Mercusys, a sub-brand from the well known networking equipment company TP-Link focusing on budget network devices. The Mercusys MR70X AX1800 is a dual-band WiFi 6 router for those who are looking for an upgrade without burning much from the pocket. It also supports the latest wireless Encryption WPA3 which is too good for its price.
Mercusys MR70X checks all the basics for a router. Its support for the AX band rather than the current standard AC band ensures better reliability and wider coverage. The WiFi 6 supported devices are growing rapidly, especially smartphones and laptops. The MR70X definitely offers better features than the routers provided by the Internet Service Providers.
Hardware and Design
The Mercusys MR70X has a classic glossy black finish to its exterior looks with four non-detachable external antennas. The body is made of plastic materials that help to reduce the weight to just 343gms. At the back of the router, 1 WAN port, 3 LAN ports and a Reset/WPS push button are available. Surprisingly, there is no power button nor a USB port is available for flashing firmware or FTP support.
There are four plastic feet at the bottom for keeping on flat surfaces. Also, Mercusys has omitted wall-mount points from the MR70X which we feel was necessary to have a router, even though if it is on a cheaper side. Another interesting find was the Mercusys MR70X has only a single LED light as an indicator, which too is not too bright and difficult to identify whether the device on or off. The sacrifice you have to make is the standard separate LED lights for Wi-Fi and the Ethernet ports.
Performance
Mercusys MR7X runs on stable firmware and the UI was responsive during the usage in the review period. We have used devices both with WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 compatible devices like Android smartphone and a laptop with Intel AX200 wireless adapter. Thanks to the multiple high gain antennas with beam-forming, Mercusys MR70X were able to provide sufficient coverage in a 1000 sq ft. apartment with multiple physical walls in between with the 5GHz band. In 2.4 GHz band performance were also decent as well with some corners left out in the apartment.
The WiFi 6 router is packed with some unexpected features as well in its relatively affordable pricing category. It has Guest WiFi, Dynamic DNS, VPN Server etc. The surprising feature is the Wireless Encryption WPA3 included with the WiFi 6 budget router with its enhanced security than the previous generation WiFi encryption WPA2, thanks to Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), the personal authentication process of WPA3.
The router has also managed to deliver uninterrupted service up to 10 devices and it is quite good performance considering its competitive pricing in which the router is being offered. The OFDMA and MU-MIMO support does allow multiple devices to simultaneously transmit data from and to the devices, improving the data transmission of the wireless network. With the Target Wake Time (TWT), it consumes less power for your mobile and other connected devices during the data transmissions.
Conclusion
The Mercusys is an easy to configure WiFi 6 is a decent budget router with a bunch of advanced features included. For those who are looking for a router with security features like the latest wireless encryption WP3 and WiFi 6 capabilities, this router deserves to be on your list of devices to be considered. The router is more suitable for smaller homes which will provide sufficient network coverage.
The lack of a USB port and manual firmware update may not be a dealbreaker for many users. But we feel the repeater mode omission might be crucial for some users who does not get good wireless coverage in their home. Nonetheless, its competitive pricing gets this WiFi 6 router a competitive edge over the other products.
