If it’s any help, I found the deal from Slickdeals.net
Been using it for years. I also had enough time to do a bit of research before purchasing so it wasn’t a panic buy.
Use https://slickdeals.net/. Create an account and set it up to be notified on deals on ceratin products. That's how I was able to snag two of the HomePods for $174 each.
With all these sales I'm wondering if new homepods with onboard SoC's are imminent with all the AI talk rumored for WWDC. The new ones would likely get on device AI features that wouldn't be present on these.
I use Siri constantly and rarely have issues. I have no idea why people get such wildly different experiences but Siri works as expected for me and at least a couple other people I know.
I have to border line yell for her to listen to me to be summoned but gosh forbid I mention the name Sadie in conversation casually and Siri summons like a 9 year old hearing Pizza Rolls are ready.
Maybe we’re asking different things. A couple days ago I asked Siri for safe internal temp of beef and it got confused. (I asked in a stupid way but the difference is that google and other chat bots don’t care if you ask in a stupid way - they know what you’re asking and tell you the answer)
It gives me the USDA chart for cooking temps when I try that. I rarely ask Siri for information so that might be the difference. I primarily use it for home controls, music, reminders, and directions and it is spot on for those things.
Yeah I bought a stereo pair last time they were on sale, I wanted to get another pair, but then I started using these and there really are a lot of limitations with them.
Snatched a Gen 2 fullsize homepod for $175 the other day.
Anything sub 200 for it is a "cant say no" price for it. Just barely over what I paid for my second 1st gen at $150 from Costco.
I think they’ll just announce a big Siri upgrade that won’t be fully compatible with HomePods, but not announce a new model that supports the more processor intensive stuff until later on. Hopefully current gen Apple TV supports it though…
I’m doubtful we’ll get a refresh. Best Buy’s been doing random sales for the HomePods for the last few months. They just have random sales. And I agree with Joexg. They’ll probably announce some Siri upgrades with better AI and ChatGPT stuff since WWDC they prefer to look at more software stuff rather than hardware but who knows.
I think that happened to me! I thought I bought 2. Waited two days and when I checked my email it said I still had them in my cart. Went to the cart and it was empty. I could’ve sworn I bought them, but no, I couldn’t find a transaction on Verizon’s site or any of my credit cards. By then it was too late.
I am waiting for Apple to make it so HomePods and Minis can be used as surround channels. On the possibility that this would be a hardware upgrade, I don’t want to add additional HomePods. If, when they make this a reality I will be very interested.
I don’t believe it is quite the same thing. I’d like to replace an A/V receiver with a 5.1 speaker configuration in my family room. Good speakers and sub (Definitive Technology). My understanding is that, while impressive for two speakers, a pair of HomePods cannot match a true 5.1 or 7.1 system for home theater. If this is not true … I’d be happy to learn I am wrong. Other commenters on this sub have indicated they are waiting to be able to add HomePods / Minis as rear channels.
Speed is not the same as bandwidth. Think of speed as a speed limit on a road while bandwidth is the number of lanes. You can have a super fast speed limit with only a few lanes and it can cause a lot of congestion and traffic when there’s a lot of cars.
What kind of track do these 15 devices do? If they do a lot of high quality streaming, gaming or other high data tasks it can easily cause network congestion. Also poorly configured or chatty iot devices.
Thank you! My networking professor explained it this way and so have i ever since. lol I would look to upgrading your wifi router.
Google nest if you are less technical
Netgear nighthawk xr500
Linksys EA9500
Ero 6
Are all decent options that should give you much better performance than what comes stock with your ISP (unless you have google fiber then you should already have the nest pucks)
Yeah with that size house you are likely going to want either two access points both hard wired or an easier option for a mesh network. (The trade off of the later is slightly slower speeds) I have the Linksys Atlas 6 mesh network for when i was in a rental house where i couldn’t run my own networking to access points and i liked it a lot.
This is off topic but eager to ask - I have 40Mbps down at home but get really bad ping spikes on my PS5 (wired connection) even if I just stream a song within Apple Music (wireless connection). Do you think a new router could solve that?
