The Reyee RG-E5 ($149.99) is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 wireless router designed for homes of up to 3,000 square feet. It doesn’t offer much in the way of extra features, but it delivered some of the highest 5GHz throughput scores that we’ve seen from a router that costs less than $200, and it managed to provide a strong Wi-Fi 6 signal throughout our test home. That’s enough to earn it an Editors’ Choice award as the best midrange router you can buy.
An Attractive Silver and Black Finish
The RG-E5 sports a modern-looking silver and black finish, and it measures 1.5 by 9.1 by 9.1 inches (HWD). It has a backlit Mesh pairing button on the top and a system status LED just below it. The LED glows solid blue when the router is connected, and blinks blue when the router is restarting. The Mesh button is used to create a mesh network using additional Reyee routers that you can buy separately.
The RG-E5 uses eight non-removable antennas (two mounted on each edge) and is powered by a dual-core CPU, 256MB of RAM, and 16MB of flash memory. There are no multi-gig ports on this router, and it doesn’t support link aggregation or USB connectivity like the TP-Link Archer AX50 does. But the RG-E5 does offer four 1Gbps LAN ports and a 1Gbps WAN port, both of which are located around back along with a Reset button and a power jack. Gigabit LAN and WAN ports are table stakes for modern routers.
This is a dual-band AX3200 Wi-Fi 6 router that can hit maximum (theoretical) data rates of 800Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and up to 2,400Mbps on the 5GHz band. It supports 4X4 MU-MIMO streaming, OFDMA data transmissions, 1024 QAM, beamforming, and BSS Color technologies. It does not support WPA3 encryption or 160MHz channel bandwidth, however. These are advanced technologies that can improve security and make connections more reliable, but we don’t expect to see them on routers at this price.
You can install and manage the RG-E5 using a web console or with the Reyee Router mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
The app’s Homepage screen shows your network upload and download speeds, and contains a small network map. Tap the map to view router information including which ports are active, which clients are currently connected, and which Wi-Fi channels are being used by the router. Below the network map is a list of online clients. Tap any client to set its upload and download speed limits for ensuring Quality of Service (QoS). You can also add the client device to a blacklist, enable parental controls, and view the client’s MAC and IP address information and the connection type.
Basic Parental Controls Included
There are also Scenario and Settings screens. The Scenario screen has the Parental Control, Guest Wi-Fi, Eco Mode, Smart Home, Xpress, and Blacklist panels. Parental Controls are basic. You can schedule allowed times and blocked times for each client and use one-touch buttons to instantly allow or block access. However, you don’t get the age-based web filters and browser history reports that you get with the TP-Link Archer AX50 router.
Guest Wi-Fi allows you to set up a separate network with limited access to your private data, and Eco Mode lets you create Wi-Fi schedules to help reduce energy consumption. Missing is the network security software that you get with the TP-Link Archer AX73 Wi-Fi 6 router.
Tap the Smart Home panel to create a separate 2.4GHz SSID that can be used exclusively by smart devices like lights, cameras, and door locks. The Xpress feature is used to select Wi-Fi channels that have the least amount of traffic and interference, and the Blacklist panel lets you instantly block network access to any connected device.
Finally, the Settings screen is where you can configure Wi-Fi and LAN settings, run upload and download speed tests, diagnose network issues, update the firmware, and turn off the LED indicator.
The RG-E5 was a snap to install. I downloaded the mobile app and tapped the + icon to add a new device. I was prompted to create a Reyee account and a Ruijie Cloud account (the Reyee brand is owned by Fuzhou, China-based Ruijie Networks). I then tapped Add Network and followed the onscreen instructions to plug in the router and connect it to my modem using the included LAN cable. I tapped Next and used my phone to connect to the router’s SSID, and then tapped Configure on the Welcome screen. The Wizard screen automatically configured my DHCP settings, so I tapped Next and created a management password and a new network password. Finally, I tapped Add to bind the router to the app, and the installation was complete.
Testing the Reyee RG-E5: Best-in-Class Throughput
The Reyee RG-E5 delivered best-in-class performance on our throughput tests. On the 2.4GHz close-proximity (same-room) test, its score of 112Mbps was tops amongst the TP-Link Archer AX73 (88Mbps), the D-Link DIR-LX1870 (100Mbps), and the TP-Link Archer AX50 (109Mbps). At a distance of 30 feet, the RG-E5 once again took top honors with a score of 46Mbps. The TP-Link Archer AX73 delivered 37Mbps, the D-Link DIR-LX1870 managed 40Mbps, and the TP-Link Archer AX50 scored 42Mbps.
The RG-E5’s 5GHz throughput performance was outstanding. It delivered a scorching 882Mbps on the close-proximity test, blowing away the TP-Link Archer AX50 (689Mbps) and the D-Link DIR-LX1870 (569Mbps). The TP-Link Archer AX73’s second-place score of 701Mbps was still 181Mbps slower than the RG-E5. On the 30-foot 5GHz test, the RG-E5’s score of 525Mbps was more than twice as fast as the competition: The TP-Link Archer AX50 scored 231Mbps, the D-Link DIR-LX1870 scored 200Mbps, and the TP-Link Archer AX73 scored 215Mbps.
We measure Wi-Fi signal strength with an Ekahau Sidekick Wi-Fi diagnostic device and Ekahau’s Survey mobile app. This combination generates heat maps that illustrate the router’s 2.4GHz and 5GHz signal strength throughout our test home. (Ekahau is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company.) The circle on the maps represents the location of the router, the dark green colors indicate the strongest signal, and yellow colors indicate a weaker signal. Gray colors indicate no measurable signal reception.
As shown on the heat maps, the RG-E5 had no trouble delivering relatively strong 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi signals throughout the entire home.
Not Many Extras, Just Blazing Speeds
You may not get a lot of extras with the Reyee RG-E5, but what you do get is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router that is easy to install and delivers outstanding performance. In fact, the RG-E5 outperformed every other Wi-Fi 6 router in its price range and provided the kind of 5GHz performance and signal range that we typically see with more expensive routers.
You don’t get any anti-malware protection, nor do you get high-speed Ethernet ports or USB ports. But if reliable, strong Wi-Fi is what you need the most, the RG-E5’s performance puts it at the top of its class and earns it an Editors’ Choice award for midrange routers.
