2 x AX86U vs 2 x XT8

[RaveBoy]

Hi,

I have read the similar posts on the forum but was not able to reach a conclusion so reaching towards the community.

My curent setup:
- small apartment
- 1 x AX86U
- approx 10 IoT devices / home automations

I will move next week to a much bigger apartment that will require a mesh and will have a considerable increase in the IoT devices (2.4Ghz band), IoT devices around 40-45 IP's.

My question is:
- should I sell the AX86U (loosing money) and buy a pack of XT8 ?
- or just buy another AX86U and make a mesh of 2 x AX86U

Mentions:
- the setup will be hardwired between Router and extension.
- my internet connection is synchronous fiber - 2.5gbps
- an extra AX86U is around 200 euro
- a pack of XT8 is around 390 euro

I've read everything on the web and the AX86U is more powerful and with bigger ram but the XT8 seems that it's better with the rooming assistant ...

I've also read that there are some issues with the XT8, clients disconnecting, unstable firmware and so on. With the AX86U I had 0 issues with stability, only issues with signal passing the walls of my house.

 

[torstein]

Hi RaveBoy, and welcome to the forum. SNBforums is super great for discussing and asking for help with home networking. A lot of the senior members here are incredibly knowledgable!

It's not so great however for asking for recommendations on routers, since the majority of us are quite biased towards ASUS with Asuswrt-merlin, and especially the AX86U - the new community darling . AX68U being a very close second.

I don't have any experience with the XT8 from ASUS, some of the people here do and can give a comprehensive pros and cons list on both, but despite all that, I can almost guarantee you will get most of the recommendations in favor of the AX86U. It has full asuswrt-merlin support, it is Rmerlins new favorite toy, it will get supported for many many years, it is versatile, has super powerful hardware, and works great in AiMesh from what I've read here.

Plus you already have one AX86U, have experience with it and know how great it is. Like you wrote yourself - zero issues. Just get the second one!

Welcome to SNBForums

 

[Gustour]

Hi, i have rt-ax88u + 2 xt8 (as aimesh node), happy with my setup, but i advise you to buy only one more ax86u (or a single xt8).

Your setup is quite simple, go for the cheapest solution, don t worry you ll be happy. Hardwired backhaul is great so don't think too much

 

[maxbraketorque]

I would be surprised if a single AX86U is not enough for your needs. I have a very big house with an AC86U at one end of the house, and it covers the entire first floor. I only had to purchase a second AC86U because I wasn't getting adequate reception on the lower floor which is partially below ground. My brother has an AX86U in his medium size two floor condo, and he has no problem with range anywhere.

I recommend trying to make a single AX86U work before purchasing anything. If you normally purchase on Amazon, you could purchase a second AX86U in advance, and only open it if you find that a single AX86U is not enough.

 

[RaveBoy]

Hi RaveBoy, and welcome to the forum. SNBforums is super great for discussing and asking for help with home networking. A lot of the senior members here are incredibly knowledgable!

It's not so great however for asking for recommendations on routers, since the majority of us are quite biased towards ASUS with Asuswrt-merlin, and especially the AX86U - the new community darling . AX68U being a very close second.

I don't have any experience with the XT8 from ASUS, some of the people here do and can give a comprehensive pros and cons list on both, but despite all that, I can almost guarantee you will get most of the recommendations in favor of the AX86U. It has full asuswrt-merlin support, it is Rmerlins new favorite toy, it will get supported for many many years, it is versatile, has super powerful hardware, and works great in AiMesh from what I've read here.

Plus you already have one AX86U, have experience with it and know how great it is. Like you wrote yourself - zero issues. Just get the second one!

Welcome to SNBForums

Thank you ! I'll go with another AX86U.

PS: I'm also Asus biassed

I would be surprised if a single AX86U is not enough for your needs. I have a very big house with an AC86U at one end of the house, and it covers the entire first floor. I only had to purchase a second AC86U because I wasn't getting adequate reception on the lower floor which is partially below ground. My brother has an AX86U in his medium size two floor condo, and he has no problem with range anywhere.

I recommend trying to make a single AX86U work before purchasing anything. If you normally purchase on Amazon, you could purchase a second AX86U in advance, and only open it if you find that a single AX86U is not enough.

Good point but problem is I have slim concrete walls and the current AX86U, 5-6m away from it and a slim concrete wall apart it drops the Mac M1 connection from 1200mbps to 400mbps

Hi, i have rt-ax88u + 2 xt8 (as aimesh node), happy with my setup, but i advise you to buy only one more ax86u (or a single xt8).

Your setup is quite simple, go for the cheapest solution, don t worry you ll be happy. Hardwired backhaul is great so don't think too much

Thank you, you cleared my issues. I was thinking that 2 x xt8 are offering some advantages compared with 2 x AX86U.

I have read that combining different models ( 1 x AX86U and 1 x XT8) it's not working very good. It would have been the preferred setup as 1 AP will sit in the living room and the XT8 is much nicer than AX86U (which is not yet approved by the wife to sit in the new living room)

Thank you all for the feedbacks !

 

[OzarkEdge]

Hi,

I have read the similar posts on the forum but was not able to reach a conclusion so reaching towards the community.

My curent setup:
- small apartment
- 1 x AX86U
- approx 10 IoT devices / home automations

I will move next week to a much bigger apartment that will require a mesh and will have a considerable increase in the IoT devices (2.4Ghz band), IoT devices around 40-45 IP's.

My question is:
- should I sell the AX86U (loosing money) and buy a pack of XT8 ?
- or just buy another AX86U and make a mesh of 2 x AX86U

Mentions:
- the setup will be hardwired between Router and extension.
- my internet connection is synchronous fiber - 2.5gbps
- an extra AX86U is around 200 euro
- a pack of XT8 is around 390 euro

I've read everything on the web and the AX86U is more powerful and with bigger ram but the XT8 seems that it's better with the rooming assistant ...

I've also read that there are some issues with the XT8, clients disconnecting, unstable firmware and so on. With the AX86U I had 0 issues with stability, only issues with signal passing the walls of my house.

Keep the working AC86U. If you need to add a node, consider one with a matching 2.5 Gbps port for your wired backhaul.

OE

 

[RaveBoy]

Keep the working AC86U. If you need to add a node, consider one with a matching 2.5 Gbps port for your wired backhaul.

OE

Good point but unfortunately the wired backhaul will be locked at 1 Gbps.

On the main, I'm using the 2.5 Gbps port for my internet provider and will link the node on a normal 1 Gbps port.
It's requiring the 2.5 Gbps for the ISP as I have a 2.5 Gbps connection

 

[maxbraketorque]

...

Good point but problem is I have slim concrete walls and the current AX86U, 5-6m away from it and a slim concrete wall apart it drops the Mac M1 connection from 1200mbps to 400mbps
...

If you want to as much internet bandwidth as possible, then get the second AX86U.