RT-AX86 Series

[RMerlin]

@RMerlin, I am just curious: would your AX86U firmware work on the "S" variant, too? It looks like Asus stock is the same for both.

RT-AC86S support will be added with 386.4.

 

[Tech9]

This will help quell the moans of the whiners high price complaints

This is offensive and not necessary. $250 is a lot of money for some people.

 

[SoCalReviews]

This is offensive and not necessary. $250 is a lot of money for some people.

You are personalizing my general statement of opinion based on my belief that the I think the $250 USD cost of the AX86U is a bargain and that I commented that some of those who complain about the cost of a top rated premium Asus router whiners.

Following your line of logic then who is the truly rude and insensitive one who called those same $250 USD Asus routers just "toys"? and bragged about using more expensive networking equipment. How do you think that statement makes others feel who can only afford "toy routers" to play with? Quite the offensive, hypocritical, petty and pathetic post made there IMO.

 

[Tech9]

This is exactly what I wrote, my opinion:

Sorry, it’s a toy in my eyes.

The developer of Asuswrt-Merlin falls in your "whiners" category too:

My only problem right now with the RT-AX86U is its price.

There is a difference between expressing your opinion and categorizing group of people based on your opinion. Did I call your decision to buy 7x AX86U routers "poor man's Porsche" solution? I didn't. That would be offensive. High price opinion is an opinion, not a "moan". Words selection makes a difference. I hope you understand better now.

 

[SoCalReviews]

This is exactly what I wrote, my opinion:



The developer of Asuswrt-Merlin falls in your "whiners" category too:



There is a difference between expressing your opinion and categorizing group of people based on your opinion. Did I call your decision to buy 7x AX86U routers "poor man's Porsche" solution? I didn't. That would be offensive. High price opinion is an opinion, not a "moan". Words selection makes a difference. I hope you understand better now.

I could consider those who complain about the cost of a bargain at any price a whiner and moaner. It could be a $50 router we are talking about and there would be those who whine and moan about the price.

It's an opinion based on the value that item offers In this case a $250 Asus router that outperforms many AX routers twice that price a great value. People can disagree that it's a value but regardless it's an opinion based on evidence of a lot of comparative testing of AX routers.

However IMO referring to consumer Asus routers "toys" compared to much more expensive networking equipment in a forum dedicated to helping users of those Asus routers does come across as snobbishly critical of that cheaper equipment and it's users simply because it's a much lower cost.

I don't recall Merlin or any other developer or reviewer online complain about the $250 price tag in terms of comparitive value or whether it's worth the cost compared to other routers in it's class (I don't recall but maybe Merlin has). As a matter of fact it's been quite the opposite. Many testers and reviewers consider the top performing AX86U a great comparative value.

The concerns about the high price had to do with whether the average consumer could afford that price point. But that's been the complaint about almost every premium Asus router released that costs greater than $200 including the more recent AX88 ($350), AX11000 ($450) and AXE1100 GT series ($600) and in the case of the AX88U we know the less expensive AX86U outperforms it and seems to be more reliable.

@Tech9 , BTW your incessant knit picking, needling and hen pecking of my and other forum contributor's posts has become a nauseating waste of time. Maybe you should stick with trying to be informative and helpful to other users.

 

[Tech9]

my and other forum contributor's

No. Only the ones with opinions in bold and two home routers experience. By the way, the toy description I borrowed from another forum member. Please, don’t waste your time to reply. Use the ignore function, if you like. It works.

 

[Boogieman]

Come on guys, if you wanna word battle, go DM.
Your arguing about income vs price in a router thread = POINTLESS!

If a product is to expensive, dont buy it or educate yourself and get a better salary/job.
Or buy the cheaper brand or model....solved.

If you think it's a toy, build your own then ;-)

Lets move on!

 

[Tech9]

Problem solved. The member joined the other salesmen and specialists group in my ignore list. Moving on.

 

[SoCalReviews]

No. Only the ones with opinions in bold and two home routers experience. By the way, the toy description I borrowed from another forum member. Please, don’t waste your time to reply. Use the ignore function, if you like. It works.

Why do I have to keep explaining these things?

Bold is either to highlight the main part of someone else's reply so they know what part of their post I am replying to OR it's a way of emphasizing my key points because at times there are those readers who don't seem to understand the key points within simple, easy, logical replies. I sometimes use bold in replies to quote specific text when the other reader I am replying to just doesn't get it.

