This review took longer than I would have liked, but it did come with a blessing in disguise. See that point above about firmware updates? When I first tested the NETGEAR Orbi RBK853, the performance in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands was not as good as it is now. In particular, the 2.4 GHz output was worse than a 3-pack WiFi mesh system should be capable of, although I was not too surprised by this alone based on similar issues seen with previous Orbi family products. While I went about testing and writing for a few products, NETGEAR put out no fewer than four firmware updates in the similar number of months, and the penultimate one did wonders. The timing of this coincided with NETGEAR's global release of its Orbi WiFi-6E networking solutions, which promised a higher performance for wireless N over the 2.4 GHz band. Some of this must have trickled in here, but I remain wanting to know whether the throughput split of this AX6000 (6000 Mbps total throughput) product actually differs from region to region or not.

As such, I would say that my results are best taken to represent the European SKU of the NETGEAR Orbi RBK853, with the US version potentially having slightly better 5 GHz band performance with the tradeoff on the 2.4 GHz band. I'd probably take that myself since the 2.4 GHz performance is very good already and the average customer looking to pay ~$1000 for a WiFi system isn't exactly concerned about 2.4 GHz performance outside of IOT devices. WiFi 6 is why you are buying this, along with perhaps having a massive house or work place, or building materials that won't play well with 5 GHz transmission. This is the best-performing set tested to date thus, even close to the router, where the extra satellite units don't really play a role. NETGEAR is clearly wanting you to use this for WiFi alone since the four 1 GbE Ethernet ports on the router and satellite units feel almost like an afterthought in this day of multi-gigabit LAN ports being readily available.

WiFi-6E will also be a consideration now, with people perhaps wanting a more future-proof option that has the newer 6 GHz band. Those products are even more expensive, however, and there are even fewer clients out there. WiFi 6 alone took so long to get here that I don't see this being a major drawback yet. I would have liked to see a price cut after the newer-generation products showed up, which NETGEAR has not done. Instead, for the same price as the triple pack under review here, you can get NETGEAR Armor and a year of 24/7 Pro Support bundled for the same cost, making for ~$220 savings , but only if you were already planning to purchase those. In the absence of competing solutions, I can't speak much about the value prospect of the RBK853 except to say that with the free Pro Support plan, it is certainly more value than the Orbi Pro SXK80. You are also paying for the convenience factor here, but keep in mind that it forces you to pick a side for your networking solutions and sticking with it, especially if you opt for any of the other subscription services. I can't tell you where you can do better for the money without having tested other options, but I can tell you that performance and signal strength will not be holding you back with the NETGEAR Orbi RBK853.