Customer Ratings & Reviews

Money well spent! Best router EVER.........I own a big home with a 1 acre and the range goes BEYOND reach around the entire property. Easy to set up. I pair it with a Motorola ARRIS SB6183 for even BETTER PERFORMANCE.

This unit was bought to run computer for my sound system WiFi. Used very little. Wifi quit working.

With a back ground in IT for 10+ years I have used/setup a few routers over that time. I currently use the NETGEAR X6 (R8000) witch i love and has been working perfectly for my needs. Gaming both computer and console, SONOS, NAS, and all the other wifi/network based gadgets. The setup and switch over was easy and i have noticed an increase in wifi performance. The features are laid out nice and settings are easy to find. The over look and design is very nice the only thing that could have been better was the look and feel of the antennas but that hasn't affected the performance. Now I did not pay for this router but the big question would be, would i buy and recommend the NETGEAR Nighthawk X8- AC5300 (R8500) and the answer is YES! Disclaimer: I received this product for free through Netgear's Friends and Family program. This is an unbiased review.

I was told this was a good product but it doesn't cover much of the first floor. Waste of money.

sometimes it works and others it doesn't very disappointed and sorry I paid so much money for it

i had this router for 3 days and it stopped working. even rebooting it would not fix the issue

I was using the ASUS RT-N66U for the past two years. I noticed a drop off in speed and some lag when trying download movies to my DirecTV genie or trying to stream movies to my Sony XBR75X910C television. So I plugged both the genie and my tv into the router using ethernet cables which resolved the issues. However, data going to my phone and laptop via wireless was just fine. I recently moved from California to North Dakota. I went from living in a single story house to a three level townhome with plenty of walls as a test to my ASUS. Well, my dual band ASUS router just wasn't enough anymore after 2 years. I wasn't seeing the same speeds I saw via wireless in California on 5 GHZ or 2.4 GHZ. I noticed certain apps on my phone struggled a little bit while in a different room. I started to do some research hoping there was a better wireless router solution. I spoke to a friend who deals with computers on a daily basis in the Air Force. I was trying to decide between the Netgear X8 and the ASUS RT-AC5300. I told my friend I know the reviews heavily favored the X8, but for some reason the ASUS was calling my name. He told me to go with the X8 and I was blown away with this product after the router arrived in the mail. I setup my router and began to run some speed tests. I currently pay for a 75 mbps internet plan. On 5GHZ, I was seeing 76 mbps from my bedroom on my cell phone! Talking about a huge boost. Those apps that had struggled before, are not struggling anymore. My household goods from California containing my tv and receiver will arrive today. I am for certain I will be able to go 100% wireless with those devices thanks to the X8. By the way, the X8 is a beautiful device. I am just hoping there is enough space on the second shelf of my tv stand for the router and my receiver because this router is huge! Despite the size, I do not have any complaints as of right now.

stopped working after only about a month. $300 for a router that stops working

had to have it guy come and he could not get to work. returned and got asus

Incredible coverage area. Blazing Fast Easy to configure No fine tuning required Well worth the price You get what you pay for Don't skimp on the router or it can ruin you online life

After struggling with coverage and reliability issues for several years with various routers, including a recent Asus router, I was thrilled to have a chance to test out the Nighthawk X8 AC5300 as part of Netgear's test and review program. Set-up went smoothly and was similar to other router set-ups I have done. I placed the router on top of a 7 ft bookshelf in a first floor office/guest bedroom, approximately 10 ft from an exterior wall and immediately next to a sheer wall. I connected 3 TVs, 3 BD players, a stereo receiver, a thermostat, and 7 mobile/handheld devices to the router with no hassles and still have room for additional devices when guests visit. I was immediately struck by the coverage I had with the router. All of the previous dead spots on both floors of our house were gone. I had excellent signal strength in every room, as well as in the garage - a spot that I often need and use wifi, but was a large dead zone with my previous router. I've also tested the connection at my neighbors' houses on both sides and I still have a solid connection across the street. I've now reached the 6 month mark with the router. The reliability has been excellent. I have not experienced any problems with dropped connections, have never needed to reboot/restart the router, and have seamlessly reconnected mobile devices upon returning home. I also tested the claimed streaming capacity and was able to stream video files on four devices on a single band without any problems. The lack of headaches, features, reliability, and coverage offsets the higher price tag. It just works - all of the time.

