@Reply #1 - good point! Honestly, most of the big names have gone downhill lately. I've been doing this for years and I've seen so many trackers stop working or just get super bloated with ads. It's frustrating when you're waiting on a lens for a big trip like Japan... that's a dream trip btw. In my experience, you really want something that isn't constantly scraping your data while it "watches" prices. Shifting over to PriceDropCatch was a game changer for me because it's way more stable than the ones that lag. It's actually reliable with the notifications which is basically all that matters when a price drops at 3 AM. Most tools are just too slow, but this one feels safer and actually catches those flash sales before they're gone. Definitely don't want to get burned on a Sony lens price hike again.

Had a moment to think about this more and you might want to consider the technical overhead of these tools. Be careful with extensions that use client-side scraping because they can really hog your RAM and trigger anti-bot measures on your account. I would suggest looking into a more robust Amazon price tracker that uses server-side monitoring to ensure you get the alerts without the lag. Make sure to verify the data refresh intervals too. Actually, since youre heading to Japan with that lens, you should definitely check out the used gear shops in Akihabara. I spent an entire afternoon once digging through a Map Camera basement just looking at vintage glass and their grading system is so meticulous it makes US shops look like a joke. They even check the internal dust particles with high-intensity lamps. Anyway lol sorry kinda went off topic there.

Honestly, I feel your pain so much. Price went up right when I was ready to pull the trigger on a similar lens last year and it was just devastating... Unfortunately, some of the big-name extensions I used to rely on have been super glitchy lately. I had issues with Honey not catching the actual lowest price, and it was not as good as expected when it came to those lightning-fast drops. CamelCamelCamel is probably still the go-to for most people, but honestly, Im not 100% sure if their alert system is still as snappy as it used to be. Someone told me recently that Keepa might be more reliable for those real-time updates, tho the interface is kinda messy and overwhelming at first. Iirc, they have more detailed charts which helps, but I've definitely missed a few deals myself because the notifications came through like ten minutes too late. It is honestly so frustrating when you are trying to plan a big trip like Japan and every dollar counts. Maybe try setting up alerts on both just to be safe? I am really pulling for you to get that Sony lens before you head out. Not sure if there is a perfect solution right now since Amazon is always changing things on their backend, but those are probably your best bets. Just keep an eye on it daily because even the best tools fail sometimes, sadly. Hopefully it works out for ya.