Bought 86U on sale, did I waste money when I already have 1900P

[Merlyan]

Guys I still have this Asus RT-86U in the box. I own the Asus 1900P with Merlin. Both routers claim to have a dual core 1.8 Ghz processor. Are those the exact same cpu?

Edit: 1900P CPU = Broadcom BCM4708A dual-core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.4 GHz
........AC86U CPU = Broadcom BCM4906 dual core ARM v8 Cortex A53 @ 1.8 GHz

Also My understanding was the 86u is filled with new tech and can run VPN's in the firmware better than the 1900p since it has dedicated encryption hardware in the cpu for running with VPN.

My plan was to somehow remove the merlin firmware an reinstall the Asus firmware in my 1900p so that I could run Aimesh and combined my 1900P with my new 86U.

What do you guys think. Is there a big enough difference to warrant upgrading to the 86u. Part of the reason why I pulled the trigger was the 86u was on sale for $129.99 USD / $169.99 CDN

 

[Merlyan]

I love you all

 

[RMerlin]

What do you guys think. Is there a big enough difference to warrant upgrading to the 86u. Part of the

Depends on how you use it. For USB sharing, the RT-AC86U will be nearly twice as fast as the RT-AC1900P. For OpenVPN, it will be close to three times as fast.

For wifi, you might see a slight range improvement, and possibly some throughput improvement for clients located at mid-range if they support MU-MIMO.

 

[Dave Parker]

You got a really good deal. Paid $130 USD for mine used. It was in mint condition and works perfectly but still, no warrenty.

 

[hdtvluvr]

Where did you find it for $129.99?

 

[Merlyan]

In Canada Across bestbuy there are on sale till Jan 3.

 

[Merlyan]

Depends on how you use it. For USB sharing, the RT-AC86U will be nearly twice as fast as the RT-AC1900P. For OpenVPN, it will be close to three times as fast.

For wifi, you might see a slight range improvement, and possibly some throughput improvement for clients located at mid-range if they support MU-MIMO.

Basically what I thought. Thank you Merlin for confirming this. I assume AI-Mesh is the only option I have if I plan to use my 1900p as an extension to alleviate some of the stress, enhance signal strength in the other side of the house and increase the available wifi bandwidth for the 2 other living occupants that have Nvidia Shield IPTV's streaming 1080p and 4K, bandwidth.

I haven't used Asus Firmware since I bought a RT-N16 router with Merlin which was a transition from my Linksys with Tomato. Then I moved over to the 1900P-Merlin and now the 86U with Asus(have not even opened the box yet)

I know that you can't support Ai-Mesh cause you are locked out of the code or something like that. Do I really need Ai-Mesh is there another way to connect the 1900P to the 86u and have it function for WiFi streaming and signal strength increase at other end of house.

Your firmware has always been far more robust and stable than Asus. How good is the Asus Firmware on the 86U, have they worked most the kinks out. I assume it's easy to revert the 1900P back to stock Asus. How do you live without the Ai-mesh and it's ability to absorb another Asus router as one unit.
It's not a big deal if I need to broadcast another SSID for the TV streaming when not using Ai-mesh.

 

[ColinTaylor]

and now the 86U with Asus(have not even opened the box yet)

I think the answer to most of your questions will become apparent once you actually plug it in and use it.

 

[HuskyHerder]

How do you live without the Ai-mesh and it's ability to absorb another Asus router as one unit.

Pull a me, and a few others here. Run Merlin on one Router (internet facing) and run a AiMesh Router in AP mode (and run nodes) off the Merlin router. Best of both worlds.
It (Merlin & Aimesh) can be done.

If you were my wife, she asks how many routers do we need? When I started adding mine. Now, however she's very happy with rock solid wifi.

If you don't want to go that route you can run the additional Router in AP mode and manually configure it. No AiMesh however.

 

[RMerlin]

Do I really need Ai-Mesh is there another way to connect the 1900P to the 86u and have it function for WiFi streaming and signal strength increase at other end of house.

Both Access Point and Repeater Mode remain available options.