Gryphon - AX Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi Router - White

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The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Perfect Balance of Security and Performance

  • Top 500 Contributor
  • Tech Insider Network Member

  I am an IS Security Analyst and have installed and configured multiple routers at my home. This router has exceeded all my expectations. I was hesitant of replacing my much larger high-end gaming router with this surprising small unit. Setup was super easy with the mobile app. It has a slick and simple appearance that does not look as awkward as some other routers on the market. As with most other mesh routers, you are limited to only one available ethernet port on the back of the router. This is easily overcome by connecting to network hub that range in price from about $10 to $50 for residential use. Almost all of your routers come with a default admin password which is big security vulnerability. Gryphon prompts for setting up the admin router password upon setup. By default, it is set to auto band steering which sets one SSID for all three wireless channels and load balances all devices across them all. You also have the option to configure a separate SSID on each channel as well. The feature I am impressed with the most is the protection it has for IoT devices. Basically, IoT stands for Internet of Things and includes devices that are concerned 'dumb', such as cameras, doorbells, appliances, etc., that connect to the internet but should not communicating with anything outside of your network. These devices normally have no security and firmware updates are normally not pushed out in a timely manner. Gryphon has a separate channel just for IoT devices so they can be separated from your primary network. You are given the options to hide the SSID for this, or any channels, and you can select Network Isolation and / or Client Isolation. This keeps your device from communicating with anything outside of your network and anything outside from communicating with it. This alleviates it from being hacked or putting the rest of your network at risk if it becomes compromised. The latest security protocol of WPA2/WPA3 is supported. There is a QoS option and up to three devices can be prioritized. Malware protection is built in and free for 90 days. After the trial it cost $8.99 a month or $89.99 annually. This is a small price to pay for all of the advanced security features it provides. You have the option from locking any new devices from connecting to your network even with the correct password. This is another essential layer of protection from hackers. On top of your admin password, you can enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as well to require a code from your registered mobile device to be entered upon login. You have the option to enable full parental controls over screen time, bedtime and age-appropriate profiles. With their optional HomeBound software installed you can also protect any of your kid’s devices when they are away from home. It uses a VPN to route any Wi-Fi connection outside of your network back through your router to use your configured parental security features. Normally, with all of these advanced security features I would be worried about the performance. I am an avid gamer and have it connected to multiple Xbox and PCs both wired and wireless. There were some minor settings that needed 'tweaked' to get the NAT to an Open status in order for multiple player to work properly. After contacting customer service, I was able to get it configured correctly with no issues. I have been gaming for hours over the past several days with absolutely no issues. Speed Test are actually faster than much more expensive, flashy gaming router. I highly recommend this router to everyone and if you google the company, you can see that they really care for their customers and the founder invented it to protect his own children. You will not find this personal connection with the other major network routers companies. The company even hosts a weekly learning webcast where owners can get additional information about getting the most out of their device. This is unheard of these days and good luck with even contacting customer support with another router company. The prices is great and you only need one tower unless you have a really large, multiple story house. I am using one tower in an average size, one floor brick house, and I have no dead spots anywhere, including the basement and garage.

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  Posted 2 years ago by ScubaSteve

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Best router for home user

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  Let me start out by saying I have used a total of 15-20 different routers over the course of the last 2 years, some of these include business routers managing 100+ users, so I have a great amount of experience and a good idea of what works and for whom a particular router is for and the Gryphon is the absolutely perfect for a home user with kids/teenagers or adults who may not be very tech savvy. The installation for the Gryphon is childishly easy all you need to do is create an account and follow the app instructions which is basically just plug and play and you’re up and running. As I stated this is the perfect router for the home user because it is simple and intuitive to use. The app has a minimalistic layout to it and is very fast and responsive. Once up and running you can assign users that you know will be on your Wi-Fi and assign the age group and the type of management you want on that device. The amount of management you can do per devices is amazing, you’re able to set time schedules/block sites and even manage chats/messaging. The Gryphon also allows you to set up an ad blocker through the router and store the browsing history. I have included a few screen shots for a more detailed view. The device identification function works pretty well so you have an idea of who is connecting (be a phone from a certain company or a streaming device) which is very beneficial is helping you set rules for the devices connected to your network. Gryphon provides a premium protection which has a 90 day trial and I would say its worth trying out with the amount of sensitive data is on our devices and how phishing schemes are becoming more prevalent and if you have kids or adults who aren’t as tech savvy it is a must now a days. Overall the router was able to handle all of my devices and me streaming 5 4k streams without any hiccups and I was able to get a good Wi-Fi signal in about 3/4 of my house (please keep in mind that Wi-Fi signal will depend on where you reside and the types of materials used in the construction of your home) My only issue was that I wish it had at least 2 or 3 more Ethernet ports for me to plug in a few more devices directly otherwise it is the best router for home user with kids hands down.

