pay for the service. But even using a data removal service doesn't completely scrub your online identity. A representative of EasyOptOuts told us that data brokers may repost information that has been taken down, though whether that happens is unpredictable. The rep also told us that the company doesn't believe its service will lead to people getting fewer spam calls, so set your expectations accordingly. Also, not every data removal service is available to customers outside the US — DeleteMe is available in 11 other countries, but EasyOptOuts is US-only. Data brokers aren't the only source for your personal information. Many people routinely provide lots of information about themselves on social media platforms, which use that data to serve targeted ads. Advertisers, like data brokers, are keen to learn as much as they can about you, and they use a variety of tools to try to track you between websites, which is why we recommend using a tracker blocker such as Privacy Badger. Once you start taking control of your personal information with a data removal service, build on that momentum to start improving your security hygiene, too. Using a password manager and enabling two-factor authentication wherever it's available are two easy ways to make yourself safer online. Share this article with a friend. We considered the following criteria when making our picks: A standalone tool: Some data removal services are bundled together with other tools, such as VPNs and antivirus. Although such packages might provide subscribers with more utility, we focused on companies that provided data removal services without additional, questionably useful features tacked on. Some data removal services are bundled together with other tools, such as VPNs and antivirus. Although such packages might provide subscribers with more utility, we focused on companies that provided data removal services without additional, questionably useful features tacked on. Easy, flexible data entry: The most interaction you'll have with a data removal service is giving it your personal information, so the ideal data removal service should make this process as painless as possible. We preferred services that are flexible enough to use whatever information you can provide and do not reject incomplete information. The most interaction you'll have with a data removal service is giving it your personal information, so the ideal data removal service should make this process as painless as possible. We preferred services that are flexible enough to use whatever information you can provide and do not reject incomplete information. Reasonable price: You can subscribe to a data removal service for as little as $20 a year or as much as $300, with significantly higher pricing for additional features and family accounts. We gave preference to services that met our minimum criteria at an affordable price. Data removal service Cost per year Family discount or plan EasyOptOuts $20 None Incogni $99 $198 per year for four people DuckDuckGo Privacy Pro $100 None Mozilla Monitor $108 None Kanary Copilot $120 50% off family members' accounts DeleteMe $129 $229 per year for two people, $329 per year for four people Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover $100 $233-per-year Multi-device Ultimate bundle for two adults and up to 10 children; also includes antivirus, VPN, and other tools Privacy Bee $197 None Optery $249 (tiered pricing; custom removals available at this tier) 20% discount for two, 25% for three, 30% for four or more accounts Transparency: We gave preference to data removal services that showed what they found and when it was removed. We gave preference to data removal services that showed what they found and when it was removed. Custom removal: Your information can pop up in surprising places, which is why a data removal service should ideally have a system for customers to report sightings of their information online and have the company investigate whether it can be removed. Your information can pop up in surprising places, which is why a data removal service should ideally have a system for customers to report sightings of their information online and have the company investigate whether it can be removed. Number of data brokers covered: With rare exception, most data removal services say they cover at least 100 data brokers. This is a very difficult figure to verify independently and as such we don't consider this to be the most important criterion. If the data removal company can prove that it found your information and removed it, and if it offers custom removals, the actual number of data brokers doesn't matter as much. With rare exception, most data removal services say they cover at least 100 data brokers. This is a very difficult figure to verify independently and as such we don't consider this to be the most important criterion. If the data removal company can prove that it found your information and removed it, and if it offers custom removals, the actual number of data brokers doesn't matter as much. Trustworthy security practices: You need to provide an enormous amount of personal information to a data removal service in order for it to track down and remove your data. The company, in turn, must explain what measures it uses to protect your data, and it should not sell your information for profit. When setting up our accounts, we provided as much information as possible to the data removal service. In most cases, this included names and variations of names, a birthdate, current and previous addresses, and email addresses. A few services requested more information, such as the names of relatives, and some asked for a limited power of attorney and a redacted copy of a driver's license. We evaluated each service not only on its ease of setup but also on how flexible it was. For example: Some services required a full address and would not accept a partial one. That's needlessly restrictive and annoying if you don't remember the precise house number for a place you lived at 15 years ago. Once the data removal services started their work, we evaluated the breadth of information they provided to customers; the best services report where they've found your personal information, as well as what action they've taken. We also looked at what actions companies expected customers to take. Lastly, we read each service's privacy policy and contacted companies as necessary to better understand how they operated and what they did to protect customers. We culled the list of finalists to five: DeleteMe, EasyOptOuts, Incogni, Optery, and Privacy Bee. In March 2025 we recruited Wirecutter staffers to embark on a year-long journey to test each one long-term. Each person is tracking what information their assigned service says it has taken down