Netgear Nighthawk X4S Smart Wi-Fi Router (R7800) Review - Review 2022

If y'all live in a connected dwelling with multiple wireless clients competing for bandwidth, information technology might be time to consider a Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) router, such as the Netgear Nighthawk X4S Smart Wi-Fi Router (R7800), which lists for $269.99. The R7800 is an 802.11ac model with back up for MU-MIMO data streaming, which ways information technology can simultaneously send and receive data to multiple clients at the same time without sacrificing bandwidth (nigh routers tin can only serve one device at a time). Nevertheless, each client must contain a MU-MIMO-compatible network adapter in order to accept advantage of the engineering. The R7800's ($169.99 at Amazon) USB file-transfer performance was mediocre in our tests, but it turned in the fastest MU-MIMO throughput yet and delivered solid 2.4GHz and 5GHz performance as well. That said, it couldn't match the overall throughput performance of our top pick for high-end routers, the Asus RT-AC88U Dual-Band Router($218.56 at Amazon).

Design and Features
The R7800 sports the same blueprint as the Netgear Nighthawk X4 AC2350 Smart WiFi Router (R7500) ($189.00 at Amazon) . The black, angular chassis measures ane.97 by 11.22 by 7.26 inches (HWD) and contains four removable external antennas. In addition to MU-MIMO, the R7800 too supports 4X4 information streaming, which ways information technology can deliver four data streams to each ring to maximize throughput speeds. Information technology uses a 1.7GHz dual-cadre processor and is capable of maximum (theoretical) throughput speeds of up to 2.53Gbps (800Mbps on the 2.4GHz band, and 1,733Mbps on the 5GHz band).

The front of the R7800 contains ten pocket-size LED indicators that give y'all the status of the four LAN ports and the WAN port, two.4GHz and 5GHz radio-band activeness, and USB and eSATA activity. In that location's besides a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) button and a push that disables one or both radio bands. At the rear of router are four Gigabit LAN ports, a WAN (Internet) port, a button that enables/disables the LED indicators, a Power push, and a reset button. The left side of the router holds two USB 3.0 ports, and the right side holds an eSATA port for connecting to eSATA drives.

The Netgear Genie Web-based management console makes it easy to tweak basic and advanced network settings. The Home folio displays Cyberspace, Wireless, Guest Network, and Parental Control condition at a glance. It as well shows you how many peripheral devices are attached, as well as the status of the ReadySHARE characteristic, which lets you share and dorsum up files using a connected USB drive. Bones settings include Wireless, Internet, ReadySHARE, Quality of Service (QoS), Parental Controls, and Guest Network settings. In the Advanced Settings menu, you tin enable site blocking, create network-admission schedules, view status and access logs, configure port forwarding, and enable remote management. Hither, you tin can too configure the router to act equally a wireless bridge or a wireless access indicate, and view Internet traffic statistics.

Installation and Performance
Nearly electric current routers offering easy setup and configuration procedures, and the R7800 is no unlike. Later connecting the router to the Internet and to your PC, open a browser to automatically launch the Netgear Genie management console (if information technology doesn't launch, enter www.routerlogin.net in the URL bar). The genie will walk you lot through the necessary steps to gain Net connectivity, with choices to use DHCP or Static IP addressing and automatic or manual DNS addressing. Once y'all're continued, you can move on to the wireless-settings page to assign SSID names and security settings to each band.

Netgear Nighthawk X4S Smart Wi-Fi Router (R7800)

To examination MU-MIMO operation, I used 3 identical Acer Aspire E15 laptops equipped with Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 wireless 802.11ac network adapters equally my clients, an Intel Core i7-equipped desktop every bit my server, and the JPerf throughput-measurement utility. On our close-proximity tests, in which the clients were located in the same room, the R7800'southward boilerplate throughput of 210Mbps was our top score for MU-MIMO routers, just edging past the Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Smart Wi-Fi Router ( at Amazon) (209Mbps) and beating the Asus RT-AC88U (138Mbps) and the TP-Link AC2600 Wireless Dual Band Router Archer C2600 ($144.99 at Amazon) (132Mbps) by a salubrious margin. The R7800 also took top honors on our 30-human foot MU-MIMO throughput tests, scoring 94.3Mbps. The Linksys EA8500 scored 90Mbps, while the TP-Link Archer C2600 scored 60.9Mbps, and the Asus RT-AC88U achieved 80Mbps.

The R7800 delivered practiced 5GHz throughput performance, but its score of 491Mbps on our close-proximity test lagged behind the Asus RT-AC88U (537Mbps) and the D-Link AC3200 Ultra Wi-Fi Router (DIR-890L/R) ($160.00 at Amazon) (558Mbps). All the same, it vanquish the Linksys EA8500 Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Smart Wi-Fi Router ( at Amazon) (443Mbps). At a altitude of xxx feet, the R7800's score of 247Mbps was good, but not practiced enough to beat the RT-AC88U (302Mbps), the D-Link DIR-890L/R (310Mbps), or the Linksys EA9200 (255Mbps).

Functioning was solid on our ii.4GHz throughput tests. The R7800's score of 105Mbps on the close-proximity exam was faster than the Asus RT-AC88U (97.9Mbps), the D-Link 890L/R (92.7Mbps), and the Linksys EA9200 (90Mbps). However, the R7800'south score of 52.3Mbps on the 30-pes test trailed the Asus RT-AC88U (74.3Mbps) and the D-Link DIR-890L/R (82Mbps), and was nearly identical to the Linksys EA9200 (53.2Mbps).

To measure file-transfer speed, I connected a USB hard drive to the router and timed how long information technology took to read and write a i.5GB folder containing a mix of photo, video, music, and certificate files. The R7800's write speed of 23.3MBps was faster than the Amped Athena AC2600's speed of 15.5MBps, only much slower than the Tenda AC1900 Wireless Dual Band Router AC15 ($69.00 at Amazon) (42.3MBps) and the Linksys EA8500 (66MBps). The Linksys WRT 1200AC ($146.49 at Amazon) holds the record with a speedy 73.1MBps. On our read tests, the R7800 managed xxx.3MBps, while the Amped Athena AC2600 scored 29.2 MBps, and the Tenda AC1900 AC15 scored 40.4MBps. The Linksys WRT1200AC dominated with a score of 76.8MBps.

Conclusion
The Netgear Nighthawk X4S Smart Wi-Fi Router R7800 is a capable choice for users who are ready to take advantage of MU-MIMO data-streaming technology and require a comprehensive set of management settings with a user-friendly interface. It delivered the fastest MU-MIMO performance nosotros've seen in our testing, if only by a narrow margin, and its ii.4GHz and 5GHz range performance is also impressive. Its file-transfer speeds were merely adequate, however. If your require more than four wired Ethernet ports, the Asus RT-AC88U, our Editors' Chocie for high-end routers, has viii of them and delivers meliorate all-around functioning.

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Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/migrated-33771-wireless-routers/10565/netgear-nighthawk-x4s-smart-wi-fi-router-r7800-review

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