Fire TV Stick 4K Max streaming device, Wi-Fi 6, Alexa Voice Remote (includes TV controls)

In the past, it was hard to get all your favorite streaming apps in one place or even impossible. You either had to buy a new smart dvd player with the streaming apps or an expensive smart tv that also has the streaming apps. Now you can buy a small tv stick that gets plugged into your tv, and it has everything on it. So, i bought it, and i have to say that i’m thoroughly impressed with the fire tv stick 4k max. This device stick and remote truly shows how far we have come with technology. I was hesitant to buy it at first because i wasn’t sure if it was worth the money, or if it would even work since there are some bad reviews about it. However, i will have to disagree with those bad reviews. I love this fire tv stick 4k max because it lets me watch whatever i want from my favorite subscription apps, it’s now easier to find a movie or tv show with alexa, the home screen display is easy to navigate, and the processor is so much faster.
When i first review a product, the most important thing i look for is accuracy. Did the product come with everything included in the box? Is it accurate to the product’s description? The answer to these questions is yes. In the box, you get: fire tv stick 4k max, an alexa voice remote, hdmi extender cable for the fire tv stick 4k max, usb cable with the power adapter, 2 aaa batteries, and a quick start guide. The fire tv stick came in a well-packaged box, and it looks exactly like the pictures on the fire tv stick 4k max product detail page on amazon.
The fire tv stick 4k max has all the streaming apps that were said in the product’s description, plus many more additional apps. I know some of the other reviews said that a few of the streaming apps were not working, but that was not the case for me. All the major streaming apps are on here like: netflix, disney +, hbo max, hulu, prime video, youtube, plus many more. I personally like the fact that you have to manually download each streaming app because it lets you have the streaming apps you want, and not use the gbs on streaming apps you don’t use. I’ve also noticed that the processing time for each app to open is so much faster than what i used to have. In the past, it would take up to a minute for my smart dvd player to open the streaming services, and now it only takes seconds to open.
Along with all the streaming apps that i wanted; the fire tv stick came with other accessories. There are a bunch of other streaming apps that are available to download in the appstore, and i didn’t even recognize some of them. You can also download some games from their appstore too. However, i haven’t downloaded any of them, so i can’t really say if they are any good. The fire tv stick 4k max also allows you to watch live news without having to switch to the cable tv, and these are only the main accessories.
Another thing i like about the fire tv stick 4k max is the layout of the home page and the remote. On the home page, there is a small bar that lets you put 6 streaming apps you want on there, so they will be faster to find. When you’re browsing on the home page, a lot of the time a trailer or video clip will pop up on the top right corner that’s about the movie or tv show. This is nice for knowing what a movie or show is all about. The remote has 4 preset buttons for prime video, netflix, disney +, and hulu, which makes it easier to open those apps. It was also nice to see that the volume buttons work. Since, in the past, i always had to use the cable tv remote to adjust the volume; it was a hassle to have 2 different remotes to control the tv.
If you’re still not convinced, then i think the cherry on top is the alexa button that might convince you. The alexa voice button is very convenient, and it makes streaming the different apps so effortless. It’s now easier than ever to search for your favorite movie or tv show with just your voice; you don’t have to look through each streaming app to see who has it on-demand or look it up on your phone. With the alexa voice button, you just have to say what you want to watch, and alexa will find it for you to watch it. The alexa feature on the tv also works like any other alexa device, so it also allows you to look up news events, weather forecasts, and listen to music. This is nice for people who don’t have any other alexa device since it’s like a built-in alexa device for your tv.
Now that you have read my review, i hope i’ve made your decision on buying the fire tv stick 4k max easier. Whether you are still contemplating on buying it or not, i still think this is a great product. It is a great way to watch your movies and shows with your favorite streaming apps from one place. This little tv stick is so smart, and the alexa voice button is a very nice feature to have. So, in conclusion, i definitely recommend buying this fire tv stick 4k max.

If you have a smart tv with apps, keep in mind that you cannot truly rely on them , you need an apple tv , or top of the line amazon fire stick . Apple tv 4k is $199, amazon’s best 4k stick is $55 (now $39.99)

couple things that happened when i spent the $55 (now $39.99) on the amazon 4k max stick :

1. All the episodes of jack ryan were available on prime , on my smart tv’s prime app this didn’t happen, only season 2!?!

