Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (newest model), streaming device, with AI-powered Fire TV Search, supports Wi-Fi 6E, free & live TV without cable or satellite, find shows faster with Alexa+

I bought the Fire TV Stick 4K Max to replace my slow, older streaming device, and the difference is clear. Setup took about 10 minutes, apps open quickly, and 4K video looks sharp with almost no lag. The Wi-Fi 6 support helps a lot, and the voice remote makes finding shows easy. The home screen has quite a few ads, and it's a bit pricier than the basic model, but the speed makes it worth it. Great value overall, 4.5 out of 5 stars.

It just works, unlike Google. Setup was quick, streaming is smooth, and everything connected without any hassle. The 4K picture quality looks great, apps load quickly, and Alexa makes searching and controlling everything easy. It also feels like a device I can keep using for years instead of constantly having to replace or troubleshoot it. Overall, fast, reliable, and well worth it.

For various reasons, I decided it was time to at least try a different streaming device, and I figured a FireTV Stick would be the obvious solution. I wanted a responsive device, and to try to ensure this, I figured I might as well go for the top model of the FireTV Stick, so I ordered the 4K Max. This device does not at all disappoint in that regard! It is very snappy while navigating through the UI and the various streaming apps I utilize, so I'm very pleased with that. It comes with a short HDMI extender, which is a great touch because it makes using a "stick" form device such as this not interfere with being in the way of your other HDMI ports. Make sure you use the power adapter it came with (or a USB adapter capable of outputting 2 Amps) because you will run in to problems quickly if it doesn't detect enough amperage. I rather wish it came with a longer cable, as it is not uncommon these days for a TV to be wall mounted, but that's just my own opinion. Setup is very easily done and has nice guidance every step of the way. Even getting the remote to work with my TV was super easy and included in the first time setup guidance. The remote ended up only being able to control my TV's power and volume, which is not a big deal, and I'm sure most individuals who buy this intend to use it as the main source of media to play on their TV. Streaming from various services is an absolute blast and I've had no issues there. I rather wish there were more big name options for aftermarket remotes, it seems like there are for every other major streaming device, but on the other hand I've never personally heard of anyone's FireTV remote having issues. If you have a non-smart TV or an aging smart TV that is getting laggy, the FireTV Stick will serve you well for years to come, go for it! The FireTV Stick 4K Max also has an option for a service that allows you to play games from your PC on your TV, I am intrigued to try the trial of that at some point just to see how it is. ***For Plex users:**** This is in no way, as far as I can tell, any fault of the device itself. Certain movies will get stuck and after a while make an error pop up, and certain shows will result in the audio playing but the screen being stuck black when the auto play starts the next episode. I have tried everything, and I mean everything. Everything else has never given me this issue. I have gone so far as factory resetting the FireTV Stick, rebuilding my media libraries, cold starting every device on my network, and gone through every single setting in the Plex app. This has resulted in my second issue with the autoplay being seemingly resolved, but again I do not think it is the device itself, or anything on my network, because I have installed what is essentially a media player that can connect to network shares and everything plays with no issue that way. So, yes, it seems to be an issue with the Plex app itself. Unfortunately, it seems forums are full of Plex users experiencing such things on FireTV devices. Again I cannot fault the device or Amazon for this in any way. Unfortunately though it leaves me trying to decide if I should just continue using the player application on my FireTV Stick, which is connected to the only TV I use, and that is mostly what I use when I'm watching anything. If I do that, I have very little reason to run Plex, but I like its layout and I've put a lot of time and effort over the years in to getting it just the way I like it. I can hope that an upcoming update fixes things, I could buy a Plex Pass and see if this improves things, I could switch to Emby and pay their monthly charge, or I could purchase a different streaming device.....it's a tough spot....

I was having constant buffering issues and being kicked out of my streaming service to the point that I wanted to just walk into the sea just watching anything on TV. My internet service and router was old (okay ancient) and my Fire Stick was also last gen so to speak so I decided to upgrade everything in desperation. I upgraded the internet service to a 5G T-Mobile and bought this 4K Max Fire Stick and presto! Buffering issues are gone, picture and audio quality is far, far better and I've added a couple of years to my life from reduced frustration. Set up took less than 10 minutes. No muss no fuss. I had to re-enter passwords etc for my live TV streaming service but it wasn't any hassle really. There's a small amount of getting used to a differrent look on the screen and setting up the apps you normally use but this was a really simple upgrade. Pretty happy with this on day one.

