Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsGood product...if it works.
Reviewed in Canada on August 24, 2022
At first, I loved the TV. It had great features, nice picture and simple interface for a great price. However, now having used it for a number of months, I wish I bought something else.
At first the Alexa integration is great...until you're watching something on TV and the program you're watching mentions the word "Alexa" or anything close to sounding like Alexa, and then all of a sudden the Alexa device on your TV starts speaking over top of your program because it thinks you're asking Alexa something. So, you can't hear whatever dialog you're watching. So you wait until your Alexa stops talking and if you want to backtrack and rewatch what you missed, you have to time it just after the program mentions that specific word, otherwise you'll be in the same situation and it's groundhog day all over again. The only solution to this is to manually turn off the Alexa device on the TV, which then defeats the purpose of getting it! One would think these TVs would have some smart AI or something in them to understand the difference between the device itself saying Alexa, vs an actual human. And don't get me going on if you happen to have two different Alexa devices in the room. It's just all of them talking at once while you're trying to watch TV.
I'm also not a fan that the only manual button the TV has is a power button. No channel or volume control, no input control, etc. I know this is more normalized now, but it's incredibly frustrating when the device's remote does not work (which is a common problem with Fire TVs). The only way for you to navigate/troubleshoot the device is download the Fire app on your phone, and see if that works. Our remote stopped working within 4 months. And then, the app only worked temporarily and stopped working. We of course googled everything/reset/fresh batteries/etc.. followed all the advice online both from Amazon and others. Nothing. Randomly one day, the app started working again, but the remote never did. I contacted Amazon for a warranty claim - they walked me through all the same steps I had already done. Still no luck. Amazon customer service escalated it and said I'd get an email from a specialist. Two and half weeks later, nothing. I contacted CS again and did the same routine. This rep decided to send us a replacement device and we'd send the first one back... which was nice... until after we disconnected and found out we must pay for shipping the device back! WTF. Why are we out more money for a TV that is 4 months old and doesn't work?
Anyway...long story short - the remotes are finicky, the CS isn't the best and the Alexa integration isn't useful... go buy a Roku. I have Roku in my house and it's been great.