each month. Our testers are also regularly searching for their information on a set of five data brokers that all of these data removal services claim to cover. We will continue to update this guide with their findings. I Tried, and Failed, to Disappear From the Internet You don't have to pay for a data removal service in order to get data brokers to take down your data. You can start by simply searching for your name and 'address' or 'phone number,' and browsing the results. Sites that claim to have your information should also have an option to request that it be removed; this usually involves filling out forms, responding to emails, and sometimes providing more personal information in order to prove who you are. Most of the data removal services we tested include detailed instructions to remove your data from specific data broker sites. Some, like DeleteMe and Optery, perform a free scan to start you off in finding the companies selling your data. Others, such as Kanary Copilot and Consumer Reports's Permission Slip, help identify data brokers and streamline removal requests, but you still do the bulk of the work. Alternatively, you can skip engaging with data brokers and instead try to have search results that contain your personal information suppressed. Google's Results About You tool generates reports about sites that might have your personal information and allows you to request that such sites be removed from search results. Even after I had most of my data removed from broker websites, Results About You still found and removed several results that listed my information. However, the data brokers still have my data — it's just not as easy to find. DeleteMe for MacOS DeleteMe is easy to set up and even easier to use: For $129 a year, you receive periodic reports on what data it has removed on your behalf, but otherwise it does the work for you. With a successful track record that stretches back more than a decade, DeleteMe may well be the original data removal service. The company offers a comprehensive and hands-off approach to removing your data, and we specifically appreciate the breadth of information that DeleteMe covers and its flexibility regarding how much information you provide. DeleteMe's high-quality experience and thoughtful design make it stand out from the rest, even services that cover more data brokers. Setting up your account is painless and comprehensive. DeleteMe, like other data removal services, requires you to enter your legal name and several variations on it at setup. We really liked that it frequently needed only partial information, such as the city and state, but not street, of previous addresses. That's great, because we couldn't remember every place we've lived over the past two decades. Some data brokers, on the profiles they construct about you, list people they think are related to you, so we liked that DeleteMe was one of the very few data removal services that let us include information on family members in our profile. DeleteMe doesn't remove relatives' information (at least, not without a family plan), but this information might improve its results. DeleteMe does have two requirements that might scare some new users: It asks that you grant it a limited power of attorney and upload a redacted photo of an ID, such as a driver's license. The former allows the company to act on your behalf; it's restricted to data removal activities, and you can revoke it at any time. The latter ensures that you are who you say you are, and DeleteMe includes tools for removing your ID number in its uploader. Five of the nine data removal services we tested asked for a limited power of attorney, but only DeleteMe and Optery asked for a state ID. You never have to interact with it again — if you don't want to. Once you set up DeleteMe, you don't need to do anything else. Within seven days you receive your first report detailing what DeleteMe has done on your behalf. The company then emails you fresh reports quarterly on what it has found or removed, and it occasionally asks permission to add a new data broker to search (you should grant that permission). If you want to log in more frequently, you can view a large, colorful chart that DeleteMe updates with how much information it has removed on your behalf, and you can browse old reports, too. It offers additional tools that can keep your information out of data brokers' hands. You can create masked emails that automatically forward to your primary email address, which you can use to sign up for services and then abandon if they become overwhelmed with spam. You can also create masked phone numbers that forward to your real phone number, which gives you an additional layer of privacy, though they cost $7 per number. The DeleteMe Search Yourself tool lets you run Google searches and then mark the results as something you want to keep, something you want removed, or something that's not related to you. (Privacy Bee has a similar Manage Trust tool, but DeleteMe's is easier to understand.) You can also submit custom removal requests, in a separate form. DeleteMe is reasonably priced, compared with the competition. Across the data removal services we looked at, we found an average annual cost of about $118 — just a few dollars less than DeleteMe's $129-per-year price tag. If you decide to cancel your subscription, DeleteMe will prorate the cost and refund you. DeleteMe also offers a repeatable free scan of data brokers and includes numerous DIY guides that can help you send your own take-down requests. Flaws but not dealbreakers It doesn't show much proof of its work. Optery includes detailed screenshots of the data brokers that are selling your information, and it updates those frequently. In contrast, DeleteMe has a more hands-off approach: It sends you quarterly reports listing the sites and types of information for sale but offers no screenshots to back that up. It doesn't cover as many data brokers as other services do. On its website, DeleteMe lists hundreds of data brokers it searches and sends removal requests to, but if you subtract all the ones that are limited to corporate-account tiers or special requests, the list shrinks to about 100. Optery and Privacy Bee cover 635 and 914 brokers, respectively, but also cost significantly more. However, you can ask DeleteMe to take down other information you come across using the custom removal request option. Does covering more data brokers necessarily give you better results? That's something we'll be looking at in our long-term testing. Set-and-forget means you won't get much feedback. We think most people would prefer a service that demands very little time and attention, but DeleteMe's approach does come at the cost of your knowing what it's up to. Kanary Copilot, Optery, and many