NETGEARNighthawk Advanced Whole Home Mesh WiFi 6 System (MK63S) with Free Armor Security – AX1800 Router with 2 Satellite Extenders, Coverage up to 4,500 sq. ft. and 25+ devices

I have a very tall house, and my old WiFi router was a combination modem/router from Comcast Business, so it wasn't the best router. I would constantly get dropped WiFi issues, and I was only getting 100 Mbps through the Comcast provided router. My gateway is on the main floor of my house, my wife's office is on the second floor, and my office is on the third floor. My PC has a garbage WiFi card, and my wife's PC doesn't have a WiFi card at all, and I didn't want to bother with a USB WiFi antenna. Instead of spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars ripping out my walls and running Ethernet cables throughout my house, This was the next best solution. I opted for the model with the router, and two satellites, as it fits my needs perfectly.PROSIt helped unlock speeds that I previously didn't know I had. Upon getting everything set up properly, I discovered that Comcast had made infrastructure adjustments, and that the internet tier we were paying for bumped up to 300Mbps, but the router was preventing us from getting those speeds. I now bring in over 300 Mbps, and have noticed significant improvements, especially while streaming and downloading larger files that previously took hours to complete.Whether I'm on the main floor near the gateway, on the second floor, or in my office on the third floor, I get consistent speed across the board. I'm typing this from my 3rd floor office now, and have tested the speed with three different testing services, and it's basically the same result every time.The satellites give you an option to hard-line in, which is perfect for both my wife and I. My WiFi card is not very great, and my wife's computer doesn't have WiFi at all, so having the option to hard-line in is excellent, and helps maintain a more consistent connection.This is a very minor point, but both the router and the satellites are reasonably small, so they're not taking up tons of space on my desk or near the gateway, and they look pretty sleek. I especially like the piano black finish, so they blend in with my darker desk and accessories.The app is generally easy enough to navigate, and lets you take more control over your router. This may come in handy for parents who want to monitor what their kids are looking at.CONSI'm Embarrassed to admit how long it took me to find out how to disable NETGEAR Armor, as it was blocking a lot of regular web sites, and even prevented Zoom calls from opening, which is how my wife takes work meetings. It's a great idea, but way to strict on what it blocks.This was far from easy to set up, and you should really have some basic networking knowledge before deciding to purchase this. I am not technology illiterate by any means, but this was beyond my ability to set up, so a friend of mine who is well versed in these affairs had to assist me with the setup. This included getting access to my router via Comcast and setting it to bridge mode, so it only acts as a modem, and the Nighthawk works as the router. Be warned, you will either need to know some basic networking, know someone who does, or find a YouTube Video on setting this up.VERDICTOverall, this performs as advertised, and after initial setup, it was easy to move around the satellites to where they need to be, and they took no time at all to sync back up to the router. I'm getting excellent internet speed, and I can hard-line my important devices right in for a consistent connection. My only issues are the NETGEAR Armor, which I don't find necessary, and rather difficult to find the off option for, and the setup is very much NOT straightforward, and not very easy, unless you have some basic networking knowledge, or know a guy like myself. Otherwise, it is a fantastic product, and is working great for me. I would recommend this to anyone needing a mesh system for their house.

I bought this to take advantage of my full internet connection speed. I’m getting 460Mbps next to the router which I’m pretty damn happy with. I read the reviews after I ordered and figured I was just gonna send it right back since so many people struggled. However, my setup was easy (although kind of long) and the speeds are great. Also, I’m getting great coverage in my 3,300 sq ft 2 story block home out of just 2 nodes. I don’t know what everyone is complaining about. These things are great! If you want to know more, read on.I pay for and get 500/500 fiber internet when tethered at the modem. With my Linksys Velop wifi 5 mesh system (3 nodes) I was getting max 200Mbps standing next to the wireless router. I was also experiencing dead spots around the house. Stubborn ones where even when a node reading 200Mbps was in the next room I still had issues. Bottom line is I can’t manage two fantasy football teams and give my wife advice on her team while I’m on the can when my bathroom is a wifi dead spot! So this system came up “used - good condition” for a fair price and I decided to give it a go. I mean, I don’t care if my wifi routers have cosmetic damage greater than 1 inch.Setup was a little slow, but easy. Biggest problem was that I didn’t realize there’s a difference between router and satellite. Hook the one with 2 Ethernet ports to your modem. The single Ethernet port is the satellite. Updates took awhile but all good. Tested around the house, now I’m getting 460 down standing next to the router, totally acceptable to me. Btw, that’s on an iPhone 11 Pro which has a wifi 6 card. Make sure you test with something that is wifi 6 enabled. System only has two nose and I’m getting at worst to 170 Mbps in the farthest corners of my house. So this is a great buy. I think other users are just not doing it right. I don’t know, but don’t runaway from a good system at a good price. I highly recommend buying used on a product like this.

For those who are unable or not ready to upgrade to Orbi, this may be the next best option. I needed a quick, yet solid and somewhat modern solution to pair well with a Nighthawk CM2050V Xfinity modem with voice services. This solution provided me the Wifi 6 platform that I wanted for modern Wifi devices in our home ecosystem and the flexibility to segment our IoT and computer devices from Guest Access. So far, I am pleased with the performance and consistency that we needed. This serves as the interim solution until symetrical fiber is deployed to our community in the forthcoming year. The coverage and connect speeds are good in any room of our 2,000 square foot home. The router and satellite are small and were easily hidden out of view while maintaining a good signal throughout the single-story building. I don't see a need for an addition satellite at this time, as signal strength is excellent.