Customer Ratings & Reviews

Amazing WiFi router, perfect for HD streaming or a small business environment.

It was very easy to set up and configure. I was in busy after 30 minutes.

So the router does its job and does it well. However I was having issues with getting a gigabit link to my only wired connection despite the use of new/old Cat 5e/6 cables. Just couldn't get it to work even after rebooting, factory reset, etc. Even with the wired issue, the wireless coverage and speed is stellar. I mean OUTSTANDING. So I was mostly satisfied and was going to swap the router for a new one to try and resolve the gigabit wiring issue until I dove deeper into the settings interface and the mobile app. That's where it was ruined for me. I simply could not justify spending almost $400 on a router to be hit in the face with such a terrible mobile app and outdated looking settings interface. For the price, I expected a more rubust set of features. If these things don't bother you and you want a GREAT router, buy this router. However, if the interface is important to you, this is not the one to get. Some great features: 6X LAN ports -2X can be used for aggregate 2gbps 4X Active antennas Wall mountable

Like many I wanted better wireless in my home. Shortly before Thanksgiving 2016, I purchased the NETGEAR X8. Pretty easy to set up and worked very well for approximately 2 months. Then the problems started. Basically the 2.4 ghz channel will not work. I have made numerous calls into NETGEAR support and they have tried all kinds of fixes from reboot, reset, changing setup configurations - nothing works long term. Best I can tell is the product and NETGEAR have a firmware and/or hardware issue. I will take some blame on what was ultimately a impulse purchase. Everyone knows how bad the home life is without great wireless connections. However some blame needs to go to both Best Buy and NETGEAR. First the sales rep in the store said this is an awesome product top of the line and you pay almost $400 for it. The reviews at Best Buy show close to 5 stars but when you dig deeper the reviews are polarized. There are many poor reviews and when you Google and also get into NETGEAR community forums you can see how wide spread the problem is with the 2.4ghz. Bottom line is BUYER BEWARE! I would not buy this product again. I would not recommend this product. NETGEAR is in denial here. Surprised how awesome Best Buy reviews make this product look. Its a dud plain and simple. Don't waste your money! I would also say avoid NETGEAR in general because this seems to be a wide spread issue and has been going on for a long time - read the forums and look at the dates.

We recently purchased a larger home on a bigger acreage. This router has made a huge difference in being able to have internet access throughout the entire house. And with a booster we are able to have internet access in our shop which is wonderful!

In less than 1 hour this router went from excellent to garbage. I connected the router and set it up using the online genie utility with advanced options as well as basic. It was easy to set up and the wireless and wired connectivity was excellent. I then decided to update the firmware and my wireless connection took a dive. I went from Gb speeds to Kb speeds. My 56k modem is better than this router. After some research this appears to be a common problem with the nighthawk routers. I don't want to become a beta tester for Netgear like the others that had this problem so I am going to buy a Linksys router instead.

I purchased this item for the intent on using Parental Controls. However, after several days and inconsistency with the product and constant failure of the Parental Controls I label this device no good. If you're looking to restrict access and use the web filtering part of the product it will fail. I should've have done more homework on this device. I found several web pages documeting all the ossiues of parental controls and everyone agree's it doesn't work... For 399.99 this product will NOT meet your needs for Parental and Web Filtering Controls. FAIL.

Just had this router for two months and the 2.4 ghz has the slowest speed while 5 ghz is fast. I call the service number for the problem and at the end of it to make story short I have to returned it. The options to return is not free I have to paid shipping which doesn't make sense since it's there router and less than a year of the warranty. I believe a $400.00 router should be free shipping not only that what make it worst after the 90days you have to pay for phone support. I guess the company is making bad routers that they have to charge for there failures. Save your money on a better router and service this company has lost there ways. I have been using net gear for 14 years but this the first time I experience something bad. Also the router speed is pretty much as the cheaper ones. Too much hype on this router especially if your only connecting on 2.4ghz. You can just a lesser price and still get the same performance.

I had extremely high hopes coming into this device. However I was sorely disappointed. After having some issues with the initial setup due to it not working well with Kaspersky anti-virus I later discovered that it wasn't strong enough to work in some of my rooms downstairs or also push out the Wi-Fi range two rooms across from my house. I've actually returned this device and went with another brand.

The Nighthawk routers are the best for gaming and streaming. Easy to install and have great security features.

No option for a zero rating. 2.4Ghz channel quit after 6 weeks. Tried all the support fixes but nothing worked. Had to get a replacement because I work from home and need a working router. Best Buy won't issue a refund because I didn't purchase a warranty and it is more than 2 weeks since purchase. Netgear only offers a replacement which I no longer need. Furthermore, to get a replacement I have to return the router at my expense. Please be warned. Avoid this overpriced piece of garbage like the plague. As I can now see from all the negative reviews on Best Buy and Amazon I am not the only person who has experienced this problem with this router. Shame on me for my failure to adequately research this router before purchase. I am done with Netgear.

