This MSI router is a beast! Once you get it, update it to the latest Firmware and it will fix all minor issues and work flawless! Great price and the gaming router is elegant looking for any room. The setup is easy, colorful and it works. 3 bandwidths for maximum usage and the signal range is no problem. Love that it connects almost instantly to any WiFi product and never had any signal drops! It's worth buying it because reliability is priceless!

I have a two story house about 2900 sq ft. I had a newer three node mesh system in place, but had many random issues with it. Found this router on sale and figured it was worth trying out. So far it works 100% better than the mesh system. I have it placed centrally upstairs with the antennas angled to face the main areas of the home. I am only using it as an access point, alongside a Mikrotik router. For this purpose, it has been great. Full coverage and great speeds. Way less hassle than with the mesh.

For the price this Router offers so many features!!!

WiFi 6 with 6 Antennas and a ton of features at half the price of most other compatible routers.

I was hesitant purchasing this at first simply due to it being MSI branded. I have nothing against MSI but they have not done routers in the past. Fortunately regular firmware updates have been released fixing a lot of issues.

The router appears to be nicely built. The software menu in the router is nice and easy to get around.

I cannot speak to tech support as I have not used them.

I would definitely buy again.

UPDATE: About 2 weeks ago, I needed to connect to the 2.4GHz band, and noticed that, while at first the speed was good, if I was doing a download, it would slow down and then fail. Not a good sign. Then, yesterday, the MSI Router failed completely. All of the sudden I was getting no WiFi connectivity to the Internet. I reset the Router, and after that, I was no longer able to even get to the management interface, even over Ethernet cable. I plugged in an old TP-Link router that I had kept around for emergencies, and was back online in no time at all. I recommend looking elsewhere.

So far, I haven't found anything that I don't like about this MSI WiFi Router. Being Tri-Band, I am able to segment traffic by type of device, putting our video streaming devices on the fastest 5GHz band. The signal is strong throughout our 2000 sq ft home, and even outside of the house in our yard. We rarely see any buffering, and what we do see is very short lived and may be the streaming service or our Internet provider. The price was right for the performance we're seeing.

This might get edited later on, but I'm quite enjoying what this offers for the sale price I paid. ($60 with tax shipped on sale)

This router is basically a copy of a Synology RT6600AX with downgrades here and there. I say copy because they're literally both OEM'd by EDIMAX in Taiwan. Contract EE design.

Where they diverge is Flash RAM and total RAM.

-Synology has 4GB of flash for its OS.. where the MSI is only 256mb flash.

-Synology operates with 1GB, where the MSI is half at 512MB DDR4.

Both use the same CPU and platform layouts. Qualcomm IPQ6018 1.8ghz A53 tied to a QCN5052 and QCN5022 for 2x2 + 2x2 config. The 4x4 main Radio is a QCN9024 which is like a gen 2 AX radio that has innate 4096 QAM (similar to current gen WIFI7 HW). Competitor WIFI6 Hardware is generally 1024 QAM.. so this is kind of unique given it's still a WIFI 6 router.

PROBLEMS:

As others have mentioned, the firmware/Software is a little underdeveloped. The first thing I noticed is that you cannot set the premium QCN9024 4x4 radio to a lower 36-64 channel block.. Instead they LIMIT you to using 100+ channel config which is pure DFS when it comes to 160mhz bonding..

**every other established manufacturer/brand has this working**

The unfortunate circumstances are that I've already dropped signal due to DFS kicking me out. And since I cannot use the lower *Public + DFS* block of 36-64.. it makes 160mhz in the US region kind of of useless on this router.

The 5G-1 (or 2x2) radio can operate from 36-64.. but there's really no logic to that.. as that 2x2 radio doesn't support 160mhz.. I think this is a complete oversight from MSI given use in other regions.

Both bands should support the full 36-161 range of UNII blocks on 5G and overlap. I would argue for UNII-4.. like Synology has, but that would require a complete FCC recertification and change out of MSI.

*I would rather them improve the FW/SW on this before divulging into that*

So far this is the biggest issue I've come across within the first few hours... MSI really needs to update the firmware and allow this!

