NIGHTHAWK® MESH WIFI 6 SYSTEM (MK62)
Netgear's Nighthawk brand is a mainstay of the router aisle. This year, the company added a new Nighthawk-branded mesh system into the mix, complete with support for Wi-Fi 6 -- the newest, fastest version of Wi-Fi. Most intriguing of all: The two-piece Nighthawk mesh system only costs $230. That's less than you'll spend for the Nest Wifi, a well-reviewed two-piece mesh system that doesn't support Wi-Fi 6 at all.
Devices that do support Wi-Fi 6 are capable of sending and receiving data faster and more efficiently than previous-gen Wi-Fi devices. That's potentially a pretty big deal for mesh routers because the range-extending satellites that pair with the router need to pass a lot of data back and forth as you connect. That means that Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers can offer noticeably better performance for your home even if you don't use any other Wi-Fi 6 gadgets just yet. Sure enough, the Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers we've tested so far have been among the fastest mesh routers we've ever tested -- and at $230, the Netgear Nighthawk is the most affordable one yet.
I was excited to test the system out for myself -- but in the end, I came away disappointed.
Yes, the Nighthawk mesh router was plenty fast in our lab-based top speed tests -- it actually notched the fastest close-range transfer speed that we've seen from any of the mesh routers we've tested thus far, including a few models that cost twice as much. But when I took it home to conduct my real-world speed tests, things were a lot different. At several points during my tests, where I move from room to room running speed tests from various spots around my house, my speeds would plummet, forcing me to disconnect and then reconnect in order to get my speeds back up where they should be. It wasn't an issue with my network -- it was the Nighthawk router getting confused by a non-stationary client device.
Basically, the Nighthawk mesh router is brawny enough to hit impressive top speeds, but not brainy enough to maintain a steady connection as you move throughout your home. Other mesh routers I've tested have all done a much better job of optimizing my speeds -- and other surprisingly affordable Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers are coming soon, so you've got alternatives worth waiting for. All of that makes Netgear's mesh entry to the Nighthawk brand a tough system for me to recommend.
The power of the dark side
If the Nighthawk mesh router looks a little familiar, that's because it's the same basic design as the recent dual-band, budget-priced version of the Netgear Orbi mesh system, which I reviewed a few months ago. The Nighthawk takes that same boxy build with cheese grater-like heat vents on top, then paints it black, slaps a Nighthawk label on the front, and adds in support for Wi-Fi 6.
Both the router and the satellite include one spare gigabit Ethernet jack, which lets you wire the two together for faster system performance.
Tyler Lizenby/CNETI liked the small, unassuming design quite a bit back when I reviewed the Orbi, and I think it works well here, too. It's good-looking without drawing too much attention to itself, and does a good enough job of blending in that you won't feel embarrassed about keeping both devices out in the open, where they'll perform their best.
One other design upgrade of note: The Nighthawk mesh system adds a spare Ethernet jack to the back of the satellite, something that the dual-band Orbi mesh system lacks. That's useful to have in case you want a wired connection between the router and the satellite for faster system performance, or if you want to wire something like a media streamer directly to the satellite.
The Nighthawk doesn't have everything, though -- which isn't surprising given that this is a Wi-Fi 6 system on a budget. You don't get a multi-gig WAN port on the router like you do with the Netgear Orbi 6, for instance, so your incoming internet speed will be capped at 1 gigabit per second. You won't find many extra bells or whistles in the app, either. And don't even think of getting a third band to use as a dedicated backhaul for transmissions between the router and the satellites at this price.
As for specs, the Nighthawk is a dual-band AX1800 router, with the "AX" indicating that it supports Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and the "1800" indicating the combined top speeds of the two bands. As always, combined speed ratings like those are a bit misleading since you can only connect to one band at a time. Netgear claims that the 2.4GHz band can hit speeds of up to 600 Mbps and that the 5GHz band is capable of hitting speeds as high as 1,200 Mbps.
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