Securifi Almond+ router review: An easy to use router that lacks some key features

Who's Securifi?

If you are hunting for a router today, there’s no shortage of brands to choose from. Users in Singapore are about to get even more spoilt for choice as Securifi’s Almond routers are now available in Singapore.

A little back story first. Securifi’s first router, the Almond, was launched in 2012, and it made waves because of its interesting design and unique touchscreen interface. Securifi also claimed that the Almond was so easy to use that users could get it up and running in just three minutes. Four years on, it is one of the most popular and well-received routers on Amazon, with over 9,400 customer views and an average rating of 4.5 stars out of 5.

A year on, Securifi launched the Almond+ router on Kickstarter and it proved to be another hit for the company. Over 7,600 Kickstarter members pledged US$855,000 to the project, which was over three times what Securifi had hoped to raise.

And finally in 2015, Securifi launched both the Almond and Almond+ routers in retail. And at the start of this year, they finally made their way to our shores. Are the Almond routers as good as they are made out to be? We find out by putting the flagship Almond+ router to the test.

The Securifi Almond+ router

At first glance, it’s easy to see that the design of the Almond+ router is heavily based on the earlier Almond router. Like the Almond router, the Almond+ router’s front-facing panel is dominated by a touchscreen. In this case, a 3.5-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Like the Almond, the Almond+ router was designed to be used in a standing position, and comes with a supporting bracket to help prop the router up. In our tests, we found the Almond+ router stands on its own quite well, even without this supporting bracket. There’s also an additional plastic mounting bracket which can be used to mount the Almond+ routers on walls.

Unlike other routers, there are no physical buttons or LED status indicators on the Almond+ router, save for a reset button that’s hidden away on the top. In the top right hand corner, users will find a stylus that’s neatly tucked away which can be used for controlling the touchscreen display. However, the touchscreen display is pretty responsive and the icons are well-sized. So unless you have really thick fingers, there's no real need for the stylus.

The ports are all located behind the router, but in a recessed area that makes accessing them a bit tricky. It will be even trickier to access them if you have the rear supporting bracket on. There’s a single Gigabit Ethernet WAN port and four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, each with their own small tiny LED status indicators, which won't be of much use because they are not visible unless you turn the router around and lift it up. There’s also two USB 3.0 ports, which is unusual but much welcomed because most routers only provide a single USB 3.0 port and another USB 2.0 port.

The Almond+ is also an AC1750-class router. This means a maximum data transfer rate of 450Mbps on its 2.4GHz network and 1,300Mbps on its 5GHz network. This is more than sufficient for today’s client devices, since very few can even support 1,300Mbps on the 5GHz band in the first place. It also supports the ZigBee and Z-Wave home automation standards. It can connect to hundreds of these sensors, and because both of these standards use a mesh network architecture, the Almond+ is able to communicate with them over a large area, as long as the sensors are placed fairly close to each other. Furthermore, because the sensors communicate over the ZigBee or Z-Wave standard, there will be no detrimental effect on Wi-Fi performance.

Inside, the Almond+ router is powered by a 750MHz dual-core Cortina Systems C7542 SoC with 512MB of RAM and another 512MB of flash. That’s a generous amount of RAM and flash, considering even the high-end Linksys WRT1900ac router only has 256MB of RAM and 128MB of flash memory. Presumably the generous amount of memory is required to power the touchscreen interface.

The touchscreen interface is quite useful and can be used to manage most of the crucial aspects of the router, like the internet connection settings and wireless network settings. And like any modern router, the Almond+ also comes with apps for mobile devices. The Almond+ app is available for iOS and Android mobile devices and it can be used to remotely manage and control the router. The nifty thing about the app is that it also receives notifications from sensors that are paired with router. So if you have door or motion sensors around the house, you could receive notifications that the door has been opened or that someone has stepped into a particular room.

Of course, to access more advanced settings, users can opt to use the Almond+ web interface, which is definitely more full featured. Like the router's touchscreen interface, the web setup interface is also colorful and easy to use. However, it is also here that it becomes apparent that the Almond+ router is lacking a number of features that are commonly found in other routers, like cloud storage functionality and parental controls. However, the Almond+ router does support OpenWRT, so more advanced users can always try out new firmware that could increase the functionality of their routers, like more advanced QoS shaping.

