Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsAnnoying flaws that the Roku does not have
Reviewed in Canada on December 12, 2023
So, I own a bunch of Roku but they updated their device software with something that limits their capabilities. So I decided to try a Fire Stick. On first glance, it seems at least as good and maybe a bit better than the Roku. However, the is one annoyance that quickly became a major annoyance. With the Roku, I've got 250+ apps and never worried about space on the Roku. In fact, I don't even know how much space is left and don't care...I've never even thought about it until I got the FS. I'm sure at some point I will run out but I figure I'll be able to delete a few dozen apps to clear up some space.
On the fire stick, I installed maybe 20 apps and already it's low on space and has slowed down considerably from out of the box. Yes, there's ways to fix it but I should not have to within an hour of using the app. So I delete a few apps and cleared some cache and the speed is back to normal but now I have to figure out how to get more space. So I had to buy an OTG (10$) and a thumb drive (10$) so my "economical" Fire stick of 25$ is now closer to 55$ with the taxes. Roku cost me 15$.
The instructions from the net were quite clear...and incorrect. I found other quite clear instruction, but they were incomplete. Six hours later I've got everything resolved and it works...sort of. I want to transfer some of the apps from the internal drive to the thumb drive (which has been "internalized" or whatever it's called)...Only one app can be transferred. None of the others can be transferred. So now I bought this extra crap and still can't clear up some space. Four more hours later, I follow the quite clear workaround instructions and it does not work as one of the three pieces of software I was told to install does not work as advertise in the instructions. I'm sure I'll get it working eventually but in the meantime, the Fire Stick is crap. Unless I delete more apps it is slow.
It may very well prove that the Fire Stick will be better but the cost is not the real cost. I paid 15$ for the Roku and never spent another penny for additional upgrades, barely spent an hour trying to figure out the settings, and it works great. The fire stick's price is a lie. Double it and add hours of BS to get it to work properly (and I still haven't got it working). This reminds me of the difference between Windows and Linux. Sure maybe Linux is "better" but windows works out of the box without spending hours and hours trying to figure it out.
So, out of the box without upgrades, the FS lets you have ~20 apps before it slows down to becoming unusable (and 20 is not nearly enough...200 is what I'd expect). The Roku still works great with 250+ apps. Otherwise both are equivalent in all other aspects with each having a few aspects that are better than the other.