Back in 2013, Netgear launched a powerful wifi router, which they named the Netgear Nighthawk R7000. It was by far Netgear’s fastest wireless AC router. It had gigabit wifi routing, a USB 3.0 for convenient sharing and it had those stealth fighter looks, which combined made it a top selling router that was highly rated by critics and public alike.
Top-Rated Netgear Routers
| Netgear Nighthawk AX12 Wi-Fi 6 Router |  |  | AX | Netgear's flagship Wi-Fi 6 router. What's not to love? | |
| Netgear Nighthawk X10 |  | | AD & AC | Mainly an AC router, but can also use the AD standard if desired | |
| Netgear Nighthawk X4S |  | | AC | Good all-round Nighthawk router - with MU-MIMO over 160MHz channels | |
| Netgear Nighthawk R7000P |  | | AC | Been around for years. Very popular Netgear AC router. | |
| Netgear N600 DOCSIS 3.0 C3700 Cable Modem Router |  | | N | Good old router/modem combo |
Since then, Netgear have added to the Nighthawk range and now we have quite a long list of ultra-fast routers, some much more powerful than the original, including the Nighthawk X6, the X8 and the newly released X10.
We thought it was about time to have a list of all the Nighthawk routers in one convenient page.
Netgear Nighthawk Wireless Router Reviews
Here is a list of the best Nighthawk routers, with links to full reviews for each one. Note that the speeds are theoretical. As a rule of thumb, you can expect to get roughly around 30-45% of the speeds promised by the manufacturer (depending on the environmental conditions).
Nighthawk X10 R9000 AD7200
Netgear’s first 802.11ad consumer wireless router, which is Tri-Band. A band for each standard, Wireless AD (4.2Gbps) Wireless AC (1.7Gbps) and Wireless N (800Mbps).
So that’s 7.2Gbps wifi data rates….not bad at all.
Like the X8, it has 6 LAN ports with link aggregation. However, it also has an SFP port, especially there for a compatible NAS box.
Netgear have very nicely added Plex into the X10, so you can plug in a USB drive and share medie easily over your network.
The ‘Active’ antennas are also retained from the X8, helping coverage by reducing any noise interference from the router motherboard.
>>> Read Full Nighthawk X10 R9000 Review <<<
X10 Key Features
– Tri-Band wireless
– 802.11ad Technology
– MU-MIMO
– 4 ‘Active’ Antennas
– 6 LAN ports (with 2 port link aggregation)
– 1.7GHz Quad Core processor
– Plex Media Server Built In
– Dual USB – Both USB 3.0
Nighthawk X8 R8000 AC5300
The world’s first consumer 5.3Gbps wireless router, which again is Tri-Band. It’s also MU-MIMO ready, and also has 6 LAN 1Gbps Ethernet ports, two of which can be bundled together to double throughput. Another first, the ‘Active’ antennas, which help to reduce noise amplification – this helps to increase coverage.
>>> Read Full Nighthawk X8 Review <<<
X8 Key Features
– Tri-Band wireless
– MU-MIMO ready
– 4 ‘Active’ Antennas
– 6 LAN ports (2 can be aggregated)
– 1.4GHZ Dual Core processor
– Dynamic QoS
– Dual USB, one of which is USB 3.0
Nighthawk X6 R8000 AC3200
The X6 came out in 2014 and was the successor to the original R7000. This was the first Tri-Band router offered by Netgear. Its total wireless data rates total 3.2Gbps over its 3 radio bands: 1.3Gbps on each of the 5GHz bands and 600Mbps on the 2.4GHz band.
>>> Read Full Nighthawk X6 Review <<<
X6 Key Features
– Tri Band wifi
– Dual Core CPU
– 6 adjustable antennas
– USB 3.0 & USB 2.0 ports
– Remote VPN for external access
Nighthawk X4 AC2350
Launched in 2014, the X4 is a rival of the Asus RT-AC87U. It’s MU-MIMO ready and its data rates total 2.35Gbps.
>>> Read Full Nighthawk X4 Review <<<
X4 Key Features
– MU-MIMO/Quad-Stream ready
– 1.4GHz dual core processing unit
– Dynamic QoS
– 4x high-power antennas
– Guest network options
Nighthawk R7000 AC1900 Router
Last, but not least, we have the R7000. It broke new barriers and at the time was in direct competition with the Asus RT-AC66U, which was another very good AC router.
>>> Read Full Nighthawk R7000 Review <<<
R7000 Key Features
– Up to 1.9Gbps Wi-Fi. 1,300Mbps on 5GHz and 600Mbps on 2.4GHz
– 1GHz Dual Core processor
– USB 3.0 & USB 2.0 ports
– Quality of Service
– Adjustable antennas
– Guest Network option
Netgear Nighthawk X6 vs X8 vs X4 vs R7000
These are all awesome routers. Choosing which router will come down to your needs and budget.
The R7000 and the X6 have come down in price since their initial launches – a few years back. They will probably be good enough for most users out there.
The X8 and X10 are more powerful respectively, and should definitely be considered if you have a network with 10+ clients. They should both be faster given that they have better hardware, but just remember not to expect a huge increase on throughput for any one single client. Any one client can only go as fast as any one single band, which is 1.3Gbps on the X6, 2.16Gbps on the X8 and 4.2Gbps on the X10 (that’s using Wireless AD).
If you have the money to spend and want the absolute fastest wifi router then the X10 (below) is probably best for you, otherwise either the R7000, X4 or X6 should do the job just fine…
what purpose do the little lights across the front serve, other than to excite some scifi geeks with flashing lights or to require that we cover it so that the lights do not constantly light up otherwise intended dark space for viewing tv & monitors?
They do not seem to be indicators of anything or of any useable information – like the clicks & beeps of an R2D2 unit – a totally useless interface it would seem that does nothing but add cost for led installation & extra internal wiring. We are not ‘amazed’ at the light show.
re: typo’s: This keyboard works poorly with the post comment dialog box. But, most modern geek crap works poorly, always waiting for another correction callee upgrades by the sorts pushing such poorly made stuff on consumers.