AX86U or XT8 (2 pack)?

[tcn]

Stay away from XT8. I am almost to the point of selling the damn things and go with another mesh system that actually works. I am using them tri-band, 2.5G wired backhaul in AP mode.

I still get frequent disconnections; 2.4G is just not working anymore for my IoT …. There is no joy in dropping WIFI while in the middle of a meeting.

I admit there is a whole lot of WIFI things around; bluetooth, phones (not cell phones, DECT phones) etc. But the things should be able to navigate around them especially when there are two units working together.

 

[uriel250]

Stay away from XT8. I am almost to the point of selling the damn things and go with another mesh system that actually works. I am using them tri-band, 2.5G wired backhaul in AP mode.

I still get frequent disconnections; 2.4G is just not working anymore for my IoT …. There is no joy in dropping WIFI while in the middle of a meeting.

I admit there is a whole lot of WIFI things around; bluetooth, phones (not cell phones, DECT phones) etc. But the things should be able to navigate around them especially when there are two units working together.

Ouch. Oh well, so many mixed reviews as I said


Maybe you can give a try to 2x AX86U and see how it works Keep me updated if you do so.

By the way, why don't you return it?

 

[RogerSC]

Do you use wireless or wired backhaul?

And regarding your previous comment, I meant higher latency when comparing 2x AX86U in mesh wireless backhaul (because its dual band) to XT8 (Which is tri-band with dedicated band for mesh).

I use wireless backhaul.

We have MoCA here, but have been looking for the fastest (affordable) mesh for wireless backhaul since I don't trust the MoCA to survive forever. MoCA works well at the moment, but if it fails (old coax cables and connectors) I want to have a mesh in place that operates well with wireless backhaul. The ZenWiFi AX is the best I've tried using wireless backhaul, very happy with it.

 

[tcn]

Ouch. Oh well, so many mixed reviews as I said


Maybe you can give a try to 2x AX86U and see how it works Keep me updated if you do so.

By the way, why don't you return it?

No, I would buy something else than Asus; I lost my faith.

I can’t return the units because like others, I was always hoping the next update would fix everything. I now believe they are selling proof on concept to rush things to be first.

8 months later and they are still not working.……. this is why I have to keep or sell…..

 

[jpthsd]

No disagreement in principle. However....

The XT8 fronthaul radio is 2x2 which means it tops out at 866Mbps using 80mhz channel width.
The AX86u has a 4x4 radio which means it can top out at 1.73Gbps using 80mhz channel width.
So given the same 80Mhz channel width, the 4x4 radio on the AX86u provides 2x the bandwidth of the XT8 fronthaul with MU-MIMO.
A pair of AX86u sharing 1.73Gbps between fronthaul & backhaul nets you effectively 866Mbps for each haul in worst case scenario - the same performance as the XT8 fronthaul. Assuming conditions are good enough between the units to achieve that link rate.

EDIT: Actually you can also SHARE the 2nd 5Ghz radio on the XT8 between fronthaul/backhaul, so there is some advantage there.

IMO from an Wi-Fi perspective, the benefit of the XT8 comes into play when you have 3 or more of them, when the backhaul can be more fully utilized. Since you're not going to get any better performance with 2 units, the decision maker might be cost.

BTW the AX86u also has a better 3x3 radio on the 2.4Ghz band. In theory the extra spatial stream capacity there could improve either performance or Wi-Fi range/coverage. I also prefer the antennas on the AX86u, you can tweak the positioning a bit.

Cheers!!!! I just bought the AX86U from Bestbuy to replace my AC86U AiMesh node (2.4Ghz disconnecting issues caused the node worked in 5Ghz only until reset)....so far so good, AiMesh Router & Node are both AX86U!!

In the next 3 weeks, I hope there won't be any issue otherwise, I might return the AX86U Node and will keep using the problematic AC86U (even when 2.4Ghz has problem but the 5Ghz continues working fine)

 

[jpthsd]

I assume you're not going to run CAT6 to the other location and will rely on Wi-Fi for the mesh backhaul. Placement of the 2nd node will be critical to get a good Wi-Fi link on the backhaul back to the main router.

The Wi-Fi is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of performance:

	2.4Ghz	5Ghz-1	5Ghz-2
AX86u	3x3	4x4	n/a
XT8	2x2	2x2	4x4

XT8 is tri-band. Your backhaul connection can be either: Dedicated 5Ghz-2, Shared on 5Ghz-2, or shared on 2.4Ghz. If you can run CAT-6 and go with ethernet backhaul, you can repurpose the 5Ghz-2 band as another fronthaul connection.

The AX86u is dual band. For a Wi-Fi mesh backhaul connection it must share the same radio/band with your fronthaul to your clients, on either 2.4ghz or 5ghz. That shared usage can potentially drop your bandwidth on the band by up to 50%, depending on the traffic. That is the worst case though; YMMV considerably depending on what is connected to your mesh node and how much bandwidth it is using.

Since you will have little to no Wi-Fi from your neighbors, you can probably take full advantage of both non-DFS 80mhz channels to fully utilize both 5Ghz radios on the XT8. Sorry but I don't have any personal experience with the XT8. However I do own 2x RT-AX86u in AiMesh, with 2.5Gbe backhaul. The RT-AX86u is a favorite model here in these forums, especially when connected with an ethernet backhaul to other AX86u nodes.

One thing to consider... the AX86u has Merlin support, whereas the XT8 does not.

If you are concerned about losing bandwidth due to the backhaul being shared with the fronthaul, I would opt for another AX86u or some other AiMesh compatible unit that includes 4x4 on the 5Ghz band. I suppose you could even buy a single XT8 and experiment with which one you designate as Router vs. AiMesh node.

That's the whole purpose of being AiMesh network,,,everything works as one to share the loads right? whether wireless network and power resources

I went with second AX86U (to replace my AC86U of having 2.4Ghz disconnecting/dropping issues)!