The streaming device with the latest Alexa Voice Remote (includes TV controls), Dolby Vision.
Positive Reviews
Positive Review – 1
New-style remote.. otherwise it’s the same.
I don’t write reviews often, but I learned a few tricks that solved issues I’ve had over the years. I hope this helps others with seemingly unsolved issues with firesticks.
Firstly I’ve been using firesticks even before 4K TVs and they’ve almost always have worked well. The occasional restart/reboot on older models were something my family got used to. I eventually replaced all older units with this 4K version. And now never have to reboot. Although this has a slightly better remote function, it’s essentially the same as the 2018/2019 version. The 4K Max has the spec bump and quicker less congested WiFi 6 configurations.
Okay, so my biggest gripe with the firestick had to do with it not always playing HDR or Dolby Vision, which defeats the purpose of it being a 4K model. I’ve scoured tons of forums and looked at countless YouTube videos regarding this. But either the solutions didn’t work, or they would only be HDR 10 when the nicer Dolby Vision was available.
SOLUTION: Make sure your 4K tv setting is set properly. Go into “INPUT” settings and find the HDMI input you’re using for the firestick and depending on your model make sure “UHD” is toggled on. This solution finally allowed every content I’ve played on all streaming services to finally play Dolby Vision content (and HDR when DV was not) every single time. I hope this helps.
Positive Review – 2
Works fine. New buttons work. A bit faster. So far no WiFi 6.
Upgrading from the “old” 4K Fire Stick which will go to my son. One star off for the “WiFi 6” capabilities as I have an ASUS RT-AX86U router with WiFi 6 and yet my new Firestick shows 5GHz with very good signal strength. It works fine and streams fine but I would like to see my FIRST WiFi 6 device showing that it is using all of that extra speed, heh.
The boot-up, app boot, and remote are slighter faster. The navigation ring on the remote is a bit stiffer than the older one (does not butt change stuff when you sit on it tho!) The Netflix, Disney+, Prime buttons all work fine. Getting all the apps signed in AGAIN is a pain so I wished that would automatically get moved over with some sort of sync but it is a one-time pain.
Full-time HDR and Dolby vision pops up on most stuff. Easy to connect to a network. Does 8 bit, 10 bit, and 12 bit HDR and is selectable. The audio sounds great but I just use stereo headphones so cannot tell much difference from the old one
Should you upgrade from the old Fire Stick to this new one? Nope if the old one works well. A little faster, probably better WiFi reception, and some extra buttons are not worth it so far. I just needed another one.
Positive Review – 3
Faster than old stick
The positive:
This new generation fire stick is faster than our old stick. The old one has struggled with the new major update Amazon did and the buttons were worn. The updated processor and increased memory help.
It is really nice having the volume controls on the remote. The two batteries load in a more traditional way as well.
The negative:
I really wish they made the four quick buttons on the bottom programmable. We ditched Disney + and would much rather have it pull up youTube, HMO Max, or Discovery +. Oh well.
I don’t like the new update. I now have to go to the Amazon Prime app to see my purchased videos, where before it was built into the main menu. I also have zero interest in the live TV and believe that is what was dogging down the old Fire Stick. The ad space on top is also a lot bigger and when I search for a movie it’s not telling me if Netflix has it. I ended up purchasing a movie to watch that ended up being on Netflix.
Positive Review – 4
Capable Streamer. Grab one when deeply discounted
I had an older 4K firestick that appears identical to this one except for the remote. But this one is MUCH faster in terms of on-screen use. Very snappy performance. Picture quality is very good too once you turn OFF the always-on HDR, which will turn the picture to mud. It’s on by default for some reason. Also, make sure 4K is turned on (or auto) if you have a 4K set… Presumably, you do since there is no reason to buy this Fire Stick if you don’t.
Is it worth $50? No, but for half that price, heck yeah. And with a new 4K stick coming soon, discounts like that are probably going to be common…so cash in when you can.
This probably checks every box you have. 4K. Dolby Vision. all forms of HDR, a voice remote with buttons that controls all essential TV functions (volume, channel, mute) with dedicated Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ and Hulu buttons…
So if you have an older stick, and a newer 4K Dolby Vision set, going to this stick is a no-brainer.
The only downside is you have to download all your streaming service apps again, digging out the names and passwords of each one. A major pain. Amazon keeps track of everything else, including your wi-fi network, so not sure why it can’t do this too. But it does not for some reason, despite a step in the setup process that sort of implies it does. If so, that process did not work for me.
I know the new version of this stick is upgraded, supports WIFI 6 (which I have) and Atmos (which I don’t) But can’t see it worth twice the price of this one.