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  Posted 2 years ago by JayS

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Gryphon - A Parent's Best Friend

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 250 Contributor

  Without question, this is the best router that gives fine tuning parental controls. This is significantly important with all the stuff happening on social media and the internet in general. Let’s face it: social media is the toilet of the internet, and you don’t want your kids playing in it. The Gryphon AX Mesh WiFi Security Router takes all the guesswork out of configuring profiles for the younger audiences at home, and even goes further to protect everyone from malware and intrusions. Setting up the Gryphon took no more than a few minutes to set up. Assuming you’re all plugged in and ready to go, setup using the Gryphon App was a breeze. App setup requires the scan of the QR code affixed to the unit itself and, to be honest, I can’t remember the rest of the initial setup process. It was that easy. And after you’re able to establish internet access, you can change SSIDs on your primary network and guest network. Each network will perform auto band steering which will force 5GHz capable devices to connect in that fashion. You can certainly turn this off, if desired. Something new that I haven’t seen before is an additional IoT Network SSID that you can configure for all your IoT devices; they would sit on this additional SSID. I don’t know if it really buys you anything new, but it definitely helps organize your devices connected to your network. For every new device that connects to your network, the Gryphon App will notify you of the new connection, and you will have the opportunity to assign this device to a “User”. A user is a specific user or group that you will be able to define. You can provide this “User” a name, decide what age group is appropriate for the user, and turn on things like Safe Search (prevent adult content from search results) and Ad Blocker. You will also be able to store browsing history so there is no hiding from what this user has been viewing. These settings can be changed at any time after they have been created. After you’ve set up a few users on your Gryphon app, then you can fine tune each user role further. There are two main types of “Time” management: Screen Schedule and Internet Schedule. Screen Schedule allows you to configure a maximum screen time allowance for a user role/group. Internet Schedule allows you to control what times of the day the internet is effectively “OFF”. Think homework time, bedtime and just a general suspend time. Pretty neat, and it’s super simple to set up. Another customizable area is something called “Access Control” where you’ll be able to manage specific URLs(always blocked, managed based on your Internet Schedule, etc). Similarly, you can manage specific Categories in the same fashion. Then there are the statistics. For each user role, you’ll be able to see what websites were visited by the user; if a website was blocked, you’ll see a blocked icon next to the URL. You’ll also be able to see Insights, a tab that shows you how much time was spent doing activities (Streaming Video, Web Browsing, etc). Each statistic is broken down by day. Finally, you’ll be able to see weekly data usage based on device. So, none of these parental tools really matter if the Gryphon AX doesn’t perform…so how does it perform??? Well, happy to report that it is one of the best mesh router types I have ever used. Now a big caveat to this is that I am not using it in a mesh network fashion; in fact, I only have one unit in a 2400 square foot, two story home. Being upstairs in the complete opposite corner away from the Gryphon, I am still able to achieve 60-70% of what my current mesh network is able to achieve. That’s pretty good for me, and if I did get another unit, this would have no problems getting me that data much faster. There is a “pay to play” aspect for the Gryphon: malware and security monitoring. For $7.99/month or $89.99/year, you’ll be able to filter out malware, detect vulnerabilities and infected devices. But where I think it matters most is to extend parental controls when on mobile data or WiFi that is not your own. Remember, once that device leaves your home, it is either on a mobile network or on another WiFi network, and neither of these networks hold your parental controls. Using Homebound, you’ll be able to continue these parental controls. You get a 90 day trial and after the period is over, you can decide to continue this premium service or cancel. Overall, I am very happy with the Gryphon AX Tri-Band Mesh WiFi Router. Being a parent and a techie, it is very refreshing to have a company not only place emphasis on performance, but also a huge emphasis on the safety and security of our children. Highly recommended.

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  Posted 2 years ago by softwareEngineer