Staff Picks: The Best of the Best

Published

When you see a Staff Pick deal, you know someone at Castle DealNews has declared it a particularly noteworthy bargain. So allow us to quickly highlight some of the... um... highlights. (Of what are already highlights. It recurs.)

Pro Deal Tip: There's many more Staff Pick deals beyond the ones we've highlighted here. Keep scrollin' to see them all.


Apple iPhone 17, 17 Pro or Air w/ iPad, Watch & $200 GC at VerizonApple iPhone 17, 17 Pro or Air w/ iPad, Watch & $200 GC at Verizon
Store: Verizon
Price: Free w/ trade-in and/or Unlimited plan
Shipping: Free shipping
Expiration: October 9

There's probably a word in German for the exact feeling you get when you buy a brand-new Apple iPhone, and get an iPad A16, Apple Watcher Series 11, Series 10, SE 3, or SE 2, and a $200 Verizon gift card all bundled in, and as long as you have the correct Unlimited plan and/or trade-in, you get the whole thing for free. But I last studied German about two decades ago, long before Verizon started offering these bundles, so we'll just have to assume it's something ridiculous like "Staffenpickenschnitzel".



Bedsure Human Dog BedBedsure Human Dog Bed
Store: Amazon
Price: $109.99 via clippable coupon
Shipping: Free shipping
Lowest By: $31

I respect that this item offers no explanation for its existence. Human Dog Bed. Buy it or don't, but you don't get to know what was going on at Bedsure when someone suggested this as a product. It's a real grass is greener situation — your pets spend so long trying to share our human beds that we've gone fully off the deep end and convinced ourselves that their beds are surely better.

The real insanity, of course, is not recognising that the real human dog bed is wherever Wolfman sleeps.



DeWalt Power Tools at Lowe'sDeWalt Power Tools at Lowe's
Store: Lowe's
Discount: Buy one, get one
Shipping: Free shipping

At long last, you too can do DeWalt... you do DeWalt of Life. And when you do one DeWalt of Life, you get a second DeWalt of Life for free. I'm not entirely sure how far we can stretch this joke, but that's never stopped us before. And you're accessory to it. We're brothers in arms now. On the internet, and what is the Information Superhighway if not basically Telegraph Road. Good lord someone stop this.



Amazon Music UnlimitedAmazon Music Unlimited
Store: Amazon
Price: Free for 4 months w/ Prime
Expiration: October 10

Imagine telling early 2000s Lars Ulrich that in Space Year 2025, people will be able to access almost the entire canon of recorded music for free for four whole months, and it would be entirely legal. He'd probably look at you over an overpriced glass of champagne at an art auction and demand proof. You'd pull out your smartphone and show him this deal, at which point he be like that: "What the H is that, some kind of internet cellphone?" And then he'd get the jump on old man Jobs, and suddenly Metallica have the patent on the iPhone, and they can easily afford to sue anyone they like into nonexistence. So stop imagining that, and just take the free trial. It's safer this way.



Belvedere Men's Calico Leather Lace-Up SneakersBelvedere Men's Calico Leather Lace-Up Sneakers
Store: Men's Wearhouse
Price: $29.99
Shipping: Free shipping for members
Lowest By: $100

These shoes are significantly less Belve-dear than usual, by a margin of exactly 100 dollars. Which means you could buy four pairs at this price and still have $10 to spare compared to buying just one pair at their regular price. Calico? More like Cali-low. Price. Do you see?



Vinyl Record Deals at Barnes & NobleVinyl Record Deals at Barnes & Noble
Store: Barnes & Noble
Price: $50 for 3
Shipping: Free shipping w/ $50

Over 150 records are on sale for just $20, and if you buy three of them, the price drops to $50 — a $10 savings. At that point, the question isn't whether you buy the Barnes & Noble exclusive printing of Aqua's Aquarium, but instead, will you stop at just three? Sure, you could go with Aquarium, and then go with Joni Mitchell's Hejira and Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, or Hans Zimmer's Driving Miss Daisy soundtrack and Simon and Garfunkel's soundtrack to The Graduate. But if one Barbie Girl is catchy, three are a full-blown epidemic that's hard to resist.