O-Sense
CONCLUSION
I’ve seen many similarly designed routers (and modem/routers) like the DIR-880L in the past so when D-Link send it over to us I wasn’t impressed even at the slightest. Sure I’ve seen worse designs but this is just too “basic” for my taste and the white color didn’t help things since it’s very hard for me to take pictures of white objects placed on our white photo bench. Still this is just about the only thing i didn’t like about the DIR-880L since in the end it surprised everyone here not just with its WiFi performance which was only second to the WRT1900AC by Linksys and the Nighthawk X6 by Netgear (two much more expensive models that feature more antennas as well) and its many interesting and useful features but also because of its user friendly web interface. Some people may find the web interface as a bit “too easy” to navigate (some may not like the graphics either) but for new users I think it’s ideal. The mydlink feature may not be something we haven’t seen in the past since remote management has been around for much longer than the word “cloud” but still it could come very handy for some people.
Performance and features are not the only things the DIR-880L by D-Link has going for it since it’s also priced very aggressively. To be more specific as I type these lines the DIR-880L is roughly 10% cheaper compared to the equally powerful R7000 Nighthawk router by Netgear and retails for just USD148.88 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 160Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk). There are faster routers out there like the R8000/R8500 by Netgear and the WRT1900AC by Linksys (as showcased in our charts) but D-Link has also released the DIR-890LR AC3200 router so if you can afford to spend more any of these will do fine. Still the DIR-880L is proof that you don’t need to spend much on a router to have top of the class WiFi performance and for that and of course for its features and user friendly web interface it gets our Platinum Award.
PROS
- Build Quality
- Wireless Performance (3rd Fastest In Our Charts)
- AC1900 Technology (Concurrent 802.11n & 802.11ac)
- User Friendly Web Interface
- Features
- Technologies Used (Beamforming & Turbo QAM)
- Android & iOS App
- 4 Gigabit Ethernet Ports
- 2 USB Ports (USB 3.0 & USB 2.0)
- Price (For Some)
CONS
- Design (For Some)
