Routers are being released by the truckload these days. They are becoming evermore powerful and are equipped with more and more features.
Netgear Nighthawk X10 | Asus Rt-AC5300U | Linksys EA9500 | TP-Link Talon AD7200 | |
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Tri Band | ||||
Cumulative Wi-Fi Data Rates (advertised) | 7.2Gbps | 5.3Gbps | 7.2Gbps |
If you have multiple network clients around the home, or heavy users, then you’re probably here wanting to compare the big-hitters from Netgear, TP-Link, Asus and Linksys.
That's cool, we hear ya!
So today, we’ve rounded up the most powerful routers from these 4 well known home network router manufacturers (at time of writing!) into one easy-to-read page.
Enjoy…
Netgear Nighthawk X10 AD7200 R9000 Wireless Router
>>> Click here to read customer reviews & learn more at Amazon <<<
Released at the end of 2016, the X10 is the latest in the ever popular Nighthawk series of power-routers.
It’s the first Netgear router to feature 802.11ad, hot on the heels of the TP-Link Talon AD7200, which was released a few months earlier. In case you don’t know, .11ad is the latest wifi standard and is capable of some seriously impressive speeds! We won’t go into too much details here, but it is the .11ad tag that bumps up the theoretical wireless speeds to 7.2Gbps.
Please bear in mind though that .11ad only really works with line of sight clients. So basically, no objects, in between source and destination. Also remember that the amount of clients that support .11ad are, well, sparse to say the least (at time of writing anyway). In fact, it will only really work with a 2nd X10 router – so bridging only folks! For now, at least.
Otherwise, it has features some pretty impressive features, which are especially good for a home full of wifi clients. To include, tri band, MU-MIMO, a 10Gig LAN port (SFP) and a very useful Plex server. So awesome for sharing content locally around the home!
Read more on what we have to say on the X10 here
Netgear Nighthawk X10 Top Features
- 802.11ad & ac
- 1.7GHz Quad Core CPU
- 7.2Gbps Tri Band
- MU-MIMO
- 2x USB 3.0 Ports
- 1x 10Gbps port (SFP) / 6x 1Gbps LAN with Link Agg
- 'Active' Antennas
Asus RT-AC5300U Tri-Band Wireless Router
>>> Click here to read customer reviews & learn more at Amazon <<<
So now onto Asus. We have picked one of their tri band offerings for this one…the RT-AC5300. It’s not quite as freshly new as the Nighthawk R9000 above, but it’s still got plenty to keep you looking and entertained.
As we have already said, it has tri band wireless to help ease congestion, MU-MIMO, to connect via MIMO to multiple devices concurrently (you need compatible clients to take advantage of this feature – and Asus have yet to release a firmware update to actually get this going), and AsusWRT optionally out of the box if you really want to play around with all the features…and more. Phew – that was a very long sentence!
The RT-AC5300U also has an in-built WTFast client, for better connectivity to your games (optional subscription).
Full details on the RT-AC5300U here
Asus RT-AC5300U Top Features
- 1.4GHz Dual Core CPU
- 5.3Gbps Tri Band
- 4x4 MU-MIMO
- 1x USB 3.0 / 1x USB 2.0 Ports
- 4x 1Gbps LAN ports (with link agg)
Linksys EA9500 AC5400 Max Stream Wi-Fi Router
>>> Click here to read customer reviews & learn more at Amazon <<<
Another tri band offering (actually, come to think of it, all 4 are tri band routers! LOL). The EA9500 is in direct competition with the Asus RT-AC5300U above (as they have a similar cumulative thoughput and do not have 802.11ad).
It has 8 external adjustable antennas to maximize the MU-MIMO feature.
And there’s a seamless roaming feature. Now, this is a feature normally preserved for the business/corporate setup.
Like, when you move your laptop from your desk to your meeting room…if you are on a VoIP call, it won’t drop out as it stays connected, no matter how may access points you travel across.
So, if you have a Linksys Max Stream extender, for example, the RE7000, set up to work with theEA9500, you can seamlessly connect all around the home. This might not be a feature that all of you care about, but for others, it’s awesome. Especially those who run around the home on a phone or tablet and connect to Skype etc. They know they won’t get cut off. Cool.
We have more to say about the EA9500 right here
Linksys EA9500 AC5400 Top Features?
- 1.4GHz Dual Core CPU
- 5.4Gbps Tri Band
- MU-MIMO
- 1x USB 3.0 / 1x USB 2.0 Ports
- 8x 1Gbps LAN ports (with link agg)
- Seamless Roaning (with compatible APs)
TP-Link Talon AD7200 Tri Band Wireless Router
>>> Click here to read customer reviews & learn more at Amazon <<<
Ok, so we have already introduced Netgear’s first .11ad router. Now it’s time for TP-Link’s. Yep, it’s the Talon AD7200. And this time, TP-Link beat Netgear to the crown of 1st AD consumer router on the market. It was only by a handful of months, but it’s worth mentioning.
It has, yep you guessed it, tri band. Rather than the usual 2x 5GHz & 1x 2.4GHz bands on AC tri band routers, the Talon AD7200 has 1x 60GHz band, 1x 5GHz band and a 2.4GHz band. Actually, this is the same setup as the Netgear X10 we talked about earlier, we just forgot to mention it. Shame on us!
So yeah, a 60GHz band. And if you know anything about wireless, you’ll know that higher frequencies normally equal shorter wavelengths. This usually means shorter coverage areas. So just like the X10, the .11ad component of the Talon only really works for line of sight clients that are no more than a few foot away from the router.
It’s another 8 external antenna router, and yes, it has MU-MIMO available too. There’s a 1.4 dual core processor to hold it all together.
Our thoughts on the Talon AD7200 here
TP-Link Talon AD7200 Top Features
- 802.11ad & ac
- 1.4GHz Dual Core CPU
- 7.2Gbps Tri Band
- MU-MIMO
- 2x USB 3.0 Ports
- 4x 1Gbps LAN ports (with link agg)
- Seamless Roaning (with compatible APs)
Netgear Nighthawk X10 vs Asus RT-AC5300U vs Linksys EA9500 vs TP-Link Talon AD7200 – Which One?
Don’t worry about 802.11ad for now. It will be a technology for the future for sure. But given that there’s pretty much nothing to connect to it right now, focussing on Wireless AC is probably for the best right now.
Of course, both the Nighthawk X10 and the Talon AD7200 both support AC, so they will work just as well as the other routers. There’s just no need to spend the extra money for a technology that you are unlikely to use.
But hey, if you want to have bragging rights on owning an AD router, and don’t mind spending the money – go for your life!
Otherwise, all the other routers are pretty solid. The EA9500 and the RT-AC5300 only have one USB 3.0 port (and a 2nd USB 2.0), the others have 2x USB 3.0’s…so that might be a problem for some of you.
Do you have one of these routers, or thinking of taking the plunge? Let us know below...?