The Holiday Shopping Upgrade Cycle
Tis the season to realistically evaluate your tech needs
I know that there will likely be a decrease in the number of eyeballs that see this message. And that's because we're all being bombarded right now with marketing emails to purchase products for the peak of the holiday shopping season.
I'm certainly not immune to this concept either. My email inbox is flooded with well-meaning but far too frequent updates from companies that I mostly revere. These are companies selling products that I'd love to buy, but I don't need to be reminded about it every 12 hours during the crazy Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping spree.
So for those of you who are able to cut through the noise and read this message today, I appreciate you. And I ask that you take some time this holiday shopping season to actually evaluate some of those impulse tech purchases. Do you need an upgrade? If so, then by all means, go save some cash and get that deal. But don't get sucked into buying for the sake of buying.
Let's look at a few examples here. Personally, I find the Black Friday rush good for smaller tech purchases rather than huge upgrades. In my experience, it's a great time of year for smart home upgrades. Things like smart locks, thermostats, speakers and displays often see some of their lowest prices this week. I've scored some great deals on August smart locks in past years and the current savings on the new Nest thermostat make it a pretty compelling option for anyone who could use some intelligence when setting the temperature in their home.
On the positive side, a lot of these offers are remaining in place for the next few weeks. It's not necessarily such a necessity to make these purchases on the weekend after Thanksgiving. Deals can be had during December as well.
This is also a prime opportunity to sell/donate some of your older tech that may be getting replaced. Remember that people can give used tech as a holiday gift as well. Not every gift needs to be brand new. Posting an old computer or phone on eBay or Craigslist this week could really offer someone a chance to give a tech gift that they normally couldn't afford.
I've sold my past two iMacs to older folks who were blown away by the technology that seemed outdated to me and most other tech-savvy folks. Beautiful tech is certainly in the eye of the beholder and that is even more evident during the holiday shopping season.
I also appreciate when companies like Apple and Samsung incentivize their trade-in offers this time of year. Samsung in particular is offering up some incredible trade-in values if you have a phone or smart watch on hand that is a few years old. The trade-in market is typically an opportunity to get far more value than you'd get by reselling on the private market. Hell, in some cases, it even makes sense to buy the outdated tech on eBay and then trade it in for higher value than you paid for it. This is a smart route to take if you're looking to upgrade your smart phone or smart watch this holiday season.
Don't be enticed by discounts on things that are only marginal upgrades. Take a moment to realistically evaluate which of your devices actually need to be replaced this season. Some products take decent leaps in performance from year to year, while others are essentially the same from a decade ago. Once you have a good idea of what would benefit your day-to-day experience, then you can hone in on that purchase.
So what am I looking to upgrade this holiday season? Not too much really. I do have an August smart lock that has been giving us trouble the past few months. It could be worth seeing what other options are out there this year. I also love the idea of having a fingerprint sensor on my door lock. The new keypad from August and Yale seems like a worthy upgrade over our basic keypad without the fingerprint sensor.
I've also had my eye on the new Oura Ring Gen 4 as my Gen 3 model has been struggling to maintain its battery life these days. Sadly, Oura doesn't seem to be discounting the newer model at the moment. It may not be a necessary upgrade, but the Oura Ring has already proven to be a valuable item for me. So once you know that a product fits in your life, it never hurts to upgrade to the latest model.
I'm sure I'll have more updates as we get closer to the holidays, but tis the season to be checking your list of technology to see which items have been naughty and could be nicer.
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