NETGEAR Nighthawk X8 AC5300 Tri-Band WiFi Router (R8500-100NAS), Works with Amazon Alexa

Might Be Faster, but That’s Where the Good Ends…
– – – Update – Ended up with Synology RT2600ac after returning the RT-AC5300I was looking at replacing a Netgear R6300 v1 (1300 Mb) because it’s been 1.5 years since the manufacturer updated it and one existing security flaw only has a workaround; I’m sure there are other undisclosed flaws. Unfortunately these consumer devices are not maintained for long by manufactures and are abandoned with security flaws waiting to be exploited. I’ve been segregating wireless devices with separate WiFi routers and the newer “tri-band” models combining two 5GHz radios into one unit showed promise. This thing is HUGE, gets hot quickly on the bottom and not sure what they were thinking when they created the warped top casing. Maybe they were getting warped due to the heat and wanted it to look like it was part of the dumb design?I’ve used Linksys, D-Link, Netgear and Asus consumer wireless products and Netgear continues to use their dated and tired looking interface. For those that have complex configurations, it’s a tedious process of make entries, click apply and wait, reboot and wait some more; repeat often. I don’t know why they stopped allowing you to use HTTPS on a LAN segment to manage the router; older units had this function but later firmware killed the option. The only way to use the HTTPS feature is if you allow WAN administration. I’m forced to use an Ethernet connecting every time I want to administer any Netgear router and one reason I’m done with them. They also still don’t allow you to configure your own NTP server IP address and have their own built-in database of what they want you to use.Their feature set is limited compared to ASUS’ and the logging is anemic; good luck troubleshooting firewall rulesets. Luckily I’m using it in AP and don’t have to deal with the basic firewall that’s integrated into the unit. It’s pricy as is ASUS’ equivalent the RT-AC5300, even at a sale price of 280.I upgraded to 1.0.2.80 firmware and then to 1.0.2.86 after it came out. This was apparently for the web exploit Netgear claimed didn’t affect the R8500; a LOT of Netgear routers had the same vulnerability. I’m not sure if it was coincidence but my 2.4GHz quit working at least a day afterwards. The light showed it was active as did the software and enabling the Guest network didn’t revive it. No wireless devices were able to pick it up and none of my wireless scanning tools detected the MAC address that was once on the air. I worked with support and got to second tier where they wanted me to downgrade which I already did as well as multiple resets (soft and hard). The second tier person wanted me to keep trying to downgrade further down; guess he was hoping it would magically revive it. I gave up and got an RT-AC5300. I read of radio issues with the ASUS model as well as this one but gave it a shot. They both share the same Broadcom chipset and wondering if they all have issues because of it.I’ve read others saying it could be the Vietnam units having issues. There appears to be at least some power supply issue, radio issue and reboot loop issue…pretty bad. I actually had a previous unit from Best Buy from China with a 4D serial but returned it because they wouldn’t price match a 96 buck price drop from Amazon. I didn’t have it long enough to test if it had an issue. The first one from Amazon was from Vietnam and a 4P serial number. Unfortunately I didn’t capture the SN or country of origin on the Amazon replacement unit I mention below (3rd). After getting the ASUS I didn’t have the radio issue but was getting BSoDs using their own USB-AC68 but that’s for another review. That adapter worked well with this model.I got a replacement R8500 and upgraded it to 1.0.2.86 and one of the 5GHz radios died the same death the following day. I contacted support again and gave them the previous case and was told the notes said I declined second level engineering support which I didn’t; I wasn’t going to play the downgrade game. While she was on the line running through basics I was working on the first unit downgrading to the initial 1.0.0.28 release but said it wasn’t compatible. I started going up from there and got the same error until I hit 1.0.2.54 and then it got stuck in a reboot loop with a solid amber light, dim white lights, blue antenna lights, off and repeat. Not even a hard reset saved it. The shipping version was 1.0.2.64. The sad thing is that the support person wasn’t interested in waiting to hear about my results with the downgrading that the first support person wanted me to play with. She would only offer me an RMA which I quickly declined saying I didn’t want another’s problem when I could get a new one from Amazon.I was fed up with the tri-banders. I initiated a return for refund on the second R8500 and wasn’t going to place another order and wait around for deliveries that may not come before heading out of town and headed to Best Buy where I picked up an ASUS RT-AC3100 and RT-AC1900P with an Amazon price match; it’s only a 5 minute drive and either one charges me sales tax. To make an already too long story shorter I got the same BSoDs with these ASUS models but I found a wireless setting that was causing it and since performance was less than the RT-AC5300 and the price is higher for both units compared to one, they’re going back and staying with the RT-AC5300…for now.I ran through typical use cases but transfers are something I really care about between clients and my NAS. Even though the R8500 is faster overall, it’s the only thing going for it and everything else wrong with it outweighs it. I kept MIMO on the R8500 with no issues and that could be the reason it outperformed the RT-AC5300’s broken (STILL alpha!) MIMO with erratic results.Used an ASUS USB-AC68 USB 3.0 3×4 (1300 Mb), PCIe Half Mini Card Intel AC 7260 2×2 (867 Mb) and Netgear A6200 USB 2.0 (867 Mb) adapters for testing.* Only adding notable comments for RT-AC3100USB-AC68 using 3.0 client: RT-AC5300 just couldn’t keep up with R8500, even with MIMOR8500 – 320 Mb peak / 224 Mb typical download432 Mb peak / 320 Mb typical uploadRT-AC5300 – 128 Mb peak / 128 Mb typical download (RT-AC3100 136 Mb peak / 112 Mb typical download)240 Mb peak / 232 Mb typical upload (RT-AC3100 272 Mb peak / 256 Mb typical upload)232 Mb peak / 168 Mb typical download w/MIMO200 Mb peak / 264 Mb typical upload w/MIMO (RT-AC3100 32 Mb peak / 24 Mb typical upload)USB-AC68 using 2.0 client: R8500 slightly better in download but same on uploadR8500 – 272 Mb peak / 240 Mb typical download224 Mb peak / 216 Mb typical uploadRT-AC5300 – 256 Mb peak / 248 Mb typical download224 Mb peak / 216 Mb typical upload (Same upload rates on RT-AC3100)32 Mb peak / 24 Mb typical upload w/MIMO enabled! (RT-AC3100 maintained same rates w/MIMO)Internal 7260: R8500 best performance with RT-AC5300 not far behind as long as MIMO wasn’t usedR8500 – 368 Mb peak / 312 Mb typical download224 Mb peak / 176 Mb typical uploadAC5300 – 328 Mb peak / 304 Mb typical download184 Mb peak / 168 Mb typical upload (RT-AC3100 192 Mb peak / 184 Mb typical upload)128 Mb peak / 120 Mb typical download w/MIMO (RT-AC3100 320 Mb peak /168 Mb typical download)288 Mb peak / 272 Mb typical upload w/MIMOA6200 USB 2.0 adapter: R8500 crushes on the download but about same on uploadR8500 – 232 Mb peak /224 Mb typical download200 Mb peak / 192 Mb typical uploadRT-AC5300 – 88 Mb peak / 88 Mb typical download200 Mb peak / 184 Mb typical downloadGigabit Ethernet: R8500 consistent performer with RT-AC5300 having higher upload speeds but bad download. Maybe the reason we tend to see better upload performance on that unit.R8500 – 912 Mb peak / 864 Mb typical download912 Mb peak / 888 Mb typical uploadRT-AC5300 –536 Mb peak / 504 Mb typical download920 Mb peak / 904 Mb typical upload

Very Fast