2. Sound and video were improved even though i had supported apps on my smart tv, and i cannot begin to tell you how much improvement i saw on dolby atmos support, especially disney plus and hbo max , which had the apps on my smart tv but their dolby atmos sound was much better on the fire stick max 4k! Also dolby atmos support on the apps on the smart tv wasn’t perfect as disney plus didn’t have that support (for a certain period of time until it got updated) until i upgraded to the fire stick 4k max! Then i had the best possible support for audio and video!

Multichannel pcm is technically better than dolby digital plus but i much prefer dolby digital plus because the decoding will be done by the bitstream transferring to the soundbar/receiver rather than the streaming device decoding the signal for you and sending it via pcm. Dolby digital plus can be louder and i just prefer it over multichannel pcm. Firestick 4k max will pass bitstreams while apple tv’s dolby mat decoder will only passthrough dolby digital 5.1 standard or dolby atmos (with a dolby digital plus core ) but never dolby digital plus. I love dolby true hd but in the case of streaming , i am quite happy with dolby digital plus or dolby atmos but i prefer to not have multi channel pcm unless i am obligated to and that’s what apple tv does to hulu or any non atmos content . So that’s why i got 4k max!!!

3. Dolby vision is supported and hdr is supported and in a much improved manner so the $55 upgrade was completely unexpected and absolutely needed!

It’s the upgrade you thought you really didn’t need until you saw considerable improvements and apps that are more frequently updated on the platform!

I have a smart tv and cable programming yet the fire tv stick has opened me up to so much more, so much that i haven’t even watched a single cable tv show since i purchased my fire tv stick. My tv is also a smart tv that enables me to download apps for additional programming yet we will always have limitations as to which apps we are offered. With the fire tv stick there are no limitations, no matter what type of programs you enjoy, you have them with your fire tv stick. If you have a 4k tv, as i do, the fire tv stick max is the way to go. I’m enjoying the programs that i like to watch in stunning 4k and the cost is less than what my cable bill was for for just one month! This seller had the best price and delivered my fire tv stick in just a few days. I highly recommend this seller and i hope it goes without saying that i highly recommend the fire tv stick max!

This is my 4th fire tv product and i continue to be impressed with the ease of setup and the ease of use. Setup was as simple as it could be: just plug it in, wait for it to automatically update the software, and you’re done. It linked itself to my amazon account, and automatically pulled in all the apps and settings i had on my previous fire stick.

Performance has been excellent. Apps load quickly, and having dedicated keys for hulu, prime and netflix is great. I do wish, however, that the key for disney could be reassigned since i don’t use that service. While the voice commands are nice, i find it quicker and easier to just use the remote.

I also have a roku device, and find the fire interface to be more logical, easier to use and more streamlined.

No complaints at all — five stars.

The fire stick is great. Access to all the streaming channels you’d want. Good quality videos (for the most part). What i don’t like about the fire stick is that it’s too bulky to allow you to use any other hdmi ports on a tv. My tv only has 2 hdmi ports right next to each other. So, if i want to use my dvd player, i have to remove the fire stick from the tv to hook up the dvr. It’s a pain. I tried buying a switcher, but it’s the same problem. The way the fire stick is made blocks the other port(s) from being used. Either make a slimmer fire stick or put more room between hdmi ports on tvs & dvrs.

I am comparing this to the standard version of the 4k fire stick, of which i have four.

The 4k max device is a bit faster to load video, especially 4k amazon content.

I used this to replace the standard 4k unit in my bedroom on the other side of the house. The old one was almost unusable in that location, and was completely useless for even 720p amazon content. I tried each of the other three standard 4k sticks in that location with the same result. They never lost the wifi signal, they just took forever to load, didn’t load at all, or loaded and then constantly stopped to buffer while having horribly delayed audio. This 4k max device works perfectly.

Cable tv/internet was so expensive i couldn’t afford it anymore, plus there were constant problems with the service. I decided on the fire tv 4k max because it was several steps above the gen 3 i had gotten just a week earlier. It was delivered the next day. It was easy to install and setup. Since i already had a gen 3 registered to my account, the setup for this one was a piece of cake. Took a lot longer to install all the apps. It works great and, thus far, hasn’t buffered even when streaming 4k movies. The channel choices and apps available give you everything regular cable does plus you’re not saddled with a multitude of channels you never watch just so you can get the one or two you do like. If you’re looking to dump your cable provider this is absolutely the way to go. Btw, it was a cable repair guy that told me about this.

