I've had experience with a number of devices, and this one is my favorite.
My priorities:
Fast streaming/minimal lag
Easy to navigate
Access to shows of interest
Ability to preview as i fast forward or rewind
Apple TV:
Expensive
Can't preview or issues with some of the apps that was frustrating. it wanted to rewind or fast foward instead of clicking to the screen section you wanted with a preview. This really killed the device for me.
Easy to overshoot if you used the finger swipe option to quickly move fast-forward or rewind.
User interface, for the most part is decent and fast except for how navigates while playing.
Fire TV
Built to sell products instead of show shows, laggy, and for whatever reason I hated interacting with this device. Not being able to easily access the content I wanted due to poor organization really rubbed me the wrong way.
Pro - ability to bootleg shows, but not something I'm into and I only checked this out during the first weeks of covid.
I want to emphasize the lag issues. This is built as cheap as possible to minimally meet requirements to function and it shows.
Roku
So, now that I have the other devices out of the way, and ignore my LG streaming which is my favorite, I'll speak to this device and why it has my vote.
This device is surprisingly fast. I didn't expect a device that was almost as responsive as my apple TV and LG TV. This is slightly slower but barely and no lag which is the most critical thing for me.
We got this for the British Bake-off access which led to an unexpected cool thing. The discovery of the free shows, if you don't absolutely hate commercials. For the complete British Bake-off experience, we mute the commercials. So, the additional channels that Roku provides has made it continue to be useful.
Roku allows a preview of channels as I fast forward through it.
Roku does have an issues with some apps where I need to log out and go back in so the remote works correctly. I'm not sure if that's a bad app issue or the device but a quick back and in fixes. The apple device has never crashed or become buggy on me. The Firestick has, but it's cheap.
The price is significantly cheaper than apple making the Roku a no brainer.
Unlike the apple TV, which requires counter space, this plugs into the back of the TV and is hidden away.
Now, an issue I had when I first turned on is that my remote was not communicating with the device. I was extremely annoyed as this was an early Christmas present for my wife, and I wanted it to function within a certain time window so a return and replace would have ruined it. The device showed the remotes power but didn't communicate. After resetting the device, the remote works fine now. If you run into an issue, try resetting the device.
4k streaming? It's okay. I didn't do a side by side. It has 4k.
Navigation? It's simple enough but could be made better. I thought the last version of the Fire TV was worse. The apple TV does shine in this area on most apps I played with. My biggest gripe with navigation in Roku is that marking something as favorite and then LOCATING the favorites from Roku's channels and free shows, was not intuitive. I did eventually find my favorites, but that was frustrating. Additionally, the channel/app/inventory searching involves clicking to the right instead of down.
So, speed is slightly less than Apple, but barely. Navigation is slightly less easy based on the layout vs apple, and i think it's better than the Fire the last time I used that thing. The Roku has a nice access to misc. free channels. Its price is a quarter of Apple. The fire TV? I don't consider these two in the same league.
So, if you're picking up a streaming device, I'd recommend the Roku over the other devices (except the LG TV native streaming app which is the best I've used). Performance and price are good. The only reason to avoid is if it doesn't have access to what you want to watch. For me, it filled in the gaps and provided baking shows that we otherwise didn't have access to.
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Roku Streaming Stick 4K 2021 Device HDR/D. Vision with Roku Voice Remote and TV Controls (Renewed) $36.99 & FREE Shipping. Details
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Reviews with images
Great streaming stick but…
I bought this Roku stick as a replacement for my old one that was constantly buffering. This one is much faster and streams flawlessly. After digging into the TV settings I was able to sync it with the Roku remote. I like that you do not need to point it at the sensor for it to work. It does require a USB connection for power. My only complaint is it advertises too much and thinks it knows what you want to watch. It took me about an hour to turn off most of those settings.
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Rob B
Very powerful little device!
Reviewed in Canada on October 21, 2023Style: StickVerified Purchase
