Customer Ratings & Reviews

Good router but all the features will cost you extra $$$

Terrible. Bought in June and returned almost 3 months later. It worked great in the beginning. Any time power went out or the internet went down, this router lost everything and would have to be totally reprogrammed. It kept getting worse as time went on.

Wifi didn't even last one day. Hooked it up at 1pm. Took me hours to change all my wifi passwords around the house. By 11pm, the router stopped working and have had no wifi since. Several factory resets, re-starts etc and nothing, just a worthless $400 brick. Will be returning today. Speeds were great even in my garage for the few hours that it was working.

Had an old Linksys router fail and wanted a replacement for my home network. Did a ton of research and had my mind made up on Netgear. Saw this router online at at the Best Buy store - first thing that caught my attention was the design (this thing is just looks cool); after that, started reading the specs and realized that this router completely filled the bill on what I wanted. Once I got home with the router, I settled in for what I thought would be an afternoon of setup, configuration, and migration of devices. Nope - installed the Nighthawk app and the rest, as they say, was a piece of cake! I have never had an installation go so smoothly - especially all the phones in our household. Simply had the family scan the QR code and got all phones connected. Televisions, PC’s, and all other connected devices were just as easy to get on the network. Speed - man, this thing is incredible! We were consistently hitting our service’s max speeds. Had several phones and PC’s performing separate speed tests concurrently with no hiccup in results. Couple this with the consistent connection (had to reset previous router multiple times per week) and my overall perception is that this RAXE300 is a beast! Very, very impressed with ease of setup, ease of adding devices, and overall performance. Also very impressed with the Nighthawk app and the information available there. If you are considering buying this router - do not hesitate!

Although I have been satisfied with my current router it is now over three years old and I have been looking for a replacement so that I could benefit from the next-gen WiFi access available on my newest laptop and cellphones. I also wanted the ability to connect to my LAN faster than the 1Gb that I was limited to by my existing router since I have two NAS units that offer port-bonding and/or 2.5Gb ports. Finally, in addition to my current dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) access I wanted the option to expand to the 6GHz band to bump up the speed. The Nighthawk checks all the boxes for me. Setup was straight forward and everything you need is in the box. I like the style of the device with its pop-up wings that eliminate the spider-leg like antenna array of my existing router. The overall aesthetic is sleek and somehow reminds me of a Star Wars spaceship! There are no proper setup instructions in the box, only a quick start card that advises you to load the app on your phone. It was easy to locate and install on my Android device and immediately launched into the setup routine. This went OK. However I had to go through the steps twice before my cellphone connected to the router and even then it chose 2.4GHz even though my Pixel 6 supports WiFi6E. I had to complete the last part of the installation manually. After everything loaded and was setup the app upgraded the firmware and rebooted. This process took long enough that I was beginning to worry but it did finally come back on-line and I was able to connect with my phone and also with my laptop (5G). The app itself is not as full featured as the web interface but still provides a number of useful administrative and reporting tools. As I began testing I noticed that my browser was being blocked from several sites that I commonly connect to and I discovered that the only way I could correct the problem was to turn off the built in security via the app. I did some extensive testing and am pleased with the results. Connecting to the 6GHz band has resulted in some amazing speed increases. Even the devices connected via 5G are noticeably faster and the range is slightly improved as well. Overall, this router is a perfect fit for my requirements. Given my past experience with Netgear products I expect that it will get even better with time and I look forward to using those new features.

When it works, it works well. Unfortunately, it seems to have some issues assigning IP addresses over WiFi that are only fixed when the router is restarted.

Bad wireless compatibility and consistency. Very long reboot times. Frequent failure of devices reconnecting after a reboot.

My second one and it keeps dropping signal. I can’t figure it out.

This is a very user friendly and easy to setup router. The app walks you through each step and allows you to get started by just scanning a QR code on the top of the router. It then guides you through setting up your network with all three bands, while giving you good tips, like using the same WiFi name as your previous router will save you the trouble of reconnecting all your devices. The router itself is very sleek and looks nice, even though I'm sure most will have it tucked away. It has useful features, like a button on the front to allow you to quickly turn off the WiFi. A good option if you need to get the kids to stop using it for a bit. My only minor complaint so far is that I wish it had more Ethernet ports. Not a huge deal, as you can technically use 5, since the additional internet input port can be used for another device. I keep many of my electronics close to the router, so I like to take advantage of the wired connection, and after plugging in my Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and hue hub, I'm running short on ports. I have some other streaming devices that I used to plug in as well, but they run just fine off the WiFi. I am getting excellent, consistent speeds from both the 6 GHz band and the 5 GHz. The 6 GHz band is fairly limited in it's range, but that's to be expected. There's really not much to complain about here. You get all the features you'd expect from a modern router and more. It also has some software that will quickly scan new devices that connect to the network too. Pretty cool stuff. Pros: easy setup, great features, good app, fast and reliable Cons: I would like more Ethernet ports, maybe fewer prompts to subscribe to the service offered in the app as well

