Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 WiFi 6E Router Review

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This Nighthawk RAXE500 Announced at CES 2021, it has been available in the US for some time now. It has recently been launched in the UK.

This is Netgear’s new flagship gaming router, featuring the new WiFi 6E technology that can broadcast using the new 6Ghz frequency band.

Most new laptops come with WiFi 6E Intel AX210 Moduleif you’re gaming on your laptop or doing any productivity work that requires large file transfers, the Nighthawk RAXE500 could be a good investment.

Nighthawk RAXE500 and ASUS ROG GT-AXE11000 Specifications

Nighthawk RAXE500 and ASUS ROG GT-AXE11000 These are the only two WiFi 6E routers available in the UK at the time of writing. Their pricing is pretty close, so it makes sense to see how they compare.

The core hardware specifications are basically the same. Two of Asus’ main strengths are the ability to pair an AiMesh router for mesh systems and free security.

Just like other Nighthawk routers, it has an internal fan that spins on startup. However, I didn’t notice it spinning while using it, and I’ve never heard of it during normal use.

set up

As with Netgear, setup is simple and the same as with the Orbi system. You will need the Nighthawk app and a Netgear account, then follow the simple setup process.

You can also set up the system via your browser, which should allow you to bypass the need for a Netgear account.

unlike Orbi WiFi 6E Mesh System, this router separates the 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, and 6Ghz bands. You can combine the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands into one SSID, but 5Ghz and 6Ghz are always kept separate.

Windows and 6Ghz WiFi 6E

in my Netgear Orbi RBKE963 review, I’m having some difficulty getting the 6Ghz WiFi to work. I have resolved these issues and will update this review. The problem I’m having probably won’t affect many people, but it’s worth emphasizing just in case.

For my desktop, I’m running Windows 10 Pro, which I installed from the Microsoft Action Pack when I first started Windows 10 a few years ago, probably an upgrade from Windows 8. When installing, I was using an old motherboard with a traditional CSM style BIOS, not UEFI.

Windows 10 Pro is not compatible with the 6Ghz band on WiFi 6E. I can’t upgrade to Windows 11 because I don’t have secure boot enabled. I can only enable it when running UEFI.

So I took the plunge and upgraded to Kingston KC3000 PCIe 4.0 NVMe And a fresh install of Windows.

Assuming you don’t have the above issues, after updating to the latest drivers, the regular version of Windows 10 should be compatible with WiFi 6E and 6Ghz bands.

Performance

6GHz

After the start of my bug trying to get 6Ghz working, I’m now finally able to take advantage of this new frequency band. As noted in previous reviews, 6Ghz doesn’t actually have any speed advantages over 5Ghz, but it has more channels available, which means it can set up 160Mhz channels more easily and reliably than 5Ghz.

In the case of this review, both 6Ghz and 5Ghz built 160Mhz channel width out of the box with no issues at all. It wasn’t always easy for me, and in my RAX120 review I had intermittent issues with 160Mhz.

I tested the speed in three locations:

• Work with Office PC with WiFi 6E PCIe Card
• Downstairs living room use Huawei Matebook 14 and pixel 6
• Front hall, two rooms above living room, using Huawei Matepad 14 and Pixel 6

Using iPerf3 on my laptop, I achieved:

• Office: 1.49Gbits/sec
• Living room: 907Mbit/s
• Front hall: 330Mbit/s

Using the Network SpeedTest app on the UnRAID server, my Pixel 6 achieved:

• Office: 1.37Gbits/sec
• Living room: 1100Mbit/s
• Front hall: 342Mbit/s

In terms of actual file transfers, I was able to copy the ISO at about 175MB/s, which equates to 1400Mbps. WiFi 6 on 80mhz will usually be around 80-90MB/s, and WiFi 5 will be around 60-70MB/s. So the difference is significant, which makes a huge difference for anyone transferring large files on a local network, such as creators.

5GHz

iPerf

• Office: 1.40Gbits/sec
• Living room: 843Mbit/s
• Front hall: 330Mbit/s

pixel 6

• Office: 1.37Gbits/sec
• Living room: 948Mbit/s
• Front hall: 628Mbit/s

I’ve only included the Pixel 6 results in this review, just to highlight the speed difference when connecting to 5Ghz and 6Ghz at increasing distances. In this case, 5Ghz is almost twice as fast as the router, and 628Mbit/s from the router is a respectable distance.

2.4GHz

Pixel 6 and iPerf results are nearly identical on laptops

• Office: 199 Mbits/s
• Living room: 58Mbit/s
• Front hall: 20Mbit/s

Wireless 5 5Ghz

Many devices will still continue to use the older WiFi standard, and performance holds up well here:

• Office: 914 Mbits/s
• Living room: 727 Mbits/s
• Foyer: 288 Mbits/sec

Extended range

The 6Ghz band has a shorter range than 5Ghz, and there seem to be different accounts of how quickly performance degrades when you step away from the router.

From my personal results, with the Nighthawk RAXE500 in the upstairs central room, I could easily cover all interior rooms with the 6Ghz band. It’s much better than some claim.

However, as we’ve seen from the Pixel 6 results, performance has the potential to drop rapidly. There is a noticeable difference in antenna performance between the Pixel 6 and Huawei laptops.

Testing the range further, we end up with predictable results.Across the garden from my gym/garage entrance, the Pixel 6 can’t connect to a 6Ghz network, but it can still connect to a 5Ghz network at a reasonable 110Mbits/s

Router function

Like Netgear, the Nighthawk RAXE500 comes with Netgear Armor powered by Bitdefender. You can get a 30-day trial for $99.99 per year.

You also have two USB 3.0 ports that provide basic NAS functionality.

The router has most of your standard features including DHCP, dynamic DNS, port forwarding, VPN. You can also get a VPN through Netgear Armor. However, the router doesn’t seem to support proper QoS, which can cause problems if you have a large family.

Price and Alternatives

The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500 is over £500 on Amazon, or £550 via Netgear. US buyers can get it for Netgear from Amazon.com for about $535.

£370 for the older tri-band WiFi 6 RAX200, or £300 for the RAX120

The Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 appears to be the only other WiFi 6E router available in the UK, priced at £480.

comprehensive

The Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500’s WiFi is very fast. A tri-band design with three distinct band frequencies makes more sense than the RAX200’s tri-band design. Modern devices can take advantage of the novelty 6Ghz band, while legacy devices can use 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz.

The 6Ghz band doesn’t offer any significant speed boost over 5Ghz, and overall speeds aren’t much better than what I got when I checked out the RAX120 two years ago.However, in RAX120 review, I’m having intermittent issues maintaining the 160Mhz 5Ghz band. For the new 6Ghz band, this should never be an issue.

Despite my praise for mesh WiFi systems, the range and overall performance of the Nighthawk RAXE500 easily covered my 4-bed semi-detached property with excellent speed. So if you can place your router reasonably, a mesh system isn’t necessary. I also found that the range problem of 6Ghz was exaggerated, it could happily pass through a few brick-walled rooms.

Pricing is clearly high. It’s a brand new flagship with brand new technology, hence the price.

Last updated on 2022-03-10 / Affiliate Links / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API