Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Nighthawk was a bad choice..prompting me to call customer service which was just as bad as the component. The Nighthawk crapped out after about 5 hours before it didn't work anymore. What a huge waste of time and that's time I'll never get back! If I had ten thumbs it would be ten thumbs down.

I run a small business that employs about 20 people. Not all of them need internet access so maybe only 12 are on the network at a time. Being a small business, we don't have an IT dept. and we're trying to do as much as we can without outside help ($100/hr!!!). Our choke-point as of late has been our router, with 50 different devices on the network, (chromecasts, computers, ip phones, nas, streaming devices and more) we we're definitely bogging down. In comes the Nighthawk X8, provided to me for zero cost as part of the Friends and Family program through Netgear. Initial setup was easy, as most routers are, but the ability to dig into the Advanced Setup and get specifics like port forwarding and QoS up and running were very easy. The most helpful thing I found was the Help Center on each screen which makes it easy to decipher terminology and proper setup. Well done, Netgear. As far as the hardware goes, the box is sizable as compared to most other routers. It has a great design and the antennas and LED functionality is customizable, which is nice. Port aggregation is a must when having multiple clients access the NAS concurrently. This by far, my most favorite feature. To see improved performance, you really need to be able to monitor your network. Since I had a benchmark with my previous setup (an advanced router but definitely not as hefty as this one) I was able to see a marked improvement in internet downloads but the best performance improvement was over the internal network itself. Connectivity to the NAS is vastly improved and internal downloads were at much much faster. The next test was wi-fi connectivity and signal strength. We have roughly 2 acres of property and 6000sqft of building space. I had great signal through the building out about 200 feet past the building. (I know this is hard to grasp but just know that this thing will reach out and touch you.) As far as value, this perfectly fits our small business' needs without jumping us up into the crazy expensive routers with far fewer features. It's astonishing how much those enterprise brands charge for their feature-less routers. If you're a small business owner and looking to eliminate choke-points like us, this is a great place to start while not breaking the bank.

Frequently disconnects, does not provide a stable connection.

Ok when it worked. First one died during warranty period and was replaced. Second one died after the original warranty period expired. Warranty does not extend for an additional year. Look up amber light of death. $300+ brick.

This router was actually slow couldn't handle 15 devices

For $375 and several trips to the store, I got a dead router after just 11 days. Caution: spending more does not get you higher quality; it gets you bigger embarrassment! I'm going to take it back and get a refund and get something simple, made by a different maker.

Save your money and do not buy. It works dor about a year and then after that, speeds feel like a turtle. You can reset it back to factory defaults and still be the same, and will be stuck with this paper weight! Never buy anything Netgear/Arlo!!!!

After reading all the great reviews I bought this router and wanted to share my experience. First off, this router is very easy to install out of the box. I was up and running in about 5 to 10 minutes. This router is huge so you had better make some room for it when purchasing. The unit also seems to run hot compared to some others I have used lately but I always keep my routers in a cool, vented place with nothing on or around them. My opinion of this so called flag ship router is that if you're looking for one with long range and future proofing ( this router supports MU_MIMO) and is a tri band then this will suit your needs just fine. For me though a router is only as good as its firmware and with that being said this router, like many other netgear routers I have tried is an epic fail! One of the main reasons I purchased this router was to take advantage and use the ready cloud and netgear genie apps so that I could access my USB flash drive and monitor my network remotely. Those apps have some major problems! First off, the ready cloud app will not work at all on a Macbook Pro and on my Windows 10 laptop it works but it loads sooo slow! The genie app is even worse. It worked fine on some devices and some it doesn't. It worked fine on my iPad but not my iPhone . It worked on my macbook but made it run very hot to where the fan would kick on, etc.....and windows 10 is a big mess.....on their community forums, their engineers have a work around to get it to work on a windows 10 computer but it barely works...for example if you name your devices and specify what type of device they are and get it all set up it will work until you log back into it the next time only to find that it did not retain those settings. On top of the apps not working I also experienced some connectivity problems with my iPhone not wanting to connect to the 5ghz band. I'm fairly tech savvy and have set up and used many routers and I've just come to a conclusion that there is just too much wrong with their firmware and netgear doesn't have a good track record of putting out fixes in a timely manner . Just go to their community forums and read and you will see for yourself. By the way, I had updated the router to the latest firmware and also did the recommended factory reset after upgrading the firmware and this router still did not perform as it should have. So if you're someone that doesn't use or care for the apps such as the ready cloud and genie then you may like this but if you want to use all the bells and whistles advertised you're going to be in for a big disappointment! this router is way overpriced for something that doesn't deliver as promised. When I pay $400 for a router I expect everything to work without much intervention. I am returning this for a refund and sticking with another brand that cost half of what this did and its features actually work.

