Prime Day arrived early for Amazon’s Fire TV Sticks – save up to 50% on an easy TV upgrade

Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite on purple background with TechRadar big savings sign
(Image credit: Future)

Despite Amazon Prime Day coming in just a few days, we've already spotted deep discounts on three of Amazon's Fire TV sticks – including the model I'd recommend for most viewers: the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. It's the Fire TV flagship, and with 42% off right now it's just $34.99 (down from $59.99). If you want the best, most future-proof Fire TV stick that's the one I'd buy.

If you're buying for an older TV or you just don't need the extra power of the Max model, the Fire TV Stick 4K and Fire TV Stick HD are even cheaper. The Fire TV Stick 4K is currently 50% off at. just $24.99 (was $49.99). And the Fire TV Stick HD is down 49% to just $17.99 (from $34.99).

See all of today's best Amazon deals

These are really good prices for really good streaming sticks, so if you've got an older stick to upgrade or want to add streaming smarts to pretty much any TV then all three of these Fire TV Sticks are excellent options.

Early Prime Day deal: Amazon Fire TV Sticks

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (newest model)
Save 42%
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (newest model): was $59.99 now $34.99 at Amazon

This is the Fire TV Stick I'd buy: it's the flagship model with the fastest Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 6E), console-free Xbox gaming, 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos (where available), and 16GB of on-board storage. This discount brings it to the price you'd often pay for Amazon's most basic Fire TV Stick, so this is a genuinely good deal.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K
Save 50%
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K: was $49.99 now $24.99 at Amazon

Not only can you get the Fire TV Stick 4K for half its official retail price; if you trade in an old device you can get up to 20% off the discounted price too. Like the 4K Max this has 4K Ultra HD, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and Xbox gaming, and while the Wi-Fi 6 here isn't quite as nippy as the 6E in the Max, it's still very speedy.

Amazon  Fire TV Stick HD
Save 49%
Amazon Fire TV Stick HD: was $34.99 now $17.99 at Amazon

A Full HD streaming stick for the same price as one digital movie purchase? If you're looking for the most bang for the fewest bucks, then this straightforward streamer is a great buy. This is the one to get if you're introducing a relative to streaming, or if you want something cheap and cheerful to take when you travel.

Which Fire TV Stick is best for you?

The three Fire TV Sticks on offer are very similar and all feature Amazon's friendly software with voice control and support for all the key streaming apps. The main differences are in picture quality and in performance.

The Fire TV Stick HD is the baby of the bunch, delivering 1080p HD resolution; the other two models are 4K. It has HDR, but doesn't support all the formats of its more expensive siblings, which have Dolby Vision. It also doesn't have Dolby Atmos audio – although it can pass Atmos-encoded audio to hardware that can decode it, such as compatible soundbars.

And if you want to play Xbox games via Game Pass, this isn't the Fire TV Stick for you: it supports Amazon Luna gaming but not Xbox Game Pass.

The 4K and 4K Max are essentially the same device in almost every respect. Both stream 4K UHD with HDR, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos (where appropriate; what you get depends on the app you use and what you're streaming), both have Game Pass as well as Luna, both have Live View picture-in-picture, and both have better Wi-Fi than the Fire TV Stick HD. The HD model has Wi-Fi 5 but the 4K model has Wi-Fi 6 and the 4K Max has Wi-Fi 6E.

The Max has a more powerful processor though, and should be slightly slicked to use.

I've already got a streaming box on my TV, but if I were buying for the first time or upgrading an aging Stick, I'd definitely go for the Max here. It's only 10 bucks more than the 4K, has more storage and has better Wi-Fi. It also has the Fire TV ambient experience. Collectively I think that's worth the ten dollars more, especially as these devices will serve you well for years.

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Carrie Marshall

Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than twenty books. Her latest, a love letter to music titled Small Town Joy, is on sale now. She is the singer in spectacularly obscure Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.

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