My trusty 9-year-old lawn mower finally gave up, so it was time for a replacement. Like most people, I started the hunt for a good product at a good price. This usually means spending an hour or so scouring deal sites and online retailers for a (semi) major purchase.
This time, I started with my usual suspects: Slickdeals and Amazon. After about 15 minutes, I found a promising deal on Amazon – a similar lawn mower, originally $399, now on sale for $349. Not bad, right? But then I had a thought: could AI do even better?
I decided to try Google’s Gemini, specifically its Deep Research option. I told Gemini exactly what I was looking for: a good deal on a battery-powered lawn mower. I listed four requirements, including a “19-21 inch blade” and preferred brands like “Worx and Greenworks.” Gemini summarized my request, asked if I needed any modifications (nope, it looked perfect!), and then started its research. About five minutes later, I got a notification on my phone—the research was done, and the report was ready. Amazing!
Gemini had researched 22 different sites and generated a 14-page report. No need to read the whole thing, though! The “Executive Summary” had all the information I needed. The best deal? It was the same Worx lawn mower I’d almost bought earlier, but Gemini found it for just $299 at Best Buy. Score! Gemini had just saved me a cool $50 (and a good hour of researching). The report also included direct links to all the deals, so with one click, I was ready to save. And an unexpected bonus: Rakuten was offering 5% cash back, saving me another $15! Next time, I’ll be sure to add “check current Rakuten cash back if applicable” to my prompt.
I did skim through some of the other sections of the report, which were pretty interesting. It even included a helpful comparison chart for the top two deals it found. This experience has definitely changed how I’ll approach deal-hunting in the future!
