Amazon Renewed RAX50-100NAR Nighthawk AX5400 WiFi 6 Router

Edit: After installing adguard home on my network and browsing the output, it became clear what a network hog and spyware repository this piece of garbage is, so I removed one of the stars, it’s going in the trash bin, and I’ll never buy another Netgear product again. It’s *CONSTANTLY* pinging home to multiple netgear IP addresses, and when I say constantly, I mean like thousands of times per day. This diseased contagion is off my network for good.

First off, the hardware works pretty great, especially for the temporarily discounted price! But I despise the slow, buggy, intolerably annoying firmware. This irritating device *REQUIRES* you to install a privacy-invading phone app, create a netgear account, register your device with them, and only *then* does it allow you to set up the device, and only in the most minimal way. Once you go through the annoyance above, you no longer need the netgear account or phone app, unless you ever need to hard-reset the device. The direct web interface is adequate to set the device up as a WAP (which is why I bought it), but I would not want to use this thing as my main router. The firmware is far too limited, slow, and poorly implemented for it to be a useful router. At the time I bought, it was the cheapest device I could find capable of being a WiFi6 WAP, and it eventually works well in that regard once the irritation of setting it up is over. As an aside/warning, if you set this thing up as a WAP, you’ll want to set up a static IP address in the firmware. I didn’t, and when I connected it to my network, it obtained 3 different DHCP addresses with 3 different MAC addresses, and abandoned them all, then eventually obtained a final one it stuck with. But it only gave the DHCP server its hostname for the first attempt. So, my DNS server thinks the hostname I gave it points at the first attempt, which is abandoned. It took me some sleuthing to find the actual IP address. Also, once you set it to WAP mode, the amazingly incompetent firmware won’t allow you to change any networking settings, so you can’t change it to have a static IP then.

Speaking of DNS, once you do get it set up, if you use the DNS name to access it “RAX35” by default, the device immediately redirects your browser to some netgear site. Only by typing in the raw IP address can you access the router config interface. I sort-of solved this by adding a CNAME to my DNS server to point “wwwrouterlogincom” back at the router’s name, and using that DNS name to access it, but that’s a kludge at best.

Replaced an older model Netgear R6700v3 WiFi5 ac, WPA2. Used 4 WiFi networks (including 2 guest networks) to keep PCs, smartphones, smart TVs, and security cameras on separate WiFi channels, no SSID broadcast, each with strong unique passwords.
WPA3 provides stronger security than older WPA2. Supports mixed network of WPA2/WPA3 WiFi n,ac,ax devices.
Set up as wireless access point (AP) since I already have a DSL modem/router.
Tip: I used free NirSoft WiFiInfoView software to select different WiFi channels with little or no interference from neighbors WiFi signals.
Tip: I created WiFi network names ending in _nomap to opt out of listing in Google WiFi directory.
Works fine. Saved money buying refurbished. Keep old router as a backup or e-cycle properly.
Note: LEDs do not flicker during WiFi activity, are always on. I prefer flicker to show activity.
IP address was set to 10.0.0.1, common in business, was expecting 198.162.1.1. 0r 192.168.0.1.

Warning: refurbished product. You do save money but you’ll have problems with tech support due to the item being registered under the original owner’s name. The router worked extremely well for two days and then died. I had a difficult time troubleshooting the device due to the item being registered under someone else’s name. The only saving grace is that amazon stands behind this product and is sending me another unit. I will revisit this review and update my experience. As for now, spend the extra money and avoid the headache.

Only reset once in 8 months