Netgear AX1800 4G LTE WiFi Router
A new, next-gen, Netgear Nighthawk. We have great expectations!
Netgear’s Nighthawk range has historically impressed us with its powerful performance in the upper mid-range tier of the Wi-Fi world. Now here’s a new Wi-Fi 6 model and it’s got built-in 4G connectivity to boot. Will this mid-range maestro be the mainstream product to buy? No, is the answer.
The Nighthawk LAX20 goes for the wedge-shaped spaceship approach to design. It’s not small, with its tapered front end widening to 29cm to form a not-inconsiderable derrière. This further extends to 37cm with the two antennae adding additional width like some ill-advised cowboy chaps on a ballgown at the Oscars. There are two sockets at the rear to add antennae for the 4G, but these aren’t included. All of this would be forgivable if size equated to performance, but what’s delivered is unforgivable.
The LAX20 is rated at dualband, AX1800 speeds (600Mbps 2.4GHz, 1,200Mbps 5GHz band), which is at the budget end of the spectrum and not ideal for a mid-range model. We ran our regular tests that see us download large video files from a Synology
DiskStation 1019+ NAS connected to the router on the ground floor of a three-storey Sydney townhouse, to a Wi-Fi 6-equipped Dell XPS 15 OLED laptop. We do this up close, one floor up and then two floors up. Up close it managed a pitiful transfer rate of just 213.3Mbps. This is in line with poor, budget, last-generation mesh systems. One floor up it scored just 91Mbps. This isn’t the worst score but is back of the pack pace-wise. Two floors up it managed 50.5Mbps, which is mediocre. In its defence, as 4G-enabled routers go, it has the best performance at range, but the next best choice is the Tenda AC1200 4G+, which scored 392, 30 and 23Mbps respectively and costs less-than one-third as much. Hmmm.
Then there’s the set-up. Downloading the Nighthawk app and going through the motions is typically straightforward. However, be sure to have your 4G SIM ready to go – along with network log-in details that might not have been provided – as you’ll be prompted to set that up first. If you skip it to prioritise a wired connection you’ll need to run through the entire setup process again when you add 4G. Once up and running, you’re left with an app that does virtually nothing. You can monitor and pause connected devices, turn on a Guest network and… that’s it. Edge security by Bitdefender is offered but you only get a one-month, trial subscription. Basic web-browserbased settings succeed in little more than bamboozling you with jargon. The advanced settings include some USB storage settings, weird QoS controls, ham-fisted access scheduling and some basic port forwarding controls.
Connectivity includes the usual four Gigabit LAN ports, Gigabit WAN and a USB 2.0 port. The nanoSIM slot is a bit fiddly and we almost lost the card inside the devices body.
At $499 it’s a positioned in the upper mid-range but its performance and feature-set are bottom-end budget. There are better choices to be found everywhere, frankly. Avoid.
Overpriced, oversized, underpowered and underfeatured.