My slight arachnophobia had always kept me away from some of the higher-end routers out there, looking like biomechanical spiders from some twisted future. Fortunately, the Nighthawk AXE7800 eschews traditional antennae in favor of two large fins on either side. As I unboxed the device and showed it to my wife, she said it looked like a robot stingray. I told her that I thought it looked like a cool space ship that maybe Darth Vader or the Emperor would shuttle around in. She said "that's fine, it can go live with the Star Wars toys at the top of the cabinet." It's a good thing that it does fit right in with my large statuette of Boba Fett escaping the Sarlacc pit and the Darth Vader coin bank, because otherwise I don't know where else I would put this thing. Due to the size, it can only really be in one orientation, laying down with the fins folded up and out, which makes it take up a space of about 13 inches wide by just under 6 inches tall. Quite the footprint for something that's basically supposed to stay out of the way. At least it looks cool up there with the giant C-3PO. The phone app is pretty bare bones when it comes to any actual administration. I can't set up static IP addresses for my various devices through it. Setting up port forwarding similarly requires you to do it through a web browser. It does have a built in speed test. I just wish it had more features besides being able to reset the password to the various hotspots. There is some kind of subscription to a set of security features called Netgear Armor that you also get a 30 day free trial for. I'm not sure what will happen after that. The subscription's regular price is $99.99 per year. I do like that the router is smart enough to recognize my various smart devices, and show me what they are instead of just the MAC address. My smart lights, thermostats, phones, video game consoles, computers, tablets, and printers all showed up as their brand names, which made it super simple to reconfigure the various services and automations that I have set up that have IP address hard-coded in. With as many devices as there are on my network, and the proliferation of streaming not only movies and music, but now entire video games that are played over the cloud, the Netgear Nighthawk has been performing well, making sure that all the devices in every corner of the house have the necessary bandwidth.

DO NOT BUY THIS ROUTER IF YOU PLAN TO STREAM DIRECTV. This is my 2nd unit. I've routinely had to reboot this device as it would drop the Directv stream.

Being a gamer in a household that always has multiple streaming services running the addition of this router from a high end router that was nearing 5 years old was astronomical. There are a multitude of positives to say in regard to this new router by Netgear with just one initial negative. Firstly, right out of the box this router is very sleek and stylish. Yes, it may not be the most inconspicuous, but having the fins cover the antennas is much more visually appealing than having a bunch of antennas sticking out of a box. Getting right into the setup though was by far the most difficult part as being someone that likes to think they are very tech savvy this was much more difficult than it needed to be. Downloading the app for setup is common and I did not having any qualms there, but in order to go this route the app needs to work fluidly. This was where the issue arose as the app was not functioning as it should which resulted in a call to Netgear`s support line, which after a lenghty hold time someone was able to assist me with this issue and we were able to get the "bug" reported on the app and move forward with setup. Once up and running the interface on the app is very user friendly and if I hadn`t have ran into a "bug" it seems as though it would have been a fairly seamless process to get everything setup. Once working though I elected to keep my same Wi-Fi name and password to ensure that all my connected devices simply moved over to the new network/router which couldn`t have made the change any easier. Moving onto the actual useability in regard to the speed and the coverage of the router Netgear was able to provide everything I could have asked for. I have a 1 gig speed plan to which this was able to keep up with that and that is even overkill in my opinion so for the average household I don`t think you`re gonna be able to throw an internet plan at this thing that it can`t max out. Additionally the range is phenomenal as the 2,500 sq feet is exactly as advertised. Previously I had to use a range extender to strengthen the connection in my basement, but with the addition of this router that is no longer needed. The new 6 Ghz band was definitely fun to play with as it is extremely fast, but as expected the range is not very far so as long as you don`t venture too far from the router you can definitely benefit from this new major feature that helps sell this router in my opinion. The other two minor items I wanted to touch on are the parental controls and Netgear Armor as these are both nice features that I utilized with the 30 day trial, but for the additional subscription fee I couldn`t quite bring myself to pull the trigger though for some it may be worth the added cost. The free parental features allow you to assign devices to different profiles and stop internet access to specific devices, but the paid version allows you to set access schedules, set time limits, along with some other parental oversight features. Then the Netgear Armor is essentially an antivirus software, but for your entire network so again for some you may find this valuable, but for myself I elected to not renew my subscription. Overall, after my initial struggle getting this router setup I have been extremely impressed with it`s performance and usability. If you are looking for that router that will allow you to run multiple streaming services or gaming devices at the same time while being able to maintain coverage over your entire house then I would not hesitate to recommend this product!

