The Apple Watch SE is back on sale for $219

If you’re looking to buy a new smartwatch, the Apple Watch SE remains one of the better values on the market, and right now its 40mm model is back on sale for $219 at Amazon and Best Buy. Target, meanwhile, has it for a dollar more. We’ve seen the watch fall to this price a number of times over the past few months, but it’s still about $15 below the device’s average street price and $30 below Apple’s MSRP. If you want the larger 44mm model, that watch is also $30 off Apple’s list price at $249. Note that these offers apply to the watch’s Midnight, Starlight and Silver finishes.

While neither of these deals are all-time lows — we’ve seen the 40mm model very briefly fall to $200 once before — they’re still strong prices for what you’re getting. We gave the second-gen Apple Watch SE a review score of 89 when it arrived last September, and we note it as the best option for first-time buyers in our guide to the best smartwatches. It’s essentially a stripped-down version of the Apple Watch Series 8, our top overall pick. The big sacrifice is its lack of an always-on display mode, so you’ll have to physically lift up your wrist to check the time or notifications. Beyond that, its display is slightly smaller, it doesn’t support fast charging and it lacks more advanced health-tracking features like a skin temperature sensor, ECG monitor and blood oxygen sensor. 

Those won’t be massive omissions for many people, though, and the SE keeps the rest of the Apple Watch experience largely intact. It runs on the same chipset as the Series 8, it’s still water resistant and it gets you access to standard features like heart-rate monitoring and fall detection. This fall, it’ll also receive the same watchOS 10 update that Apple announced at WWDC on Monday. We still think the Series 8 (which is currently available for $329) is the most well-rounded wearable for iPhone owners, and Apple will invariably launch a new Series 9 watch by the end of the year. But for first-time buyers or those looking to upgrade from an older Apple Watch on a budget, this should be a good deal. 

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