Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Save $10 on a Roku Streaming Stick+ and get 30 days of Sling for free

By Ed Oswald May 13, 2019

Best Streaming Stick Roku Plus — Image used with permission by copyright holder

If you’ve been debating about cutting the cord but needed a reason to take the plunge, Walmart has a great deal on the 4K HDR-ready Roku Streaming Stick+, which combines a sale with a free month of Sling (a $40 value). That’s a $50 savings, and potentially more depending on what Sling package you choose to try out.

The Roku Streaming Stick+ is the best value in media streamers, and it won our Editor’s Choice award in that category. There’s a lot packed into a little package, and its portability makes it usable anywhere. Stick it behind your wall-mounted TV or put in in your briefcase to use on the road — it’s that versatile.

Its best in-class search makes finding something to watch easy, and 4K HDR content makes use of the fancy features of your high-end TV. And nothing beats the Roku user interface — it really is easy to use.

Right now, Walmart has a sale that cuts $10 off the normal price, bringing the price down to just $49.

But that’s just a small part of the savings. What makes it better is the offer of one month free of Sling’s streaming video services, a $40 or more value depending on which package you choose to try. Like most free trial offers, you’ll have to provide credit card information to redeem it, but you can cancel before your trial ends and you won’t be billed.

Sling is one of our recommendations for the best live TV streaming services available right now, and its base packages include up to four dozen or so channels, with plenty of à la carte options and the ability to add premium networks like HBO, Cinemax, and Showtime.

While your Roku will do just fine without live TV streaming — there’s a ton of content out there — the addition of Sling makes cord-cutting less of an abrupt change. And the fact that this is a 4K HDR-enabled streaming device means it won’t be obsolete anytime soon. We’re only now starting to see a wide variety of 4K streaming content.

Looking for more information about the best Memorial Day sales? We’re finding the very best deals as they roll in for May 2019.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributor

For fifteen years, Ed has written about the latest and greatest in gadgets and technology trends. At Digital Trends, he's…

Audio / Video

Roku is aware of its OS 10.5 update breaking your streaming apps

Roku OS 10.5.

If you're struggling to stream video after the Roku OS 10.5 update, you're not alone, apparently. The leading streaming platform's user forums have been busy in the days following the major update, with all sorts of complaints of things being broken.

The complaints range from channel-specific — things like YouTube TV not working — to overall network connectivity problems to general malaise. It's not easy to troubleshoot from afar when you're dealing with multiple devices over multiple generations, but the general consensus over 20 pages of posts so far (as well as in the Roku subreddit) is that something is wrong.

Audio / Video

Roku revamps its midrange lineup with the Streaming Stick 4K and 4K Plus

Roku Streaming Stick 4K plugged into a TV.

Roku's fall update is in full swing, first with the introduction of Roku OS 10.5, and also with a refresh to the midrange of its line of streaming media players. New to the Roku lineup are the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, and the Roku Streaming Stick 4K+.

Both are of the stick variety (as opposed to the little deck of cards shape in the Express line), and both sport 4K resolution, with support for Dolby Vision and HRD10+. Both boast a new quad-core processor that Roku says is 30% faster. More important, probably, is the revamped wireless receiver, which Roku says "offers up to 2x faster Wi-Fi speeds." That's not really how Wi-Fi works -- and the devices leading up to this refresh already were using Wi-Fi 5 (aka 802.11ac), so we'll just say that they're "better" for now.

Audio / Video

Roku overheating? Here’s what you can do

Box contents of the Roku Streaming Stick+.

A Roku streaming device is an excellent way to connect with your favorite entertainment content, with support for services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, and more. Launching all the way back in 2008, Roku streamers have been granting households with non-smart TVs an experience on-par (if not better) with today's leading web-connected Samsung, Sony, and Vizio sets. With a decent lineup of models to choose from, there's a Roku for every type of user, from the budget-minded to those who can't do without the most advanced features a streamer can handle.

While a Roku is a phenomenal way to experience a myriad of content with just an Internet connection and a video cable to your TV, they're not exactly glitch-free. In fact, when it comes to overall performance, one trouble we've seen on Roku devices, again and again, is overheating. While it's a bit of a nuisance when this problem arises, there are a few simple things you can do to reprimand the issue, along with some preventative measures you can take to ensure overheating occurs less frequently.
Symptoms and alerts
When a Roku begins overheating, you may notice the symptoms before the hardware alerts you to the malfunction. Sluggish navigation, rampant buffering of videos, and audio lip-sync mismatching are a few telltale signs that your Roku may be on the verge, or in the throes, of an overheating episode.