ASUS RT-AX86U WiFi 6 Gaming Router Review

A Closer Look at the Hardware

Now that we know what it can do, let us take a closer look at the router itself.

Front View

The front doesn’t have a lot of feature as such, but there are a few things to notice. There are vents at the top and the bottom, allowing the hot air to escape and the unit to run as it should.

At the bottom, you’ll find a row of LEDs which cover almost every part possible. There’s a WPS light for when you’re using that function as well as one for each LAN and WAN port. This includes the 2.5Gbps port too. There’s also individual LEDs for each of the two wireless bands and one for power itself.

Rear Side View

Turning it around and wek see all the connectors which are pretty self explanatory. From left to right, you have the power connector and button followed by a reset button. Then we get the two USB 3.0 ports for mobile dongles, mobile drives, printers, and similar devices. Next up is the 2.5Gbps port followed by the WAN and then the LAN ports.

The whole backside also contains vents, but in a clever design way as seen above the ports in this photo.

Side View

The sides of the router don’t often have many features, but the RT-AX86U does have some on both side.

There a button to turn off the LEDs on one side which is great if the router is placed somewhere you sleep. You don’t want blinking lights all night long in such a location. The other side has the WPS button for easy connection to the WiFi without knowing the password. Of course, this has to be enabled and configured to work.

Antennas

The three antennas are detachable and come with standard connectors. This allows you to replace them with aftermarket ones in the event that you want to do so. Few will do so, but it’s great that it is possible when needed. The antennas can turn 360 degrees and be angled at 45, 90, and 180 degrees.

Power Supply

The power supply delivers 19V at 2.37A which equals about 45W. That’s quite a lot for a router, but it won’t draw that much all the time. It does, however, make sure that there always will be enough power for it, even if every port and wireless band is being utilised along with the OS functionaly such as filtering and so forth.

A neat little detail is that the power cables come with velcro ties, allowing for a neater setup.