u/DocPhilMcGraw

I recently picked up the new gen 4K Streaming Stick initially to set up as a gift for my dad because at the time there wasn’t any more stock available for the new Pro. But after using it for 48 hours, I could not in good faith give this to him so I returned it.

Why? Well let me explain.

Before I got myself a new Pro, I was using the regular $25 Onn Box as a daily driver. It definitely has its limits for those who may want certain features, but by and large it’s a really capable streaming box for such a low price. It felt pretty snappy when navigating the UI, it never struggled to show any content I was looking at, and I felt like it had all the basic functionality that you’d want.

So then I upgraded to the new Pro (2026) and there is definitely a difference in performance between the two. Much snappier, higher download speeds, much more capabilities built in. My dad saw that I had one and wanted one for himself, but this was when the Pros were being snapped up left and right. I did some research and thought “hey maybe the new Stick will be almost as good.”

Boy was I wrong. After 48 hours with the new Stick, I have to say in my opinion I find it to be worse than the regular $25 box. It felt noticeably slower than the regular box and I also encountered more bugs/issues with things like the remote not wanting to update or connect to peripherals. I think some part of why the Stick may have been slower is because it doesn’t dissipate heat as well as the regular Box. The Stick felt somewhat hot after using it for even just 15 minutes. I also encountered issues with trying to steam certain content where it would close out of the app I was in and go back to the Home Screen. When I tried to recreate the issue on the other two, they had no problem showing the content. Overall, it’s just not a product worth buying in my opinion.

TL;DR - the new $40 Streaming Stick 4K (2026) is worse than the $25 Box in my opinion. Either stick with the Box or pay the extra $10 for the Plus.