Customers have good things to say about the Orbi 850's coverage, setup, ease of use, range, performance, and signal strength, frequently citing these aspects as positive experiences. However, some customers express concerns regarding the system's price point and occasional connection issues. A few users also mention limitations with parental controls and compatibility with certain devices. The size of the units is another area where some customers have voiced preferences for a more compact design.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 1 Showing 1-20 of 1,876 reviews
Pros mentioned:
Setup
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Arguably the best Wi-Fi Mech System
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Easily this is the best Wi-Fi system out there.
The only system better than this is corporate Wifi Networks. This is bringing corporate/ cellphone tower like connectivity to your home.
*** Why did I upgrade from Nighthawk? ***
Years ago, I used to be a Linksys fan, and then the support/ equipment start to wane a bit with the Cisco acquisition. That is when I got the first Netgear Nighthawk R7000. 2 years back upgraded to Nighthawk Nighthawk X8 and now to this amazing piece of equipment ... Netgear Orbi AX6000.
The router was on the second-floor corner room. My office which was on the first-floor room diagonally away from the router was a dead spot, and so was most of the backyard. The router was great but still had connectivity issues. Also, we upgraded the security system for our home which is a hybrid ADT & Ring and due to the range, there were dead spots or delays in system response.
I was also using a Wi-Fi extender, but it is always a nuisance to manage two separate SSIDs or the problem with switching from router to extender with the same SSID because you have to toggle the Wi-Fi on and off for the wireless devices.
All this led me to look into a Mesh network.
*** Why I chose the (most expensive) Netgear Orbi AC6000? ***
Two reasons.
First, most of the gear in the wireless mesh systems is designed for a totally wireless home. This means that Router and Satellites will have one or maybe 2 Ethernet ports. Netgear Orbi AX6000, each unit has 4 ethernet ports for in-home (intra-home) networking. This means that if you use switches to connect any wired devices, you can get rid of them. And yes, each unit (Router or Sattelite can be used as a Gigabit Wireless Switch). Yay!
Second, this has whopping 6Gbps total throughput, smarts to connect to 2.4GHz or 5GHz, and channels automatically. Not to forget that this is Wi-Fi 6 which should mean I am good for another 3-4 years. The 6Gbps in-home also helps if you have media/ data servers.
*** What are some of the Pros? ***
- Extreme performance (I have never seen such throughputs to my home).
- Simple to set up through the App.
- Easy to configure, rename the Router or Satellites to the name of your choice.
- Look at Network Map through the App and see which device is connected how (wired/ wireless) to which unit.
- Beautifully designed, looks great. I did get the powder-coated metallic wall-mount brackets from that big online merchant and mounted all three units on the wall.
*** What are the Cons? ***
- No Cons technically.
- If you are using laptops that have either older WiFi cards or running old drivers, they will not see your Wi-Fi 6 network. I had to update the driver on one of the machines (the driver was from 2016). After update, it works fine.
- The only con I think is a very ... very steep price tag.
Two ways to save some money are,
+ Recycle your old router at your local Best Buy, and get a 15% coupon to buy new equipment. Take your router to the Customer Service desk. They will help you.
+ Signup for the email newsletter at Netgear.com and you can get a 10% coupon code in the mail to buy directly from them. I still think Best Buy has a better program of 15% discount.
*** Final thoughts ***
If you can afford this, I would highly recommend this.
Otherwise, look for other Netgear Orbi systems - they are much less expensive, have multiple Ethernet ports and you will avoid Wi-Fi 6 connectivity problems. Use Best Buy to again get a 15% further discount on those too.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Coverage, Ease of use
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Orbi has changed our home WiFi!
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Extremely easy set up via the app and complete WiFi coverage for our entire house (3300 sq ft) and beyond to our back patio and porch as well. We have fiber internet and have gone through 3 systems before landing on the Orbi. Our last system - Mesh MR80 worked well except we experienced drops and dead spots throughout the house. Our main connections are in the second floor and satellites were spaced on the first floor - which did not help the situation. Was going to purchase a repeater but decided to scrap the whole system and install Orbi - which has been a godsend. No refreshing the system, no dead spots, no buffering… extremely happy with the new system. Before Orbi - we would drop streaming content, video conferences would buffer or be delayed. Orbi has helped us maximize our WiFi capabilities. Orbi app is very user friendly and much easier to use than the previous knighthawk app.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Range, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great Product exceeds my expectations.
