[Jen M87]

Just set mine up yesterday and it’s working fine so far. I used the USB port on the back of my TV to power it, but now I’m wondering if that’s actually okay long term. Does it need a proper wall adapter or is the TV port enough? I don’t want it cutting out randomly.

[Laura M.]

Mine’s been on the TV port for about three months with no cutouts so far.

[Chris Reed]

The USB port on a TV can be pretty weak on some models, like sipping a drink through a coffee stirrer. If the stick starts rebooting when the screen gets bright, that’s your sign the port can’t keep up. Otherwise I’d just leave it and see how it goes.

[Kevin Rogers]

I’d plug it into a wall adapter myself. TV ports can be handy, but I’ve had a streaming stick act up when the TV was doing too much, and a proper adapter just removes that from the equation.

[Alex M.]

Mine pulled enough power off the TV port for basic streaming, but the second I tried screen mirroring it froze up. Switched to a spare phone charger and it’s been solid since. If you’re only doing apps you’re probably fine, but mirroring seemed to push it.

[Alex Morgan]

Plugging into the wall is what I’d do, just because a TV port feels a bit like borrowing someone’s phone charger when you have your own sitting right there. Mine ran off the TV for a while and was fine, but I moved it to a spare adapter anyway since it was easy enough.

[Jenny__M]

I’ve had mine running off the TV port since I got it and it’s been fine. I mostly just watch shows though, nothing heavy. Might switch to a wall plug eventually if it ever acts up.

[Rob C]

Using the TV port is a gamble on the TV, not the stick. My old set cut power to USB whenever it went into standby, so anything plugged in would die mid-show. The newer one keeps it live fine. So it really depends on the model. If you want one less thing to think about, a cheap wall adapter is the safer bet. I’d rather not have the thing dropping just because the TV decided to save a watt.

[Kuzela]

I ran mine off the TV port for about a week and it was mostly fine until I started using it for anything beyond basic watching. The thing that got me was the startup time, it felt like the stick was booting from scratch every single time I turned the TV on, which got old fast. Swapped it to an old phone charger I had in a drawer and now it just stays ready. I get why people use the TV port since it’s one less cable, but for me the convenience of it being always on beat the clean look. My TV is a few years old though, so who knows how it behaves on a newer set. Either way, the wall plug solved my little annoyance and I haven’t touched it since.

[HanSolo]

I’ll go against the grain here and say the TV port is probably fine for how most people actually use this thing. Mine has been on the TV’s USB since December, gets used a few nights a week, mostly apps and the occasional cast from my phone. No random reboots, no freezing, nothing. The stick is cheap and low power, it’s not exactly pulling a gaming console’s worth of juice.

What I’d actually question is whether a wall adapter is some magic fix. If your TV port is cutting out, that’s the TV being cheap or lazy with its USB, not the stick needing a dedicated power brick. People act like a wall adapter solves everything, but if the device is unstable it’s unstable. I’ve seen enough cheap gadgets to know a plug doesn’t make bad hardware good.

That said, I don’t think the TV port is some sacred thing either. If yours dies the second you open too many apps, fine, move it. But swapping to a wall plug preemptively because a forum thread scared you? Eh. I’d rather find out with my own setup than buy a charger for a $30 stick that’s been behaving.

Long term I have no idea if the port will wear out or whatever. Two months in and mine’s the same as day one.

[Matt__]

Wall adapter is the safer bet, TV ports can be stingy.

[Susan Kennet]

Depends how much the TV port can actually give out. I tried a similar stick on an older set and it would reboot every time I opened the browser, though regular streaming was okay. A cheap wall adapter solved it for me, so I’d lean that way if you plan on using apps and casting much.

[Jess Runner]

Mine has been on the TV port for a couple months now and I haven’t had any dropouts, even during longer movie nights. The port on my set stays powered all the time though, which I think is the thing that actually matters here. If your TV kills the port on standby, that’s when you’d get the weird reboots.

[Mike Turner]

I’d rather not gamble on whatever the TV feels like outputting. Mine rebooted mid-show once and that was enough for me to dig out an old phone charger.

[Tom 2020]

I swapped mine to a wall adapter after two weeks because the stick kept losing power whenever I turned the TV off and back on quickly. Not saying the TV port is useless, but I got tired of unplugging and replugging it every time. A cheap adapter fixed it and I stopped thinking about it.

[Jen M87]

I’ll just grab a cheap adapter and call it done.

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