 | The Netgear Nighthawk Smart Wifi R7000 Router is probably the best routers you can buy for a reasonable price. id24017 |
Tech Specs
All technical specifications can be viewed by clicking here.
Looks, Aesthetics, Sound and Cooling
By looking at the image above, and the name of the product, you can pretty much predict that this router will look pretty damn good. It looks nice, has a good looking shape to it, that will attract people, and overall, I like the design a lot! It is a bit on the big side, but that doesn't matter to me much, but it is something to consider if you plan on getting one. I permanently mounted this router on my desk, since my house is set up that way, and the modem is next to my desk. Below is an image of the router.
The LEDs are nice, and you can see everything that is occurring with the router. You can turn them off, if preferred, but just the power LED will be active. The vents on the router don't blow out any hot air. The router does get occasionally hot, because this router actually has a processor in it, and there are fans that are very quiet that cool it. Most of the time, it isn't even on, but at some times, you can definitely hear it running. Below, you can hear some samples.
This is a clip where there is absolutely no load. It is dead silent, the quietest that this router will get. I recorded this in a sound proof room, for testing purposes. I put the mic right on the vent.
This clip is in extremely heavy load, where the router is figuring out how much speed it should give to each device. The fans are obviously on, and the mic was right on the vent.
Speed And Range
The main purpose of a router is its speed, right? Well, this router was impressive. Using an ethernet connection directly into my PC, it received 59/28, on speedtest.net. My Optimum plan covers 50/25, so that is a pretty good result. Moving on the downstairs, directly under my room, by phone received 58/26, with 5 bars out of 5. That's a pretty good range, and you can thank the beamforming technology that allows the router to get these results. At the opposite side of my room, the speeds were 52/25, which was reasonable since it was pretty far. Now out to the garage, the router only scored 28/8, which may seem bad, but compared to my old router, which scored no connection at all, it is a pretty good result.
Software
In terms of software, I had miserable experiences with it. It lags a lot, can't do what I want it to do, and is pretty much unreliable. It would work at times, but at others, I had no luck.
Conclusion
This router is exceptionally good, especially for the price. It is just $200, but on Amazon and other sellers, it is a big cheaper. It's a wonderful router, minus the software, which I hope NetGear can fix. Look below for the purchase links.
Click here to learn more and to buy from NetGear
Click here to learn more and to buy from Amazon
Click here to learn more and to buy from NetGear
Click here to learn more and to buy from Amazon
RSS Feed
