Category
Networking & Wi-Fi
3 reviews in this category. All long-term tested.
Ubiquiti UniFi Express 7 review: the cheapest honest way into UniFi
Seven weeks as the only router in a 14-client apartment. The UX7 is a $199 gateway that runs a real controller — and a 2x2 radio that you will eventually outgrow.
The UniFi Express 7 is the least expensive way to run a genuine UniFi network: an onboard controller, real VLANs, real firewall rules, and Wi-Fi 7 with 320 MHz channels, for $199. In seven weeks as the sole router on a 14-client apartment network it routed 2.3 Gbps of NAT traffic and delivered 1.55 Gbps to a Wi-Fi 7 client in the same room. The compromises are the 2x2 radio, a single LAN port, and an IDS/IPS engine that costs you more than half your throughput when you turn it on. We score it 7.8 — the right buy for a flat or a small office, the wrong buy for a house.
Firewalla Gold SE review: prosumer firewall that respects your time
After three months in front of a 22-device home network, the Gold SE delivered IDS, segmentation, and policy-based routing without the operational burden of a typical pfSense build.
The Firewalla Gold SE is the closest thing the home-prosumer market has to a turnkey replacement for a small-business firewall. Across three months of testing, it ran IDS without false-positive flooding, supported VLAN segmentation through a clean app, and handled multi-WAN failover. Performance ceiling is the trade-off; this isn't a 10 Gbps box. Earns 8.2.
TP-Link Deco BE95 mesh review: Wi-Fi 7 that actually delivers MLO at scale
After three months on a 4,000 sq ft test home, the BE95 is the first consumer Wi-Fi 7 mesh we've measured that delivers Multi-Link Operation at the rates the spec implies.
On a 22-client home network with a 2.5 Gbps WAN, the TP-Link Deco BE95 sustained 1.6 Gbps of usable throughput at second-floor and basement access points, with MLO delivering measured aggregate throughput on Wi-Fi 7 clients. Tri-band 320 MHz channels work as advertised on 6 GHz. We award it Editor's Pick at 8.7, with a caveat about TP-Link's ongoing telemetry behaviour.