In house networking, larger isn’t at all times higher. Anyone who has frolicked with the diminutive Eero or Ubiquiti AmpliFi routers can attest to this. Case in level: The Linksys Hydra Pro 6E is a reasonably large router, although it doesn’t really feel prefer it, but it looks like Linksys put stability forward of blasting information each which method however free.

In the a number of days I spent with it as my major router, simply from a community stability perspective, the one noticeable distinction between it and my regular WiFi 5-based mesh setup was that issues appeared to occur a contact quicker. My community, thoughts you, is nearly all 802.11ac (WiFi 5’s extra technical designation) units, so the enhancements I noticed weren’t the results of WiFi 6E and even WiFi 6 enhancements. But I wouldn’t, personally, take into account this for my major router, but. Before I get to why, let’s go over some particulars.

We’ve reviewed the opposite WiFi 6E routers which might be a part of the primary wave to be licensed by the WiFi Alliance, together with the Linksys mesh Atlas Max 6E, the Asus ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000, and Netgear’s Nighthawk RAXE500. There are positively some drawbacks to think about for all the WiFi 6E routers now in the marketplace—most importantly, their excessive worth—and the identical is true of the Hydra Pro.

Pretty Design and Plenty of Ports

The Hydra Pro 6E, which is now delivery to prospects who’ve ordered from the Linksys website, is a broad, flattish unit with a fairly good, minimalist look that belies its dimension. At simply shy of 11 inches vast, it’s really wider than the beefy Asus Rapture. Front to again it measures about 7 inches, making it a bit simpler to suit on a desk or shelf. It has 4 broad antennas that may be rotated ahead and again, a prime that’s all vents with a convex floor, and a shiny entrance with one slit of blue mild beaming out when it’s on-line and functioning. It’s a nice-looking router: The design language that Linksys has been utilizing these days has been an unlimited enchancment over the chunky blue-and-black containers of their previous. The solely factor I don’t actually like about it, bodily, is the chunky exterior energy provide that hates sharing an influence strip with the rest.

But you’re proper; it doesn’t matter if it’s fairly. So let’s speak in regards to the gear within the rear: On the bottom of the router, you’re going to search out 4 gigabit ethernet ports, a single, horizontal USB 3.0 port, a reset button as a substitute of a pinhole, and a rocker-style energy change. Oh, and a 5 GbE WAN port! Why, you ask, do I care a couple of 5 GbE WAN port, when all of the LAN ports are measly gigabit? That is a few previous timey considering, pal. This is a WiFi 6E router! It’s acquired multi-gigabit speeds by way of the air! Who wants these LAN ethernet ports, anyway?

The reply, in fact, is loads of individuals. It’s unusual that Linksys opted for a 5 GbE WAN port and selected to restrict all of the LAN ports to gigabit. After all, the overwhelming majority of individuals have sub-gigabit web and might’t really reap the benefits of that WAN port, whereas a 2.5Gb-or-better LAN port is legitimately helpful for different functions on a neighborhood community! Internally, the router’s 1.8 GHz quad-core processor is nearly definitely the identical Broadcom BCM4908 processor that’s driving most, if not all, of the present batch of WiFi 6E (and a few WiFi 6) routers in the marketplace. This means it’s greater than highly effective sufficient to push information shortly by way of its huge pipes, but it surely does so with half the RAM of a few of its friends, just like the Asus ROG Rapture or the Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500, which each boast 1GB of RAM.

Let’s Talk Performance

At shut vary, utilizing a WiFi 6E-supported Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, I noticed switch speeds of over 1.8 Gbps, which is sort of twice the velocity you’d anticipate over a gigabit wired connection. Those switch checks had been going to my M1 MacBook Air, which was hardwired with a Plugable 2.5 GbE USB-C adapter. Performing the identical checks wirelessly with one other Galaxy S21 Ultra because the server on the identical 6 GHz band, switch speeds had been primarily half that. This is is to be anticipated, as wi-fi transmission is a half duplex affair, which means if the router is transferring information to a second system on the identical band, it’s going to divide the bandwidth between them. There are methods to make this much less of a problem: OFDMA and MU-MIMO, two strategies that work to divvy up channels into sub-channels within the case of the previous, and transmit to a number of units without delay for the latter, in principle may enable for full-duplex wi-fi transmission that extra intently resembles the work a community change performs, however we are not quite there yet. 

The bother with WiFi 6E is that these speeds come courtesy of the newly opened, higher-frequency 6 GHz band. If you’ve explored the technical aspect of wifi in any respect, you possible know that decrease frequencies transmit higher by way of strong objects and over lengthy distances—this implies a extra steady connection, and is without doubt one of the the explanation why so many low-bandwidth IoT units are designed solely to work on the two.4 GHz band. The quickest band till now for regular WiFi 6 units is the 5 GHz band. It’s much less crowded than 2.4 GHz and able to larger throughput, however is proscribed in its vary. The 6 GHz band, being a good larger frequency, goes to be much more range-limited, and it reveals on this and different WiFi 6E routers I’ve checked out.