other data removal services show a stream of new information about where your data is and what the company is doing about it. With DeleteMe, you have to trust the process. EasyOptOuts EasyOptOuts matches its barebones design with an affordable annual price. It's the cheapest data removal service we've tested, and it gets the job done. EasyOptOuts offers a simple, low-risk way to try a data removal service. It's far cheaper than the other services we tested, and although it doesn't give you as many features, its low price makes it a solid, entry-level option to start removing your data from the internet. It's so cheap. EasyOptOuts costs $20 per year — not per month, per year. That's a fraction of the cost of our top pick. Just about anyone can afford to sign up. It's a set-and-forget experience. Like DeleteMe, EasyOptOuts doesn't give you real-time updates on where it has found your data. Three times a year, it sends you an email listing the data brokers that EasyOptOuts found with your information, as well as the companies that it has asked to remove your data. These reports aren't even available on the EasyOptOuts site, so be sure not to miss any in your inbox. EasyOptOut's website lists 111 data brokers it covers. That's less than most of the other services we tested but a bit more than DeleteMe's core offering. EasyOptOuts also lists 26 additional data brokers that the company claims are downstream from brokers it does cover, and says that your information will likely disappear from them, as well. The company says that you can email requests for the service to look at a specific data broker. DeleteMe's custom removal request system is more robust. EasyOptOuts told us that it uses an entirely automated system for removing customer data. Its FAQ page notes that one major data broker uses 'an opt-out process that [EasyOptOuts] can't support.' We'll be curious to see if this automated approach yields good results in our long-term testing. Flaws but not dealbreakers The low price comes at the cost of features and flexibility. The reports from EasyOptOuts are extremely light reading. They don't even include what information it found (which DeleteMe reports) or screenshots (which Optery provides). Although you can email and request that EasyOptOuts look at a particular data broker, the company told us that its system is entirely automated, so we're skeptical that this could be as effective as the custom removal requests that other companies offer. Entering information isn't as easy as with our top pick. It's tricky to enter your information into EasyOptOuts, because the service places annoying limits on name variations and requires complete addresses. EasyOptOuts told us that it hasn't undergone any third-party audits. That isn't a dealbreaker, but we would like to see the company invest in more ways to prove its trustworthiness to customers. DeleteMe has undergone third-party audits of both its internal security practices and its financials. Share this article with a friend. We found a lot to like about Optery. Its tiered pricing is flexible for tight budgets, and it lets you choose between providing additional information or having it search only a smaller (but still large) pool of data brokers. Optery is also one of the few data removal services that show screenshots of data broker sites as proof that those brokers hold your information. It does come at a cost, however: Although pricing starts at $39 a year, you need to pay $249 to get custom removals. We prefer our top pick. We like the slick look of DuckDuckGo Privacy Pro. We also appreciate that it stores the personal information you provide on your computer, not on DuckDuckGo's servers. At $100 a year, Privacy Pro is reasonably priced, but it's bundled with other services that you may not use, so judging its value was harder for us. Also, you must have the DuckDuckGo browser installed to use it. Still, if you're particularly privacy-conscious, you might want to take a look at this service — but only if you need a bundle. If there's an 800-pound gorilla among data removal services, it's Privacy Bee. For $197 a year, this company searches for your data across a staggering 914 data brokers. However, we found Privacy Bee's interface overwhelming and its system for trusting some companies with your data questionably useful. Its account-setup process leaves a lot to be desired, too. Permission Slip by Consumer Reports is an iPhone-only app that gamifies managing your data with a Tinder-style interface and provides templates for you to easily send removal requests to companies that sell your information. It doesn't search for your data as other services do, so it isn't a data removal service in the same sense as our top pick, but it does walk you through how to send data removal requests to many sites and companies that aren't traditional data brokers, such as Wendy's and Slack. If you pay $60 a year, it will blast out removal requests to a preset list of 100 data brokers and have a human fill out 25 removal requests on your behalf. Our top pick is more comprehensive. Surfshark VPN is behind Incogni, a well-designed service that costs $99 a year, but that price increases to $180 when you add the option for unlimited custom removals. Incogni's most compelling offer is its family plan, which covers five people for $198. We like the detail that Incogni provides about where it has found your data and what it has done, but our top pick is cheaper and easier to use. Kanary Copilot is an unusual service that requires you to download the iPhone app to create an account, but after you've created it, you can access it from any web browser. Like Permission Slip, Kanary Copilot is adept at helping you better control who has your data and provides much of its service for free, but as with that service, we disliked having to take action on our own to get data removed. We like its design and ease of setup, but Malwarebytes Personal Data Remover does only so much automatically — to address everything the service found, we had to follow the included instructions to request the data removal ourselves. If you're keen on privacy or a fan of Firefox, Mozilla Monitor seems like an easy choice, but this service is not what it seems. The data removal services under Mozilla Monitor's hood are provided by OneRep, whose founder has admitted to also founding several data brokers. Mozilla has pledged to find a new vendor, but at this writing OneRep is still powering Mozilla Monitor. This article has been updated to clarify EasyOptOut's compatibility with major data brokers. This article was edited by Caitlin McGarry and Jason Chen.
New York Times
2 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Sharpening Your Knives Incorrectly Can Damage Their Blades. Here's How to Do It Right.