No good. Failed out of the box. Struggled to convince netgeat that it doesn't work.one band did not work out of the box. 5 days later the other 2 bands did not work. Returned it to the store and took full refund. Bought a different brand. It works good.

I received this as a review unit from netgear Setup- Was easy. The instruction out of the box were easy to follow. Performance- The performance on this unit is great! I have great range and speed throughout. Size- Was quite a bit bigger than I expected. I saw the shipment weight and was alarmed, but the box it came in is huge and super high quality. Recommendation- there are few providers that will take advantage of of the standards of this router. Great product.

NETGEAR Nighthawk X8 AC5300 Tri-Band WiFi Router, one week and still going strong. I first want to disclose that this is my first ever to install a router. Such electronic tasks are typically taken care of by my husband and son. My Mac will network through this router. Instructions: Booklet layout clear, concise, color-coded fonts, diagrams clearly labeled. Some of the tech lingo challenged my comprehension but after a couple of re-reads it made perfect sense. Setup: I was off to a frustrating start when I tried to unfold the antennas to get them into the recommended position. After careful twisting and flipping I managed to position the antennas without snapping any. Following the step-by-step instructions and referring to the diagrams made the rest of setup a breeze. Connection: I like that a printed sticker with login information was obviously placed on the topside of the router so that I was able to update quickly. After updating I was having trouble getting my Internet to connect. My son’s PC was up running fine. After 15 mins. of going through NEATGEAR genie, and 3 Internet drops the glitch went away and my connection has been running smoothly. As for the features, I’ll need to come back with a review in the future… when I feel WiFi adventurous. Bottom Line: I would definitely recommend NETGEAR Nighthawk X8 for ease of installation, online management and wireless connection features. I would also consider NETGEAR products for any future wireless needs because of this positive experience. I received this for free from Friends and Family program.

I was told by some supposedly knowledgeable people that this would get me Wi-Fi out to the building in the back of the property and it Did NOT accomplish that job.

Only had it for 4 weeks and it stopped working. so I returned it for an EERO so far so good will know as time goes on. Customer Service took it back no questions asked.... That was Awesome.

This improved wifi coverage in my home a little bit but overall, still very poor. I still have areas in my home with no or little coverage. I returned and am trying a new system.

I received this R8500 as a part of NETGEAR's review and test program. I've come to expect devices like this to be easy to install, and this product did not disappoint in its ease of install. I live in a large rambler and I had a netgear extender in use to hit far corners of lower level, but this new router hits the corners on its own, and then some. Its a great value.

Purchased November of 2015, has always required reboots. But in January of 2018 it just died, what a waste of money. Wish I could give it a lower then 1 star rating.

For a Family of Gamers and Streamers this really took the cake!! I previously had the Linksys WRT1900AC which is also a Great Router. But felt like we were missing something. The dual 5ghz channels was exactly what we needed. We use one channel for computers and gaming, the other 5ghz we use for Streaming devices (FireTv/Firestick), last the 2.4ghz we put all cell phones/tablets on.. What a world of difference. Now range... My house is 2 story and 2200sq ft. it gets every inch of my house and halfway down the block. NO KIDDING!!! I must say this is the Best Router I have used. Although the Genie needs to be updated to a format comparable to Linksys it still gets the job done and who actually sits around on their genie all day anyways?? It's compatible with Windows 10 if you follow instructions and apply the update, it's not too hard and does it on it's own actually. Well must say NETGEAR knocked it out of the park. BestBuy sales person Cielo in Clovis, CA this was a GREAT RECOMMENDATION!! Thank you!!! This Nighthawk x8 is paired with a Motorola-Arris SB6183 running Xfinity service. 5ghz_2 - 197.3 mbps 5ghz - 195.8 mbps 2.4ghz - 79.3 mbps According to speedtest.net

This is a very very nice unit. It does a lot more than I need but I figured that if I was going to spend money for a new router go with the newest and most comprehensive one. Because of my office placement towards the back of the house and the block / cement construction here in Miami FL I needed to place a Netgear WiFi Range extender by the front door for my RING video door bell ( also a super product!) as it needed to go thru 3 of the heavy duty walls. It was working w/o it but it was lagging. Set up was really easy with the Netgear genie software...now I get about 25 Mbps more than with my old Belkin N+ router....IT FLIES !!!! Very happy with my decision...got it on the Black Friday Sale discounted by $100 - so $299. NOTE: Make sure you download and use the WiFi Analytics App by Netgear -- it is Aaaaaawesome !! Have a Super Day and Happy Surfing !

Purchased this to upgrade and expand capabilities throughout the entire house. Wifi is worse than before no matter how I use . Will return product

My old one did just as good .signal real weak .I use Charter Internet . their main line is fiber optic .way to pricey not worth it