Here at What’s The Best, we spend most of the day reading and writing about stuff. Whether it’s the latest iPhone and Honor laptop, or essential gaming accessories, waffle irons and fitness fashion, we find ourselves dealing with some of the best products available.
While we are on occasion lucky enough to get hands-on and review some items, there are some products out there that we just have to own for our personal satisfaction. As you can imagine, if we were to indulge our every purchasing desire, we’d burn through a year’s salary in next to no time. So, patiently we wait for the sales.
While there are sales and deals to be found throughout the year, none can do it better than Black Friday. No longer just a mad day of frenzied bargain-grabbing, Black Friday is a multi-week event that’s well organised, well-stocked and brimming with huge savings. It’s here that we, like our readers, can pick up our top must-have items.
Over the Black Friday period, we’ll all be working around the clock to update you with the best deals, including those on tech, fitness, home furnishings and more. While we’re doing this, we’ll also be looking out to see if some deals go live on the items at the top of our wish list.
Here are the items we’ll be looking for some deals on this Black Friday:
Picked by: Natalie Corner These wireless earbuds by Bang & Olufsen caught my eye thanks to their sleek design and promise of active noise cancelling. They also come with a stylish charging case and 35 hours of playtime as well fast charging. They're on the higher end of the price scale, but with Black Friday right around the corner, Iu2019m hoping to grab a good deal for such high quality.
Picked by: Ellen Kinsey After many years of not jumping on the bandwagon and purchasing a tablet, I have finally caved. This Black Friday, I have my eye on the Amazon Fire HD 8 Plus tablet. It is travel size, suitable as a second screen, compatible with Amazon services such as Audible, Kindle and Prime, and has more RAM than its predecessor (from 1.5GB to 2GB).
Picked by: Jade Moscrop There are usually some brilliant deals on Elemis skincare during Black Friday, so I always stock up on this Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm. It melts away my make-up and one 100g pot lasts me around six months.
www.currys.co.uk
Picked by: William Lobley I recently reviewed the Addon T3+, awarding it my first ever 5/5 score. Itu2019s since been sent back to the kind folks at Audio Pro, and frankly, I miss it. Its audio performance is perfect for daily use, with the power to kick a party off when the time is right. To be honest, Iu2019m going to buy it whether the price comes down over Black Friday or not.
www.thenorthface.co.uk
Picked by: Marina Avraam Iu2019m notoriously terrible at dealing with cold weather, which is why Iu2019ve had my eye on a North Face puffer for a while. I love this 90u2019s inspired one filled with RDS goose down, sure to keep me cosy no matter how frosty it gets out there. Itu2019s waterproof u2013 always a plus in the UK u2013 and also super lightweight.
www.currys.co.uk
Picked by: Lily Anderson Instead of using the Black Friday sale to buy Christmas presents this year, I'm using it as a chance to upgrade my kitchen. It has features like a 30-minute quick wash, six wash programmes and more. With any luck, this dishwasher will roll back in price.
Picked by: William Lobley Iu2019ve played a borrowed copy, and Iu2019m itching to get back into it. Iu2019ve never been that into Souls-like games, but this one has got its grimdark claws into me. The atmosphere is so well crafted, and the visuals and audio are perfect. The only thing is, while excellent, PS5 games are far from cheap - Black Friday to the rescue!
Picked by: Jade Moscrop I bought a set of these heavy-duty lights in the summer to see how well they lasted and they're honestly the best garden lights I've ever come across. Would love to kit the garden out with a couple more sets, but I'm hoping to see a nice little discount come Black Friday.
Picked by: Chris Williams What can I say - I just canu2019t get enough of tractors. Ever since I was a young lad, Iu2019ve just thought about tractors all of the time. They are really good fun and exciting all of the time. I love the games where I can pretend that I am driving a tractor because I donu2019t have a tractor in real life. Which is sad. But this game helps me not be sad about tractors.
www.lookfantastic.com
Picked by: Caitlin Casey Black Friday is the perfect time to get those early Christmas presents in while all the hot deals are floating around. I'll definitely be grabbing some high-end makeup gift sets, like this Urban Decay Major Gems Gift Box. Filled with lavish beauty goodies for a more tempting price than usual, my sister will be super happy - and so will my bank account!
Picked by: Ryan Gilmore Iu2019ve been more than happy with my trusty Xbox One S up until now, but with Forza Horizon 5 looming on the horizon (sorry), I really want to experience Mexico in full 4K. I just hope Iu2019ll be able to find one in stock!
Picked by: Jade Moscrop It's become a bit of a weird Black Friday tradition for me, but I always order a huge pack of Scampi Fries if they're on offer. Why? Because they're bloody brilliant and I can't resist discounted snacks. Sue me.
www.lego.com
Picked by: William Lobley Iu2019m a bit of a hipster, so naturally, I love typewriters. Iu2019m also a massive child, so naturally, I love LEGO. The chance to build a mechanical replica of a typewriter out of LEGO is perfect - itu2019s got over 2,000 pieces, has moveable type mechanics and is a lovely old school green. £180 is a bit steep considering I already own a real one that I donu2019t use, so a nice little discount over Black Friday would help ease my guilt.
Picked by: Chris Williams I don't like hunting animals but I am partial to a bit of clay pigeon shooting or Nerf wars. The RD-6 is my Nerf of choice because it's small but punchy. If I'm feeling like splashing out, I may consider the larger Echo CS-10.
Editor's Choice: Riders Republic
Picked by: Adam Binnie Available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4 and PS5
Plenty of sports have realistic (or at least fun to play) sims for when the weather's rubbish and you can't get outside, but mountain biking is curiously absent from that list. This was particularly frustrating during lockdown when I was stuck indoors and unable to get out to any of my favourite riding spots.
So I've been waiting for the release of Riders Republic anxiously - not least because it also features winter sports like snowboarding (as did Steep, the game it inevitably draws comparisons to) and flying races on jet-powered wingsuits. I'm still keen on those but the balance of time spent on each activity has to be right - I don't want to be forced into hours of skiing when all I want is some singletrack and a downhill bike.
It's also a vast, open-world populated by other players, which promises to go some way to making up for the lack of trial interaction and community felt over the past couple of years, and I'm also really pleased to see proper brands like Canyon and Red Bull have given their name to equipment and races.
Having now played the game on Ubisoft's time-limited trial I can safely say my fears have gone - not only are all of the sports brilliant fun but your progression also isn't limited by only doing one of them for hours and hours. Straight into my basket, it goes.
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William Lobley is a Senior Content Writer and reviewer for What's The Best, specialising in technology, gaming and outdoors. He also writes for Empire Online.
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