What you need to know
- Netgear rolled out an updated variant of its Nighthawk mesh system.
- Dubbed the Nighthawk MK93S, the mesh router features Wi-Fi 6E connectivity and high throughput.
- The default bundle includes a router and two satellites, and they're available for $549.
It's usually the Orbi series that comes to mind when thinking of the best Netgear routers, with the Nighthawk portfolio traditionally aimed at standalone models. That said, Netgear has released a few mesh systems with Nighthawk branding, and the MK83 in particular managed to carve out a niche for itself as a reliable Wi-Fi 6 mesh router with excellent coverage.
Netgear is rolling out an updated variant of the MK83 dubbed the Nighthawk MK93S. From the outset, you won't notice any differences between the two as they share the same design, including a squarish profile with a textured pattern at the top. What has changed is everything else; the MK93S has Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, and it leverages the 6GHz band and 160MHz channels to deliver better throughput. Netgear touts a total throughput of 5.7Gbps for the tri-band router, a huge increase of over the 3.6Gbps managed by the MK83.
Netgear says the MK93S is able to handle 100 devices connected to the mesh system, and it covers an area of 7,500 sq. ft. Because it's being sold under the Nighthawk label, there's a decent amount of customizability — you can assign individual SSIDs to each of the 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz radios, and the dynamic QoS service intelligently prioritizes traffic based on need.
The router has three Gigabit Ethernet ports, and you get a 2.5 Gigabit WAN port that lets you take full advantage of a multi-Gigabit internet connection. While the Gigabit LAN ports then act as the bottleneck, there is the option to bridge two ports together via Link Aggregation. That said, I would have still liked a 2.5GbE LAN port in addition to the WAN port. The satellites, meanwhile, have dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, so you can set up a wired backhaul if you so desire.
The Nighthawk MK93S is sold in a 3-pack that includes a router and two satellites, and it's on sale at Netgear right now as well as Amazon for $549, with deliveries kicking off in two weeks. The router offers tangible upgrades over the Wi-Fi 6 model, and it comes with a year's worth of Netgear's Armor security service for free, after which you'll need to pay $99 a year.
The MK93S has decent upgrades over its predecessor, offering Wi-Fi 6E connectivity along with better overall bandwidth and coverage.
