Netgear Nighthawk AX4200 AX5 5-Stream Wifi 6 Router

First thing you need to do is download the Nighthawk App, to be able to start/do the setup. A user account registration is required.Seemed slightly longwinded going through this initial setup, although ultimately painless. (It even checked & carried out a Firmware update in this initial process).You set the WiFi names (SSID) for 2.4 & 5G bands & set the password for the 'admin' log-in.Once initial setup is done, you can (if reqd) log-in as admin, and go through all Internal settings.You can adjust the Transmit power individually on the 2.4 & 5G bands, and enable a Guest SSID (on each band) if reqd.There is the "Basic" version (all that most people need) which is easy & straightforward. Then there's the "Advanced" section, covering all in-depth aspects ... MoreFirst thing you need to do is download the Nighthawk App, to be able to start/do the setup. A user account registration is required.Seemed slightly longwinded going through this initial setup, although ultimately painless. (It even checked & carried out a Firmware update in this initial process).You set the WiFi names (SSID) for 2.4 & 5G bands & set the password for the 'admin' log-in.Once initial setup is done, you can (if reqd) log-in as admin, and go through all Internal settings.You can adjust the Transmit power individually on the 2.4 & 5G bands, and enable a Guest SSID (on each band) if reqd.There is the "Basic" version (all that most people need) which is easy & straightforward. Then there's the "Advanced" section, covering all in-depth aspects (Port-forwarding, VLAN Bridges, Traffic meters, etc, etc). You can even turn off all the router LEDs (except the power). It has a built-in Speedtest function (under QoS), to automatically check Bandwidth (can still be set manually if desired). Plenty of scope for the serious/advanced user.Note for possible Newbies (just in case): Modern routers like this are for Fibre - They Do NOT contain DSL decryption (like with ADSL/VDSL routers).Broadband Decryption is already done around the Fibre Connection Box. (excuse me if I've got that slightly wrong)...We are currently on VDSL awaiting Fibre installation, so simply took an Ethernet cable from the existing (ISP default/useless) modem, to the "Internet" input on the Nighthawk.Despite 'Slaving' through the rubbish ISP modem (for its decoding), performance has Dramatically improved. All Wifi issues have disappeared, and (WiFi) data speeds have Tripled(I kid you not !!!).Exceeding happy with it.Can't wait for Fibre to be connected.....

Almost Perfect, Except......

Everything about this router is marvelous, except that devices close by (3-6 meters) signals are dropped on a regular basis. Long range signals for our security system,TV streaming, Echo show run perfectly; however, close up devices like laptops, desktop computers, intermittently drop connections, even in the middle of outbound and/or inbound transmissions, or fail to connect on start-up unless rebooted - several times. I have no idea how a wired connection behaves since all my connections are wireless, but hopefully, a hard-wired connection will sustain a signal to a level of consistency that I would have hoped for for a wireless connection within 3-6 meters. Armor is a saving grace that, despite the wireless connectivity issue, is well worth the purchase of this ... MoreEverything about this router is marvelous, except that devices close by (3-6 meters) signals are dropped on a regular basis. Long range signals for our security system,TV streaming, Echo show run perfectly; however, close up devices like laptops, desktop computers, intermittently drop connections, even in the middle of outbound and/or inbound transmissions, or fail to connect on start-up unless rebooted - several times. I have no idea how a wired connection behaves since all my connections are wireless, but hopefully, a hard-wired connection will sustain a signal to a level of consistency that I would have hoped for for a wireless connection within 3-6 meters. Armor is a saving grace that, despite the wireless connectivity issue, is well worth the purchase of this router.

Could be better for the price, but excellent for general users.

Wireless claims speeds of up to a little over 2 Gbps, which is great!*, if you only want that for local connections. The internet connectivity port is only 1Gbps so that is all you will get total. The firmware features leave some to be desired as well. It does support in-built OpenVPN with a simple setup interface, however if you want to run your own VPN or other specialized service, there are no areas in the firmware to setup protocol (not port) forwarding. So things like PPTP (Protocol 47) or IPSec (Protocols 50 & 51) you are out of luck on. The price per feature is what is weighing my review, but an additional that had no bearing, just leaving as a note, this router is not openwrt or ddwrt compatible as of this post.

Excellent Router

We recently had a router of another brand die on us in less than a year. Since this was the second router by this brand that has died on us in less than two and a half years, it was time to just go with a different brand. We choose the Netgear Nighthawk RAX43. The setup with the nighthawk app was a breeze. Had everything up and running with the RAX43 in less than 25 minutes and soon after, had wifi speeds that were dead-on to our paid internet speed. So far our experience with this router and the nighthawk app has been great. Based on that experience, we would recommend it to anyone looking for a great router with easy setup.

