Amazon’s Fire HD 8 tablet drops to $60 in early October Prime Day sale

Amazon has kicked off a new Fire tablet sale ahead of its Prime Big Deal Days event later this month. The discounts include the Fire HD 8 down to $60, the Fire HD 8 Plus for $70, the Fire Max 11 for $150, the previous-generation Fire HD 10 for $75 and the Fire 7 for $40, among others. All of those deals either match or come within a few dollars of the lowest prices we’ve seen, and unlike most of the offers that’ll be available during the Big Deal Days sale, they aren’t limited to Amazon Prime subscribers.

All Fire tablets still come with the usual caveats: They aren’t nearly as fast or premium-feeling as a good iPad or Galaxy Tab, their displays aren’t as vivid and their app selection is more limited. They lack official access to the Google Play Store, so there’s no Google apps like Gmail or YouTube. (It’s possible to install the Play Store with a workaround, though that’s a bit of a pain.) They also display ads on the lock screen unless you pay an extra fee or use a Kids model.

All that said, they play well with Amazon services like Alexa and Prime Video (natch), they support most of the other major streaming apps and the better models are just quick enough for the basics. Ultimately, though, it’s all about price. If you just want a large screen for streaming video, reading ebooks and browsing the web, most Fire slates let you do so for dirt cheap, so they’re better buys when they’re on sale.

Of the models discounted now, the 8-inch Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 8 Plus may be the best values for most. Each is saddled with a 1,280 x 800 resolution display, so text and images won’t be especially sharp, but they can get decently bright, and the hardware as a whole is lightweight and fairly durable. Both devices can last more than 10 hours on a charge, and while they only come with 32GB of storage, you can expand that up to 1TB with a microSD card. Between the two, the Fire HD 8 Plus comes with an extra gigabyte of RAM (3GB total), so it’ll be a little smoother to navigate Amazon’s Fire OS if you can afford the extra $10. Neither tablet is outright fast, though, so don’t expect to do more than the essentials. At these prices, both slates are only $5 more than their respective all-time lows.

You can opt for the Fire 7 if you want a second screen for as little as possible, but it’s slower and lower-res than the Fire HD 8, so we recommend paying for the latter if possible. The last-gen Fire HD 10 is still faster than either of those and packs a 10.1-inch 1080p display, so it’s a decent value at $75, but Amazon recently launched an updated model, so it’s technically out of date. (The new Fire HD 10 isn’t included in the sale.)

The 11-inch Fire Max 11, meanwhile, is the most premium tablet in Amazon’s lineup, with a beefier processor and an aluminum chassis; it’s an easier sell at $150, which matches its all-time low, though it has all the same software limitations as the lower-end options.

Finally, the Kids versions of various Fire tablets are also discounted. As a reminder, those have the same hardware as the standard models, but add large protective cases, a more kid-friendly default UI, two-year warranties and one-year subscriptions to Amazon’s Kids+ content service.

Your October Prime Day Shopping Guide: See all of our Prime Day coverage. Shop the best Prime Day deals on Yahoo Life. Follow Engadget for Prime Day tech deals. Learn about Prime Day trends on In The Know. Hear from Autoblog’s experts on the best Fall Prime Day deals for your car, garage, and home, and find Prime Day sales to shop on AOL, handpicked just for you.