Netgear Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri-Band Gigabit WiFi Router With MU-MIMO (R8000P) Review - Review 2022

Joining Netgear's Nighthawk family unit of routers, the $299.99 X6S AC4000 Tri-Band Gigabit WiFi Router with MU-MIMO (R8000P) uses the latest 802.11ac technologies to deliver Wi-Fi across 3 radio bands. Capable of combined speeds of upward to 4,000Mbps, it delivered fast Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) throughput in our tests and offers a wide assortment of management settings. Still, its overall performance can't lucifer that of our Editors' Choice for midrange routers, the $200 Asus RT-AC86U AC2900 Router.

Design and Features

The R8000P ($279.99 at Amazon) uses the aforementioned black enclosure as the Netgear Nighthawk X6 AC3200 Tri-Band WiFi Router we reviewed back in 2022. It measures two.1 past 11.6 past 8.9 inches (HWD) and has six retractable antennas (three on each side) that fold outward from the middle of the box. The top of the router has a strip with LED indicators for power, internet activity, Wi-Fi activity, USB activity, and LAN activity. There'southward too a WPS button and a button to plough Wi-Fi on and off. The back of the router holds four Gigabit LAN ports (two of which support link aggregation), a WAN port, a USB 2.0 port, a USB 3.0 port, and a power button.

Powered by a i.8GHz dual-cadre processor, 128MB of flash memory, and 512MB of RAM, this 3x3 router can attain speeds of up to 750Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and upwards to 1,625Mbps on each of the two 5GHz bands. It supports beamforming, which allows the router to send information straight to clients rather than over a wide spectrum, and MU-MIMO information streaming, which delivers data to MU-MIMO-compatible clients simultaneously, rather than sequentially.

Netgear Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri-Band Gigabit WiFi Router With MU-MIMO (R8000P) Back

Access to the R8000P'due south numerous management settings comes by mode of a web-based console or via the Netgear Genie desktop and mobile app. On the right side of the Abode screen are status tiles for Internet, Wireless, Parental Controls, Invitee Networking, ReadySHARE (USB drive), and Continued Devices; on the left is the settings carte du jour. There are plenty of basic settings, where yous tin can proper noun each of the three SSIDs, set security options and channel width, configure net setting, and create invitee networks.

Netgear Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri-Band Gigabit WiFi Router With MU-MIMO (R8000P) Antennas Closed

ReadySHARE settings allow you lot to prepare basic file sharing or configure your attached drive equally a personal cloud drive. Use Avant-garde settings to create access schedules, enable e-mail notifications when a client attempts to visit a restricted site, configure Port Forwarding, Port Aggregation, Static Routing, and VPN services, view system logs, and update the router's firmware. There's likewise a traffic meter that lets you view upload and download action and total connexion times for each customer.

Netgear Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri-Band Gigabit WiFi Router With MU-MIMO (R8000P) Top

The R8000p console doesn't offering the drag-and-drop Media Prioritization options that you get with routers like the Linksys EA8300 Max-Stream AC2200 Tri-Band Wi-Fi Router ($157.85 at Amazon) , simply it does let y'all set up upload and download bandwidth thresholds using Dynamic Quality of Service (QoS) settings. Information technology also lacks embedded parental controls, but you tin install Live Parental Controls, powered by OpenDNS, once you've created an OpenDNS account. With Live Parental Controls, you can choose one of three levels to protect your clients from phishing sites, adult-oriented sites, social networking sites, and more. The R8000P supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice commands, which allow y'all to do things like enable and disable guest networking and check your Wi-Fi settings just by asking.

Installation and Performance

Installing the R8000p was easy for me. Once the router was continued to my desktop PC and powered up, it automatically launched the Netgear genie web console and gave me a choice to utilize the magician or to configure the router manually. I chose manually and was given the choice to accept the device operate as a router or an access betoken. I chose router and proceeded to the Admin Settings folio, where I answered two security questions and created a countersign. I updated the firmware, which took around two minutes, created security passwords, and was prepare to go.

Related Story Run across How We Examination Wireless Routers

In our Single-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (SU-MIMO) throughput tests, the R8000P turned in respectable scores, merely information technology couldn't keep pace with our top-performing midrange routers. Its score of 95Mbps in our 2.4GHz close-proximity (aforementioned-room) test came in right behind the Asus RT-AC86U and the D-Link AC3150 Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-885L/R) ($79.99 at Amazon) , merely was a good deal slower than the midrange Linksys WRT32X Wi-Fi Gaming Router. At xxx feet, the R8000P'south score of 75Mbps was effectually 10Mbps slower than all 3 competitors.

SU MIMO 2.4

In our 5GHz close-proximity tests, the R8000P's throughput speed of 462Mbps was nearly identical to the Linksys WRT32X ($189.99 at Amazon) , simply significantly slower than the Asus RT-AC86U ($189.99 at Amazon) and the D-Link DIR-885L/R. Its score of 270Mbps at a distance of 30 feet was faster than the Linksys WRT32X, but lagged the Asus RT-AC86U and the D-Link DIR-885L/R.

SU MIMO 5

We used three identical Acer Aspire R13 laptops equipped with Qualcomm's QCA61x4A MU-MIMO circuitry to see how the R8000P handles MU-MIMO data streaming on the 5GHz radio band. It scored an impressive 270Mbps in the close-proximity MU-MIMO examination, beating the Asus RT-AC86U, the Linksys WRT32X, and the D-Link DIR-885L/R handily. At 30 feet, it garnered 160Mbps, outlasting the Asus RT-AC86U and the Linksys WRT32X, only non the D-Link DIR-885L/R.

MU MIMO

To exam file-transfer performance, we move a ane.5GB folder containing a mix of video, music, photo, and certificate files between a wired host PC and a USB drive attached to the router'south USB iii.0 port. The R8000P delivered middling speeds of 36MBps (write) and 33MBps (read). That'due south similar to what we saw with the Asus RT-AC86U and a fleck slower than the D-Link DIR-885L/R. The Linksys WRT32X led with a write speed of 76.8MBps and a read speed of 48MBps.

FTP

A Router for Multi-Device Homes

The Netgear Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri-Band Gigabit WiFi Router with MU-MIMO (R8000P) is a good option for homes with numerous wireless devices. Its three individual radio bands let you residuum network traffic to reduce interference due to overcrowding on the widely used 2.4GHz band, and it offers plenty of configuration settings, including third-party parental controls that will help keep your network complimentary from malicious websites and adult-oriented content.

The R8000P is a good performer, especially when it comes to MU-MIMO throughput, just its overall SU-MIMO operation is not quite every bit fast as that of our Editors' Choice for midrange routers, the Asus RT-AC86U. Granted, the Asus unit of measurement is a dual-ring router, just it delivers very fast throughput, offers built-in network protection and robust prioritization settings, and costs around $100 less than the R8000P.