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 867Mbps - 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.

To evaluate the routers 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 different 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.

An important thing to note is that we will be phasing out 2.4GHz testing from our benchmarks. For one, 802.11ac is now being widely supported by most if not all mobile devices. If your device supports 802.11ac, it makes absolutely no sense to connect to the router via the slower and more congested 2.4GHz band. Speaking of congestion, our test environment currently has no less than 19 different 2.4GHz networks being broadcasted. The amount of noise and interference makes it very difficult for us to properly evaluate 2.4GHz performance. As such, we'll only be presenting performance from the 5GHz band.

Performance analysis

The Securifi Almond+ is one of the few routers to not have external antennas and it will be interesting to see how it performs. We began with the test results from LAN Speed Test and the Securifi Almond+ impressed us with its very strong uplink performance. Though it wasn’t the fastest, it was more than a match for other high-end AC1900-class routers like the ASUS RT-AC68U and the Linksys WRT1900ac. Its performance at the 5 and 13 meters range were very strong, but it faltered somewhat at 17 meters.

Unfortunately, the Almond+ router’s downlink performance was disappointing and erratic. While it began brightly at 2 meters, performance dipped drastically at 5 and 13 meters, where it recorded just around 80Mbps. At these ranges, its rivals were all easily managing more than 120Mbps. And even though the Almond+ router’s performance rebounded at the farthest test range of 17 meters, it was still the slowest router at this extreme test range.

The Securifi Almond+ router’s performance during our file download test was just as erratic as its downlink performance earlier on LAN Speed Test, showing quite clearly that the router has downlink performance issues. While the Almond+ router started promisingly at 2 meters, performance once again took a horrendous dip as we moved to 5 and later 13 meters. Performance picked up at 17 meters, despite it being our farthest test distance, which could suggest that the poor performance at 5 and 13 meters could be alleviated by repositioning the router or client.

In our performance load test, we connected two client devices to the 5GHz band and measured the time it would take to download the same 1GB file while another client device was constantly streaming data from the router. Here, the Almond+ router managed a speed of around 60Mbps, which is about 15% slower than the top performing D-Link DIR-880L. 

Nifty but pricey

Overall, the Securifi Almond+ is an interesting routers with some cool features, but also some serious flaws.

Let’s talk about these flaws first. First of all, downlink performance is woefully erratic and disappointing, and that’s a big problem because most of what we doing online - browsing the web, reading a book, or watching movies - are dependent on downlink performance. On the flip side, since downlink performance seems to be poor only at the 5 and 13 meters mark, this problem could probably be alleviated by repositioning the router or client devices. But even so, this is the most disappointing aspect of the Almond+ router as nothing is quite as infuriating as an inconsistent wireless performance.

And while the Almond+ router has cool features like the touchscreen interface and support for easy home automation, it is however lacking in other features that are now commonplace in most of its rivals. For example, parental controls is a feature that is sorely lacking in the Almond+ router. Parental controls is especially useful for parents as it allows them to manage their children’s Internet access. Other features that are missing include WPS setup and cloud storage functionality. QoS settings are also hard to get to.

And finally, there’s the price. At S$349.90, the Almond+ router is pretty expensive even if he has some nifty features. The motion sensor and window and door sensors are not cheap either, costing S$55.90 and S$41.90 respectively. Bear in mind that there are no shortage of great routers today. Brands like ASUS, D-Link, and Linksys all make great routers for similar money that offer better performance, but miss out on the Almond+ router’s touchscreen and easy to use home automation features. If performance and features like parental controls and cloud storage matter to you, there are better alternatives elsewhere.

But if these shortcomings do not bother you, we would recommend the Almond+ router for its ease of use and support for easy home automation. The touchscreen interface isn’t just a gimmick as it is genuinely useful, and the web setup interface is equally inviting and easy to use as well, thanks to the use of bright colors and clear labels. It’s also easy to add sensors and configure them, which makes installing additional sensors, and configuring your own smart home a breeze. If all you want is a router that is easy to setup or If having your own smart home setup is one of your priorities, the Almond+ router should be one of your top candidates for consideration.

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