Introducing: Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFI Router XR500

[BretD]

Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 Router with DumaOS

 This new groundbreaking NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router (XR500) leverages advanced cutting-edge software to optimize network connections by stabilizing ping, reducing lag spikes, and keeping you always-on with reliable wired and wireless connectivity for advanced online gameplay. The Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500's Gaming Dashboard, Geo Filter, Quality of Service (QoS) and Network Monitoring capabilities make it the best gaming router and enables customization and gaming performance unmatched in the router space. The Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router includes best-in-class hardware features such as a dual-core 1.7GHz processor, Quad-stream Wave 2 WiFi with MU-MIMO, and four external high-power antennas wrapped up in an aggressive and formidable enclosure.

 Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router (XR500)

With the new Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router, you’ll enjoy frustration-free online and network gaming. Its MU-MIMO WiFi streams simultaneously to multiple devices on the same network so you and your pals can smoothly game online at the same time without affecting each other’s performance. Here are some of the other key reasons you’ll want to make the Nighthawk Pro Gaming Router the centerpiece of your gaming experience:

• Gaming Dashboard — On a single screen, view real-time bandwidth utilization by device, ping delays, and many other parameters.
• Geo Filter — Fix your gaming lag by limiting distance to servers or other players, get a guaranteed local connection, and create black/white lists of your preferred servers.
• Quality of Service (QoS) — Prioritize gaming devices and allocate bandwidth by device to eliminate lag due to queuing at the ISP network.
• Gaming VPN — Protect your network identity, prevent DDoS attack, and use the VPN client to connect to the VPN server.
• Network Monitor — Check on bandwidth-hogging devices and identify the applications which could be causing lag.
• Gigabit Ethernet Ports — Maximize speed with four (4) GbE LAN ports for wired connections, ideal for fast-paced gaming and high-quality streaming.
• 11ac WiFi — Enjoy Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) for simultaneous streaming, Quad-Stream, and 160MHz for faster speeds.
• Dual-Core 1.7GHz Processor — Support more devices for better 4K streaming, VR gaming, surfing, and more with this powerful, faster processor.
• AC2600 WiFi — Take advantage of up to 800+1733 Mbps* wireless speed, and double the available bandwidth with simultaneous dual-band WiFi.
• High-Performance Antennas — Get better WiFi coverage and faster speeds with four (4) external antennas.
• Memory — Enjoy plenty of headroom with 256 MB flash and 512 MB RAM.
• Beamforming+ — Enjoy more reliable connections for fewer drops, providing jitter-free network performance.

Pricing and Availability

The NETGEAR Nighthawk Pro Gaming WiFi Router (XR500) is now available. You can purchase it in retail shops and online at an MSRP in the U.S. of $299.99.

For more information and discussion, visit the new Nighthawk Pro Gaming forums.

Nighthawk Pro Gaming (Category Page) Get the latest on NPG products, teams, events and more.

>Nighthawk Pro Gaming Routers Forum All things NPG Routers with DumaOS tips, tricks and settings

>Nighthawk Pro Gaming Switches Forum All things NPG Switches with tips, tricks and settings.

>Nighthawk Pro Gaming Teams and Players Forum The latest on NETGEAR sponsored teams and players.

>Nighthawk Pro Gamers Lounge Forum An open place for all things eSports, games and gaming culture.

Learn More about Nighthawk Pro Gaming products and brand.

Nighthawk Pro Gaming Landing Page
Nighthawk Pro Gaming SX10 Pro Gaming Switch Landing Page
Nighthawk Pro Gaming XR500 WiFi Router Landing Page

[jhorath]

how will this be supported?  

As a longtime gamer, netgear user, and also netduma r1 user.  I have serious concerns about the support issues that have gone unanswered form both sides.  The netduma has promised this update to their current paid customers yet have chosen to partner release with another hardware manf. this is cause for concern.  They ahve not yet announced their choice to categorize the R1 as end of life but did choose to give the OS away to another device instead of making good on their promises to current users.  Anyone who can read can see this first hand on their forums.    Also, you have year long issue with your current supported products.  So how do we, the consumer, have faith in any of these devices that are now priced at way above average consumer grade products?  

As a side note.  People who don't mind paying the prices for these devices to have any sort of performance edge are normally adults.  So why are you so wrapped up into creating products that look like childrens toys?  Can we just get a F(#$%ing blue rectangle that either does or doesn't mount inside a rack, and now with "pro" grade switches that look just as stupid.  Spend more time and money on OS and featur elist that your forums are asking for than ugly spaceship looking devices.  Anyone worth their salts in home networking is buying PoE ceiling mounted AC-mesh devices anyway.  

