It's pricey but worth it. Was having issues with streaming Netflix / Hulu in certain areas of the house. This solved the problem. Easy set up and no more buffering. Simple and effective.

Sometimes, no amount of prime router placement can get you decent Wi-Fi coverage throughout your house. Netgear isn't the first to try and solve this problem, but its new Orbi Wi-Fi system tackles it pretty handily.

Excellent coverage; Easy setup; Approachable design

Mighty pricey; Finicky Wi-Fi band settings

The Netgear Orbi is a new spin on the home Wi-Fi router, designed specifically to stretch Wi-Fi coverage further than any normal router can manage. It achieves this because it's essentially two routers in one, with the second unit acting like a glorified Wi-Fi extender.

Very fast speeds at long range; Easy setup; Consistent coverage; Much faster performance than Wi-Fi extenders; Single SSID makes managing connections easy

High upfront cost; Modest feature set for power users; Not the fastest router when in close range

NETGEAR's Orbi kit is one of the strongest wireless systems on the market thanks to its engineering, but with that comes a hefty price tag that will scare some away.

The Netgear Orbi is the second Wi-Fi system I've worked with and, at a glance, it seems similar to the first, the Eero . At the very least, the Orbi also has multiple hardware units and it's expensive as well, costing $400 for a set of two and an additional unit will cost another $250.

The Orbi Wi-Fi system conveniently delivers large Wi-Fi coverage without compromising speed; The system doesn't require an account with Netgear to work

The system is expensive; and there's no mobile app for its setup process

Home Wi-Fi systems offer a user-friendly alternative to the more complex router/extender solutions used to blanket your home with wireless coverage, and the Netgear Orbi High-Performance AC3000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi System (RBK50) is currently the best of the burgeoning crop.

Easy to install; Fast throughput; Multi-User Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) capable; Highly configurable

Expensive; Bulky; Limited USB functionality

Consumer router products are generally classified by three major performance characteristics: overall throughput or bandwidth, multi-client performance, and range. Although throughput and multi-client bandwidth has scaled-up nicely over the years, range perhaps hasn't improved quite as robustly and...

High performance AC WiFi; Great performance over distance; Virtually eliminates dead spots; Easy setup and configuration

Just one USB 2 port per unit; Only 3 available Ethernet ports on base

Bought this based on the rating - it is the worst wifi equipment I have ever owned and the least supported. Beware - go online to Orbi support groups to find out about how much maintenance this takes to work properly and that is if the firmware updates are done in the proper order for the...

In all, the Orbi is a smart system: we found it delivered rock-solid and stable Wi-Fi to our entire house. If you've struggled with poor Wi-Fi performance in the past, then this router could well be the answer.

Very easy to set up; Delivers great performance and coverage

Distinctly pricey; Doesn't currently support YouView streaming

Orbi might be the first mesh-based network to launch over here, but it's got some big competition across the pond. Eero has been out in the US for a while, and Google Wifi will arrive there in November.

Blistering wireless speeds; Great design; Incredibly simple setup

Beaten by much cheaper routers for everyday file transfers; QoS options are basic; Mobile app is horrific