Netgear’s Nighthawk R7000P is a router for the home network that anyone can use. Typically, when you hear the Nighthawk name associated with a Netgear router one can automatically assume that you’re going to have something that’s high-end in terms of specs and probably for someone who’s a gamer. The latter is true. You do get high-end specs, great hardware and a solid design and while the R7000P does carry the Nighthawk moniker it’s not really for the gamer, it’s more of a powerhouse router for anyone who just wants stable and solid WiFi for their home.

The R7000p is similar in design to its predecessor. Not much has changed. It’s all black and sleek with three big antennas that if mounted high give you really good range and fast WiFi throughout your home. The R7000P is a dual-band router that supports the 2.4 and 5GHz bands. What you get with this router is similar to what you get with every router, 4 ethernet ports, reset button and LED indicators in the front.

Spec wise the R7000P is a mini beast. It’s packed with the best hardware for the price point that gets you those WiFi speeds you want. Under the hood you’ve got a 1GHz dual-core CPU, 128MB of flash memory, and 256MB of RAM. It’s a AC2300 router that can reach speeds of 600Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and 1,625Mbps on the 5GHz band. The R7000P also has MU-MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output) and 802.11ac support. What does all this mean? That the R7000P will give you enough WiFi capability to be fast and even more so since a MU-MIMO router sends data directly to devices on a network simultaneously. This gives you a solid router for the next few years that will be more than capable before it’s time to upgrade

Netgear’s online GENIE is probably the best part of the setup. Once you make all of the right connections and power the router on you can login on the online GENIE portal and set up your WiFi via the default settings and or you can set it up with your own custom settings. Nothing different in this setup from any of Netgear’s other routers. Still as simple as can be and anyone can do it.

Netgear Armor by Bitdefender

The R7000P is the Netgear’s first router that comes with their Bitdefender supported Netgear Armor built in. It’s a cloud based anti-virus and malware software that gives you detailed access, protection and information of your router and all of the devices at home connected to your WiFi. You now have the luxury of being able to protect your devices that are connected to the network without the manual labor. This service offers a ton of convenience. Connect with the Bitdefender Armor app for iOS and Android and you’ll get network status updates and alerts when there are threats to the network and they’ve been contained and it all comes right to your phone. The online portal allows you the same information and access to your devices as well (armor.netgear.com) just sign in and monitor your home network with ease.

Circle with Disney also comes included with Armor. It offers a unique set of parental controls that you can use to create good internet behavior and routine with the children in your home. You can really customize how they use the internet very specifically. In a nutshell, you can limit the amount of time devices have online, you can filter content, block websites, as well as get a full history of what your kids have been doing online. It’s a great addition to the Netgear Armor service. You get all of this service at a price however. Netgear starts you off with a free 90-day trial and afterward if you choose to continue to use the Netgear Armor it’ll cost $69.99 annually, if you include Circle with Disney’s Premium Plan then you can add an additional $4.99 monthly for that service. It’s comparable to other antivirus suite offerings so $69.99 isn’t too bad. It boils down to needs with Netgear Armor but overall it’s a worthy service if you know network management isn’t for you or you want to enforce some parental control over your children.

The R7000P is a great buy

Routers are a necessity in the home in the internet driven world we live in. Today we’re given so much in terms of choice to and it’s hard to pick what’s best for your home. Netgear’s R7000P is a perfect fit for the home that checks off a number of important feature boxes. It’s competitively priced at just $199, medium sized and mountable, it has a very easy setup, Netgear Armor offers you a level of security within your home network that doesn’t require a ton of manual maintenance and most importantly you get a solid and speedy WiFi connection throughout your home. Unless you’re a gamer, running a home media server or anything with a little more complexity then this router is probably not for you but for mostly everyone else this router is perfect.