Tech and 3D Printing Deals for Black Friday Week!

Here in the US – as well as many other parts of the world from my understanding – Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) has morphed from a one-day shopaganza into a week-long event. Discounts abound, making it a great time to by gifts for others – or even yourself! In this post, I'm excited to tell you about a few tech items that look especially interesting!

Dirt Cheap 3D Printer Filament

Poking around on Amazon, I was able to find grey ANYCUBIC PLA filament for just $11.99 for a 1KG spool. One might note that cheapest isn't always best, but the reviews on Amazon are quite good, and the accuracy is +/- .002mm. It could certainly be worth a look!

OTOH, if you want to spend a bit more, I've purchased this ZIRO marble and blue marble PLA filament a total of 12 times! IMO, the marble look kind of minimizes printing defects, and the blue style is especially pleasant.

Sub-$200 Ender 3 3D Printer

The Ender 3 is a solid printer, available at a (Black Friday) price of $173.60. While I don't think this printer is as good as what you can get from Prussa or Bambu Lab, their offerings will set you back multiple(s) of the Ender 3's price. There is something to be said for getting a really good printer, but my (earlier generation Ender 3 V3 Neo) has been a real workhorse for nearly 2 years now, shown in action above.

Indie Electronics and More on Tindie's Cyber Sale

In an apparent celebration of "consumption week," Tindie is having their annual(?) Cyber Sale. You can find all the on-sale items here, including 648 products as of this writing! I also sell my wares there, though I don't have any specific deals going on.

Raspberry Pi Pico 2

While I don't know of any Black Friday deals on this item, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 is available from retailers such as Adafruit and Digikey for a slim $5 price tag (it's also on Amazon, but expect to pay a bit more). This board features an upgraded RP2350 microcontroller, along with double the FLASH memory of its (just Pico) predecessor.

Smartwatch/Fitness Tracker

If you've been considering buying a smart watch/fitness tracker, this may be the time to take the plunge. A friend sent me a link to this Garmin vívoactive 5 Health and Fitness GPS Smartwatch, which looks to have a very good screen and an uber-week battery life.

If a watch seems too bulky, you could instead go for a smart ring, OTOH, any onboard user interface would necessarily be limited. As a final semi-DIY option, you could consider installing a Sensor Watch upgrade for classic Casio wristwatches!

Knipex 4-Inch Mini Water Pump Pliers

OK, one more item: pliers. And perhaps not actually a bargain. In fact, these pliers are pretty expensive for what they are: $31.03 on Amazon as of this writing. However, if you are familiar with Knipex tools, they are consistently well built, and it's hard not to be tempted by this neat little gadget. I have one myself and really like it. Certainly this would be a great gift for an engineer or tinkerer, as it's something that is difficult to justify in many cases, even if it's something that you really want!

Happy shopping and happy holidays!

Whether you're shopping Black Friday(ish) for yourself or someone else in your life, I hope I've presented a fun idea or two for your consideration. Happy holidays, and I hope these items bring joy to lots of people in 2025 and beyond!

*Amazon links are affiliate