Absolutely the most awesome black friday purchase ever made

Got this router to be fast, efficient and allow more users at one time. It was faster, usually allowed more users, but contsantly dropped signal. The 2.4 g was never available making old non 5g electronics unuseable. Had to do a factory reset 3 times. After the final time it never re-booted. Disconnected, put the 5 y/o router back on and was back in business. If you buy this router, save the box and reciept.

Third R8500 . Third time netgear said its bad.Three bad routers???????? 9 hours trying to get it to work yesterday.After 3 techs and no progress. Last one worked about 2 weeks. This one never. as the first one worthless.Wish there was a negative star to rate it. Taking the third one back tomorrow to get a router that works. It wont be a netgear!!!!!! Lousy product! Lousy service

Looked at the reviews before buying. Had great reviews. Went to BestBuy to purchase. They had only one on shelf that was in a damaged box. Talked to sales associate to see he had others. He check and told me another Best buy had plenty, but I don't recommend this router. He told me his buddy has this router and he hates it . He recommended some others that was cheaper. I thought he just wanted to make a sale from his store. Went to other Best buy and shelled out $360. I hooked up all the wires and I wasn't getting a signal --modem had no light. Soon as I touched the router the light kicks on. Let go of the router-- no signal. The Ethernet port wasn't working properly. I returned it back to Best buy for a exchange. The new router was very easy to set up. The range is amazing. I live on a acre lot. I walked 2 houses down to see range. I still had a great signal about 1/4 mile. my boy plays xbox and told me he hates the router it makes him l lag real bad. he wants the old router (n600 netgear) back. Its wired it should be no lag. my wife starts to complain say "it buffs just to look at emails". I jump on my phone to look at you tube videos. It buffs through out a whole music video. A 7min song turns into a 20min song. I don't understand I have a full signal on all devises. I try to look on the internet to see if others was having this problem, and I had no signal. I called my cable provider to see if they where having problems. they told me to unhook from router and plug directly into modem to see if i have service. it worked fine. they told me its the router. All I get is a amber light. Its going back and not trying for a 3rd. ill try asus. never tried their product. always had great luck with netgear until now. Ill use the n600 until I get a new router-- family is happier-- the n600 is so much faster just don't have the range.

This is a $400 piece of junk. I had my first one for 12 days and it died. It worked fantastic while it was operational but it died. I returned it for a new one and one of the antennas was broken. I returned that one and went with old reliable Apple Airport Extreme. For the price it's built like garbage, Netgear should be ashamed of themselves. I always go with Apple products and now I remember why. If you do buy one make sure to get the service plan.

I brought this router in November 2015 and it worked as expected. After 3 months it started to drop the wifi connections and then connections via lan started to drop as well. Although having the newest firmware, the performance of the router continue to deteriorate. up to the point that I have to restart the router at least 3 times a day and all the connections drop [including the lan and console access at least 6 times a day. Since 3 months have passed, Netgear refused to provide support unless you pay them more money and although the router is under warranty, contacting them multiple times to get the router replaced, also results in a "Please pay us more" stock email that doesn't address the issues. This router was a bad investment and I can honestly say that I will never buy another Netgear product again. If you do purchase this item, get the Geek Squad protection so that you can at least take it back to best buy. If not, Be prepared to pay out of pocket again to replace your router again within a year. My Linksys EA6900 is over 2 years old and although the range isn't as good as the Nighthawk, the linksys is more reliable and you don't have to worry about turning it on and off multiple times a day to restore your internet access. Stay away from Netgear products if you value customer service and reliability

Our first one was a stud for about five weeks. Then one morning I got up and it was stuck in a endless reboot. Best buy replaced it no problem. The new one went about 6 hours and dropped the 2.4 ghz and the only way to get it to show was ethernet cable. Tried hard factory reset that did not help then it started the dreaded reboot looping. Taking it back today. We ordered a Asus tri band from best buy it should be here Thursday.

I have a home theater system Sonos. I now spent a month with Sonos trying to adapt the nighthawk X8 to work properly with Sonos. Ever since I got this nighthawk, my Sonos play bar and play threes the surroundsound home theater system drops sound continuously throughout the day. I have since replaced the Sonos sound bar the play threes and It still continuously does it. Sonos even designated specific IP addresses, but the 5 GHz built in with the Nighthawk causes massive interference with different devices at the house. The Nighthawk I'm sure is a great system but needs work.

Netflix cuts in and out, my 8 year old router never did this. My speed isn't much better then my old router. I'm so not impressed.