Before you sharpen your knife, it's important to know its material, its unique shape, and the angle in which to sharpen it. The material determines how often you have to sharpen a knife, the difficulty of the task, and what type of sharpener you should use. Chelsea Miller, a knife forger whose knives have been used in the dining rooms of Michelin-starred restaurants like Eleven Madison Park, explained, 'Carbon steel or high-carbon steel knives are generally easier to sharpen at home, whereas stainless steel knives — the most common manufactured type — are more difficult to sharpen freehand.' (Freehand sharpening is when you sharpen a blade without a guided system and instead use something like a whetstone or a manual, handheld sharpener. These methods usually don't offer the ability to adjust the angle.) Knowing the type of steel a blade is made from helps determine how frequently it needs to be sharpened. Michael Hession/NYT Wirecutter High-carbon steel knives contain a higher carbon content than stainless steel, which generally makes them harder, stronger, and easier to achieve a keener edge than stainless steel knives. High-carbon steel knives are also easier to sharpen than stainless steel ones; it takes less effort to remove metal during sharpening due to its iron-carbide-rich composition. But they may require more routine maintenance since they're also less wear-resistant and can develop patina over time. And then there's high-carbon stainless steel, which we recommend in our guide to the best knife sets. It combines the best aspects of high-carbon steel and stainless steel in one, so it's strong, able to hold an edge well, and less prone to rusting, but it's typically pricier. You can expect to have to sharpen it less frequently than a high-carbon steel blade. Once you know the blade's material and how often you need to sharpen it, you can move on to determining the blade's shape and angle, so you can ensure the knife maintains its unique qualities to perform its intended job after it's sharpened. Navigating sharpening instructions is easier when you know the anatomy of a knife. NYT Wirecutter There are two key blade factors to consider before you start sharpening: its grind (the cross-sectional shape) and edge (the shape of the cutting surface, or the bevel). The most common kitchen blade grind is flat ground; that means the blade, generally speaking, tapers from the spine to the edge, and the cross-section forms a V- or a wedge-like shape, much like our budget-pick chef's knife, the Victorinox Swiss Classic Chef's Knife. (For a true full-flat grind knife, opt for a Japanese gyuto knife, like our runner-up chef's knife, the Tojiro F-808, which has a much thinner V-shaped blade than that of Western-style chef's knives.) Another popular grind is hollow ground, a blade with a concave edge that, depending on the knife, can start on the edge and slope all the way up to the spine. This isn't as popular among kitchen knives, but is common among pocket knives, like our top pick, the CRKT Drifter. The most common cutting edges among kitchen knives are typically V-edge (symmetrical edge bevels that form a 'V' shape) and compound beveled edge (a V-edge featuring multiple-edge bevels, like double bevels, which enhance cutting performance), such as the Tojiro F-808. Western knives usually have double bevels, meaning both sides of the blade angle towards the center. While many Japanese knives typically feature a single bevel, where one side of the blade is angled and the other remains flat, double-bevel variations are available as well, like the F-808. Sharpening a knife — especially one designed for a specific task — at the wrong angle can severely alter its performance. 'Say you're using a boning knife whose angle was manufactured for that task, and you start sharpening it to another angle — like one more geared towards cutting vegetables rather than deboning a fish — you can completely change the angle and its performance,' Miller said. You can generally find the appropriate angle to sharpen a knife via the manufacturer, either on their website or in a booklet provided at the time of purchase. However, if the information is unavailable, Miller recommends following general guidelines based on the shape of your knife. Most standard types of knives — like a chef's knife or paring knife — share similar angles regardless of the manufacturer. Miller also recommended examining an edge by carefully holding a knife straight out in front of you, perpendicular to your eyes, and getting a good look straight down the knife's edge. She said you should analyze from tip to heel and from heel to tip to get a better idea of the adequate sharpening angle. Carefully look down the knife's edge to analyze the blade's angle. Repeat the process from tip to heel and heel to tip. (Squinting one eye can help make it easier to see.) Maki Yazawa/NYT Wirecutter
New York Times
11-07-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
It's the Last Day to Shop Prime Day, and We're Still Finding New Deals
