NETGEAR Nighthawk Tri-Band WiFi 7 Router (RS280S) - Router Only, BE9200 Wireless Speed (up to 9.2 Gbps) - Covers up to 2,500 sq. ft. - 2.5 Gig Internet Port – 1-Year Armor & Free Expert Help

I bought this 1 year ago and have used it daily ever since then with 3 users' PCs, phones, laptops and tablets, It's been used for routine web browsing, e-mail, online purchasing and ...wait for it...gaming. I've had several modems and routers. I prefer Netgear overall. This one and the 2 prior were this brand and were trouble-free. The ONLY reason for change was to upgrade due to improvements in the current technologies. Also my earlier units were combination modem-routers. This time I got a modem that takes advantage of the near-DOCSIS 4.0 speeds I can now get. (Hitron CODA56 Multi-Gigabit DOCSIS 3.1 Modem) I have Comcast/Xfinity which is upgrading its systems to DOCSIS 4.0. Xfinity in my area is officially DOCSIS 3.1. However, not all DOCSIS 3.1 modems are created equal. Some are more advanced than others and can take advantage of the system upgrades. This unit is NOT a modem. It is a dedicated router. It runs perfectly. The WIFI on this router handles the whole house (slightly over 2000 sq. ft.) The grandson games on a pc in the next room via WIFI. The streaming boxes on our TVs run on the wifi from this. Zero negative issues; it just works. Install was very normal and no issues. I absolutely highly recommend this unit - especially in combo with the Hitron modem as earler stated.

Incredible router for the price. Just note that if you want Wifi 7 anything, just due to the physics of how that wavelength works you should not expect it to penetrate any walls. I am currently using the 6e and I am genuinely impressed. My download speed is definitely impacted from wifi 6 but latency is much better. This guy has pretty awesome range for stuff like the 2.5 ghz bands and penetrates a lot more than my tp-link routers. The routers ip point access is fairly simple and you can set it up without an app by clicking bottom of the screen which is a plus. There isnt a bunch of visual clutter inside and it integrated instantly with my pfsense server. The shape is nicer since I wanted to use this in a rack with a 3d printed housing. It doesnt get hot from what I have noticed and is completely silent. I took a gander looking at all the one stars that were on this device and from what I have seen is most people just don't understand how a lot of these machines work or the capabilities of the bands they are using. Dont expect wifi 7 to go through walls ever. 6e will significantly struggle so if you need distance/walls, you should lower your settings for the network you are adding in the configs.

This review is for the Netgear RS280S (BE9200). Overall setup was easy through the iPhone app and took about 20 minutes. Runs strong and speed test confirms I am getting the full download and upload speeds I am paying for. The network is tri-band (2.4, 5, and 6 GHz) which will help keep things moving as more and more devices become connected. There is also only ONE network to select -- as opposed to the 2.4 or 5 options on my 7 year old Netgear that I replaced today. I have strong wifi through my house (basement, main floor, and upstairs) and all across my backyard. I was prompted to either accept the pre-programmed network name or given the option to change the network name and password to match my old network. Great option, as this allowed all devices to reconnect without a new logon (Ring, Nest, hue light bulbs, Alexa devices, Maytag Washer and Dryer, all phones, computer and TVs) all worked automatically without issue or having to log devices in. Overall very happy with this purchase.

Its been 15 years or so since I bought a Netgear Router, Figured Id give them another try, Nope, never again. This thing technically works but let me tell you some things you should know aside from its technical specs. 1) The app is heavily pushed, in fact if you dont already have some skill there isn't a way to get around it. But on initial connection if you type in 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 (this will cover almost all people) you can bypass the app FOR NOW. 2) you will at some point again get pushed to install the app on your phone unless you can see the little grey writing that says "I dont have a smart phone" This is called a dark pattern. It doesnt say "i dont want the app" or "id like to continue with advanced installation" it tries to demean you. This is how all the phone games with micro transactions work. 3) Updates MANDATORY theres no way i could find to skip them. 4) Painfully slow restart time for a router of this price and generation 5) Initial setup makes it seem as if registration is mandatory (which it might be for some features see another point below) 6) Required complex admin password. Do i own this router? if I want my password to be "password" or nothing thats my choice. 7) Geo-location tagging. One of the first things it does is determine your location, WHY?! just be a router! 8) I could not find anyway to see the routers settings without the App. the 192.168.1.1 trick no longer works after the very basic setup. It seems you MUST have an online account with them do change any of the setting in YOUR router. 9) there's more but this has taken enough of my life from me. You don't own this router. its theirs but you will pay for it upfront and possibly continue to pay with the information they farm from you. Why would anyone pay for this? just get the router for free from your internet company, its the same deal.