Update: two issues. 1) you get a message saying you’ve changed your location. This is about the primary and secondary dnp numbers. Customer service helped me get it resolved quickly. 2) your screen can freeze and/or go black. Most often it is not your hdmi port. Turning off the tv. Then unplug the power from the fire tv device. Remove the batteries from the firetv remote. Wait 4 minutes. Turn the tv on. Plug the firetv stick back into the power outlet. Install the remotes batteries. This works most of the time. Problem seems to be caused by either the cache being full and/or it needing to reset.

My man cave had an old tv that worked fine but was not “smart” but still did a fine job with sports on cable. When baseball games went to streaming services, i wasn’t going to leave my man cave and just missed some games. Once thursday night football went to amazon prime, i knew i had to do something quickly. I already subscribed to prime (for the deliveries), and with a minimal investment in the fire stick, and with a simple set up process, i am now enjoying all of the benefits – amazon prime, netflix (which the wife had on her smart tv upstairs), and apple tv+ (also on the wife’s tv). The quality is excellent, with no hint that i’m watching a streaming service. And i am no longer missing any sports!

Here’s my disclaimer: i didn’t install it myself. My daughter did that, and she did so in a a matter of minutes — versus the deathless aeons it would have taken me.

And now i am not only enjoying excellent television, but i’m free of the expensive yoke of the major cable companies (like comcast, dish and directv). I am saving over $100 a month — that’s over $1200 a year — and i am not feeling like ai lost all that much in the bargain.

If you’re old-fashioned, or simply old, like i am, you might be dragging your feet because you can’t see yourself making the leap to less expensive television. You feel that you’ll be lost when it comes to the new technology, and damn it, things are just changing too much, and you’ll never keep up, so why not just stay the way you are. At the same time, however, you’re complaining ‘how can it be that i have literally hundreds of channels, but there’s nothing on i want to watch?’

depending on the screening services you load, you’ll very likely save a good deal of money over the year.

I’m assuming most people reading this have amazon prime, and that you’ve had it for some time, so you’re already eligible for all of the extensive streaming there. Netflix is also terrific (i canceled my mailed discs), and also great are hbo max, hulu, disney, discovery, and paramount (i love me some yellowstone) and many others. All cost money to join, but the prices are often around or under $10 a month. You can join several services for under $30 – $40 a month… And that’s a lot cheaper than the over $100 many of us already paying to see those hundreds of shows you don’t watch.

And for those who are worried (i’m talking to you, fellow elder folk) that this new type of navigating will be something unimaginably difficult, think again. In essence, here it is: you click on pictures. It’s that simple.

And though certain services come with commercials, the amount is minimal, and often under a minute. It’s nothing at all like the cable services,

the picture quality is amazing, and i can’t detect any lag or delay in my viewing; and there is excellent sound through the dolby atmos; and there is also the ability to use enhanced voice searching through alexa (which can also be done remotely).

I had the older version for over 5 yrs, was n best buy getting something else and decided it was time to upgrade lol…omg yea i can see the difference…the response time is quicker, i don’t have to keep restarting cause the video has froze or timed out….i am glad i upgraded…i like the fact i can control the volume from this remote..now of they can make one where i can turn on my ps4 lol i would never leave the house lol…but any way if u have an older version, upgrade u are gonna love this one especially if u have having issues with your older firestick

sidebar: if u don’t know this works with hi-def, 4k or higher tvs

The firestick works so well that i use and enjoy it every day while sorta hating myself for buying it. It has replaced all my other streaming devices in a way that kinda makes me sick, but it’s just so darn good at what it does. Congratulations, amazon. It adapts well to our old sound system and even to an older (pre-hd flat screen) tv. Takes some configuring, but generally recognizes components like magic.

I hate the remote. I absolutely hate it and i came here to scream into the void about it.