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Extremely happy with this system. 2600sq ft home 40+ devices I’m getting full speeds even beyond my home. My kids are happy also because they all have game systems and have noticed no lags since buying this system. Also the BestBuy I purchased this system from have a GREAT team of knowledgeable staff and professionals who helped me with making this choice for my home.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Coverage, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Booted Provder device!
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I purchased this Orbi system to upgrade and drop the horrible Spectrum provided/rented router. It was the best decision I have made. I immediately saw an increase in doenload speed (825 mbs) and upload speed (600 mbs) within 10 minutes of setting the system up. Significant reductions in lag time and buffering on all my devices also. I have been told that once fiber is available in my area, speeds wull be near perfect to the 1 gig thar I pay for! The range on this Orbi system is amazing! I am still connected at either side of my hiuse IN my neighbor's houses! Covers over 2600 sq ft easy!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Coverage, Ease of use, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Finally Getting My Speed!
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Finally! I am so happy to finally be receiving speeds I have been paying for. I have Gigabit from Xfinity and I am using their XB7 modem for internet and phone. I have tried a variety of different setups including Amazon eero Pro 6, TP Link Deco and a D-Link mesh system.
Nothing seemed to give me the coverage and speeds I needed. So I decided to try Orbi (cost initially kept me away honestly). I am very happy with my Orbi and have had Zero disconnects either on WiFi or hard wired.
I have attached 3 pictures of what I am getting at the Orbi (along with the wall bracket for the router) and another speed test result from my iPhone 12 Pro Max. Very pleased with the results.
My XBOX Series X, PS5, and even my sons PS4 and XBOX ONE X (all hard wired) are loving the Orbi! We also have 4 iPad Pros (4th Generation), 5 iPhones (oldest is a Xs Max), Google Nest thermostats and Kasa switches to name a few on Orbi.
The satellite is on my second level and is ETHERNET BACKHAULED. Prior to purchasing Orbi I have been upgrading to CAT 7 Ethernet cable around the entire house. So I decided to wire the satellite directly to the router and it’s been stable.
I also have a Netgear GS108 unmanaged switch (all CAT 7 cable) for other various devices that I chose to not put on wireless.
The ONLY negative I can give you about MY experience is Netgear Armor. I had the 30 day free trial and for the first 25 days it seemed ok. Then when the trial had 5 days left, I was getting spammed with alerts like crazy. The alerts were for issues that suddenly appeared out of the blue! Seems crazy to me but it felt like a marketing push to purchase a subscription to Armor. My experience is to tell you to stay away from Netgear Armor.
Setup was extremely easy and I really feel anyone who can use a smart phone can set this up.
So my setup is…
Xfinity XB7 > Netgear Orbi Router > Orbi Satellite Ethernet Backahuled > Netgear GS108 Unmanaged Switch.
Easy Peasy! :-)
This review is from NETGEAR - Orbi 850 Series AX6000 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System (2-pack) - White
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great Performance and Easy Installation
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
System is used in a two story home with roughly 4,000 sqft of living space. I had previously been using a 2 pod Google Nest Pro system with some varying degrees of success, however after a recent bathroom remodel upstairs with large glass door installation, there was a pretty big drop off in signal to two of the kids rooms and laptop signals began dropping.
I installed the Orbi 850 Series in about 30 minutes inclusive of unboxing, app installation on phone, account creation, and placement of router and satellites. Initial test results look really good. My downstairs office space which was wired into the Google Nest and getting 200ish mbps is now getting 596 mbps on the WiFi connection (no wires!). I have tested both laptops in the problem upstairs bedrooms and those deadspots are resolved as well. So far, this was well worth the additional (albiet more expensive at $800) investment. Not knocking the Google Nest Pro at all, it just didn't have the power to cover the big two story home with the materials in place.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Range, Speed
Cons mentioned:
Compatibility
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great potential but...
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Just installed Orbi RBK852 in approx 3k sq Fr house. Works with all devices except laptops. I was told by Orbi Netgear support to turn off the AX functionality for the 2.4 and 5.0 via orbilogin.net. Apparantly, this new AX technology is not compatible with many windows and Mac based systems... in my case a Dell Inspiron 13 7000 series. Supposedly they are working on a firm ware update but no ETA. In the meantime I paid $750 with tax for this router and can’t even use its full functionality. Thus only a 3.5 to 4 stars... not 5 until that fixes the issue!
This review is from NETGEAR - Orbi 850 Series AX6000 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System (2-pack) - White
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Range, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great WiFi Home Mesh System!
