Linksys Hydra Pro 6 Review: Excellent Wi-Fi 6 Router with no problems

With its boxy, simple-looking design, the Linksys Hydra Pro 6 (model MR5500) is undoubtedly a more simplified router than the cool name can offer. At the required price of $ 300 – more than you would pay for some three-band routers or multidevice mesh installations – The two-band AX5400 Hydra Pro 6 looks even more expensive.

But there is more to it than meets the eye on this simple router. The most remarkable thing is that he cruises through my speed tests at homefaster at medium speeds noteworthy ball options like budget thinkers TP-Link Archer AX21 and game-centered Asus RT-AX86Uthe latter is one of the best Wi-Fi 6 routers I have tried.

With the durability of the Hydra Pro 6, it never disconnected without weakening the distance, or redirected me to a slower 2.4 GHz band when it shouldn’t, and you’re looking for a very attractive option for the mid-range. -Size houses that need a better, faster Wi-Fi signal. Although more than $ 300, Linksys is currently on sale for $ 250like other retailers, and a quick look at the handy new CNET Shopping extension shows that you can find it for less. On sites like eBay. Get such an agreement, and this simplified dual-band router will definitely turn into a theft.

Design and specifications

With a name like the Hydra Pro 6, you can expect this Linksys model to have a spectacular, design-like structure similar to Batman-approved routers. Netgear Nighthawk RAXE500elongated, spider Asus GT-AXE11000 or robot, self-regulating TP-Link Archer AXE200 Omni. It’s not.

Instead, the Hydra Pro 6 is a black rectangle with two folding antennas on the back. If you need a decent router that won’t take up much space or attract attention, all is well, but if you’re shopping for something you can demonstrate, Hydra is probably not for you. .

The dual-core AX5400 router with a 1GHz dual-core processor has full support for the Hydra Pro 6. Wi-Fi 6 (This is the meaning of the “AX” part) and 574Mbps in the 2.4GHz range and 4.804Mbps high theoretical speeds in the 5GHz range (add these to get the “5400” part). Turn it on and you’ll find a WAN port to connect to the modem and four spare Ethernet slots on the back, all of which limit wired speeds of one gigabit per second. This means that if you are planning to upgrade, you will want something else with faster jacks new, multi-gigabit internet plan any time soon.

There aren’t many other notes to install, but it’s worth noting that you can use the Hydra Pro 6 as a central part of the network structure by adding other compatible Linksys devices to your network. For example, if you already use another Linksys device and want to upgrade, you can replace it with a Hydra Pro 6 and move the old router to another location in your home to use as a network expander.

If it were a three-band router we were talking about, I would like this platform to be a little better, because a dual-band network device will not be able to delete the main transmitters between satellite devices in a separate band. However, we have seen dual-range mesh installations Eero 6 PlusNest Wifi and Asus ZenWifi XD6 performed perfectly well, so it doesn’t break any deal.

Application installation

The recently updated Linksys application (shown above) has a clean, easy-to-use interface, and it does a great job of guiding you through the installation process. Once launched, you can use the app to change network settings, change parental controls or guest networks, or track connected devices. You will also enjoy automatic overnight software updates, which is great.

That said, almost every other router on the market comes with a program that does the same thing. Many of these alternatives will work more, such as game-based delay management functions in the Asus app, or the ability to sync with Amazon to install simplified smart home devices in TP-Link’s Tether app. You won’t find unique features like the Linksys application, and you’ll also find less advanced network controls. The application will not even allow you to turn off the range to divide the 2.4 and 5GHz bands into two separate networks.

If you’re the type of user who prefers to assign and forget to your router, this is mostly controversial, but even if you don’t want to mess with your network settings, you still have a more robust control set to solve problems (even if you hand over the program to someone more technologically savvy).

Performance and speeds

Like every router I reviewed, I tested the Hydra Pro 6 at my 1,300-square-foot home in Louisville, Kentucky. Fiber internet plan from AT&T. After testing at high speeds over the last few years, I upgraded this plan to a gigabit connection. 300Mbps. Doing so allows me to take a better look at the capabilities of each router I have tested, but it also means that I have fewer models to compare it to, as the old 300 Mbps data will not make a fair comparison.

To take this into account, I selected the Hydra Pro 6 from the list of the best Wi-Fi routers with a few of the best choices – with a budget-friendly TP-Link Archer AX21 and Asus RT-AX86U game router – plus a handful of other Wi-Fi I have. 6 models. Finally, the Hydra Pro 6 finished with both the fastest average download speed (536Mbps) in my home and the fastest average download speed (467Mbps).

Among other models, the Asus RT-AX86U (two-lane AX5700) and TP-Link Archer AX73 (two-lane AX5400) offer the closest comparisons with the Hydra Pro 6. Linksys outperformed both in terms of average speed. but perhaps more importantly, he was also the most consistent of the three. Take a look at the graphs above to see what I mean. Each point in these charts is the loading speed during a single speed test, so you want them to be as high and close together as possible. The Hydra Pro 6 was equipped with a tight speed range in every room I tested and a sturdy steering wheel that didn’t put me in the slower 2.4 GHz range when I didn’t need it (just look at the TP-Link chart). an example of what it looks like – it’s not beautiful).

This was a particularly encouraging result for Linksys, who did not always bring an A-game to my speed tests. A few years ago, I tested and reviewed the Linksys MR7350, is a similar but less powerful version of the MR5500 discussed here. When I started the connection away from the router, behind the house, the speeds crashed on the board, and the controls on this budget model were very poor. This was not a problem during this time.

Judgment

With impressive speeds and performance, the Linksys Hydra Pro 6 is an attractive upgrade option for anyone looking for a little more accessibility than a router. Given that you can find good tri-band and mesh models at this price, $ 300 is too expensive for it, but it doesn’t seem too difficult to catch it on sale at a lower price. At the very least, it’s definitely a good model to bookmark before Black Friday and other major sales periods.

With a few remarkable features and easy to use, but unusual application, Hydra Pro 6 is probably not the most suitable option for middle and advanced users looking for deep control over networks. But if you’re looking for a fast, reliable router for someone who doesn’t want to think much about a router (if you have one at all), look closely at the Hydra Pro 6, because the combination of speed, simplicity, and consistency makes it hard to beat.