I get it, amazon. You went with small, sleek, and ‘modern.’ here are the reasons old remotes were not made this way, and why it frequently leads to screaming and swearing:

size
old remotes were chunky for a reason. This one is tiny and smooth. It slips from unsure hands. It slides away between couch cushions. In the middle of a movie my dog jumped on the couch and it slipped into the tiniest cracks in the cushions and was nearly lost in a gap in the frame. It vanishes into the house as soon as you take your eyes off of it. Making popcorn and you set it down? It’s gone. Opened a couple of beers? Good luck. Kids are screaming? Dog is barking? You need to pause your program for any reason? Either you lost the remote and can’t pause it, or you’ve paused it and now the remote is gone.

Its design is more than ableist (which i accuse it of frequently), it’s just garbage. Yes, i know there are products to compensate for this spectacular failure, but they shouldn’t be necessary. Just make a tv remote for human hands for tv purposes.

The stupid buttons
speaking of ablism, old remotes had large buttons with raised surfaces. This design is associated with products for the elderly and disabled, but it also benefitted the able-bodied because those buttons could be found and used in the dark by anyone. Some had a light-up feature. Some glowed in the dark. Large buttons were easy to find. They took more than a slight pressure to push, and the best ones had raised designs so you knew what you were pressing without looking at it, and didn’t have to look away from the tv to hunt for them.

The number of times i have pushed ‘back’ or ‘home’ instead of rwd or pause is utterly infuriating. There’s a tiny little dot where the home button is. Easily missed. Placed by someone who has never used a remote before. Who never thought about how much someone will hate their product every time they got to press pause and find themselves on the home screen. I often think about what this would be like with kids. They’d be screaming. I’m already screaming. It’d be a mess.

Sometimes the buttons get pressed when the remote slides away into the cushions. At least in the old days it took a little more effort to push them by accident. Now all it takes is the slightest touch.

It’s stupid
the whole remote is designed by people who have never used a remote before.

No tether – nor place to attach one
there’s not even a tether. At least in the old days if you were going to design a tiny terrible product you would at least have an attachable wrist tether and hope it would compensate for something. I would attach it to a larger lanyard – preferably one that glows in the dark and/or has an internal led.

There’s only one
just throwing this out there: old tvs used to come with a pair of remotes. If you’re going to design a remote slightly larger than the one for my old cd player (which, interestingly, was never lost and had none of these problems because it was designed by someone who knew what a remote was for), and slightly smaller than a wii remote, at least sell the product with 2 of them. Don’t charge extra. Just sell 2. One of them can be the standard version without alexa. I don’t care as long as a 2nd remote can theoretically be found when the first one disappears in plain sight.

Screw this remote. …now back to my show.

Being an all apple household i have to say this device impressed me quite a bit. I purchased a firestick lite over a year ago to take with me for travel but it had a bit of lag and seemed to have network drop outs on hotel wifi (i know hotel wifi is less than desired but it was annoying). In december this device was on sale for over half off and i decided to try it out. This was after i had gotten the previous firestick 4k which was a decent product but i found out it for whatever reason cannot get the latest software (but the ‘less capable’ firestick lite can, baffling i know). I purchased this one and sent back the firestick 4k as the refund on the firestick 4k covered the cost of this one and then some.

Things that impressed me (with caveats):

1. Ability to use captive portal internet. Currently the tvos on the appletv does not allow for this unless you go through a process to spoof the mac address of a device on the captive portal or somehow get a hold of the internet provider’s help desk to have them add the mac address. A ‘dance’ i successfully completed once but by the time i was complete it was too late to watch anything. Caveat, this will be resolved with the upcoming release of tvos 15.4 as the beta version has the ability to connect to captive portal internet in hotels.

2. Ease of use – plug it into the hdmi port and power via the micro usb port via the tv or power brick. Then sign into your amazon account.

3. Picture is really good on both 4k tvs and 1080 tvs

4. Responsive when going through menus and applications – caveat, if there is enough storage available to make memory and swap cache available. (see below).

5. Main screen is customizable and you are able to set your favorite applications there. Especially helpful for use by kids.

6. Ability to set multiple profiles. I have two daughters and was able to add the kids profiles that they use on their amazon fire kids tablets. We will not go into the annoyances with the kids interface. Caveat related to limited storage and having to ‘download’ applications to the kid’s profile is counts towards the storage limit.

