Roku Streaming Stick (3600R) | Portable HD Streaming Player, Quad-Core Processor, Dual-Band Wi-Fi (Renewed)

My Amazon history shows that I purchased this last Spring for $20 more than its current price on Amazon. No grief because we've had access to every service, including Amazon. Moreover, this lightweight, handy stick seems to pull up our programs with maximum efficiency and--at Roku's suggestion--without reliance upon the "optional" USB connection.Television makers and dealers alike are going all out on 4K as the "must have" innovation in home video--a screen resolution that's more than 4 times that of an "ordinary" HD set with a mere 720 or 1080 pixels. "Consumer Reports" began beating the drum for 4K more than a year ago, and this year Apple has finally upgraded their player by emphasizing its 4K capability in every ad.Unfortunately, 4-KAY amounts to "No Way" for many purchasers of new flat-screens claiming Super-UHD, or 4K, capability. If you're a cable subscriber--e.g., to Time-Warner, now Spectrum--you may have talked to company reps who are "coy," and even evasive, when asked about 4K. The truth comes down to the following: 1. Few services can deliver the internet speed necessary for 4K reception--even when the customer insists on the fastest speed and pays for it; 2. Most people who have TV sets with screens smaller than 65 inches will notice no difference--even in a side-by-side comparison--between their present high definition picture and a 4 K picture.As a cable subscriber, it comes down to the following: if I purchased a 65" or larger 4K TV, I'd be forced to rely on a 4K player along with a collection of 4K discs to experience not ordinary "High Definition" but "Ultra High Definition" (UHD, or 4K). Given the ever-diminishing numbers of viewers and listeners who still purchase their video and music on hard discs, the experiencing of 4K may remain "much ado about nothing"--going the way of 3D flat-screens and Blu Ray players and discs.If, in spite of the aforementioned qualifiers, you're determined to get some use out of the 4K feature of your new 4K flat-screen and if, unlike most consumers, you can't successfully lie to yourself (i.e. "certainly, I'm watching a 4K picture because I paid for a TV that's a 4K set"), then you may wish to wait another month for the 2018 Roku Streaming Stick to appear. It probably will go for a premium of no more than $10 over the price of this "proven" 2017 stick--and there's always a chance that Roku will ensure that it has 4K capability.

This is my first Roku product. I got frustrated with my Chromecast not casting Amazon prime, plus the quality looked bad on my TV. I bought the refurbished 3600 streaming stick because for one, as frustrated as I was with my Chromecast, it's all I ever knew of streaming devices. Second, I wanted to stay as close to my $35 Chromecast just Incase I wasn't happy with the Roku stick. The Roku stick arrived early, which was a bonus, and surprisingly more simple to set up than my Chromecast. I like the remote, actually...I LOVE the remote. It's nice to be able to use my phone, but for my 7 year old who is not allowed on our smartphones, finding TV shows with the Chromecast was difficult. (We only stream TV, we cut the cord over a year ago). My 7 year old easily can navigate through the home screen, and search using the remote. But she also found out (something she taught me and dad) she can cast her YouTube videos on the TV via the cast button as well. I also love the quality of video. My Chromecast claimwdbto cast at 1080p, but it was always bad, colors were off even, and with the fastest available cable internet available in my rural area (the middle speed out of 3 choices. It's 15,30, or 50mpg's or something, im not sure the lingo for speed) our Chromecast constantly buffered and crashed. A month before buying the Roku I lowered my internet connection to the slowest speed available because of money. The Roku stick, on with the lowest cable internet package available, and with 3 smartphones, a Dell desktop running Windows 10, and a nabi dream tab ALL connected to my wifi, streams beautiful picture quality with no buffering. My TV is worth watching again! I can access content not available on my Chromecast (Amazon prime for example) and again, i can't stress how much I love the home screen and remote. My husband is also very happy with the product, to the degree we will be buying another one cause our Chromecast is laying in a dresser drawer, and we move the roku stick from the living room to the bedroom TV. And in the end, my awesome refurbished streaming stick cost LESS than the Chromecast, and was shipped to my mailbox. After taxes, the 18mile drive one way to Walmart to buy the Chromecast, and 18miles back, the $5 dollars more for the refurbished stick was way less in the end. And I don't know if this is a good thing or not, haha, but we enjoy watching TV again! (Maybe too much since I'm getting less sleep catching up on shows on Amazon I haven't been able to watch!!!) Thanks for this wonderful product!