The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is on sale again for $29

If you’ve found that your TV is too slow to stream its built-in apps, here’s a decent deal that can help you fix things on the cheap: Roku Streaming Stick 4K again on sale for $29. This offer has been available for most of the holiday season, and it’s not an all-time low — the key previously dropped to $25 towards the end of 2023. — but it matches the biggest discount we’ve tracked this year. For reference, Roku usually sells the device for $50, but in recent months it has often sold at retail for $34 at third-party retailers like Amazon. Either way, you’re saving a little more than usual.

The discount is available at several stores, including Amazon, Walmart, Best buy and Roku.com. If you’re hoping to grab the device as a Christmas present, it’ll be more difficult: Most listings we could find said it won’t ship until after the holidays, so you’ll likely have to order in-store pickup at Walmart , Best Buy or other retailer with physical locations.

year

This ties the best price we’ve seen all year for a Roku 4K streaming dongle.

$29 at Amazon

We recommend the Streaming Stick 4K in our guide to the best streaming devices. It’s not as fast or smooth as a premium plugin like Apple TV 4Kbut it still loads apps and menus quickly, and its small design plugs directly into your TV’s HDMI port. It supports almost all major HDR formats and streaming services (Twitch aside), it also works with Apple’s AirPlay 2 protocol, so you can stream content to it from your iPhone. While it can’t decode Dolby Atmos audio itself, it can transfer 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 TV Streamer (a top pick in our guide) is much more proactive in recommending content you might like and returning you to shows you’ve recently watched, but you may find Roku’s interface easier to understand if you don’t have never mind surfing for stuff, watch yourself.

The user interface also makes plenty of free content easily accessible, and we found that search worked well, 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. As with any streaming player, there are ads sprinkled throughout the user interface, although Roku is at least a little less aggressive about them than Amazon is with its Fire TV devices.

Several other Roku devices are still available for their Black Friday prices, including Roku Express 4K+ (which doesn’t have Dolby Vision HDR) for $24 and more Year Ultra (which has a larger case design, full Atmos support, and a more advanced remote) for $79. For most people looking for visit Roku Cityhowever, the Streaming Stick 4K has to be the best value.

Follow along @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying tips.