Amazon Prime Day is arguably one of the most confusing shopping holidays in existence: It’s not even a “day,” as the event spans 48 hours; it includes some great deals—Amazon promises “millions of deals”—but the displayed discounts are often misleading; and while it’s advertised as a members-only event, some deals are available to people who don’t subscribe to Prime. Add in the frenzy of limited-time Lightning Deals and you’ve got a recipe perfect for spending too much money.

Fear not! We’re here to help. WIRED’s Gear team is familiar with common shopping pitfalls, and I’ve been a deals writer for nearly a decade. What time do sales start and end? How do you tell whether a deal is actually a deal? We pooled our collective knowledge to get you prepared for Amazon Prime Day.

When Is Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon’s second Prime Day sale—officially called Prime Big Deal Days—will be held on October 8 and 9, 2024. This preholiday event is a spin-off of the better-known Prime Day sale in July each year.

When Do Prime Day Deals Start?

The event officially begins at 3 am Eastern time on October 8 and runs for 48 hours. WIRED will cover the best Prime Day deals from both Amazon and retailers that have competing sales. Some deals and sales will begin ahead of the official start time. (We’ll be covering those too.)

Are Prime Day Deals Only for Prime Members?

Officially, yes. You must be an Amazon Prime member to shop for Amazon’s Prime Day deals. There is a free 30-day trial available for new accounts. (Prime membership comes with a lot of perks, and we’ve rounded up all of them here.) The trial will let you get in on the sale—just remember to cancel your membership to avoid any subsequent renewal charges.

There are some discounts available if you’re not a subscriber (those deals might not be that great). But other major retailers like Best Buy and Target usually hold concurrent sales during Prime-exclusive sales events. Their prices are often close to what Amazon is offering on the same products, and sometimes they match the price. This is a good way to take part in the sale if you object to shopping on Amazon.

Is Prime Day Worth It?

It depends. For some items, Prime-exclusive event prices tend to be among the lowest we see all year. That’s especially true for Amazon hardware, like Kindles, Fire Tablets, Fire TV Sticks, and Echo devices. For many items, though, prices fluctuate throughout the year, and some products are discounted quite often. Even if the price is good, a deal on a product that goes on sale all the time diminishes the overall quality of that deal.

The sheer volume of deals promoted by Amazon during sales like Prime Day is a blessing and a curse. The truly good discounts can be difficult to pinpoint—there’s so much stuff on sale that the overall selection can feel overwhelming. But there’s a good chance the item you want will be on sale. We’ve seen some fantastic Prime-exclusive discounts in the past, ranging from dirt-cheap Kindles to elusive price drops on the Nintendo Switch. The tricky part is to find the diamonds in the rough.

There’s another important thing to note regarding Prime Big Deal Days (or Prime Day 2). It happens right before Black Friday, which means if you wait a little longer, you’ll likely be able to get the same deals if not better during late November. If you plan on buying something like an Amazon device, the prices likely won’t be all that different, but for big-ticket items, it may be smarter to wait and see what the prices are like on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Time and time again, I recommend that everyone have a portable power station or backup power solution handy. It doesn’t matter if you live in a traditional family home, an RV, or a cabin, or if you’re off-grid somewhere in a remote location — I’m jealous if you are — you need power. You’ll need it to power small appliances for cooking, to charge your phone or devices to stay in contact with friends and family, or just about anything else electronically-inclined. A power station gives you the option to charge from anywhere, anytime. Often, they have super convenient features like being able to charge the station with solar power by connecting a solar panel. Today, Target has the Jackery Explorer 300 Plus portable power station on sale for $240, normally $300, which saves you $60. It has a 78,00 mAh battery capacity with fast-charging support, smart app controls, and much more.

Why the Jackery Explorer 300 Plus portable power station would be good to have

This power station has a 78,00 mAh battery capacity. That’s enough to charge most smartphones 25 to 30 times. You can also charge most laptops three or four times, keep a CPAP machine going for up to four nights, or power a small refrigerator for about four or five hours. Of course, it will also power up lighting, charge other electronics like drones or game consoles, power a coffee machine, and more. Plus, with fast-charging support, it only takes two hours to get the station fully charged through an outlet. It takes about 9.5 hours to charge with a single Jackery SolarSaga 40-watt solar panel.

Most importantly, it’s lightweight and portable. It weighs only 8.27 pounds so it would be easy to lug around a campsite. Plus, it has a built-in handle. Smart app controls through Jackery’s app allow you to check real-time charging status. You can also configure various settings in the app, as well. Don’t worry. You don’t have to use the app if you don’t want to or don’t want to waste your phone’s battery.

You also get several multifunctional outlets, including one pure sine wave AC outlet up to 300 watts, two 100-watt type C PD ports, a car port, and a 15-watt USB-A port. With all those ports you can charge up to five smart devices simultaneously. Moreover, since it’s electric and produces no emissions, you can use this power station indoors and out. In fact, it’s excellent to have during a storm or intermittent outage. You can keep all your important gear charged and powered up.

Normally $300, Target is offering the Jackery Explorer 300 Plus portable power station for $240 today, saving you $60.