I've had the XR500 since February and it has exceeded all my expectations. I've tested so many routers thru the years from Asus, Linksys, D-link and Netgear.
Last router was the Linksys WRT32X, although it was good it lacked a good software. When Netgear announced the XR500 and the use of Netduma it peaked my interest and when it arrived and when configured ontu my network ALL wired and wireless clients have been playing very nice with this router. . In the past I found Netgear's FW buggy and not stable, but the XR500 FW and SW compliments it's HW ....finally!!!!!!!
This one router got me interested in Netgears other products and I added the EX8000 Extender and it has complimented the whole home mesh network(having a dedicated 5ghz backhaul helps greatly) and giving me even more WiFi coverage and I've attached the Arlo Pro base station to it, and now I have 4 WiFi cams running in HD...absolutely phenomenal!!!
In addition, Ive attached a 1GB HDD to the back of the XR500 and all my content can be see across my network. Can't say the same for the 32X, couldn't get the HDD to be seen at all across the network....what a waste.
As of now, I've been waiting for a router of this caliber to be made and finally it has arrived....it's a keeper.