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I had a previous Orbi but we needed to upgrade and I love the new system! It's just as easy as the previous installation and we get great range and speed everywhere and all at the same time. Definitely buy these!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Coverage, Ease of use
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
My home Orbi system
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Excellent!! So easy to set up. I downloaded the app and it’s very user friendly. The coverage is excellent in any room of the house. I also purchased the Netgear Nighthawk Cable Modem CM-1200. It works perfectly with Orbi and I couldn’t be happier. I absolutely love my Home Orbi system. When you see the name Netgear I always think quality.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Setup, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Blistering hot wifi on every device
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
What an absolutely awesome wifi system. Truly getting the best out of my 1.2GB intranet, with wifi speeds in the 400-600 MBPS range all over the house. Easy setup. Replaced the built in router portion of an xfinity combo modem/router that never gave me any more than 40-60 MBPS at a device. Great Buy
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Blazing speed!
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
So far so good! Just upgraded to the Orbi 850 from Orbi RBR40 system. Combined with a Netgear C1200 doc.sis 3.1 modem. Talk about blazing fast speed! Have the Router plus 2 satellites which might be a tad overkill for a 4000 sqft 2 story house, but wanted the system to be adaptable for a few years. I also wanted it to cover th porch and pool, which so far it seems to be doing. Running about 28 devices currently seamlessly and no issues. Aesthetically it’s a bit bulky compared to the RBR40, but I have it placed in such a way that’s it’s out of sight.
I have been extremely please with my original Orbi system but wanted to jump to a gig speed which I have through Spectrum. Also wanted to run 3.1 vs 3.0 and upgrade my Wi-Fi tech to Wi-Fi 6. I’ve had the other Orbi for about 4 years or so. Never had any issues with it either. If you’ve been thinking about a mesh system, I would highly recommend the Orbi system. It’ll probably price some people out, but in todays day and age about everything runs on the Wi-Fi and I want it fast and reliable, which I have found Orbi to be. The Armour system is also a great added level of security and has worked great. Only issue I’ve found is some of my older devices can’t recognize the WP3 security key so I have to keep it set to WPA/2. Might be time to upgrade some of the older tech as well to fully take advantage of all that 3.1 has to offer.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
First Day and already impressed with speed
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
A few weeks ago I upgraded my Xfinity internet to 1Gb download service. I'm running the Xfinity modem in bridge mode and had Google Wifi Mesh installed. At my switch on ethernet I was getting 935gb download speeds which is acceptable for the speed I'm paying for. But when connected on Google Wifi I was only getting barely 1/10 that speed (100mbps or less) only 30 feet away from the router with no walls in-between. Getting frustrated with what seemed to be no solution I looked for the best mesh router I could find, and although can be confusing with different sites recommending different products including what I already had, I settled on the Netgear Orbi AX6000. It is a little expensive, but my conclusion is that is worth the price, you get what you pay for.
Today it has been one day since I set it up and now the computer I was getting 100mbps or less on is now getting 600 to 700mbps. On my Second floor rooms farthest away from my router I'm getting 400 to 500 speeds. In my detached garage, going through impact glass windows, 2 concrete block walls and having a satellite in the garage, I'm getting 325mbps speeds on my Apple TV. In the street in front of my house I'm getting 170mbps when I tested.
I am more than happy with day one results and I may move the satellites around yet and play with different positions to see if I can improve anything. But I can tell you I'm very happy with the results I'm getting, I would love to get the highest results everywhere but I know I'll have limitations due to walls etc. So far my first day impressed and I would definitely recommend this to everyone with Gigabit service in their home. Plus the fact that you will be ready for the new wifi 6 (ax) support coming in new equipment. My Samsung Galaxy Fold phone has wifi 6 and is blazing fast now.
Bottom line, glad I made the purchase and now I feel like I'm getting the speeds I'm paying for from my ISP.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Range, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Switched from EERO pros - do not regret
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I have been an EERO user for years. In my house I needed do it eero pros to cover all three stories. I have spectrum cable internet rated at 400/20 - at the main gateway I got about that wired. However, as I spread the eero pros throughout the house I would only get 1/2-1/4 of those speeds and in network speeds were nowhere near what I would expect from this high end of a setup. Finally, over the past six months I was getting drops and restarts constantly. I decided to bite the bullet and pick up the Orbi WiFi 6 units.
I could not be more impressed, two units cover my entire house and expand out around the property even giving my coverage at the street and to my backyard (I am at about 1/4 acre).
What’s most impressive isn’t the range, it’s that the Orbi maintains speed far farther than the eero ever did and this is across 2.4 and 5gHz bands. I have a number of 2.4 smart home devices and the Orbi handles them like a champ.
