Upgrade from AC66U_B1?

[Lee MacMillan]

Two and a half years ago, I got tired of waiting for TP-Link to update the 2 year old firmware on my Archer C8 and bought a AC66U_B1 refurb from Newegg for $76. It is H/W revision B2 manufactured in 2017. I’m happy to report it has been working flawlessly ever since, always running the latest ASUS firmware.

Normally I’m a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” person but occasionally I get the urge to upgrade my hardware even though what I have is working fine. I thought I might need something better when my son’s family of four visited last week and had 4 Zoom sessions going on for several hours each day in 4 different rooms on 3 levels of a 2400 sq ft house. As it turned out, the 66U apparently handled everything since I got no complaints about connection quality or speed (200 down/ 10 up) from Comcast.)

If I were to succumb to the upgrade bug (primarily a result of visiting this forum!), what would you recommend? Between my recent bad experience with a used AC86U and many reported problems I read about here, I am reluctant to go with that model. That pretty much points to an AX model and it appears that the AX58U/AX3000 and the AX86U are well regarded. And I know there will be AX68U in the not-to-distant future. I’ve not felt the need to run Merlin up to now, so Merlin support is a plus but not a requirement.

Happy holidays to all.

 

[OzarkEdge]

Two and a half years ago, I got tired of waiting for TP-Link to update the 2 year old firmware on my Archer C8 and bought a AC66U_B1 refurb from Newegg for $76. It is H/W revision B2 manufactured in 2017. I’m happy to report it has been working flawlessly ever since, always running the latest ASUS firmware.

Normally I’m a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” person but occasionally I get the urge to upgrade my hardware even though what I have is working fine. I thought I might need something better when my son’s family of four visited last week and had 4 Zoom sessions going on for several hours each day in 4 different rooms on 3 levels of a 2400 sq ft house. As it turned out, the 66U apparently handled everything since I got no complaints about connection quality or speed (200 up/ 10 down from Comcast.)

If I were to succumb to the upgrade bug (primarily a result of visiting this forum!), what would you recommend? Between my recent bad experience with a used AC86U and many reported problems I read about here, I am reluctant to go with that model. That pretty much points to an AX model and it appears that the AX58U/AX3000 and the AX86U are well regarded. And I know there will be AX68U in the not-to-distant future. I’ve not felt the need to run Merlin up to now, so Merlin support is a plus but not a requirement.

Happy holidays to all.

If you compare the specs of the AX58U and AX86U, you should be able to decide which one to skip.

OE

 

[cooloutac]

Two and a half years ago, I got tired of waiting for TP-Link to update the 2 year old firmware on my Archer C8 and bought a AC66U_B1 refurb from Newegg for $76. It is H/W revision B2 manufactured in 2017. I’m happy to report it has been working flawlessly ever since, always running the latest ASUS firmware.

Normally I’m a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” person but occasionally I get the urge to upgrade my hardware even though what I have is working fine. I thought I might need something better when my son’s family of four visited last week and had 4 Zoom sessions going on for several hours each day in 4 different rooms on 3 levels of a 2400 sq ft house. As it turned out, the 66U apparently handled everything since I got no complaints about connection quality or speed (200 up/ 10 down from Comcast.)

If I were to succumb to the upgrade bug (primarily a result of visiting this forum!), what would you recommend? Between my recent bad experience with a used AC86U and many reported problems I read about here, I am reluctant to go with that model. That pretty much points to an AX model and it appears that the AX58U/AX3000 and the AX86U are well regarded. And I know there will be AX68U in the not-to-distant future. I’ve not felt the need to run Merlin up to now, so Merlin support is a plus but not a requirement.

Happy holidays to all.

I have had the same experience as you. i have had a rock solid ac66u_b1 for just as long. tried the ac86u which was a bad experience so returned it and now using ax58u. Got a refurbed one for $125. Half the price of a new ax86u. I only have a 300MBs connection so can't see how the ax86u would much of an improvement.

I had no reason to upgrade but like you I got the bug. It does have a much better wireless range then ac66u_b1 especially on 2.4ghz, even much better then ac86u. so did improve connection to my front doorbell. which was originally at 70-73 rssi at times, and now is at 57-60 rssi. I have no errors with the router at all and all features enabled using stock firmware. the ac66u_b1 can be used as a node with it but I've seen no need to and don't want to ruin the stability. I might hook it up again when aimesh 2.0 comes out for it just for fun.

