I was writing the review of the NETGEAR Nighthawk M2 last year when the newer Nighthawk M5 had just shown up with its 5G and WiFi 6 support. At the time, the Nighthawk M2 wasn't doing much beyond the extremely niche application, especially given the retail non-availability in some major markets. I recommended people hold on to see how the Nighthawk M5 worked out. It's been a few months since, and we are funnily enough in a similar situation as NETGEAR recently announced the Nighthawk M6 and M6 Pro with WiFi 6E support, but current availability in the US limited to AT&T customers for less than the Nighthawk M5—that is, before the cost of the required minimum data plan from AT&T. I can pretty much guarantee that the unlocked global version will cost quite a bit more than the Nighthawk M5, and I realistically can't recommend going with the Nighthawk M6 or M6 Pro at this time even if it gives you a 2.5 GigE port as a wired update over the 1 GigE port of the M5.

Having spent a few weeks with it does add a lot of context—namely, how expensive such mobile broadband routers tend to be. The other solutions from NETGEAR are now effectively a generation behind, only making them options if your clients are also on Wireless AC. If so, you should absolutely go with the less expensive Nighthawk M2 that does better there, with NETGEAR having cut down some features with the M5 to hit this price point—it cost even more at launch! Gone is the full-size USB Type-A port, so expandable storage is no longer a thing. Admittedly, conducted surveys showed that it wasn't a feature anyone seemed to be using. However, seeing the Nighthawk M5 with lower throughput on WiFi 6 than the Nighthawk M2 with WiFi 5 (Wireless AC) is not ideal. It's when you get to actual daily life performance that the Nighthawk M5 beats the pants off the M2, at least in regions where you can easily obtain data-only SIM cards at a very reasonable price. If my experience is anything to go by, these regions are also typically where 5G networks take off quickly. I would certainly pick the Nighthawk M5 over the Nighthawk M2 since the higher cost comes with actual benefits that make it worth adding to a chain for even home WiFi networking with a mesh system.

Competing solutions from other brands are hit or miss, with customer reviews generally only being positive for products in the same price range, or those products just not being ready yet for 5G and WiFi 6/6E. There's also Starlink, but it is currently not a readily available solution for the masses. Anyone looking at mobile routers such as this one has a few different needs, and we have covered those over the course of this review to where I am overall impressed with the Nighthawk M5 in those scenarios. It costs too much to be bought simply for use as a hotspot, although the feature set is good for 2022 and beyond, at least where WiFi 6 is on many devices and WiFi 6E still a ways off. The positives outweigh the negatives for me, so I am happy to recommend the Nighthawk M5. Now if only NETGEAR would get pricing everywhere more in line with the US!