Annoyances:
1. Amount of storage is only 8gb? It’s 2022 amazon could afford to add more storage to these devices without adding much to the cost. Even 16gb of flash storage would be better. Having to offload applications in order to make cache available to applications can properly run gets old. Yes, i understand you can attach an external device to this for giving it more storage via a hub for applications but that negates the ‘throw it in your backpack and go’ idea i bought it for.

2. Not being able to easily close down applications to make more ram and storage available (see above). I know this device is more or less running amazon’s version of android, but even a quick way to shut down applications from the remote would be convenient.

3. The constantly running ads in the main interface and now the ads that pop-up when using live streaming applications like directtv stream. We’ve come accept commercials are annoying enough when watching broadcast tv but an ad that takes over the screen in the middle of the program is a bit too far.

4. No geo-location ability. This means applications that have the ability to ‘know’ where it is based on the ip address of the internet will automatically know which channels to load (or allow you to ‘spoof’ your location with a vpn). If this is not present services like directtv stream default to the billing zip code and you are locked to the channels for your billing zip code.

5. Kid’s profile cannot be sorted and customized in the same way the regular profile can. Unlike the appletv, it is not a profile set with age restrictions and purchase restrictions and it being there same interface as the adult profiles. It might be cute to have a kids interface but it’s annoying for kids who already know how to navigate the regular interface. It is the same type of profile that the tablet has and more or less shows what ‘amazon thinks they would like’ based on habits. Applications cannot be pinned and in addition to this they have to be re-downloaded after being added to their profile instead of just appearing on the profile. This counts towards the used storage. Amazon needs to fix this across all of their devices and do what ios and tvos does and have a data partition for a user with applications be available to all users so you do not have to re-download applications. The above said, i’ve deleted the kids profiles. My kids only go to the pinned applications and access their profiles continued in those applications.

6. All of the privacy settings are automatically set to ‘allow’ – location, watching history, targeted ads, application downloads etc. You have to go into every application as well as the settings for the device and the application setting on the device to turn all of this off. Unless you really ‘dig’ the settings are kinda hidden which is the point as amazon makes a ton of money off of selling the data provided by the device and applications to 3rd parties.

7. Updates are a pita. Update notifications are given but not for how many or what they are for. Usually it takes several attempts to check for and run all of the updates. Several times i have thought i bricked the device as it seems to hang when ‘installing’. Backing out of the update, restarting the device and running the scan for updates then shows the update completed and another update is showing. This is a common theme with all android based devices.

Conclusion:
if you are an apple user and looking for something that give you access to your streaming services (disney+, netflix, hulu, directtv stream, pbs etc) on the as well as appletv+ this device will do the job. If you are like me this will more than likely be your travel and secondary device that gets tossed in or stays in a bag. Do your due dillgence and turn on all of the privacy settings to ‘off’ or ‘do not allow’ for the fireos and each application, this usually stops the ads during live tv streams.

I got my fire tv stick 4k max during a holiday sale, and at sale price, it was a very good value. Pay services prime and apple tv+ both work great. Hgtv, a&e, pbs, also working well. I’ve sideloaded kodi and it works wonderfully for streaming ota (antenna) hdtv from my quad atsc tuner media server running nextpvr. It’s also a great media player of music and videos stored in windows shares of my media server. This little stick has fully replaced the htpc running windows media center that i kept in my entertainment center for so many years.

My main gripe and source of most of my frustrations using it, is the onscreen keyboard. I really hate abc layout and much prefer qwerty layout. You wouldn’t think muscle memory from touch typing would apply to an onscreen keyboard, but for some reason it does for me. Worse than that though, is there’s no way to arrow back and forth when entering a search term. I often hit the wrong ‘key’ when entering something and don’t realize it till i’ve ‘typed’ a bunch after that, so i just want to arrow backwards, remove and replace the offending typo, and then arrow forwards to the end where i can resume my ‘typing’. No such functionality here! Tv boxes that run pure android tv have an onscreen keyboard that is both qwerty and has cursor keys. Why did they choose to replace that wonderful keyboard with a custom terrible one?