Photo: Clixo Clixo Rainbow Pack (42-Piece) — Gift Pick Amazon deal price: $48 ; street price: $60 What we like: A magnetic building toy gift pick for 5-year-olds. Like Magna-Tiles but bendy. Flexible magnetic pieces bend to form curved structures and jointed, movable creations (instead of castles and cubes). Pieces snap together with a satisfying click. Other things to know: The 42-piece pack has a variety of brightly colored, differently shaped pieces. Pieces stack together for efficient cleanup. Recurring deal. Read more: The 41 Best Gifts for 5-Year-Olds Michael Hession/NYT Wirecutter Viofo A229 Pro Dash Cam (2-Channel) — Top Pick Amazon deal price: $240 ; street price: $340 What we like: Our top dash cam pick delivers crisp, super-high-res 4K footage day and night. Offers 24-hour parked-car monitoring, GPS, and voice control. Heat-friendly supercapacitor instead of a battery. Able to read other cars' license plates in the widest variety of conditions. Other things to know: 2.4-inch screen. Easy to install and use with feature-filled app. MicroSD card recommended but not included (you'll need about 25 GB of storage per hour of footage). Read more: The Best Dash Cam Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Witchcraft! Board Game — Top Pick Amazon deal price: $20 ; street price: $24 What we like: A card-placement top pick in our solo board game guide. Puts you in the role of a coven of witches in a fictional 18th-century town. Your goal is to protect your neighbors from eldritch horrors without being convicted of witchcraft. Fairly straightforward but adds a layer of theming and design that brings more immersion and choice. Other things to know: Games take about 30 minutes. Read more: The Best Solo Board Games Connie Park/NYT Wirecutter CosRX Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence — Staff Pick Amazon deal price: $13; street price: $18 What we like: A clear snail mucin concentrate we like that smooths and soothes. Made of 96% snail-secretion filtrate. Thicker than a watery essence, more like a serum. Absorbs quickly. One or two pumps hydrates and primes skin, creating a glassy K-beauty complexion. Doesn't pill under makeup. Other things to know: Yes, this is the sticky stuff secreted by live snails. Studies suggest snail mucin may improve skin's overall hydration, texture, and elasticity. The gloopy texture and animal origins may be turnoffs for some. Deal is fine for a single bottle; however, we have seen better value on deals on the two-pack. Read more: The Best Korean Skin Care Products Connie Park/NYT Wirecutter Herschel Classic Backpack XL — Top Pick Woot deal price: $40 (deal on navy or ash rose); street price: $65 What we like: Our top pick for the best classic backpack for college and high school students. An unfussy, functional bag with retro-inspired styling. Extra-roomy. Straps are flexible, nicely padded, and easy to adjust. Durable fabric is made from recycled post-consumer water bottles. Other things to know: No organizational features. Laptop sleeve offers minimal protection. Somewhat water-resistant. Comfy, but not the most ergonomic. Herschel recently issued a slightly larger redesigned version, but we haven't tested yet. A decent drop on neutral color options. Available in as rose for $37, or navy for $40. Read more: The Best Backpacks for College and High School Students Photo: Marki Williams Chef'n FreshForce Citrus Press Juicer — Our Pick Amazon deal price: $13 (deal on green); street price: $20 What we like: Our pick for the best citrus juice squeezer. Thanks to its unique ergonomic design, it outperformed other models we tested when it came to ease of use and overall experience. Dual-pressure geared hinge takes the load off of your arms and hands. Built-in strainer keeps seeds at bay. Other things to know: Made of heavy plastic, with an unpainted metal cup. Most of the bartenders we interviewed preferred hand press juicers to other models. Too small to fit an orange or a grapefruit. Available at the deal price in green. Read more: The Best Citrus Juicer Connie Park/NYT Wirecutter Braun MultiQuick 7 Immersion Hand Blender MQ7035 — Top Pick Amazon deal price: $75; street price: $100 What we like: Our top immersion blender pick. Offers better control over blending soup and smoothies. Powerful motor and a unique blade. Easy to adjust speed with a firm press of the control button. Comfortable to use one-handed. Outperformed more expensive Braun models in our tests. Other things to know: Comes with whisk and chopping attachments, but they require some finesse. Read more: The Best Immersion Blender Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Anisa Pinnacle Foundation Brush — Worth Considering Amazon deal price: $27; street price: $38 What we like: Another foundation brush worth considering. A favorite of some panelists. Has quality bristles and the density for blending out cream and liquid foundation. Unusual triangular domed brush head was good for getting into corners, but was also wide enough to cover larger areas. Other things to know: The weighted handle was controversial among our testers: Some loved the tapered, grabbable shape, while others found it too big and bulky. Read more: The Best Makeup Brushes Photo: Elissa Sanci FHI Heat UNbrush — Staff Pick Amazon deal price: $10 (deal on yellow); street price: $16 What we like: A buzzy-worthy hairbrush that's actually a great detangler. Lightweight. Square head with bristles aligned in even rows allows hair to travel through straight pathways no matter the angle at which you hold the brush. Works through tangles gently with minimal scalp tugging. Other things to know: Won't magically detangle your hair, but it will make the process less painful. On the pricier side. Deal price available in sunburst yellow. Read more: We Tested the Viral UNbrush on 4 Different Hair Types. It's Actually a Great Detangler. Michael Hession/NYT Wirecutter Hero Cosmetics Mighty Patch Original Patch (216-Count) — Staff Pick Woot deal price: $25 (use promo code SAVETEN, free shipping for Prime members); street price: $60 What we like: A quick pimple remedy we like in our drugstore beauty guide. Round, translucent hydrocolloid stickers. Help heal zits and prevent below-the-surface pimples from erupting by absorbing fluid and protecting blemishes from bacteria. Other things to know: Also a useful reminder if you have trouble keeping hands off a pimple. Not as fun as cuter, more sticker-y options