ASUS RT-N66U Pro Reviews

The ASUS RT-N66U dual-band wireless-N900 gigabit router can be described as many things: “Fast”, “Stylish”, and “User Friendly” are just a few. However you want to describe it, the result is the best Wireless-N router we have tested.

As good as the RT-66U is, our wireless performance results once again show that no router is good in every mode that we test. But that said, the Dark Knight clearly outperformed both the NETGEAR WNDR4500 and Cisco Linksys E4200V2 in most of our two and three-stream tests. And it's the only router in recent memory able to reach to our worst-case/lowest-signal test location on the 5 GHz band, albeit with barely-usable throughput. Still, this is an accomplishment in itself. If you're going to spend close to $200 for a wireless router, you should get a lot for your money. The Dark Knight seems to deliver wireless performance to justify its high price and has routing speed fast enough to handle any service a consumer is likely to have, even our friends in Europe and Asia. But other aspects of the product are a work in progress. Documentation is poor and incomplete, with no mention of many of the product's key features like IPv6, USB Download Master, VPN server and 3G backup WAN support. And the non-functional DLNA server isn't bringing smiles to some buyer's faces. So if you decide to take the plunge, be prepared to wait for both firmware updates and better documentation to make the Dark Knight all that I'm sure ASUS wants it to be.

A cracking, feature-rich router, but comes at a rather hefty price for a home router.

Thanks to its stellar performance on the 5GHz band, exceptionally long range, and generous spread of features, the Asus RT-N66U Dark Knight Double 450Mbps N Router is one of the best N900 routers on the market, despite its few minor shortcomings.

The ASUS RT-N66U appearance will score very highly. I have already stated that I am a sucker for good looks and that is exactly what the RT-N66U has, as I'm sure you will agree. It is certainly different from 99% of the routers available on the market today and will set a new 'bar' for competing manufacturers to aim for. I am glad that ASUS went with a matte finish instead of glossy like the RT-N56U before it, the glossy finish was nice but it was easily spoiled. The construction of the ASUS RT-N66U is very good indeed. The unit is very compact for a router with this sort of feature set, but the super long external antenna means it will appear much bigger. It has been built very well with no obvious screws holding it together, and has plenty of ventilation to deal with any heat that builds up.