Product Review: Firestick TV Stick

 

I cut the cord a few years ago, canceling my satellite TV and switching to all streaming. I purchased this to use on one of my non-smart televisions to stream movies, TV, etc. The installation is fairly straightforward, depending on the quality of your wi-fi connection and router. When I connected it, I was having problems mainly because of a slow internet connection and poor router, so it took a lot longer than normal (and a lot longer than it did to connect when I upgraded my internet with a new modem and router) to connect to wi-fi and get it set up. 

It was fairly easy to use once it was set up (after discovering it somehow caused my router to reset itself and set up a new ID name and Password). Since upgrading my internet, however, that has not happened again. The home screen has all the Amazon video material on it and any apps you download, such as CBS, Hulu, HBO-GO, etc. If you are a Prime member, anything you can watch for free in the Amazon material is denoted with the Prime banner. The remote is a bit dinky and could have more buttons on it, but once you get used to it, it is fairly easy to use. Because the fire stick is plugged in behind the TV, you sometimes have to press things on the remote a couple of times to get it to respond. 

The only thing that can be a bit irritating is any time you download an app, even a free one such as the Fox TV app or PBS, it will essentially place an order through Amazon (you are not charged anything, of course), and you get an order confirmation email for each one. That gets to be a bit of a pain if you download a bunch of apps at once, but is ultimately a pretty minor issue. All-in-all it works well to turn a non-smart TV (as long as the TV has HDMI ports, which anything relatively new will) into a smart TV. Mine eventually died when it would no longer load, even working with Amazon's customer service. I am unsure if that was an issue common to early generations of the Firestick, but it is something to be aware of.