NETGEAR

Nighthawk AC2600 Smart WiFi Router (R7450)

NETGEAR Nighthawk AC2600 Smart WiFi Router (R7450)

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Overall

#225 in

WiFi Routers

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Sentiment score100% positive
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Last updated: May 12, 2026

Reddit Reviews

Reddit Icongoofust
6 months ago

I suggest a Flint 2, or some other openwrt compatible unit. I have a Netgear R7450, that is my older gateway router, flashed with gargoyle (openwrt), that does access restrictions with no problems. Apparently, nowadays to get that kind of granular control, Netgear wants you to pay for their services application.

Reddit Icons71n6r4y
26 days ago

In terms of hardware, if that's the Walmart model aka Netgear R7450 (probably), then IMO it's probably still adequate in terms of hardware today. The main problem is the manufacturer's unfortunate decision to stop supplying firmware updates. You might consider flashing OpenWRT or DD-WRT on it and just continuing to use it (but now with more features). If you're in the US it's not an ideal time to buy an off the shelf router TBH. The looming foreign router ban is shaking things up. OTOH if you are buying one, Netgear is the first company AFAIK to get their exemption for the new law. As for RS200 vs RS300, the latter adds a third 6 GHz WiFi band. It's probably only worth it if you have devices with 6 GHz WiFi support (WiFi 6E / WiFi 7) and also you are concerned about congestion in the 5 GHz band.

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