Asus RT-AX86U router review
Our Verdict
Equal parts high-performance router and gamer's helper, the Asus RT-AX86U starts with excellent performance and adds configuration customization options, port aggregation and but top-shelf security confronting hackers. It's a bargain for gamers and could be their all-time friend online.
For
- Excellent throughput
- Security software with lifetime updates
- Multi-Gig input and port aggregation
- Customization options
- ii-yr warranty
Against
- Lacks gamers tools like geofencing and ping heat map
Tom'southward Guide Verdict
Equal parts high-performance router and gamer's helper, the Asus RT-AX86U starts with fantabulous performance and adds configuration customization options, port aggregation and but top-shelf security against hackers. It's a bargain for gamers and could be their all-time friend online.
Pros
- +
Excellent throughput
- +
Security software with lifetime updates
- +
Multi-Gig input and port aggregation
- +
Customization options
- +
2-year warranty
Cons
- -
Lacks gamers tools similar geofencing and ping rut map
Asus RT-AX86U router: Specs
Wi-Fi Spec: AX5700
Number of Antennas/Removable: 4/Aye
Ports: 1 WAN/1 Multi-Gig WAN/ 4 LAN gigabit per 2d, 2 USB 3
Processor/Memory/Storage: quad-core ane.8GHz/1GB/256MB
Wi-Fi chip: Broadcom BCM4908/BCM43684
Peak 802.11AX functioning: 929.7Mbps (at 15 feet)
Range: 95-feet
Size: 9.0 x half-dozen.7 x three.i inches
Estimated Almanac Electricity Cost: $11.sixty
The Asus RT-AX86U tin aid kill off invading aliens or chop-chop download the latest updates by combining good throughput, gaming tools and port aggregation.
One of the most customizable routers on the market, the RT-AX86U is but as skilful as one of the best Wi-Fi routers every bit information technology is ane of the best gaming routers to help gamers dominate the globe or universe.
While information technology has a generous two-yr warranty, the RT-AX86U lacks some gaming tools, similar a ping heat map and geo-fencing, that the competition has. It's 1 of the best Wi-Fi 6 routers we've seen and it even gets a nod as the runner up for all-time Wi-Fi router in the 2021 Tom's Guide Awards. It's as well one of the least expensive ways to upwards your game, with operation that can be the divergence between winning and losing in your next online boxing.
Asus RT-AX86U: Blueprint
The Asus RT-AX86U is the follow-on pattern to the pop Asus RT-AC86U gaming router, bringing it into the high-performance Wi-Fi half-dozen earth. While it retains its predecessor'southward angular folded origami design – it's a far cry from the more than conventional Linksys Max-Stream MR8300 – as well as the black and cherry color palette, the AX version lacks the Ac model's pair of vertical racing stripes.
It measures 9.0 x 6.vii 10 3.1 inches, although afterwards screwing in its iii antennas, the pinnacle rises by half dozen-inches. It lacks recessed inserts for wall mounting just looks good on a bookshelf or desk. Meant to stand vertically, the RT-AX86U has cooling vents in front and along the summit, and kept its cool, even with data flight back and along. It had a meridian temperature of 105-degrees Fahrenheit.
Its employ of three external antennas is augmented by an internal patch antenna. It's a refreshing change from routers that sport anywhere from four to eight antennas – and gamble looking like hat racks – similar the Netgear Nighthawk XR1000 and the TP-Link Archer AX6000. The RT-AX86U'south antennas tin be aimed and rotated to grab the strongest indicate.
Inside, the RT-AX86U uses Broadcom's BCM4908 and BCM43684 chipsets along with 1GB of RAM and 256MB of flash storage to hold its firmware and settings. The router is powered by a 1.8GHz quad-core processor. Its 802.11AX dual-ring design tin can create 2.4- and 5GHz networks that tin accept advantage of ultra-wide 160MHz information channels, MU-MIMO and beamforming to clasp as much data onto its transmissions as possible. Overall, the RT-AX86U tin move up to 861Mbps over its 2.4GHz band and 4.8Gbps on its 5GHz band for an AX5700 rating.
