Netgear Nighthawk X8 AC5300 Router With Active Antennas Tested (hothardware.com)

MojoKid writes: Netgear recently launched the Nighthawk X8 router, which is part of a new round of second-gen wireless AC devices dubbed "Wave 2", carrying the AC5300 moniker. Instead of using a 3x3 configuration with six antennae, this router offers a 4x4 configuration, with four internal antennae and four active external antennae, each with their own blue LEDs to signal their active state. The actual amplifiers are on the antennae themselves, rather than down on the main board, helping to boost the signal and minimize crosstalk and loss associated with modern PCB circuitry. Each 5GHz radio is able to broadcast at 2.1Gbps compared to 1.3Gbps on Gen 1 devices, and the bandwidth on the 2.4GHz channel is also increased from 600Mb/s on Gen 1 devices to 1GB/s. When you take both 5GHz channels at 2,100Mb/s and add it to the 1,000Mb/s on the 2.4GHz channel, you end up with a number around 5,300Mb/s, hence the branding. Performance-wise, the Nighthawk X8 is one of the fastest Wi-Fi routers on the market currently. However, its hefty price point might be hard to justify for most mainstream users. Enthusiasts and small office/home office users looking for ultimate range on a 5GHz channel with lots of clients connected will appreciate this routers throughput and power, however.

Comments

Re: What range does AC get in an average house?

[bill_mcgonigle]

I've actually separated SSID's now for 2.4 and 5 GHz, as 2.4 is so much better unless large file transfers are about to happen near the AP.

One SSID I have that only rides a VPN out doesn't even get an instance on the 5GHz radio as the local speed difference is not significant.

These new discrete amps are supposed to make it somwwhat better, but, I dunno - if you need tremendous wireless speed far away such that you're willing to setup LACP and all that to backhail it, maybe you can also put an AP nearer the client or put up with "only" a gigabit? The market seems small for using all the features at once.

Netgear is not functioning well, apparently.

[Futurepower(R)]

Extremely negative reviews of one Netgear product on Amazon
NETGEAR ProSAFE FVS318G 8-Port Gigabit VPN Firewall (FVS318G-200NAS)
Customer Reviews: Average 2 stars of 5
Worked for Two Weeks, Then Nothing But Trouble
Locks up after 5 mins
both hardware and production support are horrible. I bought 2 and have to return both
Fast FW-Router when it works....
Bad firmware out of the box
Slow, solid and slow
Very ridiculous and disappointed.
Flakey administration; otherwise a good firewall for the price
Dont buy this - nothing but problems
brand new unit, updated firmware, Very Flaky. ...
Do not waste your time and money!
Quote: "Ive purchased 20 devices and many of them lock up within 5 minutes. Ive updated to the latest firmware and the issue continues. I am returning all of them. Do not buy this device."
fails consistently, less than consumer grade
Locks up twice a day
Dead on arrival
(Retrieved 12/27/2015.)

I sent those and a lot more negative reviews to Netgear Sales, Netgear Investor Relations, and the Netgear Media Inquiries email addresses. There was no reply.