Received ROKU as a Christmas present. Does give you what it advertises, but slow to find, slow to load, frequently has to reload and has TONS of commercials which can be eliminated for steep extra charges. Seems to me that the product cost should insure no commercial interruptions, but I guess I'm old and crotchety, lol!
I had Chromecast and AppleTV prior to purchasing, but I wanted a remote control rather than using my ipad for the components in my media cabinet. While I love the remote and the convenience, the AppleTV does seem to have a better picture than the Roku stick. Both are hooked on the same wifi and are in the same cabinet, but when streaming Netflix, AppleTV definitely seems to be a better picture.
Other than that, the Roku is great. It's true the apps are much more plentiful on the Roku, but I find between having Amazon and Netflix along with DirecTV, I don't have time to search all of the apps.
I bought the streaming stick a couple of weeks ago, this thing is so awesome, I'm about to purchase the Roku 3. It's fast and gives u more apps than any other streaming devices out there. It has apps basically for every one out there. If u want all ur entertainment apps in one place this is the device.