Another issue i had is that hdr10 just doesn’t look good. My tv supports hdr, and hdr demos look great on it, but when i enable hdr on my fire tv stick 4k max, darks look way too dark and brights too bright. I’d have to strain to see in dark scenes and it hurt my eyes in bright scenes. Maybe this was just an issue with apple tv+, but i couldn’t stand it and now i just leave it on disable hdr which looks a lot better.

Overall, a great streamer and great value (when on sale). At regular price, however, i think the onn 4k tv box is a better buy.

I bought this fire tv stick 4k max just to listen to amazon music hd/uhd that i’m in a free trial. My denon avr-2312ci is a 192khz/24 bit compatible pcm receiver. I have played numerous 192khz/24 bit songs in pcm through this receiver without any problems. The fire stick 4k max will only play at 48khz/16 bit. It also gives false info to the denon where it thinks it’s a 192khz song. Fact is that it displays on the denon information screen as 192khz when app output states 44.1khz, 48khz, 96khz, or 192khz.

Looks like i found the problem. The uhd audio setting under the amazon music unlimited app glitches. When it glitches, the uhd audio states enabled but as it is stating this, the app displayed output is only 16 bit audio at 48khz. Then when the main app audio setting is disabled, then the app display states the output is 24 bit 192khz or 96khz (depending on the source). After restarting the fire tv stick 4k max, it did go back as it should. Weird how it glitches on the apps audio setting so once it’s enabled, do not toggle it back and forth as it will glitch again. I confirmed all this in my denon’s information display. What i did find, no matter the source hd/uhd sampling frequency or the app displayed output sampling frequency quality, the fire tv stick 4k max up samples the actual hdmi output to 192khz, as stated in my denon receiver information display.

What i also did, is compare the normal lossy standard quality signal output from amazon music unlimited on my roku devices. I have roku devices and fire tv sticks in both of my ht systems. I compared at 16 bit/44.1khz on my regular fire tv stick and the fire tv stick 4k max. 16 bit/44.1khz is what a cd plays at and is considered cd quality. With both systems, the cd quality music absolutely blew away the standard lossy quality on my roku devices which is actually higher quality than spotify or pandora!! The difference was huge. The cd quality played about 4 – 5 db quieter obviously for higher dynamic peaks, and the frequency response was a lot fuller with a lot more detail and bass. The imaging was much more focused with greater detail than the standard lossy audio. The standard lossy audio was was more diffused and not as focused, and had a harsher sound with less bass.

The quality difference from standard lossy audio to cd quality 16 bit/44.1khz was huge and actually a huge reason not to ever listen to lossy audio again. I heard the same with mp3 songs even at a high bit rate, before but thought things were better now. Didn’t realize just how much fidelity i was losing by listening to standard lossy audio. Maybe now that i have found lossless audio on amazon music unlimited hd, i may try using the fire tv sticks for all my movie apps instead of just amazon music unlimited hd. I’ll see how the stick goes with music. Obviously, uhd audio at 24 bit depth sounds much better than hd (cd audio quality) at 16 bit depth, wit greater detail.

The main thing i hate about these fire sticks is that the amazon music unlimited app continues to play music even after you hit the home button to get out of the app. So it’s still sucking all my data on my wifi while i’m not using it!! There needs to be a work around so that it stops playing music when the home button is pushed like on roku!!

I’m giving it a new rating from 1 to 4, since the app had the glitch instead of the fire stick. The glitch needs to be fixed so it can operate correctly on the 4k max stick. After all, they are both from the same company!

I have a wifi 6 supported router (bgw 320-505 nokia) from at&t with up to a gig of speed using fiber. The firestick 4k max is very fast at loading apps and the picture quality is very good. Audio is also very good but occasionally there is a sync issue with someone speaking. This might not have anything to do with the firestick though. I was using chromecast with google tv as i have youtube tv and as you would expect they worked seamlessly together. The picture and sound quality is pretty much the same with the firestick being quicker to go from app to app or load. The firestick also has picture in picture which is great with my security cameras. There is a lot to like here including the live tv area. I do wish the live channels could be arranged by preference, maybe there is a way and i just haven’t figured it out. Here is what i am not crazy about, the menu or landing page. The home, find, live in my opinion should be at the top of the page horizontal or vertical. This would allow for more apps to show as opposed to 6 and should simply scroll with no need to drop to an apps area (3 little squares). I would also prefer the viewing recommendations pull from the apps i use up front versus being lost down the menu. Prime content takes precedence pretty much over everything. Once in your app that doesn’t really matter but what does matter is the ads, which can be annoying. All in all there are things i like and things i dislike.

