CONCLUSION

   It's been several years since I’ve had the chance to test a router by Netgear so i had no idea of what to expect from the R7000 Nighthawk. I mean ok we all liked the design of the R7000 even before it got here but we couldn't wait to see how it would perform and how the new web interface would be. Well i always leave our charts do all the talking when it comes to the performance of a device and although this is just the second AC1900 router to reach our lab still the performance difference is quite large especially in wireless performance. Of course to be completely fair the EA6900 by Linksys is not their best router so we just received their brand new WRT1900AC router which we will be testing soon (we're waiting for a few AC1900 routers including the AC2350/AC3200 models by Netgear) but at least for now it is what it is. As for the web interface well we like it a lot (always compared to the old ones) and although it offers more settings that most people will ever need (under the advanced tab) still it's good to have them just in case. The long antennas may present a small problem for some people but the ability to mount the R7000 Nighthawk vertically on a wall is a good solution for that. Also during testing we plugged even 2TB 2.5" PHDs into the USB 3.0 port so it's probably capable of powering every storage device out there (aside desktop models that require AC power of course).

   Great performance always comes at a cost and that's not something that applies just to routers but pretty much everything in the market so it didn't strike us as odd when we saw that the R7000 Nighthawk by Netgear retails for USD186.06 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 190Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). As a matter of fact when comparing prices of similar AC1900 compatible routers we can go as far as to say that the R7000 Nighthawk is actually priced extremely well since it costs less than some other models. We would have to test those models as well to verify that they are not better (or that they are the same or worse compared to the R7000) but leaving out the brand new AC2350/AC3200 models i doubt performance can get any better with an AC1900 model. That being said the Netgear Nighthawk R7000 AC1900 Smart WiFi Router is the fastest model in our charts and comes with many interesting and innovative features which is why it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Design
- Wireless Performance (Fastest In Our Charts)
- AC1900 Technology (Concurrent 802.11n & 802.11ac)
- User Friendly Web Interface
- Features
- Technologies Used (Beamforming & TurboQAM)
- Android & iOS App
- 4 Gigabit Ethernet Ports
- 2 USB Ports (USB 3.0 & USB 2.0)

CONS

- Price (For Some)