Customer Ratings & Reviews

I gave this Router a 4/5 rating due to ita unknown abilities to support VPN??

I got this router to finally step up to WiFi 6 hoping for better coverage in my home (3500 sq ft 2 story) and also for all the additional devices we continue to add. Setup was easy as I was already very familiar with the Linksys App from previously using it with the previous version of the Velop Mesh I also have. I do recommend powering down your modem from your ISP to do a full reboot prior to plugging in the new router. The router has lots of functionality and without the Mesh extenders was getting me decent speeds throughout my house. These speeds though weren't significantly faster though than what I was getting with my previous Netgear R8000 unless I was within the same room or only one room away connected to the WiFi 6 channel. I was able to access via the web interface for easier setup of port forwarding for my game systems although their interface is a bit different than my Netgear and previous Linksys routers I have also had. Speed through my wired connections is very fast and from my gaming desktop on the other side of the house I was able to hit 1.0 Gbps Down and 900 Mbps up multiple times. The internet speeds are definitely an improvement over my previous router. Managing the router via the app is convenient and easy if you are non-technical. Getting into the web interface is easy enough from a desktop or laptop. Finding the place to add nodes though in the website was a bit tricky and only found it after calling Linksys tech support for help getting the mesh nodes to connect. The Linksys tech support was helpful and able to assist me with the mesh setup which was the part I got must frustrated with trying to figure out and finding no real help anywhere online. One key point not mentioned anywhere online was to connect a wireless node you have to have it within 1 foot of the router then once added and configured you can move it. I plugged in multiple other nodes to be hardwired around my house to extend my coverage and also configured two wireless ones. The process takes about 8 minutes per node and you can do them one after another. I found actually adding the nodes via the app was easier and worked better for me. Overall I am happy with the router but at the $500 price point I feel that it is a bit overpriced compared to the other routers from Asus and Netgear around this price point. One other thing that is an annoyance is that my external hdd that was previously plugged into my Netgear via USB 3.0 cant' be recognized so I am going to have to convert it to be able to get it working for network storage with this router. It is a pro though having the ability to easily extend your coverage with the Velop nodes and add them to use the same SSID's for your network. There are other features like parental controls and using nodes to sense movement in your home and alert you. This wasn't something I have the desire to mess with at this time.

I was looking for a new router as one of my new computers has WiFi 6 and I wanted to give that a try, plus our TP-Link Archer was having issues “will never buy or recommend TP-Link routers after the warranty run around and defective “refurbished” replacement”, but that’s another story. Unboxing: The router arrived in a nice Linksys logoed box, well protected inside. There’s the router, power adapter, one patch cord and CD rom. Size wise this Hydra Pro is about 2/3rds the size of the Archer which is welcome especially in tight spaces. There are 4 antennas that you can adjust a little, compared to the 8 on the archer that you cannot move and they stick up a good bit more. The top of the Hydra has a lot of ventilation in it, enough to where you can see the board inside “this should help a lot with heat as our TP-Link had none and got very warm”. Setting up: The Hydra Pro 6e only has 4 Ethernet ports where the TP-Link has 8 as does our really old Linksys EA9500 so I had to dig out a switch to make up for the missing ports, not a big deal but it was nice having 8 open ports so I didn’t have to use a switch “taking up more space”, but not a deal breaker by any means. I was surprised that after hooking everything up and powering up and I went to access the device to set it up that I was greeted to a welcome screen asking that I download an APP to continue setup. I didn’t see any way around this as I tried multiple times to access the router directly from the IP address and kept getting the same app download screen. I did end up doing this and the app does ask for a number form the bottom of the router and then proceeds with setting up. There is an option to not use the APP and that’s the way I set it up “should have asked that in the first welcome screen”. But after gaining access to the menus I set it up the same way I had our other routers “didn’t want to have to re connect all our devices”. The Linksys portal looks pretty much the same as the EA9500s, pretty basic and easy to navigate. If you’ve used any Linksys routers in the last couple years you’ll know what to expect. There’s not a lot you can do for tweaking, and you can’t pick/choose which channels each band is using or the output power. I really like having that control “for myself” but it makes it simple for most users. I did check which channels it was using with WiFi Commander and to my surprise it picked the channels with nothing else on them “and we are in a pretty congested area” so at least that’s something I don’t have to go in and do “the TP-Link used the defaults only and those channels were really crowded”. Now the big test is how it preformed: For the record our internet speed here at our house with COX is 150mbps. I have to say I’m impressed with the Hydra Pro, signal strength is up a good bit everywhere around the house, and outside. I’ve run a few speed tests with my phone, “Samsung S21 and Pixel 5” and the speeds are noticeably higher with the Hydra Pro. Then running some tests with the MSI MEG Trident I got consistently higher speeds and better ping rates over the Archer, “you can see the attached pics for my speed tests”. We have some ring cameras and the one above our garage was getting a RSSI around -73--75dbm signal strength with the TP-Link, with the Hydra Pro I’m getting a RSSI around =55—60dbm, that’s a huge improvement. Our backyard camera was getting a RSSI signal around 55-60dbm with the TP-Link and now the RSSI signal is hitting -44--48dbm, another big increase in signal strength and now there’s no more “can’t connect” error message with the front ring camera. Conclusion: This new Hydro Pro 6e is fast, a good bit faster than our other routers and runs a lot more stable than the TP-Link “it needed rebooting once a weed at minimum, more like every day”. The user interface is simple and easy to understand and setup, plus if you use the Android App there are more settings there than using the web based GUI “for me that’s a negative”. I have a few complaints, one being how there are more settings available with the APP over the web based GUI. There are very few advanced settings compared to the TP-link and for that the TP-Link beats out the Linksys. I also don’t like that I cannot backup my configuration so if you have to reset the router for any reason you will have to set it up manually all over again. The last thing is the fact that when you set up the router for the first time you must download an app to get it set up. Well what if I don’t want to do it that way, there’s no way around it that I could see until you actually get into the app setup and select the bypass for that so I’m going to deduct one star for these as any advanced user should be able to immediately lot into the web based GUI and set up without having to download an app. Overall though this is a very powerful and fast router with 6ghz bands available. I do like that you can use one WiFi network name for all three bands and it will auto select which one is best this also makes it very simple to remember your WiFi names and passwords. This would have been a 5 star product if some of the negatives above were not present and hopefully Linksys will release a firmware update addressing those. So if you are looking for a premium router that can handle multiple streams without a hiccup this new Hydra Pro is one to put at the top of your list.