No, I have not owned only two routers and my experience helping people with internet technical support goes far beyond what you are implying. I have owned modern TCP/IP routers since the early 1990s when I worked for an ISP doing sales and technical support for business customers when most people never even had heard of the internet. We sold dialup services and ISDN services and hosted internet servers on site. I have more than twenty years of past professional experience as an online and off site support internet and an administrative technician for computer and internet services.

I contribute in this forum to share helpful information with other wireless router users . I also enjoy staying up to date with the latest technology and I like learning information about new and older networking technology I previously did not know or understand. I don't post here to be hyper analyzed, personally insulted or have my character questioned simply because I post and opinion or rationally reply to another member's posts.

I don't care if you ignore my posts or not. That's your choice. Maybe that's what you should have been doing all along if my opinions and replies disturb you so much. It would have saved me a lot of time and effort responding to all the nonsense.

 

[SoCalReviews]

Come on guys, if you wanna word battle, go DM.
Your arguing about income vs price in a router thread = POINTLESS!

If a product is to expensive, dont buy it or educate yourself and get a better salary/job.
Or buy the cheaper brand or model....solved.

If you think it's a toy, build your own then ;-)

Lets move on!

Exactly. I don't know why forum contributors should have their posts knit picked and be harassed and criticized for the words they use when they post their opinion. Also agree, If you can't afford a product because it's expensive for you either save your money or buy another less expensive product. Whining and moaning about it is ridiculous. Yes, if you think these routers are toys then you can design, engineer and build your own. Quit degrading the value of the technology simply because it's priced and marketed as a consumer grade product. Reading and replying to repeated criticisms from a certain forum contributor has become a complete waste of time. These are the same points I have been emphasizing in my previous posts. I agree completely!

 

[Tech9]

“You are ignoring content by this member.” The forum is much cleaner now.

 

[SoCalReviews]

“You are ignoring content by this member.” The forum is much cleaner now.

For everyone else too. Hopefully it stays this way.

Given enough time some problems solve themselves.

 

[Grievous Angel]

I believe it's exactly the same as AX86U, but with dual-core CPU and 1/2 RAM. The radios are the same, the 2.5Gb port is there, all other specs as per Asus are the same. It may be a better value router, actually. I'm sure it will run Asuswrt-Merlin, RMerlin was talking about a new model coming. If stock Asuswrt supports both, this same Asuswrt will be the new Asuswrt-Merlin base soon.

Little late to the party here but it looks like the 86s has supplanted the 86u at this price point, and sells at the same 250 bucks right now on Amazon that I paid them for the 86u back in March of this year. It's also readily available at this price point at Best Buy. But the 86u is not.

I wonder if they've low-key discontinued the 86u and gone a little downmarket with cost savings with the RAM/cores/ports etc? The 86u is listed for 350 and up on Amazon. And seemingly unavailable at Best Buy.

 

[ng4ever]

Got mine for $230. ASUS AX86U

 

[hornedfrog]

Got mine for $230. ASUS AX86U

Great, where did you find a deal like that?

 

[SoCalReviews]

Little late to the party here but it looks like the 86s has supplanted the 86u at this price point, and sells at the same 250 bucks right now on Amazon that I paid them for the 86u back in March of this year. It's also readily available at this price point at Best Buy. But the 86u is not.

I wonder if they've low-key discontinued the 86u and gone a little downmarket with cost savings with the RAM/cores/ports etc? The 86u is listed for 350 and up on Amazon. And seemingly unavailable at Best Buy.

The AX86U has been in high demand since it was released almost a year and a half ago. You have to look around but it's still available at some places. At the time of this post Newegg.com has the Zaku 2 Edition still in stock for $299 USD.

 

[hornedfrog]

The AX86U has been in high demand since it was released almost a year and a half ago. You have to look around but it's still available at some places. At the time of this post Newegg.com has the Zaku 2 Edition still in stock for $299 USD.

Is that basically the same thing that looks fancy?

 

[SoCalReviews]

Is that basically the same thing that looks fancy?

Yes, basically the same thing but with a limited edition red paint job.

 

[Jbennett360]

in the UK at the moment

RT-AX86S - £189.99
RT-AX86U - £249.99

 

[jsbeddow]

in the UK at the moment

RT-AX86S - £189.99
RT-AX86U - £249.99

Yes, that is more in line with the spread I was expecting between the two models: not the ridiculous, mimimal $30 difference we have in the US. On top of that, this price difference was artificially created by bumping up the price of the RT-AX86U and slotting in the crippled model (RT-AX86S) at the previous price.