UPDATE 6 WEEKS LATER: Amazon has made some noteworthy improvements with subsequent software updates. Ambient Experience: It's still a bit laggy - Amazon has more optimizing work to be done here. But it's not nearly as bad. Also, originally the Ambient Experience always shut off after only 14 minutes and there was no option to change that; but Amazon has added options to set a longer timeout, including up to several hours or "never." The AE isn't perfect, but it's much better now. Permissions: Amazon added in the Manage All Files permission with the 8.1.0.1 firmware update, and it works correctly. They could do a better job at documenting this - you have to know to go into settings and manually grant the permission, you can't do this in a pop-up permission request - but it does work, so that's an important fix. The other permission differences (like Nearby Devices) are, in fairness, only really for use with sideloaded apps for power users, so it's no surprise that Amazon hasn't added those into the interface. Some users had experienced that problem that sideloaded apps showed blank icons, but Amazon fixed that very quickly. There are still other minor glitches with Fire OS 8, but it's much more stable already, and working well for its primary purpose - streaming. I think the Max is shaping up to be a reasonable and much cheaper alternative to the Fire TV Cube now for those who don't need the hands-free voice and HDMI input. The Max is also much faster and with double the storage compared to the sluggish Chromecast with Google TV. A note on the remote control: unfortunately, after a few days the solid-feeling remote control loosened up. The upside is that the battery cover comes off more easily now. But the bad part is that the remote is now *very* creaky and feels so loose it's almost like it could come apart in your hand with ordinary usage. It doesn't, but it sure feels cheap. ORIGINAL REVIEW: For context, I've been using the Fire TV Cube 3rd Gen as my primary streaming device for several months, after trying a number of Android TV devices and having problems with all of them. I got the new Fire Stick Max 2nd Gen to try out Fire OS 8 and the Ambient Experience. It turns out that Fire OS 8 and the Ambient Experience are the problem here. The hardware is the best I've used in a streaming stick or dongle. Snappy and responsive overall, great wifi, plenty of storage. In fact, in browsing the UI and launching apps, the Max is not far behind the Cube, and wifi is every bit as good. But the Ambient Experience is a problem. It's a good idea, it looks nice, and it has lots of options. But those options are rather confusing. More importantly, the AE is disastrously laggy. When customizing, it'll lag long enough you'd think it didn't register a button press at all. When launching the AE, the screen goes completely blank for several seconds as if the TV was shut off, before very slowly loading the image and widgets. It needs a ton of optimizing before it's any good. And Fire OS 8 based on Android 11 is a problem here too. What's the same from Fire TV 7/Android 9 still works just fine, but some of what's changed is broken. Most notably, Android 10 and 11 introduced lots of permissions changes that required apps to be modified and users to adjust their settings. And Amazon seems to have totally missed out on that for Fire OS 8. The most obvious is storage permissions: in Fire OS 8, file managers and other apps that access storage like VLC - apps that are in the Amazon Appstore - are just completely broken, because there's no way in the UI to grant the new storage permissions. (Storage permission is listed in settings, but it doesn't work.) These changes were announced more than 4 years ago and were very widely discussed and reported on throughout the Android world, so there's no excuse for Amazon not to have addressed that in preparing Fire OS 8. (The permission can be granted at the command line using adb, but that is cumbersome and should not be needed just to let a file manager manage files.) There are other permissions issues, too, but storage is the glaring serious problem. Quick note on the remote: although it's the same buttons, size, and shape as the remote with the Cube, the build quality is quite different. The Cube remote feels really cheaply built and is creaky and slippery; the Max remote feels like good quality and doesn't creak. On the other hand, it's really difficult to open the battery cover on the Max remote. Amazon has done a good job with the hardware on the Max 2nd Gen. But they have a lot of work to do to optimize and fix bugs in Fire OS 8 and the Ambient Experience.

If i knew the game changer this thing was, id have bought it as soon as it came out. I mean, the image is way sharper. It just processes so much better. And the remote, while it took me a few days for the damn programable buttons to stay programmed, its pretty swert. And i cant tell you how many times i lose my remote in my bed or around the room. I forget sometimes and start searching for it, and upon starting to get frustrared, id remember i can just ask alexa to find my remote and it starts beeping and to be honest, id be where i clearly looked too, so i might need glasses. On the meantime alexa saves the day, and i love bein able to see what im pressing instead of having to angle the remote so i can get light on the buttons. Now, we are talking more technology that ive ever been used to or could have asked for, so im currently dealing with an issue that wasnt an issue before. It suddently started and i havent been able to figure it out. When i turn my tv off with the max remote, both my fire tv and stick will shut off, first the tv and the still shortly after. I know cause you can still hear whatever waz playin on my echo speakers and then curs off, meanin its off. Well, now i cant get the stick to turn off, or ill get the stivk but not the tv. Its a nighmare. Im currently tellin alexa to turn the tv off, but that only shuts the stick, i used the original tv remote to just click it off. Imma get gemini to help me with that soon. But well worth it regarthless of my current situationship with the off dilema.

I’ve been really happy with my Fire Stick. It was quick to set up, and the interface is easy to navigate, even if you’re not very tech-savvy. I love having all of my streaming apps in one place, and the picture quality is great with very little buffering when connected to a good Wi-Fi signal. The voice remote is one of my favorite features because it makes searching for movies and shows much faster than typing everything out. The Fire Stick also receives regular updates and offers a wide variety of free and paid entertainment options. The only downside is that the home screen can feel a little cluttered with recommendations and ads, but it doesn’t take away from the overall experience. Overall, I’d definitely recommend the Fire Stick to anyone looking for an affordable and reliable streaming device. It offers excellent value for the price and has made watching TV much more convenient.

Very nice fire stick. If you’re thinking of getting a fire stick, I recommend you just go ahead and buy this one. I have all three versions in different places in my house. I have the lite, for example, in my garage. This one is noticeably quicker and snappier. Also ambiance mode is nice. It’s also nice to have the smart home features right there. I can’t attest to the remote, though, since I use the better remote that the sell. EDIT: I'm so upset with this thing. It's been just under a year since we bought it (writing this August 2026, purchased September 2025). A week ago I was still praising this fire stick. Now out of nowhere and for seemingly no reason whatsoever, it has started crapping out on me. It randomly freezes up on me and won't do anything, forcing me to unplug the device and wait, before plugging it back in and trying again, only for it to freeze up again a few minutes later. The only thing I can find online that might help is to clear all the caches for the app that I use, which I've done, and it still keeps doing it. You're suppose to be able to hold the center button and the play button to force a restart, but even that doesn't work MOST of the time and the two times it DID work, it got stuck on the "Your Fire TV is turning off" message, and never actually did so. I have over half the storage space left, partially because I didn't have a ton of apps to begin with, and partially because I uninstalled a few hoping to resolve this issue. I checked for software updates but its up to date, so that's not it either.