The Linksys Hydra Pro Tri-Band Router is a fast, capable piece of equipment that operates very well as a router. The companion app/web portal for router management are well done, but lacking in a couple key areas. Overall, this router is recommended for people who want a fast, powerful, uncomplicated experience, with caveats. -----Here's the tl;dr version:----- Things I like: - Connection is great, I've had 2 devices on Skype, 3 logged into an online Minecraft world, & another streaming 4k video, all at once - Easy set up, after a hard reset of modem - Wi-fi 6 is FAST and not congested - Single front blue light prevents lots of flashing at night - Easy-to-use app for important tasks - The idea of parental controls - Can rename devices in the list Things I don't like: - Parental controls don't work - No filtering of device list (I sometimes have up to 26 devices connected, many of which have long arbitrary alphanumeric names) - No ability to choose your band unless you name them all separately - Range isn't much improved from my last router -----Here's the long version:----- Linksys setup is fairly simple; just take the modem out of the box and follow the instructions to download the app. I had a small hiccup with setup where the app couldn't make contact with my modem, but a quick hard reset on the modem solved that problem the second time through. Total time from opening the box to having devices on the internet was about 15 minutes, with an additional hour and a half for re-connecting all devices like Nest Hub, smart plugs, wi-fi light bulbs, etc. Once set up, the router is stable and fast, and it looks darn good, as well. The single connection light on the front is a welcome change for me, as I keep my modem, router, and hardwired devices in my bedroom/pandemic home office. Wi-fi 6 is an absolute dream, and I feel very happy with how fast it works. I have two wi-fi 6 devices now, and I feel great about future-proofing for when I have more. The router has a decent range, though it isn't significantly bigger than my last three-antenna AC1600 from TP Link. The app is easy to use, with the most-used functions kept on the dashboard or in a handsome slide-out menu, and more "power user" things reserved for an advanced sub-menu. One complaint about the app GUI is I would like the ability to filter and choose not to display certain devices. I have numerous smart plugs and light bulbs with long names of arbitrary alphanumeric characters that I would love to not have to see every time I open the devices menu. I can rename devices in the list, but going through the dozen or so plugs and bulbs I have is too much of a hassle, and I won't ever want to use this menu to interact with them, anyway. Another complaint has to do with the parental controls function, which does not work for me at all. When I first tested it by blocking a site on my own laptop, it worked great, but when I tried to use it to stop my kid from getting to YouTube during the school day, it failed miserably, and hasn't worked since. Nothing I do gets the router to block sites on his PC. I guess it's back to editing the hosts file and hoping he never figures out how I've blocked those sites. A final complaint is that you can't use the app to select which band any device connects to. My older laptop can connect to the 5 GHz band, but the router always shunts it to 2.4 GHz, meaning I don't get fast connection speeds. I could solve this problem by renaming each band to ensure each device can connect to the specific one I choose, but I prefer to have the SSID for all three be the same for ease of use. I'd like to have the option to set which band is default for a device so I can get the best possible connection speeds. -----The final word:----- I'd recommend this router to a friend. It's fast, good-looking, and stable. I like that I'm ready for the future with wi-fi 6. I wish I could get the parental controls working, and someday I might try harder to do that. I wish it "just worked," but maybe that's too much to ask. All-in-all, I'm pleased.

