If you think your TV is too slow to stream its built-in apps, here’s a great deal that can help you get it on the cheap: The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is on sale once again for $29. The offer is available for the holiday season, and it’s not the lowest it’s ever been — the dongle previously dropped to $25 in late 2023 — but it does match the biggest discount we’ve tracked this year.
For reference, Roku typically sells the device for $50, though in recent months it’s often been on sale for $34 at third-party retailers like Amazon. Either way, you’re saving a little more than usual.
The discount is available at a number of stores, including Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Roku.com. If you’re hoping to pick up the device as a Christmas gift, that’s going to be more of a hassle: Most listings we found say it’ll only ship after the holidays, so you’ll probably have to order from Walmart, Best Buy, or another retailer with physical locations with in-store pickup.
We recommend the Streaming Stick 4K in our guide to the best streaming device. It’s not as fast or fluid as a premium set-top box like the Apple TV 4K, but it’s still quick at loading apps and menus, and its small design plugs directly into your TV’s HDMI port.
It supports nearly all major HDR formats and streaming services (except Twitch), plus it works with Apple’s AirPlay 2 protocol, so you can send content to it from an iPhone. While it can’t decode Dolby Atmos audio on its own, it can send that audio to a compatible sound system from apps that support the technology.
Like other Roku devices, the Streaming Stick 4K is extremely easy to navigate, with a home screen made up of a basic grid of apps. Google’s TV Streamer (at the top of our guide) is much more proactive in terms of recommending content you might like and bringing you back to shows you’ve recently watched, but if you don’t mind looking for things to watch on your own, you might find Roku’s interface easier to understand.
The UI also makes a lot of free content easily accessible, and we found that searching worked fine, even if it wasn’t as robust as Google’s OS. We also like Roku’s mobile app, which lets you control the device and listen privately with a pair of headphones. Like every other streaming player, there are ads scattered throughout the UI, though Roku is at least a little less aggressive about them than Amazon.
A few other Roku devices are still available at their Black Friday prices, including the Roku Express 4K+ (which doesn’t have Dolby Vision HDR) for $24 and the Roku Ultra (which has a bigger box design, full Atmos support, and a more advanced remote) for $79. However, for most people making a trip to Roku City, the Streaming Stick 4K should be the best value.