In testing the Hydra Pro I noticed wildly quick wi-fi speeds on the 6 GHz band when in the identical room with it, and precipitous drops upon leaving that room, averaging 427.5 Mbps in checks 25 toes out in my eating room. It’s nonetheless quicker than comparable velocity checks performed with WiFi 6 on the 5 MHz band, which noticed a mean 282.13 Mbps utilizing a WiFi 6-capable M1 MacBook Air. This was additionally true out to about 45 toes, after I continued testing in my yard. It’s straightforward to really feel impressed by this.

However, after I referred again to testing information from the gaming router comparability piece I did final 12 months, I discovered that the still-excellent WiFi 5 Netgear XR500 approached Hydra Pro’s WiFi 6E numbers at 45 toes (265.23 Mbps vs 357.83 Mbps respectively). Sticking to simply the 5 GHz band, in case you evaluate the XR500’s numbers to the Hydra Pro’s WiFi 6 throughput, issues get even much less favorable for the brand new Linksys router, with the XR500 popping out on prime in all however the closest checks.

The gaming-focused XR500 additionally boasts nearly twice the vary, so maybe this isn’t precisely a good comparability. That mentioned, it does illustrate the advantages of utilizing the pristine, uncrowded 6 GHz band. And within the Hydra Pro column, we additionally see excellent WiFi 6 efficiency on the two.4 GHz band—thanks, presumably, to WiFi 6 enhancements—with the Linksys demolishing the Netgear. Still, 2.4 GHz and up-close 6 GHz efficiency however, most individuals’s bandwidth-hungry units function on the 5 GHz band, utilizing the WiFi 5 protocol, and right here yow will discover many incredible and less expensive plain WiFi 6 routers and even WiFi 5 routers that outdo this Linksys unit.

Speaking of gaming routers, I performed some on-line video games with the Hydra Pro, and I discovered it to be first rate, however not astonishing. You ought to typically play on-line video games with a hardwired connection, however there are those that merely don’t have that selection. For that utility, the Hydra Pro 6E appears advantageous, although throughout a few gaming periods whereas others had been in the home utilizing the web, I did see some pretty unhealthy lag spikes. I noticed some enchancment after I turned on the system prioritization settings, with lag spikes not fairly so disruptive; in any other case, subsequent periods had been much more steady, and my ping stayed pretty constantly within the 60-90 ms vary when related to official servers. On the entire, whereas the Hydra Pro is unquestionably not for anybody with skilled gaming aspirations, it’s definitely advantageous for extra informal on-line play.

Configuring Your Router

On the software program aspect, I discovered the Linksys UI—each the browser and the cell variations—to be very easy and simple to grasp, if restricted in what it lets you do. This isn’t a foul factor for most individuals, as a result of the sort of superior configuration a community admin may need to do is just out of attain for a standard particular person. That mentioned, it’s not like Linksys hasn’t allowed customers to take extra management up to now. The Linksys MR9000, as an example, helps you to click on an obscure hyperlink on the backside proper of the display merely titled “CA” brings you to a wealth of admin-style choices.

The Hydra Pro is clearly focusing on solely the final shopper section, as the one extra choice you get once you click on that hyperlink is a tab underneath the Connectivity settings menu labeled “Velop Setup”, which helps you to add nodes, in case you determine you need to get one other Velop system and make a mesh community. If you favor a cell app, theirs is nice, although it may use a bit extra tweaking. Looking by way of the menus, as an example, might be considerably annoying, as tapping the again button from sure pages can take you all the way in which again to the house web page, so in case you’re looking for a particular setting, you could have to repeatedly reopen the settings menu.

To Buy Or Not to Buy?

I discover the Linksys Hydra Pro 6E to be a considerably complicated product. It doesn’t actually decide to the “Pro” moniker, which might be advantageous aside from that worth. At $500, I’d hope for longer vary, higher throughput, decrease latency or some extra granular configuration choices. At the second, it’s additionally missing a number of the network-level security measures which might be loved by customers of a lot of Linksys’ earlier routers, although they do intend to convey these options to the Hydra Pro.

Right now, for considerably much less cash, you should purchase WiFi 6, and even some WiFi 5, routers that carry out roughly on par with this one, barring these unobtainable up-close 6 GHz speeds. For only a contact more cash, you’ll be able to decide up some strikingly-fast routers with significantly-boosted vary, much better gaming efficiency, and nice total efficiency on all bands – not simply the 6 GHz band. I’m certain it’s incredible as a part in a Velop setup, however once more, for $500… why? The Linksys Hydra Pro 6E is sweet; if somebody gave one to me, I’d be completely happy with it. But boy, in case you then instructed me the worth, my eyes may fall out of my cranium.