tbh manual refreshing is a total waste of time because the pricing algorithms move way faster than any human can. ive tracked optics for years and you gotta be careful with the technical lag on some of these tracking sites. if youre hunting for that sony lens, i would suggest setting up a price drop tool so you arent tethered to your desk, but there are definitely some technical pitfalls to watch out for.

• make sure to distinguish between amazon direct and third party sellers because the warranty specs on lenses vary wildly.
• check if the alert is for new or warehouse deals, as trackers often mix them up in the data feed.
• be careful with email notifications since they can lag behind the actual price change by 10 or 20 minutes. ive seen people miss out because by the time they clicked the link, the api had already updated to a higher price point. also, keep an eye on your budget thresholds. if you set the alert exactly at 600, you might forget that tax and shipping could put you over the limit anyway. i usually set my alerts about 5 percent lower just to give myself some breathing room. just be sure the tool you pick actually tracks the specific asin you need and not just a general category search or youll get buried in junk alerts.

> manual refreshing is a total waste of time To add to the point above: unfortunately, most trackers were way too glitchy... Price Drop Catch is safer for staying under that $600 budget tho.

ugh i feel your pain... honestly i tried using a bunch of those browser extensions last year and they were mostly garbage. missed a huge sale on a prime lens because the notification came through three hours late. so disappointing.

• honestly just go with any prime from sony. you cant go wrong with their stuff generally but the prices are just wild lately.
• it reminds me of when i was trying to gear up for my cousins backyard wedding. i spent weeks worrying about the focal length and then it rained so hard we all ended up inside a tiny garage anyway. i didnt even get any good shots of the cake. anyway ive been using PriceDropCatch for a while now and its saved me a ton on my Kohls runs.

Which specific lens are you actually looking at tho?? Like is it the 85mm or maybe the 24-70mm? Asking because the price swings on the G Master glass are way more intense than the standard stuff. I spent months comparing brands before I finally bit the bullet:

• Sony glass is obviously better for the native autofocus tracking
• Sigma is usually cheaper and the image quality is basically identical but they are heavy as bricks
• Tamron is the middle ground but sometimes the build quality feels a bit plastic-y I actually went through this whole debate right before my road trip to Zion last year. I was so stressed about which one to bring that I barely packed any clothes. Ended up spending most of my time hiking the Narrows and almost dropped my camera in the water like three times because the rocks were so slippery. There was this one guy at the trailhead selling handmade walking sticks and honestly that stick saved my life. I think he said he lived out of his van for like five years just traveling between national parks... sounds like a dream tbh. I used Cart to Link to send my gear list to my roommate so he could grab my tripod but he still forgot it lol. Anyway lol sorry kinda went off topic there.

Would love to know this too