Netgear Nighthawk X4: A Wireless 802.11ac router on steroids

The Next Generation of WiFi

There is an old saying that says that numbers don’t lie. Oh, but they do. Let us ask you this question: Which class of router is faster, AC-3200 or AC-2400? If you picked the former, chances are, you did not read our guide to Wireless 802.11ac networking.

As we explained, for those who want the absolute fastest wireless connection, AC-2400 routers are the way to go because they offer a maximum data transfer rate of 1733Mbps. AC-3200 routers, if you are wondering, offer a maximum of 1300Mbps, but they broadcast two separate 5GHz bands - hence the AC-3200 rating. However, we also talked about the current limitations of AC-2400 routers. The most glaring being that there is currently no device in the market that has a compatible chipset to take advantage of all that speed. Still, if you want future proofing and the best in terms of sheer speed, AC-2400 routers are the way to go.

Not wanting to be left out of the game, the latest AC-2400 routers that we are looking at today come from Netgear, which has been steadily carving a reputation for making very fast routers. Its older AC-1900 Smart WiFi router (also known as the R7000) was highly acclaimed and well received, so let's see if its successor can fill those big shoes. 

Design & Features

Along with ASUS, Netgear has been carving a reputation for delivering fast routers. Its last flagship Nighthawk router, the AC-1900 Smart WiFi router, was well received and offered a blend of great performance and features, and Netgear will be hoping to build on its success with the new Nighthawk X4 (also known as the R7500).

The Nighthawk X4 is Netgear’s first AC-2400 router and it shares a lot of the same components as its competitors in this class. Powering the router is Qualcomm’s dual-core IPQ8064 processor, which runs at 1.4GHz, and it uses Quantenna’s QSR1000 chipset on its 5GHz radio. The QSR1000 is the first chipset in the world to support four spatial stream, allowing the Nighthawk X4 to deliver a maximum data transfer rate of 1733Mbps on its 5GHz band. The 2.4GHz radio is powered by Qualcomm’s QCA9880 chipset.

In terms of design, the new Nighthawk X4 looks very much like the older R7000. It retains its trapezoidal shape, which looks modern and is entirely befitting of its high-end positioning. However, it is also very large, and at three-quarters of a kilogram, also very heavy. In keeping with its upsized design cues, the Nighthawk X4 also has four extra-large external antennas that measure around 16cm long each. On the top panel is a row of LED indicators, which can be turned off if users find it too distracting, and also two buttons for WPS setup and to turn the Wi-Fi off.

Behind, users will find the usual assortment of a single Gigabit WAN port and four Gigabit LAN ports. There’s also a switch to turn off the LED indicators, a power button and a reset button. The Nighthawk X4 also comes with two USB 3.0 ports and a single eSATA port for connecting external storage devices and printers, and these are located at the two sides. This is a first as most routers typically only have a single USB 3.0 port and another USB 2.0 port or a USB 2.0 and eSATA combo port. The positioning of these ports is both good and bad. On one hand, it is much more easier to access them; but on the other, connecting devices to these ports would break up the Nighthawk’s good looks.

Setting up the Nighthawk X4 is easy as the router comes mostly preconfigured. A sticker on the router indicates its SSID and also its password. If you are not a fussy user, you could use it straight out of the box. There’s also a Genie app available for iOS and Android devices for free on their respective app stores. However, the app is limited in its use and it is missing some features that are found on the router’s web browser interface. For example, using the app we could only edit settings of the 2.4GHz band and not the 5GHz band. Also, advanced features such as port forwarding, dynamic DNS and VPN can only be accessed using the web browser and not the app. That said, the app is not entirely useless. It can be used as a quick way to check your network map and see what devices are connected to the router and it can also be used to monitor your traffic. The web browser interface is fairly straightforward to use and navigate and the router has all of the features that you would expect from a high-end router, including port forwarding, VPN support, advanced wireless settings and more. But despite the router's powerful hardware, we found setting it up to be a bit sluggish as compared to its rivals.

One interesting feature of the Nighthawk X4 is its QoS feature. Called Dynamic QoS, the Nighthawk X4 is able to recognize and differentiate between different applications and is able to prioritize them on the fly. For example, Netgear claims it is able to distinguish even between different video streaming services - those with adaptive bitrate and those without - and is able to allocate bandwidth accordingly to ensure the best video streaming experience. The reason Dynamic QoS is able to do so is because it keeps a database of applications which must be updated periodically to ensure the best performance. Fortunately users can setup the Nighthawk X4 to do so automatically.

Test Setup

Our routine test setup includes a desktop PC, the reviewed router, and a laptop to simulate a wireless home network. The desktop system takes on the role of a host machine, while the router acts as a gateway. And lastly, an external Wireless 802.11ac adapter attached to the notebook is used to fulfill the role of a wireless remote client. The router is locked down in N-only mode for the 2.4GHz band, and 802.11ac for the 5GHz band, mainly to prevent the use of varying 802.11 standards. Typically, a channel bandwidth of 40MHz is selected where applicable, while 80MHz is used for the 5GHz AC band.