This is my first bestbuy review and it is for a very deserving product. I highly recommend.
This review is from NETGEAR - Orbi 850 Series AX6000 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System (2-pack) - White
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Thanks MS Windows 11 for forcing me to upgrade
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
(Same Review submitted for the Nighthawk USB WiFi antenna). After updating to Windows 11 a few weeks ago (under the Insider program) I have had horrid Internet speeds and it has been getting worse. I was hoping an update would fix it. My existing card, a USB WiFi TechKey AC1600 worked great until W-11. I tried new drivers, no good.
So... I bought the Netgear Nighthawk and my speeds went from about 3.3Mbps download / 1.0 upload, to a poor, but better, 22.5-ish Mbps download and 2.0Mbps upload. This was radically better but even so, better is not acceptable and I was still lagging well behind what I had just a few weeks ago with Windows 10.
So... back to BestBuy and upgraded my Orbit RBK553 to the RBK853. Wow, that was a radical change and made great improvements even in my far away workshop. Okay, 'radical' again is now only up to the promised speeds by Spectrum in my not-so-rural but old-school-copper-cable neighborhood. Now, with these two hardware updates in place, I have speeds of 65.5Mbps download and 5.71Mbps upload. This is where it was when I moved here so now I am back to normal. Yay for Netgear, disappointing for Microsoft's claimed Internet improvements with Windows 11.
Now that I am back up to speed, I have no excuses not to get back to work and also back to designing on Fusion 360... sigh.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Best upgrade for two story homes
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
We have a two story home and we used to struggle with dead spots in the house along with slow speeds throughout the house unless we were Ethernet cabled in. I know there are great set ups with APs, but I did not want to deal with the hassle with setting those up so we went with the new WiFi 6 Orbi system and it has the best results! Over 200% increase in internet speeds and our wifi reaches the whole house with no dead spots. This is a must purchase for those who do not want complexity! Plug and play right out of the box as they would say.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Range, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Worth the price and the hype. Blazing fast
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I had a Netgear modem with a Nighthawk ac3200 R8000 with comcast.
I have 44 devices connected to my home network.
With that config the max speed I could get wired to the router was 300-400.
I wanted to try a newer device that supports Wifi 6 with faster processing speed.
The Orbi AX6000 is definitely the answer.
Here is my review:
Installation: Painless, guided with an app, can be used by anyone who hates technology or has no network skills whatsoever.
Setup: automatic, you really just have to choose a network name.
Use: I now have my full comcast speed at the router (800-900). All DHCP is done fast and it runs stable.
The range of the router and the satellite is fantastic. I lose only about 50% speed 100 ft from the router. (Wifi)
I really thought Comcast was to blame for not delivering the full speed but clearly it was my equipment. Bear in mind that my Netgear Nighthawk was top of the line when I got it years ago.
This is overkill if you dont have high speed internet, think giga speed, but if you do this is the solution to all your speed issues.
This review is from NETGEAR - Orbi 850 Series AX6000 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System (2-pack) - White
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Coverage
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Awesome!
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Struggled with comcast gateway and pods for years. Gig internet would randomly go down to 1 % of plan speed. Tried multiple different gateways and newer pods. Nothing worked. Combined Orbi with a comcast approved nighthawk modem and now have constant screaming fast wireless. Averages over a gig download on speed test. 6200 sq ft home with a base and 2 satellites with no dead zones. Expensive but worth it! I purchased middle speed Orbi’s can’t imagine how good the top ones are!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Setup
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Perfect System Upgrade3
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Easy to install. Powerful signal throughout the house. Automatic setup was flawless. Perfect system upgrade.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Speed
Cons mentioned:
Connection
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
iPhone 11 Pro is FAST!
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Posted . Owned for less than 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Upgraded from Comcast xfinity gateway with Comcast gigabit service.
iPhone 11 pro pulls down 900+ on same floor as router. Upstairs near the satellite still gets about 500. 2story house about 3000 sq ft.
Comcast was periodically dropping connection. Not a problem now. Included other routers for size comparison.
Setup was a breeze and app allows same functionality as Google Wifi puck.
Apple needs to hurry up and release more Wifi 6 devices to so I can justify this big price.
4/5 stars due to price
This review is from NETGEAR - Orbi 850 Series AX6000 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System (2-pack) - White
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Coverage, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Perfect for large house
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
A true upgrade from my old Google system. Setup was a breeze and noticing a huge improvement in coverage and speed across the house.