out there, but very effective. Deal is for three packs of 72 patches (216 total). Ships free for Prime members, use promo code SAVETEN to get the best deal price. Read more: The Best Drugstore Makeup, Skin Care, and Other Beauty Products Sarah Witman/NYT Wirecutter Paddywax Zapper Electric Candle Lighter — Staff Pick Amazon deal price: $14 (with clipped on-page coupon, deal on gold); street price: $27 What we like: A sleek-looking flameless lighter staff pick. Rechargeable. Like other electric lighters, produces an arc of hot plasma instead of an actual flame, so it can't 'blow out' like traditional lighters or matches do in wind. Other things to know: Nearly identical to the Suprus lighter, our staff favorite, but typically costs more and charges via Micro-USB cable (included) rather than USB-C. Deal price available for gold with clipped on-page coupon. Read more: I Was Surprised by How Much I Liked These Electric Lighters EcoFlow Delta 2 Max Portable Power Station — Worth Considering Amazon deal price: $900; street price: $1,400 What we like: A portable power station worth considering with a longer warranty than our upgrade pick's. Visually identical to our upgrade pick. Has six grounded AC outlets, two USB-C ports, and two USB-A ports. Comes with cables to recharge itself from a wall outlet, car power socket, or solar panel. Sturdily built, with two ergonomic handles for lifting, a flat top for stacking, and protective rubber feet. Other things to know: Slightly heavier than our upgrade pick at 50.7 pounds. Rated capacity of 2,048 Wh and rated output of 1,800 W. Made by a brand we trust with good customer support. Backed by a five-year warranty. Read more: The Best Portable Power Station Women's Whitney Weejuns Loafers — Guest Pick deal price: $100 (deal on black/white or whiskey/white); street price: $150 What we like: A pair of old-school loafers recommended as a wardrobe staple by RHONYC star Jenna Lyons, former president and executive creative director of She loves adding a loafer to dress up an outfit, and recommended this pair from 'old-school' brand Bass, established in 1876. They're hand-stitched, with a leather sole, and come in many colors. Other things to know: If you buy loafers, "buy a pair of really good ones and break them in,' Lyons told us. These can be resoled, which means they can have a long life in your wardrobe. We've seen them in plain black for less, but the black/white and whiskey/white colorways are notably stylish. (They are also available for $100 in navy and tan, although those colors are FINAL SALE). Read more: Jenna Lyons Knows How to Find Quality Clothing. Here's Her Staple Wardrobe. The majority of Prime Day deals will end at midnight PT on Friday, July 11. However, that's not the case for every deal. Some shorter-run deals, like lightning deals, have already come to an end. Other deals will sell out before their slated end time, effectively ending them for shoppers hoping to snag a discount. We've also observed that some deals last beyond the official end of the Prime Day event. These are often Amazon algorithmic price matches that weren't intended to be part of the official Prime sale, but went on sale anyway when another retailer dropped a competing discount. If you're certain you need a product and you're comfortable with the sale price, buying sooner rather than later can help hedge against early-ending sale pricing or sellouts. Here are all of the best Amazon Prime Day deals, as curated by Wirecutter's meticulous team of journalists. Out of the hundreds of deals we've shared, these 44 deals have been the most popular with Wirecutter readers. With these Wirecutter-approved picks under $100, you don't have to spend a lot to get a good deal this Amazon Prime Day. The Wirecutter Deals Team
New York Times
09-07-2025
- New York Times
The Best New Deals We've Found on Day 2 of Prime Day
Michael Hession/NYT Wirecutter; food styling by Rachel Michael A-Sha Meteor Noodles With Danzai Sauce (12-Pack) — Top Pick Amazon deal price: $22 (pack of twelve); street price: $27 What we like: One of our saucy instant noodle top picks. We loved this ramen's balance of sweet shallots and a meaty sauce coating thick, bouncy noodles. It was a near-unanimous favorite of our testers. The 'meteor noodles' are ovoid-shaped, with laser cuts intended to absorb extra sauce. Other things to know: We can't say for certain whether those laser cuts work as intended. Vegan-friendly. 1,250 mg per serving. Contains wheat and soy. Deal for a pack of twelve. Read more: The Best Instant Noodles Photo: Marki Williams ThruNite Archer 2A C Flashlight — Top Pick Amazon deal price: $30 ; street price: $40 What we like: Our top pick for the best flashlight. Waterproof and compact (picture a thick Crayola marker). Stands upright on its end. Wide range of brightness settings. Included rechargeable battery makes the brighter settings more powerful. Can also be powered by two AA batteries. Other things to know: Very similar to our previous top pick (the 2A V3 model, now our runner-up pick), but is also compatible with its included rechargeable battery. Battery needs to be removed from the flashlight in order to charge. Flimsy belt clip. Read more: The Best Flashlight Michael Hession/NYT Wirecutter Keychron V5 Max Mechanical Keyboard (Banana Switch) — Top Pick Amazon deal price: $65 (deal on Banana Switch); street price: $115 What we like: The best 1800-layout mechanical keyboard. Provides all the keys of a full-size keyboard in a significantly more-compact layout. Sturdy case, durable PBT keycaps, and smooth lubricated stabilizers. Wired, wireless USB dongle, and Bluetooth connectivity. Other things to know: Comes with Windows and Mac keycaps, and swapping between the two layouts is