3 bad ones in a row out of the box. Verified by Geek Squad.

I have to say this was the easiest installation and configuration to date. Fantastic product that I would highly recommend. Although the price is high, I believe the new functionality i.e. 2 additional ports, MU-MIMO, active-active antennas. I own a 4000sq ft two story home. Range was always a problem however the X8 R8500 seems to work. Network-genie is great however recommend novices use the default login first to place WiFi passwords on both 5Ghz SSIDs.

NETGEAR - Nighthawk X8 AC5300, firmware Firmware Version: V1.0.0.42_1.0.23 I just upgraded from a Netgear R6200 and oh boy what a difference. I really had no complaints with my old router, it really did the job nicely. Now that my kids are older and using more of the bandwidth at home I had to get something that can handle the load of multiple computers, gaming and video streaming at faster speeds. I have had it now for a few weeks and the router rocks with no reboots (so far)!!!

This router is extremely fast and has "potential" hardware, but the firmware is simply buggy, I have to reboot this router every day or even 2 - 3 times per day. This is my usually experience with Netgear routers (I had all Netgear models). Probably Netgear is issuing new models too fast before they stabilize the firmware.

My first unit lasted a month. A firmware update bricked it and made it unresponsive 24 hours after updating it. I'm on my second unit and am nervous about updating the firmware until a new one is released. Multiple people have had the router become unresponsive from the last update. Currently I am running the out of the box firmware without issue. It's been stable for weeks. I tested out the QOS setting one night so I enabled it and the next morning all devices connected to the 2.4g channel were dropped. I had to re-register all devices. Debating now if I will keep it or go to the ASUS 3100 before my return period ends. Speeds on the router are fast. I wish it worked

The nighthawk x8 is a fantastic router overall. Three different networks for whatever reason you want. For me, I have the two 5ghz bands combined to one, so if the device connects to one of the bands better than the other, it will do that. And if your worried about everything being streamlined and optimized, turn on dynamic QOS, it will make sure you are getting the best speed possible per device that is attached based on what is going on. I have it setup in the corner of a two story house, 4 bedroom and it covers the entire house. Highly recommended to anyone that can get their hands on it.

This has made my Networking at home so much better! I am very disappointed when i'm not at home using the WiFi or wired network because of the speed! I have recommend this to all friends and family!

I have a router that was a few years old. With all the Wi-Fi devices I now have, iPads, phones, laptops, myQ garage doors, alarm system and on and was a mess. My router could not handle the throughput needed, so it was time for an upgrade. I wanted a triband router, I saw the new Netgear AC5300 X 8 Nighthawk on BestBuy read the rave reviews, and at a Black Friday (Thursday) prices of $299 I could not resist. I ordered it, received it in a few days setup, and tweaked and this thing screams. I hope that it will be as reliable as my old Netgear router and the interface is the same so I love their advanced settings. All the devices are getting excellent signal and throughput. The router is huge, but my guess is they needed the size to avoid fans for cooling and all the components needed to support three bands, six Ethernet ports, 4 external and 4 internal antennas.

I've had this since black friday, got deal for 299.99 and I'm actually glad that salesman talked me into it...Only issue and why I give it 4 stars is Netgear Genie is not compatible with windows 10...it's the software you use to see your map of who is on your network and fine tune your settings...luckily you can download it on your smartphone and do a little but I just fill I'm missing something not being on my PC...No lag playing Dirt "PC VERSION" while both kids play online with their Xbox ones and the wife watching netflix all via wifi...last router had with lots of lag and poor signal in the bedroom...lots of buffering with online movies...it's like all the walls are gone!!! Great product if you need the power and have the cash