I've been having issues with my wi-Fi connection for the last few years. I called my Internet provider multiple times to come out and check my connection, and they would always do some minor adjustments and it would work. I was just thinking that it was some bad wiring all this time until now. Since I've had the Nighthawk, my Internet connection is my smooth ever! I typically have issues upstairs, because my Internet connection is in the basement, but everything works much better since I switch routers! When I run my Game system, my daughter runs her game system, my son is streaming movies we no longer have that lag. Are usually hear from one of them about how they're going to wait till later because they're online play is horrible, and they're getting complaints from their friends. For the first couple days I played without one person online saying I was glitching. I haven't even gotten an extender yet for this router everything is running great, even in the rooms further to the back! I've already recommended this router to a couple of online friends that plan to get one in the next few weeks!

I currently have Orbi AX4200 2-pack which covers up to 5000 sq-ft and it has worked flawlessly for me and my house is only 1160 sq-ft so that was more than enough coverage. That’s why I decided to just go with this single unit Nighthawk AXE7800. It has a 2500 sq-ft coverage area which again should be more than plenty. When I first set this up, I mounted it where the Orbi was and I was getting all kinds of unstable connections and weak signals so I relocated it. It’s still at the same location but now facing different part of my house. I mounted it on the wall which has the antennas pointing to the length of the house, line of sight with most of my devices, instead of the width of the house. Now I was able to go to the furthest part of the house without the connection issues, well most of it was resolved anyways. I would still get some disconnections but I typically get some wi-fi issues in my house anyways. I have security cameras, video doorbells, lights, computers, tablets, phones, google displays connected to HomeKit and Google ecosystem. Some devices require the use of the 2.4Ghz band and with my previous routers, I had issues connecting those devices but it was almost flawless with this router. Is it fast? I wish I could tell the difference between the Orbi and the Nighthawk but I honestly can’t. I’m getting the same download and upload speed from my ISP of course but the speed between the router and devices did not have a significant difference in my opinion. This router has 3 bands, a 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz and 6Ghz. Unfortunately for me, I use Apple products and they don’t have support for the 6Ghz band just yet. Maybe I was able to use the 6Ghz band, I could notice a difference but for now, it’s not a big upgrade for me in terms of speed. This thing looks like a spaceship from Star Wars. It is made of mostly plastic and the antennas fold for portability I suppose. On the front, in has an on/off button with LED for the wifi and another for WPS. On the back top, it has indicator lights for power, internet connection, bands, USB and activity lights for the ports. There is a USB type-C port for connecting a storage device. There’s four LAN ports, LANS 3 & 4 can be used as aggregate ports which allows your devices to treat multiple Ethernet links as if they were a single link. Good for increasing network bandwidth and providing network redundancy between your router and a device if one link should fail. There’s also two Internet ports and this is the first time I have seen this extra internet port so I am not quite familiar with it. I have used either or and it works but I couldn’t tell if one was better than the other. For my simple use, it’s a future proof feature. Notable features: - Multi-gigabit wired connections - Wi-Fi 6E technology; Tri-band 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz ; up to 7.8 Gbps data transfer rates for multiple 4K/8K streaming - 4x4 MU-MIMO - WPA3 & VPN support offers better security - Eight Wi-Fi streams means more bandwidth and less congestion - USB 3.0 Type-C port - Works with Google Assistant but I gave up trying to set it up. It also works with Alexa if you want to try setting up.

Unit did not work out of the box spent 7 hours on the phone with netgear support finally started to work for one hour gave up and returned the unit

Didn’t work well right out of the box. Signal kept dropping all of the time even wired in. Not sure. Not a great router at all for the price.

This router is garbage , prompted to add the warranty but some how my orders got split and delayed and re ordered and the warranty was not included in the reorder, how convenient for Best Buy. Aww