easy. Very limited one-year warranty. Less aesthetically flexible than others. Nonstandard right Shift, bottom-row, and number-pad keys—something to look out for if you replace your keycaps. Banana switches, which are slightly stiffer and snappier. Brown switches available for $10 more, which is still a great deal. New low. Read more: The Best Keyboards REI REI Co-op 650 Down Vest - Women's — Budget Pick REI deal price: $50 (with store pickup or REI membership, deal on olive or cream); street price: $100 What we like: Our budget insulated vest pick. As warm as or warmer than all but our top pick. Half the price of our picks. Stylish and well-constructed. Spacious outer pockets. Comes in a variety of sizes. Ideal for commuting, urban walks, and the occasional outdoor adventure. Repels water well. Packable, durable and made of ethically-sourced down. Other things to know: Zippers aren't as sturdy as our top pick, and may get caught on the fabric. Select store pickup or add to an order of $60 or more to avoid shipping fees. REI members get free shipping. Deal on olive and cream. Read more: The Best Insulated Vest Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Jarkyfine Large Window Bird Feeder — Gift Pick Amazon deal price: $19 ; street price: $22 What we like: A bird feeder recommended in multiple Wirecutter gift guides. Mounts to the outside of a window with strong suction cups. A roomy acrylic structure readily accommodate multiple avian visitors. Gives a close of view of feeding birds. Squirrel-proof. Other things to know: Surprisingly enjoyable for the whole family, including pets. It can get messy, but it's easy to clean. Add a bag of birdseed, and you have an inexpensive gift that nearly anyone will enjoy. Read more: The 29 Best Gifts for Families NYT Wirecutter Hanes Men's Full-Zip EcoSmart Hoodie — Gift Pick Amazon deal price: $9 (deal on steel gray); street price: $18 What we like: An everyday hoodie recommended in our guide to great last-minute Christmas gifts. Inexpensive, especially on sale. An ideal extra layer: not too cold, warm, or fancy. Soft and cut generously. Other things to know: The 50-50 cotton and polyester blend holds color and texture better than 100% cotton but still feels breathable. Comes in six sizes up to 3XL. Most colors and sizes on sale. Down to the lowest price we've seen. Other colors are $12 or $13, which is a decent deal price matching our previous low. Read more: 33 Great Last-Minute Christmas Gifts Michael Murtaugh/NYT Wirecutter Boy Smells Hinoki Fantôme Candle — Top Pick Amazon deal price: $35; street price: $45 What we like: One of our top warm, woodsy scented candle picks that we also like as a gift. Earthy and elegant fragrance isn't overpowering. Top note of Japanese cypress (hinoki) smoke with hints of warm amber, sweet vanilla, florals, and fresh moss. Other things to know: We're currently retesting this candle, as after a rebrand the company is using a new, supposedly stronger-scented wax formulation. 8.5 ounces. 20-hour burn time. Not the best deal we've seen, but still solid since the street price shot up by $10 last year. Read more: Our Favorite Scented Candles Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Google Nest Audio Smart Speaker — Top Pick Best Buy deal price: $50; street price: $80 What we like: The best Google Nest smart speaker for streaming music, and also our top pick for a Google smart-home assistant. Noticeably richer audio experience in comparison with the smaller Google Nest speaker. Can pair for a stereo set or work with other Google speakers for multiroom audio. Other things to know: On a par with the Amazon Echo. Sound is good but nothing special. Stands just under 7 inches tall and has a slim, 3-inch base. Has a physical switch on the back to turn the microphone off, plus tap controls on either side to control volume. Available in charcoal or white. Read more: The Best Google Nest Smart Speakers Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Beautyblender Original Makeup Sponge — Best For... Amazon deal price: $14; street price: $20 What we like: The best makeup sponge. Creates an almost airbrushed finish. Its curves fit all facial contours. Foam expands when wet without feeling mushy and waterlogged. Moistening this sponge creates a barrier that keeps makeup from sinking in and wasting product. Other things to know: Damp sponges can harbor mold. Cleaning the sponge — lathering, rinsing, blotting repeatedly — is a process, but essential. Read more: The Best Makeup Brushes Marki Williams/NYT Wirecutter Travelpro Crew Classic Rolling UnderSeat Carry-On — Best For... Amazon deal price: $166 (deal on black); street price: $195 What we like: The best underseat personal-item bag for wheeled-luggage fans. This diminutive version of our favorite carry-on luggage rolls along on wheels, has a long extending handle, and fits under an airline seat. Large enough to carry everything you need for an overnight trip. Durable, dependable, and comes with a lifetime warranty. Other things to know: Has a pass-through sleeve for the handle of a carry-on luggage. It's not compressible, the wheels take up some space, and the exterior accessory pocket can't fit much. Deal on black. Read more: The Best Underseat Luggage and Personal-Item Bags Joshua Lyon/NYT Wirecutter Lego Roses 40460 — Top Pick Amazon deal price: $9; street price: $13 What we like: One of our top picks for the best entry-level Lego kit. Pack of two individual flowers is a fraction of the cost of bigger botanical kits. Easy to assemble, with little time commitment. The roses contain satisfying structural details such as thorns and curvy petals. Other things to know: Also recommended in multiple gift guides. Unobtrusive enough to tuck into a spot