I came from the roku world so the interface took a bit to get used to. I got this primarily because my previous brand doesn’t offer vpn support. The hardware and software feels pretty snappy, which is pretty important to most of us. Voice and volume controls are nice. My biggest beefs are: 1. The home page shows options to continue watching content previously started in streaming apps (like netflix), but it doesn’t tell you which app you were watching it on, and if you click on the show, it doesn’t automatically sign you into the app, so you can’t watch it. You have to back out, start the correct app, and then continue your show… Very counter-intuitive. 2. It’s too easy to bump the wrong button during playback… Seems i’m constantly either hitting the wrong button or bumping the remote with my elbow, sending me back to the home page usually. (that stinkin’ home button is right above the play/pause button). How about a warning before exiting during playback?

I originally set up this device with 4 profiles (2 adults 2 kids) but we found that the device froze often. I deleted all but one profile and it seems to have fixed the issue. Each app has viewer profiles within it so it’s not an issue. I’m used to the interface on apple tv and roku and this is the first amazon device we’ve purchased. I don’t see value in the content on the home screen, i would prefer to just have app tiles like on other devices. Another quirk was with the kids profile. I could give the kids access to all the apps except amazon prime video. The amazon content in the kids profiles is within the home screen, but it’s hard to navigate. Plus i couldn’t figure out how to access my paid content channels within prime video (for example, paramount plus). It was such a hassle, they should just add the prime video app. Our workaround has been to just use one family account to access all our streaming apps. All in all, the low price of this device makes up for the quirks. I purchased this on prime day at deep discount.

The overall quality is great. Setup was fairly easy once i learned the basic remote techniques. Basic operation is fairly simple but a bit hard at trying to find local broadcast channels. At the phone company, they already had their set with the correct selection for local channels on their first screen. Mine wasn’t as simple. Once the app was installed, i have to hunt each time to find the selection for my local router access to the correct ‘live’ channels. It took me a while, and i was a computer systems engineer for over 50 years! It could be made a bit easier for the user to locate things!

Have a pendant, 4k, and now a 4k max. Would say the max has a bit of a performance increase over the pendant, but can see no difference between the 4k and the max. To be fair, am not using wi-fi 6, so if more performance can be found there, i wouldn’t be able to see it. It’s possible users who noticed a performance increase could have gotten similar results with their older devices by doing a factory reset to clear out years of bloat. Even doing a simple deregister/register can get rid the cobwebs.

Physical install was simply connecting the max and ac adapter to the existing ethernet and hdmi. Only downside was the 4k max’s option to pre-install applications and settings from other registered devices was only about 80% effective. Some of the pre-installed applications were corrupt and weren’t available on the home screen, while others needed an immediate update as the pre-installed versions were quite old. Easier to install applications manually to guarantee the most current versions and no scrambled installs.

Saved a total of $36 off the regular price – $20 by purchasing it on prime day 2022, and another $16 for trading in the fire pendant when placing the order for the 4k max. Performance arguments aside, trading in an older device may have other advantages, as was squinting at the random fine print and read that the fire pendant was (allegedly) only set to receive updates as far as somewhen in 2022. While i don’t have a lot applications installed, like the 4k max’s option of purchasing an on the go (otg) adapter to connect a usb flash drive and offload 3rd party applications to save internal storage space.

So i had a really solid review on this product for a bit. It has great features ease of use and so much is great about the features it would be perfect in retrospect. There is one flaw though i have noticed recently i cannot turn a blind eye to though. The space on its storage is low. I have the apps i want. I have around a quarter of storage used up from the apps. I have about a fifth of storage on cache. If that was the problem then id say it’s my fault. It only has around 6 gigs though. Around half of which operates the thing. Ok, no problem but 4k quality on products needs around 20 gigs to not be an actual issue or a less revolving issue. I do not want to buy a flash drive. A split usb and the firestick to run it. Why would anyone feel this to be necessary when you bought it for convenience???

If you have storage needs for the device you will need the adapter and a flash drive or it will constantly tell you to delete apps.