 

[L&LD]

@Lee MacMillan, I'm sure you meant your ISP speeds are 200 down and 10 up.

The RT-AX86U is by far the best bang for the buck today, pre-Wi-Fi 6E and the RT-AX68U is poised to take that title soon.

The real upgrade question when Wi-Fi 6E does arrive by the end of this year, will you be willing to be a beta tester for Asus and the rest of us to make it a real contender eventually?

If it doesn't just land and sweeps the floor with its expected performance (I'll be looking at 12 antennae models, myself, or closest to that level of implementation).

The RT-AX88U is a great model too, but more expensive than the RT-AX86U.

What I'm still kind of shocked about; I wouldn't have believed that the 2.5GbE backhaul between two RT-AX86U's in AiMesh 2.0 would be that 'wow'. But with the right wireless clients and the right NAS, it is.

Isn't it great to have these problems today?

Wishing one and all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

 

[bbunge]

If you really do not meed AX go with an AC86U. Better performance than many of the lower end AX models. As reported by many, better WIFI range, too.

 

[Chuckles67]

My AC66U_B1 has been very dependable though: too slow to reboot, which makes hard reset and complete settings installs tedious for new (and always fabulous) Merlin builds; weak WiFi 5G coverage in some places inside/outside of home; can only run external disk drive on USB2.0 (not USB3.0) otherwise WiFi 2.4G coverage quality drops really badly in the yard; slower VPN client that hoped for.

I unwrapped a new AX86U today and immediately see: much faster rebooting; stronger WiFi 5G coverage with an iPhone, where I would see 1 or 2 bars (out of 3) with the AC66U_B1, now I see 2 or 3 bars with the AX86U. Good start and I think there's more good things ahead.

I haven't tried USB3.0 yet, but see in the Asus stock firmware for AX86U USB3.0 is on by default, whereas I think USB3.0 was off by default in the AC66U_B1, so I'm keeping fingers crossed for AX86U USB3.0 working without WiFi 2.4GHz signal strength dropping.

UPDATE: after installing Merlin 386.1 Beta 2 and doing a full settings update, the AX-86U is rebooting faster but not "much" faster. The 5G WiFi is slower to start up after reboot than the 2.4G WiFi which is different to the AC-66U_B1. The WebUI is really fast to refresh which is an improvement. The AX-86U has double the NVRAM memory (my setup often ran low on NVRAM memory on the AC-66U_B1 which can cause unpredictable problems) I'm running an external SSD disk on USB3.0 and so far not seeing problems with WiFi 2.4GHz signal strength, though need to live on it longer to be sure.

 

[cooloutac]

If you really do not meed AX go with an AC86U. Better performance than many of the lower end AX models. As reported by many, better WIFI range, too.

I returned the ac86u cause it was a horrible experience. A month long nightmare with a syslog riddled with errors. it would crash and reboot, would lose 2.4ghz wifi. My ax58u I settled on blows it out of the water in 2.4ghz range and general stability.

 

[terminator]

Hmm interesting. I have had a ac86u for 3 years with no major issues at all. But I needed something that could be wall mounted so now I have a AX58U still with no issues (don't think I am using any AX features yet) and a couple of RT-AC66U as aimesh nodes.

 

[eastavin]

If it is not broke why fix it? I think what you want is a challenge. So I suggest a challenge to pick up a couple dirt cheap rt-ac68u from the local buy and sell web sites and build a needless mesh network to cover your garage and backyard Or equip your relatives with better gear than they have for no charge.

To set a benchmark for used gear I bought one rt-ac68u in september for $20 and then got another one in november for $10. They dont come up often at this price but it makes it more fun when you tell yourself you will not overpay.

Like your current device the rt-ac68u is very reliable and does it all... and no one has an ax device around here that could use an ax router anyway. is your place different? so ... let the price come down a year or so while you wait and other people trouble shoot the Asus Ax firmware for you.

Ed

 

[noah way]

Bought two 68U's on sale for a fraction more than one 86U, and they more than satisfy all of my requirements. Would still be running the 66U's if they hadn’t died.