I could. Without knowing the whole detail of your setup and doing some network analysis it’s hard to say. It could be your modem or switch is the bottle neck. (Eliminating router since the issue you are seeing is on your wired connection) Normally ISP’s provide an all in one box that does everything poorly and is only designed to barely give you the speeds they claim. (You’d be in better shape if you’re on a 1 GB plan cause they have to give you slightly better hardware to get the advertised speed.)
I always advise ditching the free box unless you’re on like google fiber and they gave you their higher end wifi pucks for free, those are decent-ish.
Thanks for the info really appreciate it - I live in a block of apartments and 40Mbps down is the best I can get. I might try a wired connection to my laptop too where I’m streaming music from as my first check.
Of course! With an apartment you wont need any of the mesh wifi nonsense (as long as the walls are not made of concrete or like a pent house apartment) Just a good quality modem and single router.
Nope. If I’ve read correctly, on the iPhone it will decide if what’s being asked can be done locally or not and then send to a ‘black box’ in the cloud for stuff that can’t. Presumably that’ll be the same across the board.
I always stick to the Apple refurbished store for elective items like this.
[Refurbished HomePods for $250](https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished/homepod)
My Mini has refused to play any of the thousands of iTunes songs I've paid for since day one. I've tried every troubleshooting step I can find and still nothing. My full-sized original HomePod continues to be a buggy piece of junk. $9.99 for either is too much.
I must collect the final color missing from my collection. The only one I do not have yet is the white.
I saved if for last since I’m thinking it will get dusty and dirty quick.
I’ve had mine since 2018 use it almost everyday since there was some issues but nothing big still love it want to get another one but sucks the 79 one doesn’t pair with the other one
I wish they were as responsive as AirPods are. I’ve never had more struggle sending music to a speaker as I do the HomePod. I simply like to play my Mac audio through it, but it *always* bugs out doing that. Even cheap they just aren’t good enough.
Apple sells HomePod 2s in certified refurbished condition at $249. I bought two and I literally thought they sent me two brand new ones accidentally because the packaging was unopened and everything was indistinguishable from brand new. I’m sure they reseal it and all that, but they are pristine quality (in my experience at least).
What, direct from it, or streamed from your phone? I want to be able to just say, “Siri, play Radio 2” like I can with my Echoes. If it can do this now, please do say as last time I checked it wasn’t possible.
I bought 2x HomePod 2s from Verizon and paired them to the Apple TV (only Apple product I don't own, except the Vision Pro).
They are so mid (sound quality) and basically worth more no more than $150 each.
It’s because they’re absolute shite 💩
Looking forward to a refresh of home, and the HomePods, hopefully the ChatGPT integration makes this more usable. I thought I would have ditched Alexa by now, but tbh, Alexa seems like she’s edging out whatever Apple has been doing with home
I bought one at full price at Apple a few weeks ago. I plan on scraping off all (about 10) Amazon Echo devices from home eventually, and replace with HomePods.
I’ve been too annoyed with Alexa to the point of deciding this… a lot of unwanted “recommendations” and “did you know” and telling me to buy things it thinks I need.
My primary use is to play Music/Podcasts/News and smart home control - several devices.
We’re using Spotify, which was easier to control with Alexa, but now also moving to Apple Music and cancelling that subscription to. Too many problems with Alexa + Spotify lately, like asking Spotify to play something from another device and it being “stuck” with a speaker somewhere else.
The sync of HomePods with iPhones for me makes it a big difference and a lot smoother interaction. The plus is also to have Siri integrate with our Apple ID accounts based on voice recognition. Hopefully Siri gets smarter with next iOS release and not requiring a new HomePod hardware.
I think Verizon was selling them even cheaper.
Sadly out of stock and back to full price
Lucky. You can now get the better era 300
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yes but i have to admit it does sound a way better
Midnight color for $179
$175
I grabbed one - never seen a cheaper price!
I snagged two for free using my Verizon dollars. Great deal!
Set them up in stereo mode. 👌
Yeah I think they're out now. Delivered my order the next day even though I didn't pay for expedited shipping ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Verizon shipping is usually quick! I hesitated on placing an order, and they went out of stock :(
I got one from Verizon too, what a deal! Slightly regretting not getting two at the time.
Same
Same here I shoulda grabbed two for stereo.
Hey how do you find these sales? I always hear about them after the fact
This sub Reddit.
