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RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

wase471111
Apprentice

RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

so, been using the orbi wifi 6 3 piece system for a few months now, and only a couple of issues, like the random internet disconnects that are talked about all over the web...wifi speeds are fantastic, so I deal with the occasional internet drop outs but it can be annoying.

 

now, I see my second choice, the RAX200/AX11100 has dropped in price, and, seems to be really stable now after several firmware updates, so I was wondering if it makes sense to switch to that and get rid of the Orbi.

I would need a wifi extender to put in my garage for my POE ring camera, but I assume I would get enough coverage for my 2100 SF home and outdoor patio with the RAX200 by itself.

 

Has anyone switched to the RAX200 from an Orbi AX6000 system and been happy with the results?

Its great getting almost 800MB WIFI speeds on my GIG connection from Cox around the house with the Orbi system, but I am getting annoyed by the wifi drop outs with the Orbi system, and was hoping the RAX200 would be the answer..

 

Thank you for your feedback!

 

Message 1 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

I don't have the orbi AX but I do have the Orbi AC and I have the RAX200. 

If it was me? I'd stick with the orbi setup. Its a true mesh system with some bugs getting ironed out. 

It might take a bit though.

The RAX isn't mesh and adding a mesh extender doesn't make it a true mesh. 

I actually went back to my using my orbi AC mesh versus my RAX200. I use the rax now for testing out AX devices. 

Message 2 of 12
Scottish
Tutor

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

Agree with @plemans i don't have a mesh system due to vendor lock-in and different use case but do have the rax200. Had it since it came out and it has been very buggy. Until last week I ran it in AP mode with the 2.4 band disabled as it didn't work for me in any other config. It's back to router mode after the recent update in firmware but vlan tagging isn't working. 


on the mesh if you're not looking to do any radio segmentation/advanced networking and just want a fire and forget without anything too technical that has coverage over a large area then I'd go for that.  however bear in mind that it's a consumer solution and you'll be locked into Netgear (not a bad thing) for any extensions. 

really down to the use case to be honest. 

 

Message 3 of 12
wase471111
Apprentice

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

Yeah, its impossible to imagine anything being faster than the Orbi AX; the occasinal drop outs are annoying, and, the firmware, although better than at first, is still really buggy and lacking any sort of advanced features.

I coulld sell my 3 unit orbi now for more than I paidf for it 5 months ago, so it is tempting..

Problem is, not alot of folks have much good to say about the actual performancxe of the RAX200, so that is concerning..

Message 4 of 12
psychopomp123
Luminary

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

Usually people only post on forums when they have issues with a product - the RAX200 is no different.

 

I've had my RAX200 for a ~ 6 months ago and its the best router I've ever owned for wifi. Sure, there were a few bugs at the beginning but i find it rock solid now. The RAX200 is far more stable against Asus' offering, the GTAX11000, which is still buggy as hell despite Asus releasing a firmware update for it every 2 minutes.

Model: RAX200|Nighthawk Tri-band AX12 12-Stream Wi-Fi 6 Router
Message 5 of 12
wase471111
Apprentice

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

I had the same Asus router, and had the same issues with instability; I was going to buy a RAX200 in the beginning, but, I had read nothing but complaints about it; True, as you say, people only post when they have issues, but it seemed liike almost everyone did.

I have had the Orbi AX wifi 6 since January, and it has also had issues on and off; the firmware/software was an embarassment, but, they did a decent update a week or 2 ago, and now at least,we have Netgear Armor, but you still cant do anything wiith their lightweight, flimsy software/firmware. 

The RAX200 looks like its super stable now, and the price has come down too; problem is, I need some sort of extender.AP in my garage for my POE camera, and having the 3 Orbi kit made it easy to put one out there, with no slow downs either.

 

I'm concerned if I switch to the RAX200, whatever Extender/AP I add, unless its a triband AX, which they do NOT offer at this point, will slow down my wifi speeds..It appears that either the EX8000, a tri band, but AC extender, or the EAX80, a dual band, but AX extender would be my 2 best choices..

 

I get between 400-800MB on wifi everwhere on my property with my 1GIG Cox connectioon, using my Orbi 3 unit AX system

 

thanks

 

Message 6 of 12
psychopomp123
Luminary

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

Can't you buy the RAX200, say from Amazon, and return it back for a full refund if it doesn't meet your expectations? FWIW my RAX200 even gives me a fairly good signal to main road about 100 metres away!

Message 7 of 12
wase471111
Apprentice

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

yes, thats my plan, once I figure out which extender is the best one to use with it!

thanks

Message 8 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

If you're needing "the best" extender to go with the RAX200, I'd recommend either the EAX80 or the EX8000. 

I haven't played/used the EAX80 so I'm not sure how it works in comparision to a triband extender like the EX8000. 

I've got an EX8000 and can vouch for how much better it performs versus a standard dual band extender. Reason it functions better is a standard dual band extender has to receive and rebroadcast with the same chip and it can't do both at once. So they automatically run at 50% the speed of what the network is.

The tribands reserve one of the 5ghz bands just for router---extender communcation to mitigate that problem.

I'm not sure if that's how the EAX80 works or not with it being an AX extender. 

 

Message 9 of 12
wase471111
Apprentice

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

I have the same question; its weird, that the "newest" AX extender, the EAX80 is only dual band, and the older AC extender is tri band..

I'm sure asking  Netgear directly would make it even more confusing as to which one to "pair" with the RAX200

I know a dual band will lose speed if it is being used to "extend" a tri band setup, but, the dual band is the only AX extender they make..

 

Way too confusing, when it should be so simple to choose..

 

 

Message 10 of 12
plemans
Guru

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

Maybe someday I'll get the EAX80 to play with but right now, I'm using a mesh system and the wife would break me if i bought more gear I didn't need. 

So not sure what to tell you about how it performs. I was looking to see if any sites did an in-depth review of it but haven't found any so far. 

Message 11 of 12
wase471111
Apprentice

Re: RAX200 or Orbi ax6000?

yeah, thanks, I have been looking fior a comparison of the 2, but it seems like no one has dione that yet..

 

Message 12 of 12
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