of your home without overpowering an overall aesthetic. You can add it to other botanical bouquets or DIY your own. Read more: The Best Lego Flower and Plant Sets Photo: Marki Williams Toto Washlet C2 Bidet Toilet Seat — Runner-Up Amazon deal price: $300; street price: $350 Walmart deal price: $300; street price: $350 What we like: Our runner-up pick for the best bidet toilet seat. Less expensive than our top pick but retains many of the same features. Offers heated seat, warm water, and pressure controls that go up and down on a +/- scale. Side panel is easy enough to learn by feel. Other things to know: Compared with our top pick, the C2 lacks a remote, has two fewer options for water temperature, and no programmable user settings. Deal on white. Not the lowest price we've seen, but still a good deal. Read more: The Best Bidet Toilet Seat or Washlet NYT Wirecutter Anker 622 Magnetic Battery Power Bank (A1614) — Another Good Option Amazon deal price: $30; street price: $43 What we like: A wireless power bank worth considering if you want something lighter than our top pick that comes in more colors, and you don't mind that it has half the capacity. Weighs only 5 ounces. Has a single USB-C in/out port and a handy foldable stand. Comes with a USB-C charging cable. Other things to know: Has a rated capacity of 5,000 mAh, so it can't fully recharge a phone as many times as our top pick. Backed by Anker's two-year warranty. All colors on sale. Read more: The Best Wireless Portable Chargers and Power Banks Here are all of the best Amazon Prime Day deals, as curated by Wirecutter's meticulous team of journalists. With these Wirecutter-approved picks under $100, you don't have to spend a lot to get a good deal this Amazon Prime Day. We, too, get giddy about actually-good deals. Plenty of beauty products are on sale right now, but these Wirecutter-tested picks are actually worth the money. No more post-purchase regret. The Wirecutter Deals Team
New York Times
08-07-2025
- New York Times
The 13 Best Prime Day Earbud and Headphone Deals
Michael Hession/NYT Wirecutter Sony LinkBuds Fit Earbuds — Top Pick Amazon deal price: $128 (deal on black); street price: $170 What we like: Our top wireless Bluetooth earbuds pick. Balanced, full-bodied sound, which you can adjust in the Sony app. Comfortable. Hands-free voice control works with any operating system. Microphones sound clear on phone calls and significantly reduce background and wind noise. Other things to know: Allows more higher-pitched sounds to pass through than other models. The 5- to 6-hour battery life is less than we'd like, but on a par with that of other feature-heavy earbuds. Charging case adds another 15 hours, but we wish it supported wireless charging. Read more: The Best Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 Wireless Earbuds — Worth Considering Amazon deal price: $180; street price: $250 What we like: Wireless Bluetooth workout earbuds worth considering for people who want a built-in heart-rate monitor. Can work with popular fitness apps. Apple-friendly with hook-over-the-ear design. Battery life is eight to 10 hours. Provides ample bass and a slight emphasis on the highs to ensure clear vocals. Other things to know: Pricey. Extra high-frequency boost may sound artificially hyped to sensitive ears. Heart-rate measurements may not be as accurate as those of a chest-strap monitor. Water resistance sufficient for light rain but may not be enough for people who sweat profusely. Read more: The Best Workout Earbuds and Headphones Anker Soundcore Space C30i Earbuds — Worth Considering Amazon deal price: $49 (deal on white or black); street price: $70 What we like: Earbuds worth considering for runners who prefer an ear-cuff design. Best combination of design, performance, and price in that category. Leaves the ear canal completely open and uncovered. Fit was comfortable and stable in our tests. Call quality is clear. Other things to know: Less bass response than our open-ear pick offers, but still enjoyable. Touch controls are small and hard to find. No EQ tool in app. Available in white or black. Read more: The Best Headphones for Running EarFun Free 2S Earbuds — Budget Pick Amazon deal price: $28 (use promo code EAFRE2SF); street price: $40 What we like: Our budget wireless Bluetooth earbuds pick, and the best sub-$50 earbuds we've tried. Impressive sound and features for the price. IPX7 dust- and water-resistance rating. Quality of background-noise-reducing microphones rivals those of more expensive models. Other things to know: Lack active noise cancellation and hear-through mode. Sound quality isn't as balanced as that of our top pick. Use code EAFRE2SF to get the deal. We once saw a $16 lightning deal for these earbuds, but we doubt they'll drop that low again. Read more: The Best Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds Apple AirPods Pro 2 Wireless Earbuds — Worth Considering Amazon deal price: $150; street price: $200 What we like: Wireless Bluetooth earbuds worth considering for people who use Apple devices exclusively and prioritize staying in the Apple ecosystem above all else. Offers a few great features for Apple fans, including always-listening Siri and a new hearing-aid capability. Other things to know: Most of its major specs — including its six-hour battery life, always-on voice control, head-tracking spatial audio, and IPX4 water resistance — are matched by Sony's LinkBuds Fit, which have a smaller design, a more secure fit, easier controls, and a lower price. ANC isn't nearly as effective in airplane band as that of our noise-cancelling picks. Not the best deal price we've seen, but we think it might drop even lower later this week. Read more: The Best Wireless Bluetooth Earbuds
