Amazon Fire TV Stick Light Review

Editors’ note: Amazon recently updated the Fire TV Stick Lite remote. We have updated our original review as of October 6, 2020 to reflect these changes.

The $39.99 Amazon Fire TV Stick is one of the best 1080p media streamers you can buy, $10 less than our favorite 4K models from Amazon and Google. If you want to pay even less, Amazon also offers the 1080p Fire TV Stick Lite for $29.99. It looks and works like a standard Fire TV Stick, but its remote lacks any TV controls. It’s an easy, affordable way to add streaming media and Alexa voice control to older TVs, though if you plan to use it often, you might want to spend the extra $10 to step up to a model that can control your TV, which is why the regular Fire The TV Stick remains our Editors’ Choice.

Same black stick

Amazon has kept the physical design of the Fire TV Stick unchanged over the years, and the Fire TV Stick Lite shares that same styling. It’s a simple black plastic rectangle with an HDMI plug on one end, measuring 3.4 inches long and 1.2 inches wide. A micro USB port sits on the side for use with the included USB cable and wall adapter (or Amazon’s optional $15 Ethernet adapter if you want to use a wired network connection instead of Wi-Fi). A short HDMI extender dongle is included if the space behind your TV is too tight to plug the stick directly into the HDMI port.

Internally, the Fire TV Stick Lite is almost identical to the standard Fire TV Stick. It is a 1080p media streamer that supports high dynamic range (HDR) content in HDR10, HDR10+ and Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG). According to Amazon, it’s 50% more powerful than the 2019 Fire TV Stick.

The only compromise here is that it only supports Dolby-encoded audio pass-through, rather than Dolby Atmos audio output like the standard Fire TV Stick. So if you upgraded your sound system more recently than your TV, you might want to spend the extra $10 for Dolby Atmos.

A handy remote

The Alexa voice remote is the main reason the Lite Fire TV Stick is $10 less than the Lite Fire TV Stick. It has the same shape as the stick associated with the previous Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick 4K, a thin black rectangle with slightly rounded edges. It’s an Alexa voice remote, with a pinhole microphone near the top for using Amazon’s voice assistant.

Its main compromise (and what makes it the Fire TV Stick Light) is the lack of additional TV controls. Other Fire TV remotes let you adjust your TV’s volume and power without reaching for a separate controller, which isn’t an option here. The remote gets some extra buttons on the latest iteration of the Fire TV Stick Lite, though: four controls sit below the playback controls, along with dedicated buttons for Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.

Amazon Fire TV and Alexa

Amazon has updated its Fire TV interface since we last saw the Fire TV device. The new home screen is a bit more Amazon-centric, shrinking the list of apps a bit and adding more content suggestions (Prime Video and IMDB TV suggestions are usually stacked at the top) on the screen at once. It’s more colorful than the previous interface design, but it feels more busy.

There are still plenty of third-party services on top of all the Amazon content you can access, including most major streaming platforms like Apple TV, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Twitch, and YouTube. The Fire TV ecosystem is huge, with thousands of smaller and more targeted apps; You’ll likely be able to find something that appeals to you, no matter what your hobbies are or where you live.

Screen mirroring is also available on the Fire TV, but only via Miracast or WiDi. You won’t get the benefits of Apple AirPlay or Google Cast here like you do with Roku (AirPlay) and Chromecast (Google Cast) devices.

You can use the Alexa voice assistant by pressing and holding the microphone button on the remote and speak into it. Alexa is going to be very useful with many helpful functions. For example, you can ask Alexa for general information like weather reports and sports scores, and check your schedule and email. Relevant information will be shown on your TV, as well as spoken through Alexa’s voice.

For content searches, you can ask Alexa to find TV shows and movies across most major streaming services (not just Amazon). You can also request music from Amazon Music, radio from iHeartRadio, and audiobooks from Audible. If you want to browse different services yourself, you can just ask Alexa to open them.

Alexa can control a huge list of compatible smart home devices including all major brands of light bulbs, locks, thermostats and more. You can even fetch live video feeds from compatible home security and doorbell cameras with blink and ring models.

never lazy

Although Amazon says the new Fire TV Stick Lite is more powerful than the previous Fire TV Stick, it doesn’t come down to its performance. Navigating the home screen and opening apps can feel sluggish; The test took about ten seconds to open Netflix, and I often found myself waiting to return to the main menu from almost any app by pressing the home button on the remote. This may be due to the new Fire TV interface as the previous Fire TV Stick didn’t feel as jerky to play as the old one.

Jumping between apps and the home screen is the main point of laziness on the Fire TV Stick Lite, as other functions are fast and responsive. Content loads quickly from all apps once I open them. Alexa was also quick to respond to my commands, easily checking the weather and searching for movies with a short wait. And while a 1080p picture isn’t nearly as sharp as a 4K picture, both shows and live streams from the Fire TV Stick Light looked good on my TCL 55R635.

A small but persistent drawback is the lack of volume control on the remote. Being able to adjust the volume on your TV without having to pick up a second remote is very useful, as different apps and streams can vary significantly in loudness. For me, the extra convenience is worth the extra $10 for the regular Fire TV Stick.

Most affordable Fire TV Stick

For just $30, the Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite can stream content from all major services, offer thousands of other Fire TV apps, and provide access to the Alexa voice assistant. Its interface can feel sluggish at times, and the lack of volume control on the remote can be annoying if you use it often, but then again, it’s only $30. At the same price, the Roku Express trades Alexa (or any other voice control) for a simpler, more responsive interface, making it another solid option for 1080p TVs. Finally, the standard Fire TV Stick earns our Editors’ Choice award for adding TV controls for $10 more. And if you have a 4K TV, the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and Chromecast With Google TV are both excellent 4K media streamers for $50 each.