We'll be using Netgear's A6200 802.11ac USB adapter for our throughput tests to reduce the number of variables involved. The Netgear A6200 USB adapter supports up to two spatial streams for a maximum data transfer rate of 866Mbps - the maximum for USB adapters currently. Hence, if your system has a more advanced wireless chipset that supports three spatial streams, you can expect even higher speeds.

Here is a graphical representation of our network test setup.

To evaluate, we will be using a mix of synthetic benchmarks and real-world testing. The synthetic benchmark we are using is called Lan Speed Test. As for real-world testing, we will be measuring the routers’ speeds in transferring a 1GB zip file. We will do multiple tests at difference distances to simulate use around a typical home. For the 5GHz band, we also measured how performance is affected if two clients are connected and uploading and downloading data at the same time. Here are the test distances we used and what they represent.

• 2m - Right beside the router.
• 5m - In the adjacent room.
• 13m - In the room opposite.
• 17m - To simulate extreme distances.

2.4GHz Performance

On the 2.4GHz band, the Netgear Nighthawk X4 exhibited very strong downlink performance, being mostly quicker than the ASUS RT-AC87U. Its performance at the 13m range was exceptionally strong. However, we also noticed that performance dipped quite drastically when going from 13m to 17m. The drop in performance from 13m to 17m was almost 50%. Its performance on our file transfer test was also very encouraging as it was faster than the ASUS RT-AC87U overall.

Uplink speeds, on the other hand, was significantly more lackluster. Performance held steady at 2m and 5m, but dropped significantly when going from 5m to 13m, and even more when going from 13m to 17m. At 17m, it was uploading data at just 1.31Mbps, which is really poor. In comparison, at the 17m range, the ASUS and Linksys routers managed 10.14Mbps and 4.75Mbps respectively.

5GHz Performance

On the 5GHz band, the Netgear Nighthawk X4’s performance was quite impressive. Downlink speeds were generally very good, besting the ASUS RT-AC87U, and it also exhibited very good range. While other routers were tapering off, the Nighthawk X4 continued to maintain pretty consistent downlink speeds. This finding was confirmed in our real world file transfer tests too, although its performance stuttered somewhat at 13m.

However, uplink speeds were not as good. At 2m, it was comparable with the ASUS RT-AC87U, but from there on, it started to fade quite quickly. Looking at the graphs, we noticed that uplink performance suffered the most when going from 13m to 17m. This was quite peculiar as its downlink performance was generally very strong.

As for its performance under load, the Nighthawk X4 achieved the best result with a recorded speed of 80Mbps, which represents a 5% and 10% lead over the Linksys E8350 and ASUS RT-AC87U respectively.

Fast but Expensive

All things considered, the Netgear’s new flagship Nighthawk X4 is a fine AC-2400 router. Though large and heavy, its design is appealing and fitting for an enthusiast-grade router. It is also one of the few routers to offer two USB 3.0 ports, which should come in handy for users who want to connect external storage devices to the router for wireless backups. Setup was easy and straightforward and there are lots of advanced options for enthusiasts to tweak and fiddle around with, though the interface felt a bit sluggish on a whole.

On the performance front, we were impressed with the Nighthawk X4’s downlink speeds and the range it exhibited, over both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz band. Overall, its downlink performance is the most impressive amongst the three AC-2400 routers we have reviewed thus far - besting both the ASUS RT-AC87U and Linksys E8350. Unfortunately, the Nighthawk X4’s downlink performance was not matched by its uplink performance. Across both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, we noticed that its uplink performance suffered quite significantly at 13m onwards - though this was to a lesser extent on the 5GHz band.

AC-2400 routers cost a pretty penny, but at S$469, the Nighthawk X4 is the most expensive by far. In comparison, the ASUS RT-AC87U and Linksys E8350 routers that we reviewed earlier are significantly more affordable (relatively speaking, of course) at S$399. Whether this premium is justified depends very much on your usage. As our benchmarks have indicated, the Nighthawk X4 exhibited the highest downlink speeds that we have recorded thus far - especially at extreme ranges. And for the most part, downlink performance is more important to users - streaming movies, downloading files, loading websites are dependent on downlink speeds. However, if you need to share files over your network regularly or if you need to backup over Wi-Fi (or to some cloud services) often, then the Nighthawk X4’s uplink speeds might disappoint you. Additionally, the Nighthawk X4 lacks cloud storage functionality - a feature found on most high-end routers today.

To summarize then, if downlink speeds are your highest priority and you can live without a cloud storage functionality, then the Nighthawk X4 would not disappoint. But if you need a more well-rounded router, the ASUS RT-AC87U is arguably the more practical and affordable option.

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