I’m not the biggest Amazon streaming device apologist, but the best deal (cost vs performance), arguably in the entire cord cutting world is undoubtedly this → Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max streaming device.
I understand it is a sale price, but come on $34.99…what a deal for a Wifi 6 device.
I’ve got 8 of those Max coming. Keep in mind I take care of tourists down here and one of the lesser advertised advantages is the “portability” of the Max. Load your stick up with everything you want and take it with you anywhere you travel.
Have fun and STREAM ON.
Another less advertised advantage of the Max is the EASE of adding the OTG cable/thumb drive for extra storage. Where the old sticks would use ADB, file explorer (you still may need this for the Max depending on how many apps you want to send over to the thumb drive) and/or other methods and software to get the increased storage, the Max is already set up for it, so it is pretty much “plug and play”.
If you get the Max at $34.99 and get a good deal on Black Friday on a quality thumb drive, you could make a powerhouse of a streaming setup for $50-75, with all the storage on it that you will ever need.
It’s so easy I took it one step further and added a Smays Powered OTG hub so that I could add my mini keyboard dongle. With daily stick configuration it makes my life so easy. Easy text entry. So $40 for the Max, $15 for the hub, $20 for the keyboard, $10 for a 16 GB Sandisk 3.0 So a total of $85 and I have a setup that I use daily for many many hours. 
Have fun and STREAM ON.
On the storage part,… on my 4k its spit storage 30/70, so it adds to both internal and external. The 4k max is external to record shows,…as far as I know you can’t split storage on the max.
Miki, seriously if you would instead use the 3.1 Samsung Bar, in 64 or 128gig you would be happier with the clocked performance.
Frankly I moved on from Sticks except for 1 bedroom & now exclusively use an NVidia Shield Pro & the Sony Bravia Google Smart TV in developer mode which I absolutely love. Its only problem was by-passing its for soime reason dirt cheap 10/100 ethernet connection & using the 3.0 usb drive port with an ethernet adapter. I have a Samsung 128GB Bar plugged directly into the usb2.0 port as I experienced lag also using a bluetooth mouse & keyboard UGreen adapter.
Seriously though, I don’t have any problem with the Max performance. It’s a bit difficult unplugging all that gear and packing it off to a customers house to show them what they can have. Also with the built in tools it’s a simple dream device to use. Portability is one if the top requirements for my customers. I have a KM2 and Onn and IMHO neither of those perform nearly as good as the Max. In all the years I’ve used sticks, not one has ever failed. WiFi 6 is an added bonus, as is the ease of using Netflix and you tube for those who use them. I have a Samsung sound bar plugged into my TV’s optical port and works without exception. I tried the KM2 for the past week again as someone had trouble with Stremio 1.5.6 which is a garbage update in my opinion as it forces someone to have Stremio configured on a phone or computer then “sync” addons, and you can no longer access addons from within the app. But that’s another issue entirely. So as my target group are tourists and travellers I’ll stick with the easy to transport Max.
Have gun and STREAM ON.
I’m of the same opinion as you Dracoo. Best bang for the buck! As much as we dislike Ama… Was hoping for some big time upgrade for the Cube. Got part of it.
I no longer service the over 30 Sticks in the family after starting them all on the journey. However I still facetime with them answering questions & giving instructions but that has subsided with the majority of them becoming far more proficient except for the baby brother who is a professor meaning can’t walk & chew gum at the same time.
Your patience dealing with John Q Public is to be admired.
If you knew me you would know I am as far from a patient man as is my chance of being Prime Minister. It’s like you said teach them and then they will take care of themselves. Of course there are those who adamantly refuse to learn and this is where financial gain gives me all the patience in the world. I simply enjoy the challenge and revel in even one success. I’m 67 but while others use this as an excuse not to learn, I will never stop. I hold 8 tickets, licenses and certifications. From Plumber gas fitter, power engineer, and teacher to a certified pool and spa operator. Love the learning. Have a great evening JSRFrench.
Not mentioned in the review of the cube and perhaps most important for firestick users is the cube’s 16GB storage. The sticks have 8GB of which just over 4 is available after setup. Get a few apps, data and cache and you’re down to 1GB or less. Then you start having problems. The cube’s 16GB storage eliminate this bottleneck… at a price.
I agree. That’s why I originally got a $6 OTG cable and took a 16 GB Sandisk USB 3.0 that I had laying around for years. What a huge difference and an inexpensive addition. Got to love options.
I only have 2 gb left on my 4k max.I tried to move the amazon apps but no luck.
That’s about normal ,2 to 2.5 so not really much more you can move that’s why you got to use an OTG cable and a thumb drive that’ll fix you right up.
That’s interesting. I used to have a couple of Fire TV Boxes (2nd gen) with a 32GB SD card in each, but it made little or no difference. I could move apps off the Box onto the SD but most of the data and other stuff remained on the box, so I ran out of memory almost as quickly with those, too.
I have about 16 apps on the USB drive and keep about 2.7GB of free space on the Max. Maybe the Max handles things a bit differently. App files are kept on the USB Drive but apps still keep data on the stick itself. Data files are usually not that big, for most, and as mentioned I can stll keep about 2.7GB free. Now I’ve added a powered otg hub things are even better being able to use a keyboard.
You’re right, however the apps I do use are just maybe three to four the main apps that I need for my streaming my OTG cable has a 3.0 128 GB stick on it however it’s only used for recording. So it really doesn’t help on the memory needed to run the fire stick.
Your talking Ram, that’s the fire stick’s downfall. Unfortunately.
I can’t get anywhere near 2.7 GB on my max. All those Amazon apps they just take up all the room and I can’t get rid of them.