My AC68U is outperforming new AC86U in most tests

[binarydad]

I picked up a new 86U in the hopes of extending my range and having more bandwidth at those ranges. However, I'm noticing there's barely any difference in most cases, and even some cases the 86U is performing notably worse than the 68U on 2.4ghz. I plan to test in more parts of the house, the in a couple main areas, I've been testing and seeing consistent results. I'm using a Galaxy S8 running Wifi Speed Test Pro and running a local server for testing, so I'm not relying on internet speed tests, so this should truly be a test of pure LAN performance.

In these tests, belle is the 5ghz band for my AC68U and belle_86u is the one for the AC86U. The sadie network is the 2.4ghz band for the AC68U and sadie_86u is or the AC86U. All tests below are downloading a 500MB file over the LAN, and all are done from the same spot in the location respectively. The testing was done while the 68U was still being actively used, and the 86U was configured in WAP mode connected via the LAN port of the 68U. Antennas were positioned identical and were both in the same location. The firmware on the 68U is 3.0.0.4.374.43_39E3j9527 of John's Merlin fork, and the 86U is using 3.0.0.4.384_81992. Both are set to the same settings, such as channel width, N-only for 2.4, MU-MIMO is disabled (86U only), beamforming enabled for both, otherwise default settings. I'll test more areas as well, but so far I'm seeing a trend of:

1. The 2.4ghz band, while having a stronger signal on the 86U, cannot seem to make it past 100mbps, while the 68U almost always averages between 100-130mbps.
2. The both bands on the AC86U don't seem as "smooth" as the AC68U, and that's even with the 68U acting as the main network for a dozen devices on the network at the time of testing (the 86U was not connecting to any other devices besides my S8)
3. 5ghz signal strength was about the same between the 68U and 86U.
4. The 5ghz bands were performing about the same, depending on location. In some spots, the 68U consistently downloaded faster than the 86U, and vice versa in other spots, the the difference wasn't that much.
5. The link speed on the 86U NEVER got above 144mbps for 2.4ghz, while the 68U was usually higher, up to around 195mbps at the same location.
6. Sitting right next to the routers, performance is identical with the exception of 2.4ghz being consistently faster on the 68U.

I expected more performance out of the 86U. What can I check in the meantime? If I can improve the 2.4ghz speed I would be happier, but so far it's not worth the money over my 68U.

In all screenshots, the 68U is on the left, the 86U is on the right.

5ghz download (bedroom)

2.4ghz download (bedroom)

5ghz download (bathroom)

2.4ghz download (bathroom)

 

[ATLga]

Channels are different

 

[K-2SO]

My RT-AC86U outperformed previous RT-AC1900P in everything, except overall reliability and life expectancy.

 

[cooloutac]

My RT-AC86U outperformed previous RT-AC1900P in everything, except overall reliability and life expectancy.

HAHAHA same here!