Recently upgraded to 1Gb fiber Internet and my older TP-Link Archer 4000 was showing its age. No better time to upgrade to the latest Linksys Hydra Pro WiFi 6E Tri-Band router. I’ve done other Linksys routers and Velop mesh installs and this one is very similar. You must use the Linsys App on your smartphone to get through the initial configuration. Everything went smoothly up until the app asked if I wanted to rename the default WiFi network name. At this point, no matter what I entered, it would error out, ask me to try again and there was nothing else I could do in the App, restarted the App - no dice. That’s when I decided to complete the configuration using my preferred method by going to the router’s IP address from a web browser from a computer connected to one of the LAN ports on the router. First you must set a local admin/recovery password, and once you’re logged in, there are several configuration settings you can change along with security, WiFi and logging options. Not as many tweaks as the TP-Link had, but overall if you don’t know all the technical details, it’s probably best to leave most of the defaults alone, as Linksys optimized them for the majority of users out there. My main interest was in the new WiFi 6E vs. 6 vs. 5 performance and range coverage compared to my old router. The default recommendation is to combine all 3 bands together under the same SSID network name and let the router negotiate what’s best for your devices. I decided to set up separate SSIDs for each of the bands. For my main tests I used the latest Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra running the latest patch level of Android 11. Here are my test results: In the same room as the Hydra Pro router: 2.4 Ghz 122 Mbps download / 60 Mbps upload 5 GHz 496 Mbps down / 253 Mbps up 6 GHz 879 Mbps down / 210 Mbps up One floor above and about 20 feet over from the router 2.4 Ghz 83 Mbps down / 40 Mbps up 5 GHz 190 Mbps down / 80 Mbps up 6 GHz 310 Mbps down / 222 Mbps up I also tried similar speedtest . net tests from a Samsung Galaxy Chromebook with WiFi 6 support which rendered similar results, but a bit slower and weaker signal than my phone when away from the router. Now these are by no means precise measurements but it gives you some idea of how capable this router is, though I had stronger signal at a greater distance from my old TP-Link Archer 4000 router in the 2.4 Ghz band. It is well known that 5 GHz and especially the newer 6 GHz bands have a shorter range of coverage but allow for more devices (I have 30+ devices on my home network), more channels with less interference and higher speed. Another feature I was really interested in was the External USB Storage sharing capability. Unfortunately I have not been able to get it to work yet. I’ve tried a few different capacity and brands USB sticks from 4 GB to 64 GB and an 8TB Western Digital drive to no avail. The screen just spins and spins for minutes and one time it eventually errored out - see attached screenshot. I will have to spend some time calling Linksys support to see if this feature is even meant to work as advertised. In conclusion, this is one of the most powerful consumer routers available, packing the latest technology that will future proof your home/home-office network for years to come. It is quite pricey since it was just released but it’s well worth it if you have a large house, dozens of WiFi devices, especially modern WiFi 6 and 6E devices. In my experience, if you need Wifi 6/E coverage everywhere, you will need to invest in the Atlas MAX 6E 3-node Velop system, or just add one or two of those nodes once they can be purchased individually. I would love to test the speed and coverage out on the deck and around the yard, so I can’t wait to add a Velop 6E node very soon... I would have given the Hydra Pro a 5-star rating if it weren’t for the problem with the App and the External Storage issue that I couldn’t get around. At this price point, and for such advanced technology, all features should work out of the box.

