Just as it did for Prime Day earlier this year, Amazon had a pair of Fire TV Smart TVs available at huge discounts for its Prime Early Access sale this week. The 50-inch Hisense U6 Fire TV was 70% off, which dropped its price down to $159.99, and the 55-inch Amazon Omni Fire TV was 80% off, which dropped it down to $109.99. While the Prime Day TV deals in July were available for several minutes after going live, both TV deals this time sold out in well under a minute, but there seemed to be a much larger stock of one than the other.
The first TV deal during July’s Prime Day was 72% off a 32-inch Insignia Fire TV. Either that deal wasn’t terribly popular or Amazon had a large stockpile of those TVs because that deal was available for about 25 minutes before becoming 100% claimed. The second deal for 78% off a 50-inch Amazon 4-Series Fire TV didn’t last nearly as long, as I saw it become 100% claimed right around 5 minutes after going live.
Both July Prime Day TV deals lasted an eternity relative to the two Prime Early Access TV lightning deals from earlier this week. I predicted they would go live at 6 am PT on seperate days, which they did, and I was online to watch them both sell out within seconds of me posting that the deals were live. When the Hisense TV deal went live on the first day, in the time it took me to just hit publish on my pre-written article and refresh the product page once more, the TV lightning deal was already marked as 100% claimed. It was literally gone that fast.
The lightning deal for the Amazon Omni TV was also sold out in a matter of seconds, but it did seem to last much longer than the Hisense TV deal. I would say that it reached 100% claimed in under 30 seconds, but I was able to at least refresh the page several times after publishing my post and watched as the claimed percentage climbed up with each refresh.
I’m pretty confident that the Amazon Omni Fire TV deal lasted longer not because it was a less popular sale than the Hisense Fire TV, but because there were more TVs allocated for the discount. Looking at the purchase data for those that used my affiliate links, which I very much appreciate as the kickback earned helps me out quite a bit, I can see that there were nearly 4 times as many Amazon Omni Fire TVs purchased through my links as Hisense Fire TV purchases. Amazon being willing to allocate more of its own branded TVs for these doorbuster deals, than a third-party manufacturer like Hisense, certainly makes sense.
For those curious, my data shows that about twice as many Amazon Omni TVs were purchased during this week’s Prime Early Access sale than the Amazon 4-Series lightning deal during Prime Day in July. So, even though the TV deals sold out much more quickly this time around, it seems it was because people were just more prepared this time to purchase the second the deals went live and not because there were fewer TVs available.
Apart from the two lightning TV deals, the next most popular item that I saw purchased was the 3rd-gen Fire TV Cube. That was a bit odd to see since it didn’t go on sale, apart from the $40 off promo code that has been available for weeks. I suspect that a lot of people were waiting to see if it would go on sale during the Prime Early Access sale and, when it didn’t, decided to just pull the trigger and pre-order it that day anyway. The next most popular Fire TV Smart TV purchased, after the two lightning deal TVs, was the 50-inch Insignia F30 4K Fire TV on sale for $249.99. That likely earned the top non-lightning deal TV spot because it was the lowest-priced large-sized 4K Fire TV available during the sales event.
Congrats to everyone who was able to snag one or both of the Fire TV Smart TV lightning deals this time around and bravo because it was no easy task. And thanks again to those of you who did so by clicking through a link on my site, or, more likely, those of you who frantically refreshed one of my links over and over until the deal went live. You purchasing deals through my links is a big part of how I can do what I do full-time, so thanks again. See you on Black Friday ;-).
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Thank you for giving me the heads up on the TV deals possibly going live at 6:00am PST. With the tip, I was ready at the precise moment and was able to grab the Amazon Omni Fire 55” TV in the first minute (it was already fully claimed, but I was able to waitlist and grabbed it about 4 minutes after waitlisting). $109 total seems like a steal.
You must’ve gotten mine. I got called out to work and the wife said I didn’t need the 55″ Omni. Hahaha
Good to know that the waitlist system actually does work out sometimes. I’ve been on many deal waitlists and not one of them got me the deal in the end. This time I had no intention of buying these TVs so I deliberately tried joining both waitlists as fast as possible to see if I’d be offered the deal, but I didn’t get notified about either TV’s waitlist. I’m glad it actually worked out for you though!
I used the tip as well to snag one and completed the transaction in <10 seconds. And that happened while I was driving in downtown DC. Almost a couple accidents while I started refreshing at 8:59, but it worked out and the TV arrived today!
Thanks for letting us know the times
I was able to snag the. 55′ Omni
As well as the 4 series in July thanks to AFTV news
You’re welcome!
