Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max gets better for 2023, but is it worth $60?

Amazon’s new Fire TV 4K Sticks show that while actual Fire TVs are plentiful, it isn’t giving up on converting other companies’ TVs into Amazon sets. The new Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2023) is the crown jewel of the lineup, upgrading many of its specs and adding smarter screensavers that Amazon dubs the Ambient Experience.

At $60, this stick is $5 more than the model Amazon debuted last year, and $10 more than the standard Fire TV Stick 4K (which Amazon also just updated). They’re also the first Fire TV Sticks with an updated design, as Amazon’s shaved the corners for a well-rounded look. We’ve been testing both, and we’re ready to let you know how they stack up against each other — as well as their top competition from our best streaming stick picks. Both are available for order right now, following their Sept. 27 release date.

What we liked about it

Ambient Experience is one of the best Fire TV features ever

The above claim may sound like hyperbole, but I’m ecstatic to see the Fire TV Stick 4K Max offer new screensavers with gorgeous imagery. Apple’s still the king of streaming device screensavers, but Amazon’s aiming for the throne with a metric ton of options — ranging from impressionist paintings and work from the Hudson River School to images from the “Barbie” movie. This way, your TV can match the mojo dojo casa house you live in. With a mix of nature videos and fine art and even odder options, Amazon’s vision matches what tvOS and the Chromecast With Google TV offer, and goes much further than Roku City (which still has some charm).

You either wait for Ambient Experience to kick in as any screensaver would, or just say, “Ambient Experience” to Alexa to activate this mode (which is exclusive to the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Amazon’s Fire TV Omni QLED Series TVs). If you want a little interactivity with your display, you can show or hide its smart display-like tiles that offer everything from the forecast to suggestions about what to watch and Alexa tricks to try.

While some of those tiles reek of barely disguised advertising, there are also useful tools like Sticky Notes, which allow you to leave a message on your screen. If you really like these tiles, click up on your remote to expand them from a small horizontal rectangle to a taller vertical window. However, I’m so worried about OLED TV burn-in that I don’t see myself keeping tiles on at all.

It’s still a good way to watch 4K content

I went to fire up “Andor” (the possibly final great “Star Wars” show) to see if Amazon’s streaming chops are still up to snuff. Of course, the Disney+ app opened smoothly, and the first episode of the “Rogue One” prequel is still as good as I remembered it. Thanks to Dolby Vision support, the picture quality and inky black shadows of the fight scene in the rain offered a sharp contrast with the glimmers of light coming through the grating.

Then, I popped open Hulu to revisit the fantastic series “Reservation Dogs.” Not only did the opening shot of a prairie landscape look calming, but its green grass and faint blue sky rendered correctly. Similarly, the “Naatu Naatu” dance scene in “RRR” looked fantastic on Netflix, as N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan kicked up a ton of dust.

All the right standards and specs are here

You can trust the Fire TV Stick 4K Max to stream your movies and shows. The new Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max adds support for the Wi-Fi 6E wireless standard, which not even the latest Apple TV 4K offers. That $129 streaming device supports Wi-Fi 6, the same spec as the new Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K. Should you care about Wi-Fi 6E? While it’s ideal for allowing a ton of wireless devices to work well on the same network, your router may not support it. To make sure your streaming device is streaming at its full potential, check out the best routers.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max also supports all of the right video and audio standards for a streaming stick. It’s got Dolby Vision and HDR10+ for high-quality color and contrast as well as Dolby Atmos for immersive sound. These aren’t exclusive, though, as the Fire TV Stick 4K, Chromecast With Google TV and Roku Streaming Stick all support Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos.

You even get more storage space than the competitors with 16GB, though I bet a lot of that’s going to be used by the Ambient Experience backgrounds. You get 8GB with the Fire TV Stick 4K and 2GB with the Chromecast With Google TV, while Roku doesn’t even note how much storage is in the Streaming Stick 4K. More storage typically means more apps, and primarily matters to those who get warnings that they need to delete apps before installing new ones.

What we didn’t like about it

Same old content-clogged home screen

I’ve probably said this more times in the last decade than I’ve recited my own phone number, but Amazon’s Fire TV home screen is one of the worst of its kind. A mere sliver of it is under your control with your own apps — the top half is ads, and the bottom third varies depending on the context of what you select. Contrast that with the Roku and Apple TV home screens that give far more space to your apps, putting them front and center.

Maybe you want those suggestions, in which case the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is a phenomenal streaming device. Your other option would be the 4K Chromecast With Google TV. I personally think the Chromecast’s interface is more elegant, but your mileage may vary. The difference maker, potentially, could be the remote.

Weird remote choices

The Fire TV 4K Max’s remote has practically every button you could ask for, unless you want to switch between your TV’s connected devices. The Chromecast With Google TV’s input-switch button is one of the few missing options in Amazon’s clicker that has everything from the standard navigation, voice, volume and branded app buttons.

You know how streaming device remotes mostly come with four app buttons that are hardwired to specific apps? This year’s model gives you one-click access to two rather universal apps (Prime Video, Netflix) and two questionable apps (DirecTV, Peacock). I also question if the channel up/down button is necessary in 2023.

I actually prefer the normal Fire TV Stick 4K’s remote. It ditches the channel clicker and the buttons for settings and app switching, and is therefore a little smaller and doesn’t feel comically long. The Roku and Chromecast remotes are also more palmable.

They could still be faster

Maybe I say this because I’ve been spoiled by the best of the best, but the performance on these sticks is merely “good.” Just because the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is Amazon’s fastest streaming stick yet (its words, which seem to be accurate in our testing) doesn’t mean there aren’t moments where you will notice some lag. For me, it’s been the wait between clicking Disney+ on the home screen and the app actually loading, and one of those home screen ads appearing once I close an app.

The regular Fire TV Stick 4K is slightly slower, but not disruptively so.

How it compares

Bottom line

The big question of the day is “Which 4K Fire TV Stick is right for you?” If it’s between these two Fire TV sticks, I say spend the extra $10 for the Fire TV Stick 4K Max, because it’s a more future-proof model. As the number of wireless devices only increases in our homes, it only makes sense to buy the tech that supports your next router.

While the Fire TV Stick 4K Max enables elegant screensavers with the Ambient Experience mode, settling for the regular Fire TV Stick 4K leaves you with a lesser experience. If you don’t upload photos to Amazon’s cloud, you (like me) will be stuck with the Amazon Collection screensaver, which is basically ads for Prime Video shows and random stuff like Fairlife Milk and something called Breakfast Prep with Brandi Milloy. You might be used to it. We’re living in an increasingly ad-supported era; I just saw an Acura dealership in Roku City while testing the Roku Express.

As updates to Amazon’s 4K Fire TV sticks, both are solid updates for fans of the platform, whether you live in the Amazon ecosystem or sideload apps that Amazon won’t host on its online store. If you’re neither of those, take a look at the Roku Streaming Stick 4K Plus, our favorite overall streaming stick, which offers a cleaner interface and the same streaming chops.