[jhorath]

Also, I'd like to mention your press release informational.  You boldly stated how awesome the netduma was due to the fact they were voted 2017 best gaming router by techradar.  Techradar is a joke.  The entire review is paid for by netduma.  Have you even read the article?  Read it then get back to us.  If the netduma was held to anystandards at all it would not be best at anything.  At best, it's geofilter is a nice feature. But that is it.  In the review the negatives for the other routers were not listed as negatives for the netduma even though they are subpar for even the routers given a negative rating.  hmmm. 

Lopsided?  I am sure anyone with more than a 70 IQ will agree.   

-Asus RT-AC5300:  1. negative listed NO USB3.0 support.  (netduma has ZERO usb support)

-Zyxel Armor Z2 AC2600: 1. negative lack of quad stream AC support for user devices   (netduma doesn't even support AC)

                                           2.negative average usb port speed   (again netduma ZERO usb support)

ASUS RT-AC88U :  1. negative expensive ($30.00 price difference than the netduma delivered MOOT POINT)

                                2.  negative requires special hardware fr fastest speed. (netduma users would beg for any hardware that could make their R1 faster but sadly the limit is the microtik)

Netgear D7800:  (Not even sure why this is in here maybe because most people taht dump the R1 went with R7000. The R780 is a xDSL gateway. Not a great choice but still let's look.)

                             1. negative lacks 1024 QAM, ok another frequency issue.  (netduma doesn't have this either)

                             2. negative requires special  hardware, another wifi issue. (netduma doesn't even have the ability to do the slowest of 802.11AC with or without additional hardware)

So, my point?  If these negatives are all rating the other devices to weight them lower than the netduma who doesn't even approach these standards then why are they not in turn scored against the netduma?  

Reason:  Techradar is bogus.  It wants to appear to be a consumer/prosumer review site for helping you make purcahses for your network with little to no actual knowledge of networking.  In all actuality it is a paid for advertisement designed to lure said knowledge lacking individuals to make poor purchase decisions based on their advice. 

[Case850]

So has all that Readythis, Readythat, Plex, iTunes, Time Machine & Windows Backup candy been taken OFF?

Will we get a stable reliable router that does Manual QoS above 300Mbps?

Or is this just another product created by Marketing? 

We just want a stable reliable router that sits in the corner and works for a variety of Network needs, we want wifi home infrastructure, not some pseudo NAS box. 

[Case850]

Just read the Product Data Sheet.

- ADDITIONAL DFS CHANNELS—15 more channels in 5GHz for interference free gaming experience

Does anyone have a client devices that support DFS?

[jhorath]

Anyone that games seriously vs. casually isn't gaming over wifi anyway.

[AbhayB]

Most of the clients support DFS for a long time - that's how they can connect to enterprise WiFi networks that tend to be on DFS channels else they cannot handle the congestion that a large enterprise may endure. 

[CookieDunne]

Has there been a confirmed release date for this in the UK / EU yet? Hoping to grab it on launch.

[Aje]

This new router looks ace except for one strange thing. If they made the WiFi that powerful (up to 2.6 Gbps), then why only 1Gbps Ethernet? Talk about wrong priorities. 4x10GbE should've been the obvious choice, or at least matching that of the WiFi. 

Now I need to add a switch for my NAS and workstation but can't get full wireless speed to/from other wired units because of the extremely old 1Gbps Ethernet ports on the router. What were they thinking? Either it's supposed to be an extreme router or it's not. This is the latter.

Thoughts? 

[schumaku]

---

Aje wrote:

If they made the WiFi that powerful (up to 2.6 Gbps), then why only 1Gbps Ethernet?
...

Thoughts? 

---

Yes - start with a reality test. Using your WiFi client (what WiFi interface, what operating system?) - can you reach some 108...110 MB/s throughput from/to your NAS?

I was soooo happy that a router vendor does avoid using these summed-up marketing classifications on a new product finally. Yes, this is an AC2600 product. And your WiFi client does either use the 5 GHz _or_ the 2.4 GHz band. So the theoretically and marketing-wise added link rates - which are by far not the real-world throughput numbers each of these will ever reach. But please start with the test above, and provide your environment and computer tech details.

[rusky1]

Hi,

Im really interested in buying the nighthawk xr500 just need some information.

