Netgear nighthawk x6s ex8000 review in Spanish (full analysis)

Today's best wireless systems go through modern multi-node "mesh" systems repeating the same wireless signal throughout our home or office. Netgear offers us with the Netgear Nighthawk X6S EX8000 a good part of the advantages of these systems in a resounding repeater that we can use with our existing router, such as the one provided by our fiber operator, expanding its coverage and benefits.

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We appreciate Netgear's trust in the loan of the product for its analysis:

Netgear Nighthawk X6S EX8000 specs

However, the Nighthawk X6S allows us to enjoy the best performance of the Orbi range with any router or access point that supports the 802.11k standard that regulates the negotiation capacity of different network nodes within the same SSID and in multiple channels. In theory, since we will now put it to the test, it is to enjoy a good part of the benefits of the Orbi range with Netgear mesh technology, but without the need to change the router.

Processor and Ethernet switch

The Netgear EX8000 Wifi Extender, also called the X6S Nighthawk (not to be confused with the router) is equipped with world-class wireless technology and a truly capable processor.

We can find inside a Qualcomm IPQ4019 quad-core processor with 720MHz frequency. It is not the best of Qualcomm, which now opts for dual-core and high frequency processors for network solutions, but it is within the highest range that we can find in this type of integrated.

It's not a router, it doesn't need as much processing power, but this access point / repeater is anything but conventional. It comes, for example, with 1 28MB of RAM and 32MB for system firmware.

The same processor is capable of offering us up to four Gigabit Ethernet ports, accompanied by a chipset for the Qualcomm Atheros QCA8075 switch, and is also capable of supporting one of the two Wifi networks that this device has. Specifically, the one that supports both the 2.4 and 5.2GHz bands.

Wifi features and others

The SOC Qualcoomm IPQ4019 itself has a 2 × 2 antenna configuration capable of developing up to 867mbps of bandwidth in 5GHz Wifi-AC mode and up to 400mbps of bandwidth in 2.4GHz Wifi-N mode. The second Wifi chip has an even greater capacity. It is a powerful Qualcomm Atheros QCA9984 in a Wifi-AC configuration of 4 × 4 antennas with a maximum speed of 1733Mbps.

The Netgear EX8000 Nighthawk X6S supports technologies like Wave2, MU-MIMO, 256QM and DFS in both master and slave mode. Additionally, it supports the use of a USB 2.0 port that we can use as a network server for USB printers or also for shared storage and DLNA multimedia servers.

These technologies guarantee us to be able to support the most modern devices on the market and legacy support for those devices that we have older or with less capacity, such as the incipient growth of IoT home automation devices that we mount at home in the form of surveillance cameras, sensors, plugs, etc.

Simple installation

The hardware is undoubtedly impressive, but as much or more is the simple way with which Netgear allows managing its operation for any user, with or without experience managing this type of device. We start with the installation of the Netgear Nighthawk X6S EX8000 Wifi Extender !

To connect to it we will only have to access the open wireless network that it generates by default, once connected to it the wizard will run automatically and in a few steps we can protect our network or connect the repeater to our router or main access point.

It allows two modes of use, as a traditional access point that we connect by Ethernet to our network and that offers us great support and coverage in the latest wireless technologies. We will choose our SSID, one or two if we want to separate names by frequency band, password, etc. It has nothing that other access points do not have except that here we will have all the technologies described above and link up to 1733mbps.

The second mode, that of repeater, is the one that also requires support from our router (any Wifi-AC should be compatible with the 802.11k standard that this repeater requires) where we will connect to the wireless networks of our main router (or access point), generating a dedicated link for connectivity between points and providing the user with the same SSID and password that they normally use.

The access point will use the same SSID, and the 802.11k standard will allow the client to be assigned the network with the best coverage at all times without the need to know frequency bands or the need to reconnect to the network. Everything will be transparent to all users on the network, more or less powerful.

For this configuration, the router has an assistant that we can use both from a mobile phone and from any browser on any computer with any operating system. In a few steps it will detect our nearby networks, connect to them, configure itself in an IP within our local network and generate all the necessary configurations for its proper functioning. It takes less than 3 minutes and is designed so that anyone can mount a high-quality repeater without having to know anything about wireless networks.

It has some advanced features, not many, quite useful. One that I especially like, for access control tasks, allows us to choose periods during which the repeater is active. Thus we can easily control the hours of use of the Wifi of the users.

Performance and scope

The router assistant, combined with Netgear's Wifi Analytics application, will allow us to choose the perfect point to locate our repeater. As it does not require wiring, we will only have to find a properly located plug.

The vertical design of the Netgear Nighthawk X6S, with the entire integrated antenna system, allows us to place it anywhere without drawing too much attention. It even allows you to turn off the multiple activity LEDs on the front and has a solid base that we can trust and excellent coverage, as we have seen.

Final Words and Conclusion Netgear Nighthawk X6S EX8000

A 179 Euros network extender is a significant investment, there is no doubt, but when we know the technical benefits of this Netgear Nighthawk X6S EX8000 extender, and its good performance in our tests, we realize that there are times when investments they are worth it.

We do not have to change the router, it simply has to be moderately modern, it will prevent us from throwing wiring around the house, which is not always possible, and the result is infinitely better than the PLC systems that some operators install.

With its transfer capacity it will guarantee us to be able to reproduce 4k content, it will serve us to expand our wired network if we place it strategically and we can even connect a printer or a multimedia unit with which to share content.

It is a powerhouse managing wireless networks and its compact format makes it easy to install, installation that can also be done by any user, from any device, without having any idea of ​​wireless networks. A magnificent solution that I can imagine that for some it sounded like a miraculous recipe difficult to believe, to those skeptics I would tell them to give it a chance, they will not regret it.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ Outstanding Wifi Performance	- We miss a USB 3.0 port
+ Great coverage without external antennas	- Some advanced settings for experienced users are missing
+ Compatible with almost any router with Wifi-AC	- Above average price, although the benefits are also

The Professional Review team awards him the medal of:

Netgear Nighthawk X6S EX8000

DESIGN - 75%

PERFORMANCE 5 GHZ - 90%

REACH - 85%

FIRMWARE AND EXTRAS - 80%

PRICE - 80%

82%