Linksys WRT1200AC AC1200 Dual-Band Smart Wi-Fi Wireless Router Review

Bohs Hansen / 9 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

We’ve seen a great router on the previous page and the price just got even better with the MSRP being dropped to just MSRP £159.99. At the time of writing, the Linksys WRT1200AC can be had at NewEgg for $179.99, Amazon UK for £192.48. German readers can find a deal through Geizhals where it currently starts at €199.95.

The router just arrived on the European market and availability is sparse, but that should change very shortly.

Conclusion

Whether you like the design or not, that’s personal taste. I quite like the racy yet simple design choice that Linksys made. I wouldn’t put it on display in my living room, but it would look great in an office or geek-room environment.

The WRT1200AC hits a sweet spot in the market for the people who want a great and reliable dual-band router, but don’t want to spend the extra money to get an AC1900. This device is more than enough for most needs and will do a great job in both home and small offices. You get a quality products full of features.

The dual-band 2.4GHz N400 and 5GHz AC867 router performs great, even in heavy traffic areas such as my apartment. Depending on where I’m located in my apartment I got up to 20 available wireless networks all fighting for the same airspace. This wasn’t any problem for the WRT1200 thanks to its beam-forming technology that allows it to strengthen the signal in the direction where it is needed.

The addition of both USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and even eSATA is a lovely option, i especially love the eSATA port. You can easily connect almost any of your storage drives directly to the router and share the content to all your network connected devices at once.

Even though the WRT1200AC has a dual-core 1.3GHz processor, it only draws about 8 watts during usage. So you can’t blame your electricity bill on this device.

Pros

Dual-Band AC
Powerful but power efficient CPU
USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA file sharing
OpenWRT compatible
Parental Control, Guest Access, and Firewall

Cons

Price

“The Linksys WRT1200AC is a router packed with features, including OpenWRT support and it is a safe choice if you’re in the market for an AC1200 router.”