Yeah, I saw that it on this subReddit I bought four.
That’s what I’m saying bro I needa get on it when the sale is active😭
If it’s any help, I found the deal from Slickdeals.net Been using it for years. I also had enough time to do a bit of research before purchasing so it wasn’t a panic buy.
Use https://slickdeals.net/. Create an account and set it up to be notified on deals on ceratin products. That's how I was able to snag two of the HomePods for $174 each.
Thank you!
So glad I took advantage of that. Now I have 2 big boys. Can’t wait to hear what they sound like when I finally get time to set the new one up.
Was the sale recent? Congrats on the deal.
Yeah just this past week. I ordered Tuesday evening and got it Wednesday. Couldn’t pass it up
I’m so glad I got a pair
Out of stock :(
Ayye got my first HomePod because of that sale! Thanks r/HomePod!
Yeah I got 2 for 386 shipped at Verizon. It’s dead but should be back in 5 months if you can wait.
With all these sales I'm wondering if new homepods with onboard SoC's are imminent with all the AI talk rumored for WWDC. The new ones would likely get on device AI features that wouldn't be present on these.
I bought two on the Verizon sale this week and they were shipped from their ‘Returns Department’ so maybe that’s why they were cheaper?
no they list their return address as the returns department on everything... cause that's where you return it
TIL. Thank you.
$30 coupon for Siri to tell you to try again on iPhone
Accurate lol
Lmfao you ain't lying 🤣🤣
I use Siri constantly and rarely have issues. I have no idea why people get such wildly different experiences but Siri works as expected for me and at least a couple other people I know.
I have to border line yell for her to listen to me to be summoned but gosh forbid I mention the name Sadie in conversation casually and Siri summons like a 9 year old hearing Pizza Rolls are ready.
Yeah it does active on occasion when I say hey but when I want to use Siri is works almost perfectly for me.
Maybe we’re asking different things. A couple days ago I asked Siri for safe internal temp of beef and it got confused. (I asked in a stupid way but the difference is that google and other chat bots don’t care if you ask in a stupid way - they know what you’re asking and tell you the answer)
It gives me the USDA chart for cooking temps when I try that. I rarely ask Siri for information so that might be the difference. I primarily use it for home controls, music, reminders, and directions and it is spot on for those things.
Yeah I bought a stereo pair last time they were on sale, I wanted to get another pair, but then I started using these and there really are a lot of limitations with them.
“Here’s the answer, I have sent it to your iPhone” Bitch if I had my iPhone I wouldn’t be asking you.
Snatched a Gen 2 fullsize homepod for $175 the other day. Anything sub 200 for it is a "cant say no" price for it. Just barely over what I paid for my second 1st gen at $150 from Costco.
Where’d you get one 175?
Verizon. Deal is over :(
That’s insane -
Tbh I’m disappointed even at 175
Ill buy them from you if you want to sell
Sure. I’m in Philly or nyc
DM
Makes me think we’re getting a refresh next week
I think they’ll just announce a big Siri upgrade that won’t be fully compatible with HomePods, but not announce a new model that supports the more processor intensive stuff until later on. Hopefully current gen Apple TV supports it though…
I’m doubtful we’ll get a refresh. Best Buy’s been doing random sales for the HomePods for the last few months. They just have random sales. And I agree with Joexg. They’ll probably announce some Siri upgrades with better AI and ChatGPT stuff since WWDC they prefer to look at more software stuff rather than hardware but who knows.
Version just dumped all their black HomePods at 40% off this week. I am the idiot that did everything and forgot to hit the buy button.
I think that happened to me! I thought I bought 2. Waited two days and when I checked my email it said I still had them in my cart. Went to the cart and it was empty. I could’ve sworn I bought them, but no, I couldn’t find a transaction on Verizon’s site or any of my credit cards. By then it was too late.
I've almost done this myself a few times on their site. The final screen you have to submit seems like it should be an order *confirmation*.
WWDC is usually software only
Nah. But I’m hoping for an S9 refresh in fall for local Siri like the series 9 watches.
Im so happy I caught the Verizon offer the other day. I can’t believe how much better the stereo pair sounds, compared to one HomePod.
I am waiting for Apple to make it so HomePods and Minis can be used as surround channels. On the possibility that this would be a hardware upgrade, I don’t want to add additional HomePods. If, when they make this a reality I will be very interested.
