I currently have a AD7200 Nighthawk X10 and just recently purchased the EX8000 Nighthawk X6S Tri-Band Wifi Mesh Extender. I am installing it out in my garage where I generally get average signal strength. After initial setup, I brought the extender out into the garage and ended up getting a really good signal strength for both 2.4 and 5ghz. My question is would it be more beneficial to set the extender up as an access point instead or just leave it wirelessly creating the wifi mesh? Just looking for pros and cons. Thanks
Model: EX8000|AC3000 Nighthawk X6S Tri Band WiFi Range Extender
If you have gigabit ethernet to the garage, then you will get better performance using the EX8000 as an AP. All three bands are available for your client-facing extender network, and there won't be any concern about the quality of the WiFi backhaul between the EX8000 and the router. So in that case, there is no trade-off. Just make it an AP.
If you don't have that cable, then this really amounts to asking if running the cable is worth the time and cost. If you are getting good performance in Extender mode (for example, from speedtest.net), then IMO it isn't worth the bother.
