After following this forum for a while, with some reluctance, I finally purchased an Orbi system.
My setup: Orbi router near front of home and one satellite in the back. 3300 sq ft one story home with an open floor plan, so there's very little in the way of physical barriers/interference between the router and satellite.
I don't dig too deep into this stuff, but I'm very pleased so far. Connectivity and performance seem solid. No iOS disconnects, at least that I'm aware of, and no Nest Cam drops like I experienced with Velop. Initial setup was smooth with no glitches or hangups. I haven't tinkered with any settings to try to improve things, basically following that old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The only oddball thing I see so far is that my DirecTV receiver is listed multiple times under connected devices (same MAC but different IP address). Not sure what's going on there, but I'm not going to mess with it since actual performance is good.
The main point here is to provide some positive feedback to any lurkers out there considering Orbi. It's easy to get caught up in all the negativity since most come here with various problems. However, if in doubt, I recommend taking the plunge. I'm glad I did. Worst case is that you'll return it. On the other hand, you may be pleasantly surprised.
Model: Orbi High-Performance AC3000 Tri-Band WiFi System (RBK50)
Good to hear it works well for you. My DirecTV equipment also shows up with multiple IPs. It did that before I installed Orbi, so it's not an Orbi issue.
Short version: I returned my Orbi system due to iOS disconnects.
Long version: My Orbi system appeared to work flawlessly for the first two weeks or so, then problems started to show up. Like many here, we started to notice problems with iOS devices. I first noticed very slow speeds on my work iPad. It took several hours to download something that should've taken just a few minutes at most. I was busy with other things, so I just let it do it's thing and planned to troubleshoot at a more convenient time. Besides, everything else seemed rock solid (or so I thought). What I didn't know at the time was that my son was having disconnects on his school-issued iPad. He later told me that it was mostly a minor inconvenience and thought it was something he could live with. However, one day while I was out of town on a business trip, he couldn't sustain a connection long enough to do anything, which is a major problem since he submits all school assignments on his iPad. It was so bad one day that he had to go to a friend's house and use their wifi to complete his homework. Other than have him reboot the modem and router/satellite, which proved unsuccessful, there was nothing I could do. I had him break out my old Airport Extreme and planned to troubleshoot once I got home.
However, the more I thought about it, I'd be absolutely crazy to keep the system. iOS disconnects is a well-known issue with no known fix in sight. I travel frequently and can't afford to have Orbi act up while I'm away. I don't ever want to put my son in that position again, so I just boxed it up and returned it when I got home. There are just too many bugs that need to be worked out IMO, at least for my personal situation.
I'll keep using my Airport Extreme for the time being. I'm not sure what I'll try next. Velop was a flop, so probably eero. Good luck to everyone out there - I hope Netgear resolves your issues soon.
