Netgear Nighthawk Review
Netgear Nighthawk is the single-router line — angular, antenna-heavy, and aimed at people who want raw speed in one box. We tested the lineup from the cheap-and-cheerful AC1750 up to the WiFi 6E flagship. Here's the honest read.
Nighthawk RAXE500
The RAXE500 adds the 6 GHz band on top of the usual 2.4 and 5 GHz, so newer phones and laptops get a wide-open lane while everything else stays on the older bands. In a busy home it's the difference between "fine" and "fast".
WiFi 6E · AXE11000 · tri-band · 8 streams
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The lineup, top to bottom
Nighthawk naming is a bit of an alphabet soup, so here's the short translation. "RAXE" means WiFi 6E. "RAX" means WiFi 6. "R" with a number is the older WiFi 5 generation. The bigger the number, the more antennas and throughput.
- RAXE500 — the WiFi 6E flagship, and our overall pick.
- Pro Gaming XR1000 — WiFi 6 with DumaOS, built around latency and QoS for gamers.
- RAX50 — the WiFi 6 sweet spot for streaming households.
- RAX20 — the affordable entry into WiFi 6.
- R6700 (AC1750) — the WiFi 5 budget warhorse that still sells by the truckload.
RAXE500 specs at a glance
| WiFi standard | WiFi 6E (802.11ax) |
|---|---|
| Bands | Tri-band (2.4 / 5 / 6 GHz) |
| Rated speed | AXE11000 — up to 10.8 Gbps |
| Coverage | ~3,500 sq ft |
| Ports | 1× 2.5G WAN, 5× Gigabit LAN, 2× USB 3.0 |
| Processor | 1.8 GHz quad-core |
| Best for | Power users with 6E-capable devices |
What we liked, what we didn't
Pros
- 6 GHz band is genuinely fast and uncluttered
- Holds speed well across a full house
- Strong port selection, including 2.5G WAN
- Mature, stable firmware
Cons
- Big, and not exactly subtle on a shelf
- You only feel 6E if your devices support it
- The best features sit behind the paid app tier
Who it's for
Buy a Nighthawk if your home is covered by one well-placed router and you'd rather not run a mesh. Gamers and heavy streamers in apartments or small houses are the core audience. If you've got thick walls, three floors, or persistent dead zones, stop here and read the Orbi mesh review instead — one router won't fix geography.
Nighthawk vs the competition
Against ASUS, Nighthawk trades some gamer-focused software polish for a calmer interface and lower prices. Against TP-Link, it generally wins on long-term firmware support. We break the matchups down in full on the Netgear vs competitors page.
The RAXE500 is the Nighthawk to beat. If 6E is overkill for your gear, the RAX50 gets you most of the way for noticeably less.