This new WiFi 7 router is a winner. Reasonable price, top brand, easy to setup, and terrific coverage throughout our large home. With the latest technology, super-fast speed, tri-band, and excellent reach even with multiple devices at the same time, I'm not sure I could ask for more. This unit replaces a fairly new WiFi 6 dual-band router with 8 antennae from another major company. Frankly, EVERYTHING about this new NETGEAR BE9200 router is better, faster and easier... and the footprint is much smaller. I could not be more pleased with this router or its performance. A terrific upgrade!

Recently purchased and set up this router for my home, and here are some thoughts. First of all, on the specs themselves, I thought this was a steal at $188, compared to the RS300 at $280. I did a lot of research and these are practically identical routers, the only difference being the 2.4Ghz band does not support WiFi 7, so it's 500Mbps instead of 600Mbps, which seems completely trivial. Anything you need high speed for should be using the 5Ghz or 6Ghz band anyways. Setup: I did run into an issue when setting it up. After it asked me to name the network, it then needed a firmware update. The firmware update completed fine but the network name reverted back to the default name, even though in the Nighthawk app it still showed the new name I gave it. The only way to fix this was to turn off the smart connect feature that merges all the SSIDs into one, and once there were three different SSIDs, the names showed up correctly. Performance: So far the performance is good, but hasn't blown me away. The range for the 2.4/5Ghz bands is pretty much the same as the cheap TP-Link AX1800 that this replaced. The 6Ghz band range is terrible. There's no other way to put it. It pretty much only works in the same room. I was sort of expecting it to be worse based on what I've read online, but it's worse than I thought. Additionally, it's actually a littler slower than the 5Ghz band on the one device I have that currently can use the 6Ghz band, which is my new phone I just got that has Wifi6E. I tested both bands while standing right in front of it and the 5Ghz band outperformed the 6Ghz band by about 5-10%. I bought this for future proofing, so we'll see if Wifi7 devices will work better with it in the future. My desktop PC has a wireless AC card in it and was able to max out my internet's bandwidth at 800Mbps on the 5Ghz band no problem, so that was great (I upgraded my modem at the same time, which was previously bottlenecking me to 130Mbps no matter the device or band). Other: I have noticed at times that my phone will connect to the 2.4Ghz band instead of the 5Ghz band, so I made my phone forget the 2.4Ghz SSID to force it to always use the 5Ghz band. I suppose if the smart connect feature had worked, it would have fixed this (but I can't say since I never got to test it out). Conclusion: Definitely not perfect, but still good overall for the 2.4/5Ghz bands. For the price, I think it's a good deal and hopefully will work well with Wifi7 devices in the future.

The Netgear Nighthawk was fairly easy to set up. The software is a bit "clunky" when it MAKES YOU WAIT 3 minutes for a complete reboot when you can clearly see the router is "ready to go", and 3 minutes FEELS like an eternity, but it's not so bad. The router comes with a year of "Armor Security" (which has already detected some DDOS attacks on my home) but I have to wonder what happens after the "free year?" What if I DON'T renew? What functions will I lose completely? The wireless range is not quite what I was expecting, but it's still pretty good. I've only had it a few days, and I'm still learning, but, so far, so good.

I had to replace my old Netgear Nighthawk router because there wasn’t going to be anymore updates to it and I was due to get a new one anyway. This router was very easy to set up and since I was able to use my same router name and password, it made logging back into everything sooo much easier. The speed I picked up was amazing, especially since we have so many smart home devices. There’s no lagging, buffering or anything like that. I’m extremely happy with my purchase and the price.

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