Lacking in range covered

First, I probably wouldn't purchase any other brand of router. Netgear does a fantastic job overall. This particular Wi-Fi router (RAX23) has half the range of my last router (Apple Airport Extreme from... ages ago). I used to be able to be at my next door neighbor's house and have no difficulty tapping into my router. Now I have to be inside my home to get a connection. On a related note, the Netgear Nighthawk app is limited in the capabilities it can perform (can't assign fixed IP addresses to the most common items in my home). That said, the performance so far has been reasonable as long as I'm in my home (not the driveway or street as before)

NETGEAR Nighthawk AX4200 did not disappoint

We bought this router to shoot a wifi signal to our barn which is about 200 feet from our house. We first tried to hook up a Ubiquiti bridge unit. That was a nightmare. We returned that thing and, at the advice of a local IT guy, bought a NETGEAR Nighthawk AX4200 from Amazon. I had never set up a router before and have limited IT knowledge. To my delight, after watching a one-minute Youtube video and installing the app, the entire setup was quick and easy, including setting up a new security system at the barn. The only hiccup was that the firmware update failed during installation but the next morning, the router went down for a minute then rebooted. I am guessing that was the firmware update. Since then, it has been a week and running great. Strong signal, even at ... MoreWe bought this router to shoot a wifi signal to our barn which is about 200 feet from our house. We first tried to hook up a Ubiquiti bridge unit. That was a nightmare. We returned that thing and, at the advice of a local IT guy, bought a NETGEAR Nighthawk AX4200 from Amazon. I had never set up a router before and have limited IT knowledge. To my delight, after watching a one-minute Youtube video and installing the app, the entire setup was quick and easy, including setting up a new security system at the barn. The only hiccup was that the firmware update failed during installation but the next morning, the router went down for a minute then rebooted. I am guessing that was the firmware update. Since then, it has been a week and running great. Strong signal, even at the barn. No more buffering! Not the most attractive looking router, but it does what it is supposed to do.

Purchased the Netgear RAX43

I just want to say I’m super impressed on the performance of this model! It compliments my Netgear CM1200 perfectly! I was using a Nighthawk R7000 prior to this model had it for about 10 years, I purchased it back in 2014 and was very reliable tech and that’s what I love about Netgear. The RAX43 has met me and my families needs for streaming and gaming. We only have internet service in our home. We are using a 1GB service from Spectrum. And the router performs fantastically! We are extremely happy and satisfied with our investment in Netgear! Thank you guys for your hard work!!! We will be upgrading to the RAXE500 when we move into our new home. We will be adding more wireless devices throughout!!!! Again thank you!!!!

Stop Deciding. Just Get Netgear

We recently were experiencing some internet issues. We called Spectrum to check and they came out and said it was our router. We needed one fast so we had them hook up one of theirs. It was one of their best he said. Yeah, I know. We've been down this road before with bad decision-making. Still dealing with issues so I picked up the Nighthawk AX5 (and AX8 Extender) but still could not hook up my security cameras. That was more user error because I'm not tech savvy at all. Camera techs were useless so I contacted Netgear chat and it was magic! Everything is connected and working fine and dandy. Netgear products and their customer service are outstanding. I'm not kidding. It is.

Strong WiFi

First, the good; It does provide strong WiFi signal. Works pretty seamlessly. It should be a 4-star router. Now the bad; The software. I have two routers (this and a RAX50). Both are on the same network, 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2, but different areas of my home. The latter is set up as an access point. When I want to check logs, I want to access by IP, but these routers want to access by routerlogin.net and overrides IP. I can find no way to change this translation. So, I have to physically go to each router to make changes or view logs. Yeah, it is enough to ding a star. Also, I don't know if this was an anomaly or a trend, but the router does a factory reset without known provocation. It happened once on my RAX50, about 4 months after purchase, before I bought ... MoreFirst, the good; It does provide strong WiFi signal. Works pretty seamlessly. It should be a 4-star router. Now the bad; The software. I have two routers (this and a RAX50). Both are on the same network, 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2, but different areas of my home. The latter is set up as an access point. When I want to check logs, I want to access by IP, but these routers want to access by routerlogin.net and overrides IP. I can find no way to change this translation. So, I have to physically go to each router to make changes or view logs. Yeah, it is enough to ding a star. Also, I don't know if this was an anomaly or a trend, but the router does a factory reset without known provocation. It happened once on my RAX50, about 4 months after purchase, before I bought the RAX43. I thought it was just a firmware glitch, updated the firmware, and didn't happen again for a while. I purchased the RAX43, and it has been working great for a month, then BOTH routers on the same night factory reset themselves. No logs available since the reset clears everything. Backup these routers. Since I don't have any logs, I do not know if it was a malicious act or something to do with the routers' firmware. I could not justify dinging another star for these two occurrences, but if it keeps resetting, another star or two will have to be dinged. I used a competitor for many years (that wrt was awesome), and seen good things about the Nighthawks, but if there isn't any improvement in these routers, I will be moving on.

The worst device

Having owned a Netgear Nighthawk router for years and having been fully satisfied with the device I naturally replaced it with the updated but similar device. Well, this was a mistake. The router itself worked well as I had expected it would, but the app was horrendous. I ended up being locked out of all of my devices including the very tablet from which I was trying to control the router's settings and before this it refused to connect with its server among the many issues. When I returned the router to Best Buy the clerk told me that most of these routers had been returned to the store because of the very poor nonworking app. The app did everything to infuriate me and after 6 hours of trying to make it work, I gave up and reinstalled my 7-year-old Nighthawk with ... MoreHaving owned a Netgear Nighthawk router for years and having been fully satisfied with the device I naturally replaced it with the updated but similar device. Well, this was a mistake. The router itself worked well as I had expected it would, but the app was horrendous. I ended up being locked out of all of my devices including the very tablet from which I was trying to control the router's settings and before this it refused to connect with its server among the many issues. When I returned the router to Best Buy the clerk told me that most of these routers had been returned to the store because of the very poor nonworking app. The app did everything to infuriate me and after 6 hours of trying to make it work, I gave up and reinstalled my 7-year-old Nighthawk with works still just fine. Don't buy this device and Netgear should be embarrassed over their horrible app.