Is FireStick Lite Fast?

There are a ton of televisions for sale out there. Some have fantastic Smart TV environments with great app support and sleek user interfaces that are a dream to navigate and intuitive to use. Other TVs can feel like the Smart TV environment was created as a cruel social experiment to test your sanity. That’s what makes external streaming devices so great.

The Amazon FireStick Lite is fast and reliable as long as you are ok, with 1080p being the highest resolution and the remote not having television controls. For 4K, you will have to upgrade to the FireStick 4K, or another 4K enabled streaming box.

With a $29.99 retail price, you can’t beat the entry-level price of the Amazon FireStick Lite. It also has 4.5 stars with over 12,000 reviews on Amazon. That makes it one of the most affordable and popular streaming devices available. The Amazon FireStick Lite has access to the most popular streaming services available to devices four times its price.

Is FireStick Lite Fast?

The FireStick Lite has a 1.7 GHz CPU and a 650 MHz GPU. The same CPU and GPU are used on all models of the Amazon FireStick until you get to the two highest models, the FireStick 4K Max and the Fire TV Cube. The 4K Max is twice the price of the Lite, and the TV Cube is four times the price for barely any hardware upgrade. So, the hardware speeds of the Lite are quick.

The Amazon FireStick Lite is very fast. It has the same CPU and GPU as the Amazon FireStick and the Amazon FireStick 4K. The main difference is the FireStick Lite lacks Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision.

Most of the differences between the different models of Amazon FireStick are subtle and up to user preference. Most users will likely be fine with the base Amazon FireStick Lite for 1080p resolution and the Amazon FireStick 4K for 2160p (4K) resolution. There are other differences, like the support for Dolby Vision or Dolby Atmos.

FireStick Lite Pros and Cons

The FireStick Lite is a great budget streaming device. At $29.99, it has almost no direct competition. It is great for travel, plugging into your home TV, and never leaving HDMI 1. Here are the pros and cons:

Comparing the Different Models of Amazon FireSticks

The differences between the different models come down to just a few features. That is why the price range between the four models isn’t that wide. Most of the four models have most of the same features. The differences tend to be minor, such as memory, Dolby Vision and Atmos. The CPU and GPU speed is equivalent across all of them.

As you can see from the above table, the differences between the FireStick Lite and the FireStick are minimal. The same is true for the FireStick 4K and the FireStick 4K Max. The differences are so minute it is highly unlikely that if someone were to plug the two in right next to each other, you would be able to notice any discernable difference. 

The clock speeds on the CPU & GPUs are identical, so you aren’t going to notice much better quality video. There might be slightly more vibrant colors with Dolby Atmos, but that may be too subtle for most people. Many people have not set up their TVs correctly for their environment or are not using soundbars for audio. So, the differences will not be noticed by 99% of users.

Conclusion

The Amazon FireStick family of streaming devices are all budget friendly and well worth the money. The FireStick Lite is the bottom entry in the line but still packs a punch with a full suite of streaming services and a full suite of features. 

As the market moves towards 4K UHD and eventually 8K, the FireStick shows its age, but at $29.99, it might be worth it just to have around and throw it in a bag somewhere for when you go on vacation, and the hotel doesn’t have any good channels.