In my time with the X8, there are two main reasons people might want to pay that price: powered antennas and dual-gigabit backup support. Over the last six weeks, I've seen the price fluctuate on Amazon, at one point dropping almost a hundred dollars for the holiday shopping season, but it seems to be hovering around $350 now. You can take a moment to process that if you like. And now comes the X8/R8500, with a suggested retail price of around $400.
In addition to the comparatively conservative R7500, Netgear launched the six-antenna X6/R8000 in 2014 for a few hundred bucks. With good, expensive-but-not-unreasonable options like that, Netgear is in an awkward position trying to introduce newer versions of its Nighthawk router, but that hasn't stopped the company from going even bigger. Setup is easy, even when connecting it to a home gateway device that would typically cause headaches with "dumber" routers - I haven't yet had to disable DHCP on a Nighthawk to prevent gateway conflicts, for example, and if you've ever had to do this, you should understand why that's a relief. I have happily been using an R7500 for a year, and will vouch for it justifying an approximately $200 price tag (if not the $279 MSRP). The second-generation version, the R7500, features even better range and performance for multiple devices, for just $20-30 more. I think that the base Nighthawk model, the R7000, is a great option for most people. It was an impressive introduction, and since then, I've become something of an evangelist for Nighthawks, talking them up at the slightest hint of provocation.
I'm just not sure if, at an MSRP of $399.99, it's better enough than other routers available at half the price - some of which share the Nighthawk name.īack in late 2013, I wrote up my initial impressions of Netgear's first Nighthawk router, which signaled the company's foray into premium, performance devices. Additionally, all DD-WRT Routers include a 1 year Hardware Warranty and a 30-Day Customer Satisfaction Guarantee.The Netgear Nighthawk X8 is the best router I've ever used.
NETGEAR NIGHTHAWK X8 R8500 REVIEW FREE
All DD-WRT purchases come with setup instructions and free e-mail or ticket tech support for the life of the router. DD-WRT unlocks powerful features that allow you to better manage network traffic, access your home computers remotely, surf the web more securely using OpenVPN or PPTP and much more. Your DD-WRT Router will arrive with a recent and stable build of DD-WRT. NETGEAR NIGHTHAWK X8 R8500 OPTIMIZED BY DD-WRTĪll DD-WRT routers are flashed and tested by a Sabai Technology expert. Two (2) USB ports: 1 USB 3.0 & 1 USB 2.0 portĮight (8) high performance antennas with high-powered amplifiers Seven (7) 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet ports: 1 WAN & 6 LAN
Nighthawk X8 is the next wave in WiFiġ Netgear Nighthawk X8 R8500 flashed with DD-WRT firmwareġ Dual voltage American style power adapterĮmail or Ticket support for the life of the router Six gigabit Ethernet ports means even more wired devices can connect and with port aggregation 2 ports can combine to double maximum wired speeds.
NETGEAR NIGHTHAWK X8 R8500 REVIEW PLUS
Four external Active Antennas plus four internal antennas amplify WiFi range. Tri-Band WiFi and Quad Stream performance boosts X8's combined wireless speeds to up to 5.3Gbps. The Nighthawk X8 AC5300 Smart WiFi Router is the next wave in WiFi.