NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 WiFi Router Review

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Apoptosis
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NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 WiFi Router Review

Post by Apoptosis »

What started off as a ‘free’ upgrade to Charter Communications new 200 Mbps base Spectrum Internet service snowballed into this article. We didn’t plan on updating our Netgear Nighthawk X6 (R8000) router from 2014, but it was no longer able to do what we needed. The Netgear Nighthawk X8 (R8500) router from 2015 performed better but enabling the services that we wanted to run still impacted performance. That led us to the Netgear Nighthawk XR500 Pro Gaming Router that was just released this year. Read on to see how the Netgear Nighthawk XR500 Pro Gaming Router performs!

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Article Title: NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 WiFi Router Review – Wired Performance Tested
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/netgear-nig ... ted_206626
Pricing At Time of Print: $297.99 shipped
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Kaos Kid
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Re: NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 WiFi Router Review

Post by Kaos Kid »

Now that you've had this router for 10 months, do you have any updated insights on it's range and effectiveness? How many updates has DumaOS made to the OpSys since you've had it, perhaps features added? Still your top choice for under $300?
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Re: NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 WiFi Router Review

Post by Apoptosis »

DumaOS hasn't had many updates to be honest. Overall the XR500 has been good and I like it. I've since upgraded to the XR700 and it's quad-core process seems to be snappier for navigation in DumaOS and allows for Plex streaming. Other than that wired gaming performance is the exactly the same between the XR500 and XR700. The DumaOS build on the XR500 and XR700 is also exactly the same build as well.

I have no problems suggesting it for a sub $275 router still. That said... WiFi 6 is coming fast and will be here next month when Intel rolls out new platforms. I might wait and see what Nighthawk comes out with for that. Wi-Fi 6, or 802.11ax is supposed to be 30% faster than Wi-Fi 5, with theoretical maximum transfer speeds up around 10 Gbps. Netgear has already launch a number of new routers, but none are in the XR gaming series.

Netgear Nighthawk AX12 Tri-Band AX11000 Wi-Fi 6 Router
Netgear Nighthawk AX12 AX6000 Wi-Fi 6 Router
Netgear Nighthawk AX8 AX6000 Wi-Fi 6 Router
Netgear Nighthawk AX4 AX3000 Wi-Fi 6 Router
Netgear Orbi Wi-Fi 6 Mesh Router
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Re: NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 WiFi Router Review

Post by Kaos Kid »

Thanks! How has your wireless been, or do you even use it as such? I have the same charter 200mbps service that you have, just wondering how that translates to number of devices going at the same time... we have three 1080i tvs that I'd like to switch to streaming along with my son on his xboxone doing fortnite or nhl19, 3-4 pcs and 3 smartphones all usually going at the same time. My router is downstairs in basement of 1500sqft ranch so I guess I'm wondering how your wireless range is to all corners. Currently none of them is on wired, all wireless.
I have come to the conclusion that "FaceBook" should be renamed "FacePalm" :roll:
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