honestly ive been tracking high-end gear for years and the whole 3 am thing is mostly a myth now. amazon's algorithm is way more reactive to what sites like b&h or best buy are doing in real-time. over the years ive noticed that big sale events are actually some of the worst times to buy cameras because they often inflate the original price just to make the discount look bigger. you gotta be really careful with those clippable coupons tho... sometimes the base price without the coupon was actually lower a week prior. i usually find that tuesday mornings are when the real drops happen. PriceDropCatch is a pretty solid tool to have if you want to catch those weird 2-hour price mistakes before they disappear. just dont rush it because you still have time before your trip and rushing usually leads to overpaying.

Searching for a specific time or day is usually risky. I once held out for a discount on my current setup and the shipping dates slipped right before my flight. Panic-buying at a higher price just to have it in time really sucked. You might want to consider setting a fair target and grabbing it once it hits... let me know if you need help checking shipping reliability tho.

Can confirm this works. Did the same thing on mine and its been solid ever since.

Saving this thread

@Reply #4 - good point! Totally agree that once you settle on a strategy, it usually pays off. In my experience over the years tracking imaging gear, Sony pricing behavior is way more erratic than Canon or Nikon. Sony tends to flood the market with bodies and then pull back hard on inventory to keep the street price stable... it makes tracking them a nightmare compared to other brands that have more predictable seasonal cycles. I remember hunting for my a7R III back in the day and I kept waiting for a specific drop day that never came. Eventually, I realized that for high-ticket electronics like this, the price isnt tied to a clock but to stock levels at places like B&H or even local specialized shops. If you're eyeing that $1800 mark for something like an A7 IV body, you gotta be ready to move in minutes. PriceDropCatch is a life saver for this because it pings you way faster than the manual check-ins most people do. I managed to score an open-box unit once for basically several hundred off just because I had the alert set for a specific price floor. Honestly, trying to guess the algorithm is a losing game... just set your target, use the tracker, and hit buy the second it dings your phone.

Wow ok that changes things. Gonna have to rethink my approach now.

Like someone mentioned, the 3am thing is a total urban legend now. Over the years, I've noticed the best Sony prices happen when B&H or Adorama run flash sales. Amazon's bot just copies them.

• Check for clippable coupons on the page
• Use PriceDropCatch to track those short flash drops
• Watch Warehouse deals for open box units If it hits 1700, honestly just grab it.