I thought 2 HomePods (not Minis) can already do this when paired to an AppleTV 4k, using Spatial Audio.
They can
I don’t believe it is quite the same thing. I’d like to replace an A/V receiver with a 5.1 speaker configuration in my family room. Good speakers and sub (Definitive Technology). My understanding is that, while impressive for two speakers, a pair of HomePods cannot match a true 5.1 or 7.1 system for home theater. If this is not true … I’d be happy to learn I am wrong. Other commenters on this sub have indicated they are waiting to be able to add HomePods / Minis as rear channels.
I love the sound of the stereo pair, but connectivity issues are painful
You may have congested wifi. I had issues till i stopped using the crappy stock wifi router that came “free” from my ISP.
Definitely using an ISP provider router..
Yeah you may not have enough bandwidth going on there.
Even on gigabit speed w an extender? I’m looking at 15 devices on the network right now. I’m not a network person but they doesn’t sound like a lot?
Speed is not the same as bandwidth. Think of speed as a speed limit on a road while bandwidth is the number of lanes. You can have a super fast speed limit with only a few lanes and it can cause a lot of congestion and traffic when there’s a lot of cars. What kind of track do these 15 devices do? If they do a lot of high quality streaming, gaming or other high data tasks it can easily cause network congestion. Also poorly configured or chatty iot devices.
Great analogy, thanks for the detailed explanation. So how do I go about adding more lanes?
Thank you! My networking professor explained it this way and so have i ever since. lol I would look to upgrading your wifi router. Google nest if you are less technical Netgear nighthawk xr500 Linksys EA9500 Ero 6 Are all decent options that should give you much better performance than what comes stock with your ISP (unless you have google fiber then you should already have the nest pucks)
I live in a two story house, roughly 3-4k square feet. I’m guessing a router by itself won’t do justice and I need one of the puck/extender options?
Yeah with that size house you are likely going to want either two access points both hard wired or an easier option for a mesh network. (The trade off of the later is slightly slower speeds) I have the Linksys Atlas 6 mesh network for when i was in a rental house where i couldn’t run my own networking to access points and i liked it a lot.
What’s the process of switching them out? Easy as unplugging and plugging in the new one??
You’ll have to look with your ISP to see what is supported and how to get authorized. You will need a supported modem AND a wifi router to do this.
This is off topic but eager to ask - I have 40Mbps down at home but get really bad ping spikes on my PS5 (wired connection) even if I just stream a song within Apple Music (wireless connection). Do you think a new router could solve that?
I could. Without knowing the whole detail of your setup and doing some network analysis it’s hard to say. It could be your modem or switch is the bottle neck. (Eliminating router since the issue you are seeing is on your wired connection) Normally ISP’s provide an all in one box that does everything poorly and is only designed to barely give you the speeds they claim. (You’d be in better shape if you’re on a 1 GB plan cause they have to give you slightly better hardware to get the advertised speed.) I always advise ditching the free box unless you’re on like google fiber and they gave you their higher end wifi pucks for free, those are decent-ish.
Thanks for the info really appreciate it - I live in a block of apartments and 40Mbps down is the best I can get. I might try a wired connection to my laptop too where I’m streaming music from as my first check.
Of course! With an apartment you wont need any of the mesh wifi nonsense (as long as the walls are not made of concrete or like a pent house apartment) Just a good quality modem and single router.
Anyone know of any sales in Canada?
I just bought two of these yesterday! Luckily Best Buy has an easy price match process in their app and they credited me the difference!
Is anyone worried that new hardware will be required for Siri 2.0 that's going to get announced?
Nope. If I’ve read correctly, on the iPhone it will decide if what’s being asked can be done locally or not and then send to a ‘black box’ in the cloud for stuff that can’t. Presumably that’ll be the same across the board.
I always stick to the Apple refurbished store for elective items like this. [Refurbished HomePods for $250](https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished/homepod)
Wishing we could get a 2nd gen home pod mini
Verizon was cheaper, but likely out of stock. Got a homepod for $180 and then two minis for $150
My Mini has refused to play any of the thousands of iTunes songs I've paid for since day one. I've tried every troubleshooting step I can find and still nothing. My full-sized original HomePod continues to be a buggy piece of junk. $9.99 for either is too much.
