The little but mighty router can support up to 6.4Gbps download rates, a 2700 square foot coverage area, and more than 30 simultaneous devices. The Qualcomm Immersive Home 216 Platform is to thank for everything. A mesh router that can be used to provide a whole-home Wi-Fi system is the Linksys Hydra Pro 6, a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router. The Hydra Pro 6 is simple to set up and employs a user-friendly mobile app to apply fundamental parental restrictions and give particular clients priority access to bandwidth.
Design
The Linksys Hydro Pro 6 (also known as MR5500) is a little Wi-Fi marvel that is aimed for people who desire a compact, discreet router to spread Wi-Fi across their houses. The Hydra Pro 6 is one-third the size of the powerful Netgear Nighthawk RAX50, but it is the same size as the Linksys MR7350 at 8.5 x 6.1 x 2.2 inches. Although the pair of antennae on the Hydra Pro 6 raise the router by 4.1 inches when extended, it is simple to set up on a desk, shelf, or kitchen countertop. Its black chassis has perforations across the top for cooling, soft rubber feet, and cutouts underneath for wall installation. It never exceeded 106 degrees Fahrenheit, not even during periods of intensive use. In contrast to the Asus RT-10 AX86U’s LED display, the Hydra Pro 6’s single LED bar quietly indicates its status. While blue indicates it is online, purple indicates it is ready for configuration. The router is not operational if it turns red. The Hydra Pro 6 includes two exterior masts, each of which has a 2.4GHz and a 5GHz antenna inside, as opposed to constantly adding more antennae to the router. They cannot be removed but can be repositioned to capture a shaky signal. In other words, it’s a nice difference from devices like the TP-Link Archer AX11000, which has eight antennas. The Hydra Pro 6 is a dual band 802.11AX router that combines features of high-performance and common routers. It is built on Qualcomm’s Immersive Home 216 Wi-Fi platform. It can utilize a single 160MHz high-performance data channel for data hogs while tapping into six spatial data streams. It makes use of advanced beamforming and MU-MIMO technology to support several devices and adapt signals to the receiving system.
Linksys Hydra Pro 6 review: Setup
However, the Linksys app is somewhat simplistic. To connect your iOS or Android mobile device to the router’s default “setup” network, you must first download the Linksys app, register for an account, and then input a password. This process takes a few minutes. When many routers now merely allow you to scan a QR code in order to set everything up instantly, it seems a little cumbersome to have to rename that network, generate a new password, and then reconnect all over again. But once that’s done, the app is rather simple to use; it instantly establishes a single network by fusing the 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz bands, and then gives a list of all the linked devices. You can set a timetable to restrict your child’s Internet use to certain hours or suspend Internet access for any device. You may priorities three devices to deliver the best performance for demanding tasks like gaming or streaming video, and there is an integrated speed test to check network performance. Although the parental controls are quite restricted, at least Linksys’ competitors don’t continually annoy you with adverts for additional subscription services. Instead, the software simply asks you to manually enter the addresses of any websites that you want to block.
Connectivity
It has four wired outputs, a broadband WAN input, and decent wired networking connectors along the rear, but they are all 1Gbps-only. The Asus RT-AX86U, in comparison, features a faster 2.5Gbps input. Furthermore, none of the downstream ports may be aggregated via port aggregation, unlike the Nighthawk RAX50. The Hydra Pro 6 has a USB 3.0 connector that can be used to connect a flash drive for network access. also you can learn our article on Linksys Hydra Pro 6 review. Fortunately, its information can be password-protected. The Hydra Pro 6 contains an on/off switch, buttons for resetting the device, and a Wireless Protected Setup (WPS) button for swiftly adding devices, in addition to a power port for use with the supplied AC adapter. The Hydra Pro 6 features a guest network and supports WPA3 encryption, just like other Wi-Fi 6 routers. However, it falls short because it doesn’t have additional security software, like Netgear’s Armor, to prevent network hackers and identity thieves.
Linksys Hydra Pro 6 review: Feature
If you have many devices on your network that are all competing for bandwidth at once, you can opt to prioritise up to three of them. Additionally, you may rename devices as they appear on the dashboard, set parental controls, which prevent some devices from visiting particular domains, and set homework restrictions. When you have guests around and don’t want to give out your regular password, you may quickly and easily create Guest Wi-Fi networks. By default, the Linksys Hydra Pro 6 broadcasts a single SSID, but you can split the bands and have the router broadcast two names, one for 2.4GHz and one for 5GHz. To do this, however, you must access the desktop control panel because you cannot do it through the mobile app. If you have any devices that support WPA3, you can also enable it in place of WPA2 encryption (or a combination of the two). These features are all quite common and simple to use as well as set up. For instance, until we gave it a new name, our Nintendo Switch just read “networkDevice” on the dashboard. Renaming devices is as easy as going to Devices, clicking on the text, and then entering the new name.
Linksys Hydra Pro 6 review: Performance
We can use the full 100Mbps of our broadband connection and 12.5MB/s for Steam downloads thanks to the reliable wi-fi router that our internet provider provides. The Linksys Hydra Pro 6 simply repeated that performance while connecting to nearby devices, which was to be expected. We also have an office in the back of the building, where the wi-fi signal is so erratic that we normally have to rely on PowerLine adaptors to provide a more stable wired network connection. Fortunately, the Hydra Pro 6 kept those speeds constant while we carried our laptop down the hallway to the rear office. Although faster tri-band Wi-Fi 6 routers may already be available, the Hydra Pro 6 finds a good balance by providing an affordable, trustworthy Wi-Fi 6 upgrade.
Price and availability
Conclusion
The Linksys Hydra Pro 6 is an attractive upgrade choice for anyone seeking for a little more oomph from their router thanks to its remarkable speeds and performance. Given that you can find decent tri-band and mesh models for that price, $300 is too much to pay for it, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to locate it on sale for less. It’s probably an excellent model to bookmark before Black Friday and other major sales events, at the very least. The Hydra Pro 6 certainly isn’t the greatest choice for intermediate and advanced users searching for in-depth network controls due to its dearth of significant features and user-friendly but unimpressive software.
