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I find my Fire HD8 (2017 version) to be almost perfect for what I want to use a tablet for. I do not need, or want, a high end tablet. Nor a large one.
My fire is used for watching movies on trips. For using VLC to stream RTSP output from a video camera. For reading PDF's (because my Kindle sucks at PDF's). For light use with email. For even lighter use with websites. For running simple apps (e.g., Strelok ballistics app). I used to use the Fire a lot more before I (finally!) bought myself a smartphone. It's only a midrange smartphone, but it absolutely blows the Fire out of the water in terms of speed. But for things that require a larger screen - like movies and PDF documents - the Fire wins out.
For me, the Fire HD8 is the sweet spot in terms of cost and size. If you buy the thing during Black Friday or one of the other sales, it's quite the handy device for the price. You just have to realize that it is a low end device, and is not, repeat, not, a substitute for a computer. Far from it. Except for a few things - basically things that need a larger screen size - it is handily beat by even a low end smart phone. But it does fit into a niche, because it is so cheap. You also have to make sure to install Google Play Store on it, because the selection of apps you get from Amazons store is too limiting. If the newer versions of FireOS lock you out of installing Google Play Store, then that is a fatal design mistake IMHO. I would not buy this tablet if Amazon does that.
For mobile electronics, I do not buy high end stuff. If I want high end, that's what my desktop computers are for. Everything else I view as a cheap substitute for that. Even my laptop is low end. Smartphone is mid range - for 1/3 to 1/4 the price of the super high end phones. Tablet ... I don't know, I always considered the Fire to be about the lowest of the low end. They don't get much cheaper, or slower, than the Fire, do they? But it works perfectly for what I use it for (I do sometimes wish it had built-in GPS though).
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