I'm selling my XT8's. Since IT changes so rapidly, my view on IT products for home use is that if it's not stable, and the promised features still aren't there months after launch, it's time to sell the products and move on. It likely won't get as good as promised ever, and if it ever will, it won't happen before the competition is ahead, and AX wave 2 (assuming it will come) is out. Better sell my XT8s now, versus missing out on new features and added value for competive products, which also makes them (XT8) less valuable if selling them later.
AiMesh 2.0, Wireguard VPN protocol, even such a simple thing as setting different DHCP settings (and DNS) for guest networks is still missing for the most expensive Asus products, such as my 2x Asus XT8. Or what about my previous RT-AC3200, which didn't even get AiMesh (I know, hardware was to blame, still). But 7 years old RT-AC68U has stable AiMesh 2.0.
XT8 don't have any other added value (other than hardware) than 7 years old RT-AC68U. Thats pretty strange. Creds to the old and trusty RT-AC68U. But why should I buy new Asus products when they don't work better than old products, are not prioritized over 7 year old products, and don't have any other added value that make them keep up with the competition?
I'm going back to my trusty, basic Nest Wifi. Yes, it's very basic, it relies on Google cloud services, its' WiFi is slower than XT8, Google "steals" my data etc., but it works, I don't have to reset it for every other new firmware update, and features like VPN, NAS, DNS, switching can be solved by better (than ASUSWRT) standalone products.
Maybe I'll revisit Asus later, but I must say, much hasn't happened since I owned RT-AC3200 and RT-AC68U 3-4 years ago.
(Just for the record, I don't expect new betas or stable fw between 20. december and 4. january.)