Review of Linksys Hydra Pro 6E: Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6E Router — At Glance The router offer most of the existing line of mesh wifi router exist from Linksys, but it add 6GHz band connection for low latency performance in a 1.8 GHz Quad Core processor, and Range ups to 2700 sq.; and has enhanced security by adding WPA3 Personal for all bands. (more detailed specific is included in one of screenshots with the review.). —Initial Setting a Parent Node and adding sub nodes Its setting process is not different from existing experience for Linksys Velop Mesh routers. Only difference I notice the recognition and connection in the initial step is faster and simple in a way the App recognize immediately to add as Parent, then add of existing Velop nodes has improved. In past at least from my experience, often to perform these actions needed to try out multiple times as didn’t go through adding new nodes. So in this sense seems to have improved. — Signal Range Having it installed in a spot at second floor and connected to cable modem, and in between the connected devices and the router exist two to three walls in between, and in between distance wise is no more than 50 feet, the network signal bar has 2 bars connected to 2.4GHz., but a second device placed in garage that only separate the floor, it has 3 bars connected to 2.4GHz. Hence it looks that depending on number of wall between decrease the strength of the signal. Unfortunately as I don’t have devices that include connection at 6GHz, couldn’t test it out. — Protocol Wi-Fi 6E Tested with iPhone 12 Pro and a notebook that has WiFi-6 AX support, and both at most connect to 5GHz, and didn’t notice big differences in the use. — Internet Speed Having cable service for internet with up to 100mbps, the speed check showed though different time test a consistent range above that limit, and upload as well up to 6.1 mbps as per plan. — Linksys App There isn’t any difference in the application at least on the surface. Haven’t noticed any new feature that would increase the experience. But in positive side, it works flawlessly having the new router and velop mesh routers together. And as side note, it takes bit long to load the application but this was already from the past. — Side note In the case that one has to unplug or turn off/on the node for any troubleshooting reason, the Parent node being "Hydra Pro 6E: Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6E Router", this need to be restarted in order to recognize the node. It is not sufficient doing refresh from the App in some cases. As last note, wish its power plug can be smaller. It takes quite a space.

Better than Netgear. Not many updates to the device though. Very few since purchase. Looks good gets warm-hot. So leave vented as best as possible. Would purchase again. However they are pricey.

This router works very well and its range is good. My cellphone supports wfi 6 and 6E which is why I bought it. I do get good performance even between floors. It is also my parent node. At the moment I have two WIFI 5 nodes connected but it has issues. You have to turn off the 6ghz band and remove WPA3 from the 5ghz band. If you don't wifi performance will suffer big time.

Dont overlook this brand. I returned my linksys Wifi 6E router which on paper should have better range and features, but it didnt. Grabbed this puppy here for cheaper and it runs faster and smoother and easy app interface to control devices and set up. Recommend going with this brand, but with any wifi router or modem get best buys warranty youll want a new one every 2-3 years.

This is a really nice unit. The LinkSys software gets you set up real easy, doing almost everything for you after you plug into your ISP. It is a large unit, and I have it set on its side, even though it is not designed for that orientation. Oh, you have to have a smart phone and install the app to get this thing working. It works great, giving me clear reception all around the house and even outside.

Hap the EA9500 and started having issues with connection dropping everyday. So bit the bullet and bought this because it comes with a 4 year warranty. It was easy to set up. I don't have any 6E devices but I do have a couple Samsung 2020 devices which shows wifi 6 icon so that's good.

This router was so easy to set up anyone can do it. It comes with an app that does all of the work for you. I love the speed. It should cover my whole house, but it doesn't. That's surprising and needs to be improved. It's the reason I can't give it 5 stars.

Big improvement in speed and signal strength from our old Linksys AC series router. Setup was not too complicated and took no more than 15 minutes maybe. The coverage area for this AX6600 router is supposed to be up to 2700 sq. feet and so far it seems to be doing well. This is my third Linksys router in the last 8 years.

Router has incredible speeds matched with the Xfinity 1.2gbs plan. I had to switch back to the Linksys Mesh system because I could not get this to work with my 2.4ghz light bulbs. After I returned it I thought to myself if I separated the 2.4ghz band with a different name would it work properly? Anyways router downloaded at 1,400mb from a iPhone 12 Pro Max and upload was 43mb. My current Linksys MX12600 is HomeKit compatible right out of the box but the speed is definitely not inline with the Hydra Pro. MX12600 downloads at 950mb on my iPhone 12 Pro Max.

This is a solid router, a bit on the pricey side, but worth it in the end. I had to get another 1 because the first one had some issues, but once I got the replacement it connected right away and performed like a Linksys router is suppose to perform. I would have giving it 5 stars but I don't like the fact you have to do the setup through your cell phone. Other than that good solid product.

6G almost. Router has decent speed in my condo 6G was a pain to get going as no network adapter supports 6G natively and you’re down loading older drivers to make it work. Once 6G is working you do get wire speeds.

It appears to have adequate power and reach most of the time. With that said, there are times when response appears to be a little slow. This is possibly related to the speed of the internet provided by Xfinity.

Only downside in my opinion is the management interface does not seem to be too robust. Also a heavy push to use a mobile app to manage. Other than that it works well and I get great speeds.

Works well if your hardwire, but the wifi has intermittent connection issues. Once I do a restart it wirks fine again. Find my self having to do a restart every couple weeks unfortunately.

Very fast speeds,you can also go into the touter settings and type your vpn user and password and all your devices conected will be protected at the same time.