You know how I feel; grateful for you and your site. Because of this site, I’ve been able to upgrade all of my 1080p sets (very old but top-of-the-line 120Hz sets) AND have a nice Christmas present for my daughters home, for UNDER $1000!!! Just amazing! In July, I got the 4-series 50″ (for the daughter) for a total of $78 all-in! This was after I got my 75-inch Toshiba M550 in May, (hahaha) for $750 all-in! And, once again thanks to you, the most expensive, but latest model, a 50″ Hisense U6H for $170 all-in! Talk about bang for the buck! Thanks again Elias! We all appreciate you!
That’s awesome! I’m really curious how the Toshiba M550 screen stacks up against the Hisense. Apart from the new QLED Omni, the Toshiba M550 and Hisense are pretty much the top two Fire TV Smart TV models. If you end up doing a side-by-side comparison, I’d love to hear your thoughts on which one you think looks better.
Hard to compare 50″ to 75″…at least that’s what my wife tells me, hahaha. But the U6HF has an exceptional picture, as does the M550. The M550 short of the ULED that the U8HF has, and has smaller dimming zones (again, large 75″ compared to 50″), the Toshiba 75M550 is a better experience, PQ-wise. Sports (football,& a little soccer) The M550 is better at motion than the U6HF. The U6HF seems a tad brighter, but not alot. The M550 unquestionably upscales better than the U6HF. I don’t play games, but I don’t see why either would be a bad experience since both have VRR and LLM. The OS is identical, and both have been receiving regular updates. Started out at 7.2 something and am now up to 7.6 something. The YouTube bug of no sound after watching other inputs also appears to have been corrected as I haven’t had that issue in a couple of days since the last update. Bottom-line for me is, I think the Toshiba M550 is a better-looking set, aesthetically speaking than the Hi-sense, which seems pretty minimalist with the scrawny feet they provide vs. Toshibas wide feet that are just more pleasing to see to me. The Toshiba has larger dimming zones but is very rarely noticeable, while the Hisense has smaller zones (smaller screen) that so far to me, have been unnoticeable. They are both great sets, and we are not disappointed (much hahaha) with the 50″ size vs. the 55″ 1080p Vizio it replaced. The upgraded PQ is worth the smaller real estate to us. But if I had a choice, I think I would rather have the 55″ M550, just the 50″ U6HF was such a good price. So, there you have it, I’m sure I forgot a few things. Any questions, just ask.
Awesome. Thanks for the overview! Interesting that the brighter screen and QLED display of the Hisense don’t seem to make much of a difference to you in the end.
The M550 is really a great picture. The U6HF is really a great picture. If the ‘Shiba had a QLED screen, that would be the cat’s meow. It IS noticeable. Again, 75″ vs. 50″ is a hard comparison to make. I’d love to check out the U6HF in a larger size. Maybe I’ll stop by Best Buy and see if they have one on display.
As an update, I’m sending back the U6HF. Replacing it with the Toshiba 55M550, taking advantage of the low sale price and free Echo Show 5 (I really don’t need ANOTHER Alexa device Hahaha) as the picture on the U6HF just (to us) isn’t as good. Don’t get me wrong, it has a GOOD picture, but not a GREAT picture like the ‘Shiba has to us. The ‘Shiba has way better viewing angles also.
And a shoutout to Amazon for making the return an easy process! I’m just sorry it didn’t work out because I really wanted it to.
I got both of them on my Amazon app and mobile device! Thanks for the tips!
Congrats!
@Elias – Is there a reason that we do not see significant markdowns on the 43” 4K TVs? Thanks!
My guess is that it’s because they don’t sell as well. The purpose of these really great limited deals is to draw people in so they buy other stuff. Most TV buyers, from what I’ve noticed, are either looking for very cheap TVs (i.e., small 720p/1080p) or very big TVs (50″ and up). The 43″ models are neither and just aren’t as popular, so they don’t draw in a crowd like very cheap or very large TVs. That could be why they haven’t been considered for these doorbuster deals.
Thanks!
I snagged the Hisense deal thanks to your story while waiting to start a new job that I arrived at early that day. I bounced back and forth right before 8AM central time and scored it.
It arrived in less than 30 hours later and I had to explain the new TV to my wife before I even had a chance to tell her about it. LoL.
Many thanks.
Elias? When’s the next TV doorbuster lightning deals? Black Friday? Cyber-Monday? A guestimate?
@Elias Sabas – Is there any place I can see the storage, memory, and processor information for the Amazon TVs? Thanks!