Along the back are a 1 gigabit per 2d (Gbps) and a 2.5Gbps Multi-Gig WAN input port for working with the latest broadband modems. To that it adds iv dedicated gigabit per second downstream Ethernet ports along with an actress LAN port if the Multi-Gig connectedness if information technology's not being used. That's potentially a total of five downstream ports, 1 more than virtually provide, but three less than TP-Link's Archer AX6000's eight LAN ports. For speedsters, two of the network ports can be aggregated for top-speed output.
There's also a pair of USB three ports for calculation upwardly to two external hard drives to the network. The RT-AX86U has switches for turning the router on or off too as one on the side is for using the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) protocol to chop-chop add a device to the network. The router has a recessed reset button.
Up forepart, the RT-AX86U has 10 white LEDs that show it's turned on, continued to the Cyberspace and is transmitting on the 2.4- and 5GHz bands. There are action indicators for each of the Ethernet ports and whether its WPS organisation has been engaged. Information technology tin can be quite a light prove at night, only the router has a push for turning off the lights.
It'due south a secure router with built-in code from Trend Micro that not only tin can stop intrusions but block malware from attacking your network. Called AIProtection Pro, in that location's nothing to load onto your devices, because the software works in the router, behind the scenes. The all-time part is that it includes lifetime updates to counter new threats. By dissimilarity, the Bitdefender software that Netgear includes in its Armor security offering costs $seventy a year for security updates.
Asus RT-AX86U: Functioning
Based on a week of testing using Ixia's ixChariot's network simulation benchmark in my 100-year old 3,500-square-pes home, the Asus RT-AX86U was equal parts reliable router and gaming companion. At fifteen-feet, information technology had a peak throughput of 929.7Mbps. That tin't compare to the Netgear Nighthawk RAX80's 1.39Gbps maximum output, but it'due south iv percent alee of the TP-Link AX6000 (888.2Mbps), seven percent ahead of the Netgear Nighthawk XR1000 (859.1Mbps) and 12 percentage faster than Linksys MR9600 (822.0Mbps).
That said, the bandwidth bachelor at 50-feet dropped to 285.3Mbps, which was simply a hair ahead of the Netgear RAX80's 271.3Mbps. It was behind the TP-Link AX6000's 396.7Mbps and the Linksys MR9600's 363.3Mbps.
At 75-feet, the RT-AX86U regained its strength, pushing out 250.1Mbps, compared to the 280.1Mbps that the XR1000 achieved. At this distance, the TP-Link AX6000 and Netgear Nighthawk RAX80 were well behind with throughputs of 125.four and 142.1Mbps, respectively.
At our terminal distance of 90-feet, the RT-AX86U was near its limit, with an average of only 7.4Mbps, barely plenty for watching an Hd stream. That said, the TP-Link AX6000 couldn't fifty-fifty maintain a connection at that distance, while the Netgear RAX80 moved xx.8Mbps and the Netgear XR1000 led the way with 75.0Mbps of bandwidth available. The RT-AX86U had a range of 95-feet, ten-feet short of the XR1000.
The RT-AX86U did well at punching a strong Wi-Fi bespeak through walls and ceilings, with scores of 698.5Mbps bachelor through a wall 25-feet from the router and 615.7Mbps to a flooring above. This can't compare to the Netgear RAX80's 1.07Gbps and the TP-Link AX6000's 744.7Mbps for the wall penetration test only roughly matches the Netgear XR1000'southward 614.8Mbps.
Over my calendar week of using the RT-AX86U every day for everything from email and manual downloads to video viewing and gaming, it was reliable and passed the saturation test. As I watched videos on an HP EliteBook Dragonfly and listened to an Internet radio station on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+, my iPad Pro was showing a baseball game game and my Dell XPS 15 was moving data onto and off a file server. There were no video glitches or audio errors.
When the router was moving data back and along, it used 10.3-watts of ability, near 50-per centum more than the Nighthawk XR1000. All told, it should cost roughly $11.60 a twelvemonth to operate if you pay the national average of 13 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity. That's a bit more than than the XR1000's $7 a year but close to the Archer AX6000'southward $11.30 per year.
Asus RT-AX86U: Setup
When installing the RT-AX86U router, yous accept the choice of using Asus's Web browser interface or its Asus Router phone and tablet apps. There'southward software for iPhones and iPads likewise every bit Android tablets and phones.