PROS:

The main 4x4 radio still performs exceptionally well relative to competitive hardware on market, even being limited to unii-3 at 80mhz bonding.. I'm actually impressed.

GUI is snappy in default mode. Cant really complain.. Radios also load fairly quick.

Has a 2.5G port. Entire HW package competes in the $150+ USD range.

The $60 I paid is likely just BoM cost given the original MSRP of $250. Not sure why MSI is selling these cheap through supplier channels.

NEUTRAL: I didn't touch the AI QoS or alt software "GT Booster".. but I think this is why people are having issues with this router. I really think MSI should just ditch that entire concept and just keep the basic manual QoS until they can start actually going hardcore..

They're not at ASUS (router) level yet where the software overrides the hardware in a lot of situations.

It's unfortunate that this router has SW/FW issues, because I think it's an amazingly solid platform, but they also cut corners in the wrong areas.. IE: 1GB of total ram prob would have made the experience a tad better when running those extra layers...

As a basic router without "GT booster" engaged, the 512MB is prob well more than enough and I'm currently only utilizing 40-45% of ram with 30 clients.

OTHER:

With the above in consideration, you shouldn't expect this to compete with Synology's on SW and optimization, but the radio performance is certainly going to be in the same ballpark when factoring "hardware" alone.

I'm actually impressed for what was a $60 router.... Definitely one of the better options I've used/tried.. Current HW stack includes WIFI7 BE800, WIFI6 AX86U, WIFI5 GT-AC2900.

I'll prob end up selling my AX86U and GT-AC2900 and hopefully keeping this MSI as a backup.. but I need to figure out if there are any other glaring issues before that happens.

OVERALL:

Great hardware crippled by SW/FW not being as refined as it should. MSI should scrap "GT booster" and just make it an extremely stable platform before engaging in partnerships with other entities.

I didn't test USB/NAS performance yet, but I've read it isn't the best.. and least relative to what the Synology version can do.

If you can grab these for around $100 or lower.. it's definitely better than whatever else is offered in this price range.. It's like no contest due to the main QCN9024 "5G-2" radio having a REALLY good 4x4 design.

WIFI6 4x4 main radio designs are usually at least $150 for a dual band... with much weaker overall platform/hardware with A7 main CPU (Broadcom).. and no 2.5G support... So you can definitely see where I'm coming from in that regard.

$60 - Must buy.

$80 - Tempting. Extreme value.

$100- Good value, beware of SW problems. Best HW in this price range still.

$150- Consider other 4x4 main radio models with established SW. This still competes (performance alone), but not seamless.

$200 Go with another company :)

Wifi works much better than ISP routers. Before my son was unable to use his playstation online due to bad connections, now he has a strong connection. Didnt change router placement.

Works perfectly!

I was left speechless by how easy it was to setup on how great it worked. If u have alot of users on ur wifi and ar getting drops in connection because it this is ur router. Ignore the gamer marketing this router is for everyone.

Muy buen articulo, facil de configurar, buena velocidad y rango de cobertura

Le routeur est puissant et le wi-fi entre bien.

Dudaba de las capacidades de este router ya que es una marca de entrada y anteriormente había comprado otros de otras marcas y no fueron lo que esperaba, con este router tengo señal wifi en toda mi casa sin necesidad de comprar otro aditamento y lo mejor SIN PERDIDA de señal y bajos pins, para un gamer por el costo beneficio es algo muy bueno ya que esta por debajo de otros como asus y su funcionalidad es la misma, lo único malo y por lo que le pongo 4 estrellas es el envío que tardó mas de un mes y el soporte en la app, esta no funciona, pero si realizas la configuración desde una computadora no tendrías problemas

El router es estetico y las bandas funcionan bien,pero mucho ojo,si eres de Mexico,y tu isp solo maneja tu servicio por PPPoE,lamentablemente no podras conectarlo,ya que el firmware actual no soporta vlans personalizadas,solo las que vienen por defecto dentro del menu de configuracion del router.La mayoria son de Europa y Norteamerica.Lastima por parte de MSI.Espero les sirva, mejor busquen otras opciones.

Si mejora la señal por mucho pero no reduce la latencia en juegos para nada