Review: Netgear R7000 Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi Router

Introduction and design

The Netgear R7000 Nighthawk is a router that squeezes as much as possible onto the specification list. With a reasonably high price of £165 (US$184, AU$255), it's a high-end model, and it comes with a 1GHz dual-core processor. It supports triple-stream 802.11ac connections for up to a (theoretical) 1300Mbps, with TurboQAM supported over 802.11n, which means you can get 200Mbps per stream, rather than the standard 150Mbps, provided your computer's wireless adaptor supports it.

The Netgear R7000 also sports a black and dark grey angular design that looks rather cool, in my opinion. Quite clearly the product's name comes from the similar look of the US military's Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth bomber, which utilises similar dark colouring and sharp angles to avoid radar detection. Even the antennas are polygon shaped.

It isn't hard to see why Netgear has done this. Routers are, by nature, boring devices. They're an essential part of the plumbing for your home computing environment, but when they're working well, they don't get in your way and are forgotten about.

The market is incredibly crowded as well. Dozens of electronics manufacturers are churning out routers, many of which are high quality. So to inject some sense of personality and uniqueness to products, a memorable name and bold design works wonders. That's exactly why AVM's Fritz! Box routers have such a novel colour scheme.

There are twelve white LEDs on the front of the R7000, each twinkling on and off to show the state of various router functions such as 2.4GHz wireless, 5GHz, USB connectivity, power, and so on. Twelve seems slightly excessive, but at least they aren't retina-burning bright blue. And as I found out later, they can be turned off.

Connectivity

You get a USB 3.0 port at the front and a USB 2.0 port at the back, with four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports and another for WAN. There's an air vent on each side, which looks good, although it could easily attract a lot of dust over time.

But a flashy appearance and snazzy name are worthless without high performance and well-designed software, and I'm pleased that the Netgear R7000 ticks these boxes, too (for the most part).

Interface

When I first ventured into the Netgear R7000's software interface, the basic design and sparse white appearance made me immediately think of the poor software used on the bog-standard routers that used to be given away by ISPs ten years ago. It doesn't look like much, the menus are fairly basic, and there's a minimal amount of graphics used. It's no patch on the rich visual design used on the Linksys EA6900, for example.

But unlike the software used on those aforementioned slow, ugly and cheap plastic boxes that are best forgotten, the R7000's software is perfectly adequate. The front page presents a set of widgets which provide a quick overview of your internet connection status, wireless password, connected devices, parental controls, USB storage and your guest network.

Click on the advanced tab and a lot more detail is provided about the router, such as DHCP status, IP addresses, wireless channels and so on.

There's a fairly standard setup wizard, and as with most other modern high-end routers, the R7000 works perfectly well if you already have another DHCP server on your network. It cleverly switches to a 172.* IP address to avoid conflicts with the usual 192.* address that routers hand out by default.

Live parental controls are configured via a combination of router settings and a Mac or Windows software client download, and are offered for free since they're based on OpenDNS. This is notable because with some routers you have to pay after a certain time, or for more comprehensive coverage.

Tools such as port forwarding, dynamic DNS, IPv6 settings, VPN and a basic traffic meter are found under the Advanced Setup tab. USB storage can be configured for FTP access, or as a network share.

Wireless setup allows changing wireless speeds and channel, but not between 20/40/80 MHz frequencies. If you don't yet have a laptop that can handle 802.11ac, the 5GHz frequency can be used for 802.11n.

Wireless performance

I tested the Netgear R7000 using a 2013 MacBook Pro on both 5GHz 802.11ac and 2.4GHz 802.11n at one metre and 10 metre distances.

At 10 metres, my test laptop was in the garden, with clear line of sight to the router. To shake things up a bit, I also tested performance upstairs at the far end of the house, with a thick wall and floor in between, which is more indicative of real-world use.

A crucial factor in 802.11ac performance is the number of streams your wireless client can handle. Most laptops come with 2x2 wireless adaptors. Each stream can manage 433 Mb/s, so even with a 3x3 router, you'll be limited to a theoretical maximum of 866 Mb/s. Hence the reason for using a MacBook Pro, as the 2013 version has 3x3 wireless, unlike Apple's MacBook Air, or the majority of PC laptops, although I expect this will change soon.

The short range 802.11ac results were astoundingly good. A peak transfer rate of 71MB/s is up there with the best 802.11ac routers on the market. Although this drops off quite heavily at range, down to 23MB/s at 10 metres, and 11MB/s in a far room, these speeds are comparable with other routers on the market. Crucially, they're more than enough for streaming HD video.

On 802.11n it's equally promising. 20MB/s is really excellent for 2.4GHz wireless at short range, and the Netgear R7000 maintained a steady 9MB/s at the far end of the house.

While that's quite a drop off, other routers have barely managed 3MB/s in an identical test, so expect perfectly good long-range performance from the Netgear R7000.

Verdict

The Netgear R7000 Nighthawk Smart Wi-Fi Router has good looks and a cool name, but as always it's what's on the inside that really counts.

We liked

Aesthetics are always a personal issue, so you may disagree with my assessment, but the design, sharp angles and deep colours are unique without being an eyesore. The lack of any glossy plastic on the router is another bonus.

The wireless performance is excellent, at both short and long range, matching the best 802.11ac routers I've tested and also performing well on 802.11n.

Bonus points are due for the good, free parental control implementation.

We disliked

The software interface is crying out for the touch of a graphic designer and UX expert. While all the options you'll need are present, the layout and style is very dated. Firms such as Asus and Linksys are light years ahead with interactive, dynamic web pages. It's hardly user friendly.

As with nearly all 802.11ac routers, I wish it wasn't quite so pricey. You can get a functional 802.11n router for next to nothing these days, so the expense of 802.11ac is tough to swallow. Bear in mind, though, that the Netgear R7000 is far from the most expensive 802.11ac router on the market, when some cost £250.

Final verdict

Although the R7000 is fast, it costs around the same amount as the Linksys EA6900 and the Asus RT-AC68U. Their routers don't look as good, but have much better software. Therefore my preference edges across to them slightly.

But the R7000 is still a fine router. Even if it's not the best on the market, it's unlikely to disappoint, and is a worthy investment if you shop around for a deal.

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