, but it’s a small price to pay for all the portability and flexibility of the equipment we tested.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The most significant difference in performance between the two is network congestion. With the Cisco C300, there are no bridges – the same as there is with our top pick, the Netgear Orbi DIR-822. This means that most of the traffic coming into your network will be inbound, not outbound. If you have a large enough network, this won’t matter, but if you’re just going through the office building, the performance improvement is minimal.
The other drawback is that the Orbi is not as fast as the Netgear. Even though it’s not as slow as the Orbi, it was still slow. The Netgear was a bit quicker, but it’s only worth mentioning because there are several reasons you might want to avoid the Orbi.
The Orbi is also expensive. In the end, it’s worth paying extra for the Orbi, but if you’re buying on a budget or only intend to use your router occasionally, the Netgear will be a better option.
A budget pick for most people
HP Envy 80W
See the HP Envy 80W
If you have a small-and-light router, the HP Envy 80W is the best router you can buy. It’s not the fastest or the lightest of routers, but it’s fast enough for most uses and performance is the best we’ve seen from a router so far.
It’s the lightest option in our test and it’s also the smallest, but it’s the perfect router for people who want to use their router for home storage. You can use its built-in DVD drive to back up files, and it also has a USB-C port for wired connections so you can wire it up to a monitor or TV and share files wirelessly.
At 720 × 480 pixels, the HP Envy 80W is small and compact but it’s not ugly. The device has a small footprint so you don’t have to worry so much about being able to put it in a corner of a room to work.
The HP Envy 80W is the best-designed router you can buy, but it’s also the best value-for-money option you’re going to find.
Budget pick (on sale at Walmart): Ubiquiti UniFi
IP-66, WEP-RP
See the Ubiquiti UniFi
If you’re looking to add to a traditional PC or Mac, this cheap and light option is the best. Because it’s so light it’s easy to handle anywhere in the room and its small footprint makes it easy to throw in a bag and use anywhere.
It has a 1.7 GHz frequency, which is enough for most home routers and is enough for most people. It supports UPnP, so you can easily set-up a network with your own DNS server and use it with another wireless router.
At 720 × 480 pixels, it’s small and compact, but it’s not ugly. The device has a small footprint so you don’t have to worry so much about being able to put it in a corner of a room to work.
The Ubiquiti UniFi is the best-designed router you can buy