1. At the earliest guess possible when would it be available in Australia?

2. What is the power adapter to the xr500 voltage wise (110v only or 110-240v).

Reasons why I ask both if its going to take 6-9mths or longer to get to australia I will purchase 1

from America if it has dual V for power so i only need a adapter not anything else to change

the voltage to the correct one

[schumaku]

---

rusky1 wrote:

2. What is the power adapter to the xr500 voltage wise (110v only or 110-240v).

---

Netgear does commonly ship power supplies matching to the market. The XR500-100EUS (the North America XR500 SKU designation) does read like it's coming with a IEC Type A US plug, for 110V or 100..120V. Unfortunately, there are no power supply requirements (DC side) in the specs. From the photos available, the connector does look similar to what is used on Netgear's "smaller" routers like the Nighthawk R7000. 

[AbhayB]

Hi,

Thank you for your interest for XR500 in Australia. We are looking to launch it in Australia in next couple of months. Will keep you posted on more concrete date. 

Regards,

Abhay

[bacevedo]

The great thing about this router is you can plug your PC, PS4 or Xbox into the 4 ports in the back. I'm playing with 16ms ping on my Xbox wired. If you are a mobile gamer playing Clash Royale or any persistant world or a mobile game that depends on Peer to Peer, your connection will be solid as well. 

[rusky1]

Thanks for your replies I am grateful and they are very helpful, to Bacevedo sounds like you have one if you wouldnt mind looking at

the details on the power adapter connected to your xr500 and let us know the power voltage it has It would be appreciated

R

[BretD]

---

rusky1 wrote:

Thanks for your replies I am grateful and they are very helpful, to Bacevedo sounds like you have one if you wouldnt mind looking at

the details on the power adapter connected to your xr500 and let us know the power voltage it has It would be appreciated

R

---

My power adaptor says 12vdc 3.5A Tip positive. 

[AbhayB]

It is a full-range power adapter so you can use it in Australia with a simple adapter.

Abhay

[rusky1]

Thankyou so much for that bit if information AbhayB.It was exactly the detail I needed for confidence of buying

the nighthawk xr500 from Amazon US to Australia.I still have to ask the wife but cheers again and thanks

everyone for the help

[Webrider357]

Mine doesn't work. Updated to newest firmware immediately. Radios don't come on or they are on but my phone doesn't see them 3 ft away. The interface stopped working I had to use the old default interface acess to configure. It did get set up to connect to the internet and hardwire to my computer ok. Can't get wifi or thier new interface to work. The new inerface just says loading then couldn't load try back in a min. Tried all their advice to factory reset redownload and reinstall the firmware no luck. After 7 hours of f ing with the thing it gets one star on Amazon and is going back today. 

[jhorath]

It's less than 30 days since they announced the device and there are already refurbished xr500's available on various outlets. That's bad. This coming from them discontinuing support for the previous versions of nighthawk and failing to make repairs on some fairly large issues. Netduma has always been buggy and now we have two companies one with buggy hardware/software and one with buggy software pointing fingers saying it must be something with the other guy. I called them for support and was told to return my product, no offer if support, just return we will issue a full refund. How's that for believing in your product?

[Netduma-Fraser]

Hi Webrider357, this is a setup/configuration issue so I'm here to help immediately. Please could you download TeamViewer from here: https://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/windows/ and install it. Then open it and private message me the ID & password it shows you. Then I can connect to your PC to take a look at the issue. I'm very confident I can get this fixed for you.

[AbhayB]

Hi Jhorath,

Please point conclusively to outlets carrying refurbished XR500s. We do not have any official offering of refurbished XR500. We want to make sure that gullible consumers don't get duped into buying one. 

[FURRYe38]

---

wrote:

Hi Jhorath,

Please point conclusively to outlets carrying refurbished XR500s. We do not have any official offering of refurbished XR500. We want to make sure that gullible consumers don't get duped into buying one. 

---

There wouldn't be any refurbished units at this time, This model router just hit the market. If there are, these maybe false advertising by these e-tailers or some marketing sceme they are posting about. 

Only by new from reputible e-tailers with good refund policies. 

Also there is nothing wrong with re-furbished devices. May have been new and someoen bought it, wasn't satisified with it, or didn't suite there needs and returned the device with in the return period while the unit is working just fine. So the e-tailer would have to check the unit, if all is working, they would have to sell the device as refurbished and not new since it had been opened. Nothing wrong with refurbs. 

[Ge3ks]

I am also waiting for an Australian launch. Sooner the better, please.