tl;dr: did 2x RBR20 (1 as router, 1 as AP) and it works great. bought on ebay for $110 for both devices.
First Phase - AC3000 / RBK50
I started with the RBK50 (1 router, 1 satellite) kit from Best Buy - had the usual Orbi struggles (rebooting unexpectedly, clients sticking to distant node, etc) and tuned it with the great advice from these forums (cut power to 50% and 75% for 2.4 and 5 bands, disabled beamforming and UPnP, letting it "settle down" after making changes, etc).
I will say that Netgear's Armor + Disney Circle (don't gag) have, for now, solved my security needs ensuring our smart teenager doesn't skirt time restrictions after we go to bed. And the clean look of the Orbi allows me to place it in a more ideal location than our previous Asus router making the wife "happy."
Second Phase - AC2200 / RBR20
That said, the RBR50 is rather tall and I was pining for the minimalistic packaging of the RBR20. I also have a 16 port switch and wired backhaul so the extra ports, discrete backhaul radio and wireless backhaul performance of the RBR50 are wasted on me. In addition, the processor and client-facing radios on the entire Orbi AC range are
exactly the same. Also in browsing reddit and these forums, lots of consensus that the AP mode on Orbi is much more stable than Router mode.
So, I took a flyer and bought an RBR20 on ebay (brand new, still sealed) for $60. Then I bought another used one for $50. I flashed both to the latest firmware (currently 2.5.1.16), set them up from scratch with minimal settings. I designated the new one as the router and the used one as the AP (wired backhaul), assigning it a DHCP reservation.
- To my delight, the performance vs. the RBK50 setup is exactly the same - tested signal strength and file transfers before and after.
- Even better, the upside now is having a second node designated as an AP (same SSID/password) allows the client to decide which wifi node to connect to (rather than the Orbi), and it is much more seamless than before.
- One room in particular is at the far end of the router range and the Orbi mesh simply refused to transfer the station to the satellite - instead having it connect via 2.4G.
- That problem is gone - the client stays on 5G, full strength and gracefully hops to the AP.
- I can also designate discrete channels between the AP and router, which improves performance when there are multiple streams at once on the two wifi nodes.
The only downside to this configuration is there is
no obvious way to tell which node the client is connected to - logging into both router and AP, both devices see the connected client as a wifi or wired client irrespective of the attached node. This is different from a similar configuration I've done with Asus, where a wifi client connected to the AP appears as wired to the router and vice versa.
Anyhow, I've returned the RBK50 to Best Buy ($300 + tax!!) and am very happy with my current setup
($110 all in!!). My next step will likely be to add an outdoor node (deciding between attaching an RBS20 satellite to the AP or simply getting another RBR20 and setting it up as an AP, as well) by placing the node in a weatherproof enclosure and mounting it to our house. Fortunate we can wire this one as well - plenty of attic space to run cabling.
