NETGEAR - Nighthawk MK73 Dual-Band WiFi 6 Mesh System

In 220 sqm, you shouldn't need more than 3 nodes, unless you want more coverage outside, but with too many as you've already experience, they will sometime fight for the best signal, even more so when they are just wifi based. If you can get more Cat6 installed, the location of the router (primary node) becomes irrelevant since they will all share the same exact signal with the same bandwidth so you should be able to test it now and confirm better coverage. If you have baseboards, they make 1/4 round that has channels in them where you can hide the Cat 6, and if that's not an option there are some manufacturers who make flat cables. As for me personally, both system have been challenging but that is more related to my own person situation than the hardware. The Linksys Velop system started out great, but as my need for IoT devices grew, the system struggled a bit. I came to find out well after the fact, the nodes which I thought I set up as wired, someone defaulted back to wireless which impact my bandwidth for devices connected to it. I ended up giving them to my inlaws since the coverage at their home sucked and they have been working perfectly since. I moved over to the Night Hawk system on the recommendation of a friend who has their gaming router and overall it has been really good. It took a lot of additional setup and tweaking to get it up and running at full capacity. The biggest challenge I had (again my own issue, not product issue), was I forgot how many of my IoT devices only run off 2.4 gHz. The Night Hawk system (unlike the Velop) has a default SSID that combines the 2.4 and 5 gHz bands. The Velop had these automatically separate with different SSID's. Due to this, some of my IoT devices had trouble connecting and I regularly lost their signal. (see Ring Cameras, smart switches/outlets, etc) so this meant I had to reconfigure my network with customized networks. But on the Nighthawk system this works differently than I was used to. The main 2.4/5 ghz network will always remain, so I had to create a custom standalone 2.4ghz network and then reconnect all my IoT devices to that. This was a tedious effort, but again, this was my fault, not the hardware/software. Since I have finally got all of that figured out, its run flawlessly. I have a 1GB fiber line. If the device is hardwired, I will get 850 Mbps (up and down) on average (www.speedtest.net). On a wireless device it will vary from 100Mbps to 500Mbps which is dependent on how much bandwidth is being used at any give time. The coverage is better than the Velop overall. I have a few friends who have the Orbi systems and swear by them. Since I run a lot of wired, I wanted some more raw high performance in certain locations. (Night Hawk lets you prioritize devices better IMO) I both game and run a home theater server so I stream not only from the net, but also across the network from that service to 4 different locations in the house. Even if they are all running at the same time, the wired connection means they don't bog down and don't impact the wireless bandwidth that is remaining. The Orbi overperforms with wifi only based stuff and provides a stable network across a larger area. From what I understand the setup is also easier on the Orbi. If and when my night hawk system dies, I will seriously consider and Orbi system but thats not going to be for quite a long time.

Nighthawk rax 200 And nighthawk mesh as my backup. All wifi 6 Rarely issues.

Yes! Purchased a NightHawk system 5 years ago, died, took months, Netgear sent replacements, sold off replacements on eBay. Lost 50% of original purchase. Never buying Netgear again!

I would personally go with a 3rd party mesh router. Brands I come across are NETGEAR nighthawk, eero, TP link, etc. I would not go with the Wi-Fi pods, super trash.

Had Netgear 6 for about 3 years. Going with Unifi 7

Just got gig (not in a high split area) so they sent a new modem (2.5gbps port) and their WiFi 7 router. I was using an Arris Sb8200 (1gb port) and an mk73 netgear mesh WiFi 6 system. Modem and router in basement middle of 2400 sq ft house. Both satellites hard wired on each end of upstairs of house. Easily was getting 800mbps plus to every corner of the house. Most times could max out gigabit at 937mbps via WiFi devices. WiFi 7 router came… disconnected mesh system and installed spectrum provided modem and router in upstairs bedroom smack dab middle of the house. With WiFi 6e devices I was able to get 1324mbps in the same bedroom as router. As soon as I left that room (had one uninsulated wall in between device and router) speed went down to around 700mbps. In the living room (still only one wall between router and device) and maybe 10-15 feet away from router on same floor speed went down to 450-500mbps. I’m fairly certain if I was able to do more than just name the SSID and set a password for WiFi it would have better performance but you literally can’t do anything settings wise with the spectrum router. Extremely locked down. Went back to my netgear mesh system. Am looking at getting a deco be85 system for future proofing (10gbps and 2.5gbps ports). Definitely impressed with spectrum’s over provisioning for gigabit. 1324mbps is pretty decent for docsis. Upload for our are is pretty much locked down at 40mbps. My node must have a lot of older people on it as I can max out gigabit any time of day or night, even during peak. As for the WiFi 7 router I can see why so many complain about speeds. Unless you’re in an apartment the speeds just aren’t there any distance from the router. I couldn’t imagine paying $10 a month for that router. My only question now is if I return the WiFi 7 router will they shut my service off? I don’t want it, no point in it just laying around in my house but I don’t want my account getting screwed up sending it back. Also we have no spectrum store around here so I’d be sending it back via ups store. I told the rep when I ordered gig that I didn’t want their router but I had no choice and was sent it.

Agreed, switched from NETGEAR Nighthawk to 7 Max and couldn't be more satisfied.

Eventually will switch to unifi (when i have the money) however im very happy with my current deco system! Bought my current deco to replace a nighthawk mesh(stay away) and its been rock solid since the initial set up