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amazon Netgear Nighthawk RAX120 reviews
The days of early Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) routers are over, and being in the clients’ side has remained quite desolate for now. In the meantime, upon getting our hands on a laptop that was equipped with an 802.11ax network adapter, we proceeded to test quite a few Wi-Fi 6 routers, including the Netgear Nighthawk RAX120 12-thread Wi-Fi 6 Router, a quite expensive device. $499.99 that brings to your mind the images of B-2 stealth bombers. This strangely shaped router offers stellar 5 GHz transfer rate performance and very fast file transfer performances. It also has a multi-gig LAN port, WPA3 encryption support but no malware protection, that is to say strong parental controls.
About Wi-Fi 6
The next generation of wireless networking, called Wi-Fi 6 or 802.11ax, builds on the 802.11ac (or Wi-Fi 5) standard that has been around since late 2013. The new version promises performance delivers faster transfer rates, increases client capacity to match the growing smart home market, and increases battery life for connected mobile devices. However, before you decide to buy a Wi-Fi 6 router, you’ll want to check out our explanation to determine if now is the time to upgrade.
Familiar look
The RAX120 looks identical to the Nighthawk RAX80 we reviewed. It features a Star Wars-like dual-wing design, measuring 6.5 x 13.5 x 8.5 inches (HWD) with fully extended “wings” and featuring a matte black finish. The top of the Router contains small LED indicators for power, WAN, LAN (five), USB (two), Wi-Fi (two), and WPS, as well as Wi-Fi and WPS on/off buttons. Surrounding it are four gigabit LAN ports (two of which can be configured for link aggregation), one WAN port, and one 5GbE port for high-speed Ethernet connectivity. Here you will also find the power and reset buttons and the power jack.
The RAX120 represents the very common machine equipped with a 2.2GHz clock speed for each quad-core CPU, with 512MB of RAM, whilst 1GB is allotted to flash memory. It is a 12-thread dual-band router (4 streams on 2.4GHz Band and eight streams on 5GHz Band ) that theoretically can achieve speeds of up to 1.2Gbps on the 2.4GHz Band and 4.8Gbps on the 5GHz Band. Just like TP-Link AX6000 and Asus RT-AX88U, the RAX120 enables the WPA3 encryption standard. One also finds 8×8 MU-MIMO data transmissions, beamforming, 1024-QAM, and OFDMA data transmissions supported by this 802.11ax.
The RAX120 uses the same mobile app and web management console as the Nighthawk RAX80. As is the case with the RAX80, you can use the mobile app to do things like configuring Wi-Fi settings and basic internet, pause and resume network access for any device with the touch of a button, and run Speedtest. Still, you will have to use the web control panel to use the advanced settings to enable services like link aggregation, port forwarding, port activation, and VPN (Virtual Private Network).
Under the Basic tab, settings are available for Wireless and Internet, Guest Network and Quality of Service, Attached Devices, and ReadySHARE USB devices. One uses the Advanced tab to configure settings for the Media Server, system logs, firmware updates, and network statistics. Scheduling visits, blocking websites, and blocking services are also included, but lacking from this setup are the age-appropriate anti-malware and parental controls available with the TP-Link AX6000.
Powerful performance
Getting the RAX120 started felt almost like a five-minute gig. I started by plugging in the Router to my cable modem and desktop and powering it on. I opened a browser on my PC and typed http://www.routerlogin.net, which brought up the setup wizard. After I set up the Admin Password and two security questions, the Router took about 15 seconds to connect to the internet. I then made sure my firmware was updated, changed the Wi-Fi password, and finalized the install.
I performed the Labs Wireless Router test on the RAX120 using our client’s Dell XPS 13 Laptop equipped with the Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650s (802.11ax) network adapter. Its score of 125Mbps on the 2.4GHz proximity test (same room) is slightly faster than the TP-Link AX6000 but slightly slower than the Asus RT-AX88U. At 30 feet away, the RAX120’s 63Mbps score was faster than both the TP-Link AX6000 and the Asus RT-AX88U.
The RAX120’s 5GHz transfer rate performance is impressive. It clocked 839Mbps in the proximity test, beating the TP-Link AX6000 at 64Mbps and the Asus RT-AX88U at 57Mbps. On the 30-foot 5GHz test, the RAX120’s 417Mbps score was 100Mbps faster than the TP-Link AX6000 and Asus RT-AX88U.
To test file-transfer performance, we moved a 1.5GB folder of photos, videos, music, and office documents back and forth between a USB 3.0 drive connected to the Router and the desktop to test it. Check to write and read speeds. The RAX120 hit 69MBps on the written test, topping the Asus RT-AX88U but not the TP-Link AX6000. The RAX120 also hit 69MBps in the reading test, but the TP-Link AX6000 and the Asus RT-AX88U are slightly faster.
Power comes with a price.
The Netgear Nighthawk RAX120 is among the best routers for exploitation of the 802.11ax standard, but it will clear $500 from your wallet, causing you to sometimes wonder if it was worth it. Being a 12-stream Router, this is the only 802.11ax Router that we’ve tested which supports the new WPA3 security standard so far. The RAX120 performs truly well for 5GHz Transfer Tests and really well for file transfer. And the 2.4GHz could get working-average, being in line with Parental Controls, and powerful anti-malware with the TP-Link AX6000 and Asus RT-AX88U Router.
where can you get a Netgear Nighthawk RAX120 online
NETGEAR Nighthawk 12-Stream AX12 Wifi 6 Router (RAX120) – AX6000 Wireless Speed (Up to 6 Gbps) | 3,500 sq. ft. Coverage: Buy it now
NETGEAR Nighthawk AX12 Dual-Band 12-Stream Wi-Fi Router RAX120-100NAS (Renewed): Buy it now
NETGEAR Nighthawk RAX120 IEEE 802.11ax Ethernet Wireless Router – 2.40 GHz ISM Band – 5 GHz UNII Band – 8 x Antenna(8 x Internal) – 768 MB/s Wireless Speed – 5 x Network Port – 1 x Broadband Port –: Buy it now