I admit to being guilty of neglecting the benefits of a good router, as long as the internet is flowing then I don’t even think about my router. Having had some time to try out the Netgear Nighthawk Axe7800 I am prepared to admit there is a real benefit to a good router with good features…so I’ll be packing this router back up and rolling back to my old router. In the box you get the Nighthawk router, an Ethernet cable, and the power cord/AC Adapter plus the usual setup guide (which is only to tell you to download the app to setup and diagram your router ports). Setup was simple, in fact it was way easier than I expected/dreaded! Per the app instructions I took down my old router, plugged in the new one, let it run a process while showing me tips on features of my new router, and then it recommended I can keep my existing network name to avoid having everything sign-in on the new router. I was skeptical about the ease of setup but darn it so far nothing hasn’t logged back in automatically! The router features four LAN ports, a 1G internet/LAN port, a multi-gig internet/LAN port, WPS button on the front, and a USB 3.0 port to connect a network drive. So mostly what you’d expect but with that multi-gig port to allow for future proofing your router and a USB 3.0 port instead of the standard Mini-USB which used to be standard. The size is moderate without being large, instead of having an array of antennae to move around to get a signal this one has two wings that stick up approximately 105 degrees (90 degrees but out away from the router body). Once it's set up you get to access all the features of the router via the Nighthawk app: Device Manager, Security, built in Speed Test, Parental Controls, WiFi Analytics, WiFi Settings, Guest WiFi Network on/off, and a Traffic Meter. As a parent who has battled with apps and programs that supposedly allow for time limits and curfews the Parental Controls was my first stop…and really 75% of my review score. Looking at the manufacturer website they talk about the Parental Smart Controls and all the options to keep kids safe and productive but they don’t talk about the annual fee. Yes, you have built in controls to turn the network off for certain profiles (say putting kids devices as a group and adult or appliance devices on a seperate always on group) but those smart controls advertised are an extra monthly or annual fee. Netgear Armor, the security options on the router? Another monthly or annual fee and it's even higher than the parental controls! By default the Security menu only gives you a score of how safe your network is and a few ideas about making sure your password has a minimum length and special characters. What is free with your generous purchase of this router? Well the Guest Network is nice so you can set a simple password for when company is over and otherwise turn it off, it's on other products but feels simpler and more binary here via the app. Speed test and WiFi Analytics are cool for times when you’re checking if you’re being throttled or just have more traffic on the network (I never felt like the network was overloaded like I have with my old router, so another point for Netgear). The Analytics even lets you get base readings from each room and compare them so you can see where the internet is having a hard time reaching and where its best (ironically my back bedroom was better than the living room near the router!). Maybe I’m asking too much but the amount this router costs should cover parental controls at least, if not the network security advertised on the box. We have enough monthly fees with streaming services, video game subscriptions, cell phones, internet providers, satellite radio, online shopping clubs, etc. For a premium product this feels cheap and scammy! That’s not to say that as a device to connect your home to the single internet modem it fails at its job, far be it. I think as an internet networking device it was easy to set up, the app is simple and easy to understand (although I’m tired of all the apps I have for each appliance I buy, this one is worth keeping), and its providing a better signal than the router I got years ago. It comes down to what your internet is worth and if you’re OK with bells and whistles listed on the package being an extra charge once you get it hooked up out of the box. For me, that is bad business and I’m marking it down for that. If you just want internet everywhere in your home with no hassle then I highly recommend it.

Zero stars. Would not function. Was returned to store.

The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE300 router featuring WiFi 6E looks like a Star Wars spaceship. The fins are 6 preoptimized antennas for the 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz bands. At this point the 6GHz band has less traffic but like all of the higher bands – the higher the band the shorter the wavelength so shorter range and the possibility of it being blocked by household objects. The unit comes with multi-Gig wired connections with a1Gps and a 2.5G Ethernet port or 2Gps link aggregation plus 2 additional Gigabit Ethernet ports. So in total, you have five LAN ports available, or four if you want to aggregate, which is about on par for the current Wi-Fi 6E router market. Unfortunately, I only have 1Gps internet at this point but next year I should have 2.5 with Google fiber coming to town. It also has a USB 3.0 connector to hook up a shared storage device. With speed up to 7.6Gps and up to 40 devices for its WiFi this is the middle of the road for Netgear’s new RAX RoutersYou get a limited free subscription to Netgear Armor a security shield from Netgear and if you have kids Netgear’s Smart Parental controls which helps in their management for time and accessibility.. The box also has screw hold on the bottom to allow for wall mount but you will have to put it high up to get the antennas out of the way. Setup is easy and one can accomplish this with Netgear’s App or the traditional web browser access. Network access is available through the direct wire, traditional WiFi setup or WPS. I have one WiFi 6E device and I was pleasantly surprised at the speed available on the 6GHz band with this device. It is fast enough for HD movie streaming and some non competitive gaming with speeds up to 7.8 Gbps. The USB 3.0 storage was simple to set up. Netgear claims the RAXE300 can cover up to a 2,500 square feet home, I didn’t have any coverage problems and it was unphased by local network interference my neighbors generated. The App is straight forward to use. You will still need the router page for more advanced controls like QoS and port forwarding, the App can do other things the router page can’t. In particular, I found it handy for testing signal strength while optimizing the RAXE300’s placement.