I used an iPad Pro and the iOS app to become the RT-AX86U configured and running, which took all of eight minutes and 30 seconds. The process started with plugging everything in and connecting my iPad to the router'south Wi-Fi network. And so, I chose which type of Asus gear I had and the software took a moment to find the router and observe the Internet connection.
When entering my new network's name and password, I could have separated the 2.4- and 5GHz LANs. I chose to continue them with a single proper name and and then created an account with Asus.
It took a minute for the router to install these settings and show me a printable summary page. Finally, the RT-AX86U did a firmware update to the latest software. It connected on the first attempt.
Asus RT-AX86U: Configuration
As was the case with the setup, configuring, optimizing and adjusting the RT-AX86U tin be accomplished via the Asus Router app or through the browser interface. Of the two, the app is more visual but the browser arroyo allows an incredible array of choices, including running information technology as a router, an access bespeak or as part of a mesh network.
Using the browser connectedness, the RT-AX86U's Network Map screen'south blue and gray color scheme has less visual pizazz compared to the Nighthawk XR1000'southward DumaOS Dashboard but is just as capable. It shows if you're connected to the Internet, the encryption method used, how many clients are online and at any time, yous can rerun the set procedure or reboot the router.
Forth the left is a long vertical column of Carte du jour options that range from using the router in an AIMesh arrangement with other Asus gear to creating a guest network. There are screens for setting upwardly and monitoring the router'south AIProtection Pro malware shield that uses Trend Micro security software to safeguard your network and its computers. In addition to a periodic security assessment and the ability to cake dangerous Web sites, the package includes a thorough intrusion prevention feature as well as the ability to block botnets and zombies from attacking your computers. The best part is that unlike Netgear'due south Armor, it includes lifetime updates to defend confronting new dangers.
The Wireless customization is deep and useful for tuning the router. Its options range from irresolute the encryption technique and password to enabling 802.11AX mode and 160MHz channel widths. My favorite is the Professional person folio that actually is useful for talented amateurs seeking to optimize the router. It has the power to adjust esoteric things like the RTS threshold, beacon interval and enabling TX bursting style.
Its Gaming Page should help intrepid gamers with a Gaming Accelerator that gives your system height data priority. Information technology not only has a mobile gaming manner that can assistance with phone and tablet apps, merely the router can be gear up to Open NAT mode, where the router uses automated port forwarding to bypass the router's Network Address Translation firewall without endangering the rest of the system or network.
The RT-AX86U is an excellent loftier-functioning router that misses a few hits equally a gaming router. That'south because it does without the Nighthawk XR1000'southward Ping estrus map of global server latency or the ability to geo-fence servers that are only too far away for a reasonable response.
The skillful news is that the RT-AX86U comes with a two year warranty with service and support included. That'south at least 2 steps ahead of Netgear'due south 1-year warranty and 90-days of support; information technology costs $fourscore actress for two years of support and warranty protection. More to the point, the AIProtection Pro security updates are free and not $seventy for a yr as is the instance with Netgear's products.
Asus provides lots of DIY support with drivers and downloads besides as an extensive FAQ section. At any time, you can chat with a technician about a trouble.
Asus RT-AX86U: Verdict
It may not check all the boxes for getting the best gaming router only the Asus RT-AX86U is a peak performer that gets close to the magical 1Gbps mark. Equal parts gaming router and 1 for general use at home, the RT-AX86U not but brings Multi-Gig inputs and port aggregation to the gaming political party but it's ability to boost phone and tablet games is a big plus. While information technology tin definitely boot your play up a notch, the Asus RT-AX86U can protect the family unit's computers and network with innovative built malware and hacker defenses. Unlike competitors, the software includes lifetime updates so y'all're always a step alee of the hackers. That all adds up to the Asus RT-AX86U earning our Editors' Choice for standalone devices, making one of the best Wi-Fi routers overall, and the top option on our listing of the best gaming routers.
That said, the Asus RT-AX86U is a step behind the Netgear Nighthawk XR1000 in pushing the online gaming envelope. While the RT-AX86U has the advantage on moving raw information around and excels with ii years of warranty protection, support and security updates, (something that Netgear charges $150 for), it falls brusque by defective geo-fencing and a latency map of gaming servers. Notwithstanding, the toll makes the Asus RT-AX86U is a steal for those who have to pinch pennies while working on the virtual farm or stopping in at a new Pokemon gym.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/asus-rt-ax86u
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