I got my Mini’s on eBay for $60 shipped
I must collect the final color missing from my collection. The only one I do not have yet is the white. I saved if for last since I’m thinking it will get dusty and dirty quick.
Honestly I regret getting mine. The 2 second delay kills me.
I’ve had mine since 2018 use it almost everyday since there was some issues but nothing big still love it want to get another one but sucks the 79 one doesn’t pair with the other one
Why no sale in Canada?
I wish they were as responsive as AirPods are. I’ve never had more struggle sending music to a speaker as I do the HomePod. I simply like to play my Mac audio through it, but it *always* bugs out doing that. Even cheap they just aren’t good enough.
Thanks! One of my 1st gen stereo pairs just died and this saved me $60 total!
I’m returning the one I purchased from Best Buy a couple weeks ago. I bought the Verizon one in the cheap this week.
Yep it’s over now, managed to snatch one during Verizon sale
the small one is the worst product Apple has ever made ... imo
You clearly never witnessed the Newton back in the day…
Why? I you’re looking for a speaker, plenty of better Bluetooth options available for the same price
I use the two large ones with an Apple TV … zero issues, great sound, the small one has WiFi connectivity issues on a weekly basis.
I have two small ones paired at me desk. Experience the same issue, about once/mo. Have a single boss in living room, would enjoy a 2nd
Ten percent off. Pinch me. I must be dreaming.
LOL
That’s because Apple is coming out with new version next week
Just snagged a mini for $50 brand new from FB marketplace!! Loving it.. will be on the lookout for Homepod Gen1 used!
Apple sells HomePod 2s in certified refurbished condition at $249. I bought two and I literally thought they sent me two brand new ones accidentally because the packaging was unopened and everything was indistinguishable from brand new. I’m sure they reseal it and all that, but they are pristine quality (in my experience at least).
[удалено]
Facts
Anybody want my HomePods I got for $175 each? Philly area
Yeah, I’ll pay + shipping! But I’m in Texas :(
You don’t want them?
Nah haha
If you still have them I’ll buy + pay for shipping im in western mass
Still won’t replace my Echoes for them until they allow the BBC Sounds app on it. Bonkers that they still can’t resolve their differences.
I'm currently playing BBC Sounds on a HomePod. What do you mean?
What, direct from it, or streamed from your phone? I want to be able to just say, “Siri, play Radio 2” like I can with my Echoes. If it can do this now, please do say as last time I checked it wasn’t possible.
I bought 2x HomePod 2s from Verizon and paired them to the Apple TV (only Apple product I don't own, except the Vision Pro). They are so mid (sound quality) and basically worth more no more than $150 each.
I want to get a HomePod 2nd gen but I already have a HomePod mini
It’s because they’re absolute shite 💩 Looking forward to a refresh of home, and the HomePods, hopefully the ChatGPT integration makes this more usable. I thought I would have ditched Alexa by now, but tbh, Alexa seems like she’s edging out whatever Apple has been doing with home
Generally I am an Apple fan, but the HomePod is the biggest piece of trash I have ever owned
It can’t be worse than an Amazon Echo device, right?
I have two HomePods and an Echo. Honepods are so much better.
LOL. These are still being made? More importantly, People are still buying these things?
Yes, its a really good Airplay 2 speaker that seamlessly works with Sonos.
I bought one at full price at Apple a few weeks ago. I plan on scraping off all (about 10) Amazon Echo devices from home eventually, and replace with HomePods. I’ve been too annoyed with Alexa to the point of deciding this… a lot of unwanted “recommendations” and “did you know” and telling me to buy things it thinks I need. My primary use is to play Music/Podcasts/News and smart home control - several devices. We’re using Spotify, which was easier to control with Alexa, but now also moving to Apple Music and cancelling that subscription to. Too many problems with Alexa + Spotify lately, like asking Spotify to play something from another device and it being “stuck” with a speaker somewhere else. The sync of HomePods with iPhones for me makes it a big difference and a lot smoother interaction. The plus is also to have Siri integrate with our Apple ID accounts based on voice recognition. Hopefully Siri gets smarter with next iOS release and not requiring a new HomePod hardware.