Positive Review – 5
Moved from Android TV box to Fire Stick
After spending the last 4-5 years on Android TV boxes (with mixed results), I finally broke down and tried the Fire Stick 4K. I’ll not look back! I found the Fire Stick to be much more responsive to program launches and the incorporated “live guide” adds a nice touch when coupled with Pluto TV and YouTube TV. We were also able to install the Android apps that we had become accustomed to using on the TV box, and they ran flawlessly. The only hitch was the ability to use a mouse. After installing Mouse Toggle to allow for mouse clicks on some of the respective programs, all was well. Plenty of storage space if you’re a streamer and not a downloader, plenty of 5GHz wifi speed (Speed test ~500Mbps), and plenty of power to run the apps we use.
I saw several reviews that said there were delays or ‘hang ups’ while opening applications, but I didn’t find that problem. We use Netflix and YouTube TV extensively, as well as Pluto TV and some of our ‘unmentioned’ streaming apps–not a single issue encountered after a week of heavy use. The ability to incorporate my Samsung TV, Samsung soundbar, and Fire Stick all in a single remote without having to ‘learn’ or punch in random codes is amazing. It also fits cleanly behind the TV, so there’s one less electronic ‘box’ on top of the cabinet under the TV! Win-win!
I will be purchasing more of these to replace the half-dozen TV boxes in our house, as these are too easy to use! The 5GHz wifi makes a HUGE difference over the current 2.4GHz TV box speeds. I have some that have failed wifi, so they have to be hard-wired–no good! So these will soon be the ‘thing’ in our house for our streaming lifestyle!
Negative Reviews
Negative Review – 1
Desperately needs an app-only mode
This new 2021 interface that Amazon pushed to all its devices makes the device near impossible to set up for a parent or older person. There’s no way I can explain that 90% of the screen is an ad to my elderly parents. At least with the old interface, the recent app row was above the ads. Now there’s a banner ad and a suggested row before getting to the large app icons that they can actually see.
Outside of a 3rd party launcher, there’s no way to make this usable for someone that doesn’t understand technology. Luckily the new google tv interface offers an app-only model. That’ll be my go-to from now on. A once great ecosystem of FireTV devices is now more ads than functions.
Negative Review – 2
Not user friendly
First off, delivery was quick and the driver was friendly and that is about all I can say that I enjoyed of this so far. The Firestick doesn’t seem to want me to stream movies on full screen. I have a QLED TV and now I lost part of my screen with the firestick. Previews will be full screen but once you hit play, not full screen anymore. Don’t have this problem with a Roku which is what I was replacing to get an upgrade I thought. Can’t log into AMC+ with your existing account, it will make you set up a new account and pay double the money. I already paid for a year and will use my existing one. Amazon seems to be acting like Apple and wants to control the apps and where you spend the money. My next move is to return this and get the latest Roku 4k stick. I have tried all the online fixes that were suggested and problems have persisted.
Negative Review – 3
Doesn’t work with Disney+
I bought this because it has a quick button for the exact 4 streaming services I subscribe to watch. It works great with all except for Disney+… it won’t connect and I’ve tried everything. Very disappointing and I’m not the first one with this issue. It’s posted all over the internet. Just search “fire stick won’t connect to Disney+“ and you will see. I wish I would’ve searched for it before I bought it because I wouldn’t have bought it if I knew it has had this problem for YEARS. Not a happy customer. It’s been like this for days on my device and it seems like a permanent problem… I’ve tried everything and nothing is fixing the issue. You have been warned.
Negative Review – 4
Poor performance after upgrades
When the firesticks are first released they work fairly well, then the system updates come which eat away at the performance until the stick is almost useless because of how slow the interface is to respond. Amazon has now made it impossible to downgrade the Firesticks to previous versions by adding refuses to the circuitry, so you can’t even flashback to a previous version. My firestick after the last update now struggles to even run Pandora, and forget about it running Plex or anything that will take up more resources like that. I feel like the Firesticks are put out there to get you to eventually buy the Fire Cubes which have far better performance.
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Negative Review – 5
Doesn’t work with older TVs
Generally speaking, I love Amazon Firesticks and have used them for years on both my TVs. Recently, both first-generation firesticks stopped working after a software update. There were trade-in offers on amazon.com so I traded in both, one for a regular Firestick and another for the 4K version (hoping it would still be useful if I upgraded my TV). The regular Firestick works well but the 4K version shows error messages on both TVs (HDCP error). Apparently (upon web searches for this) it seems older TVs are not licensed to display 4K content due to the new HDCP Regulations. So even though my TVs are 720p and 1080p the signal doesn’t work and I had to return the 4K stick (losing my trade-in discount in the process) and will have to wait to get it when I have a new TV.
3 stars only because of the compatibility issue with older TVs but I am sure on a new TV this would be a 5-star device.
