Slickdeals is community-supported.  We may get paid by brands for deals, including promoted items.
Heads up, this deal has expired. Want to create a deal alert for this item?
expired Posted by LivelyVolcano738 • May 3, 2023
expired Posted by LivelyVolcano738 • May 3, 2023

ASUS RT-AX88U PRO (JAN 2023 VER.) - AX6000 WiFi 6 Wireless Router ($279.99 compared to AMZN $349.99)

$280

$350

20% off
Micro Center
19 Comments 7,575 Views
Visit Micro Center
Good Deal
Save
Share
Deal Details
Fantastic deal on a great router released this January 2023.

PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT the standard RT-AX88U released in 2019.

Amazon price $349.99

Supports ASUS Merlin firmware.

View review here: https://dongknows.com/asus-rt-ax88u-pro-review/

https://www.microcenter.com/produ...sh-support
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Fantastic deal on a great router released this January 2023.

PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT the standard RT-AX88U released in 2019.

Amazon price $349.99

Supports ASUS Merlin firmware.

View review here: https://dongknows.com/asus-rt-ax88u-pro-review/

https://www.microcenter.com/produ...sh-support

Community Voting

Deal Score
+3
Good Deal
Visit Micro Center

Leave a Comment

Unregistered (You)

19 Comments

Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.

May 3, 2023
1,424 Posts
Joined Sep 2003
May 3, 2023
Udis
May 3, 2023
1,424 Posts
https://www.asus.com/us/news/cstxeqovy6rary41/ it's a January 2019 router and def not worth spending $279 now with what else is out there.
2
Original Poster
May 3, 2023
33 Posts
Joined Aug 2018
May 3, 2023
LivelyVolcano738
Original Poster
May 3, 2023
33 Posts
Quote from Udis :
https://www.asus.com/us/news/cstxeqovy6rary41/ it's a January 2019 router and def not worth spending $279 now with what else is out there.
Incorrect, this is the new "PRO" version that features several upgrades and launched in January 2023.

View review from Dong here: https://dongknows.com/asus-rt-ax88u-pro-review/
1
May 3, 2023
156 Posts
Joined Nov 2020
May 3, 2023
BraveMice4170
May 3, 2023
156 Posts
If you have supporting devices, this is a great router at a reasonable price. The GT-AXE16000 is better for a few dollars more. 99% of people don't need these in the first place.
1
May 4, 2023
97 Posts
Joined Jan 2018
May 4, 2023
uhammer
May 4, 2023
97 Posts
Quote from BraveMice4170 :
If you have supporting devices, this is a great router at a reasonable price. The GT-AXE16000 is better for a few dollars more. 99% of people don't need these in the first place.
GT-AXE16000 is currently $600 on Amazon. That's not "a few dollars more." Smilie
2
Pro
May 4, 2023
3,269 Posts
Joined Sep 2009
May 4, 2023
XiDa
Pro
May 4, 2023
3,269 Posts
How does this compare to the TP Link Archer AXE7800 at costco for $200? I think it may be better due to being wifi 6e?
May 4, 2023
1,070 Posts
Joined Dec 2007
May 4, 2023
Naota
May 4, 2023
1,070 Posts
Quote from XiDa :
How does this compare to the TP Link Archer AXE7800 at costco for $200? I think it may be better due to being wifi 6e?
this is what I want to know as well.
May 4, 2023
536 Posts
Joined Jan 2008
May 4, 2023
Nomadicthoughts
May 4, 2023
536 Posts
Did you use the fire emoji in title? Come on homie.
Merlin fw in 2023 doesn't add much extra for the average user as most features have been incorporated into stock fw (which is also rock solid stable, whereas Merlin is not).

Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.

May 4, 2023
116 Posts
Joined Sep 2015
May 4, 2023
djjsin
May 4, 2023
116 Posts
Man, i've been eyeing this router since january because of its dual 2.5G ports.....but I really don't want to spend 300 on it. ugh tempting.
May 4, 2023
5,948 Posts
Joined Nov 2014
May 4, 2023
ftee123
May 4, 2023
5,948 Posts
Putting a fire icon doesn't mean it is a hot deal.
Original Poster
May 4, 2023
33 Posts
Joined Aug 2018
May 4, 2023
LivelyVolcano738
Original Poster
May 4, 2023
33 Posts
Quote from ftee123 :
Putting a fire icon doesn't mean it is a hot deal.
edited and removed Smilie. You can sweeten this deal by price matching to best buy and getting 10% cash back via chase freedom flex offer.
May 4, 2023
2,163 Posts
Joined May 2008
May 4, 2023
Roy2001
May 4, 2023
2,163 Posts
Quote from XiDa :
How does this compare to the TP Link Archer AXE7800 at costco for $200? I think it may be better due to being wifi 6e?
They are different. For average user, coverage should be similar, and TPLink AXE7800 has 6E which is useful if you live in an apartment. It is also less expensive and proven stable.

Asus one is a little more flexible if you need to build mesh later. Merlin FW might be useful if you need certain advanced features but I doubt.

If you are average user on a budget, TPLink is good enough. If you have 30+ devices, consider TPLink AX11000, dual 5Ghz channels would help.

I bought the ASUS GT-AX6000 for $235. I think that's a better deal compare to this one. I did not pick TPLink AX11000 as single 5Ghz channel is good enough for me and I don't need 6E. So I picked ASUS one as I might benefit with gaming features and play with mesh feature. But I am an average user, TPLink worked fine for me.
May 4, 2023
297 Posts
Joined Sep 2018
May 4, 2023
JB112
May 4, 2023
297 Posts
about once a month, my wifi drops on my Asus RT-AX68U. Not sure if it's an ASUS thing in general or specific to my model.

Firmware upgrades don't seem to help.

Will probably look for another router brand bc of it.
May 5, 2023
544 Posts
Joined Nov 2005
May 5, 2023
391412
May 5, 2023
544 Posts
Has 2.5GB Wan port
Spec similar to 86U
8 Lan vs 4 lan 1Gbs
4 antenna vs 3 but same dual band
If your setting up a mesh may or may not be important (Ethernet backhaul or wifi backhaul) ethernet backhaul is supported and the way to go.
Last edited by 391412 May 4, 2023 at 05:52 PM.
May 5, 2023
24 Posts
Joined Aug 2014
May 5, 2023
karlw2
May 5, 2023
24 Posts
The RT-AX89X goes as low as $299 (Micro Center price matched). It has two 10Gbit ports. Perfect for me now that Optimum rolled out 5gbit service here. It's a different SOC than the one Merlin writes for (so it won't support it), but I'm fine with the Asus linux fw it comes with.

It makes me giddy watching those linux isos come flying down at 650MB/sec Smilie

Also, what's with the trend of putting in just ONE 2.5 gigabit port? Now that multi-gig is a thing, why would you cripple a router with just one multi-gig port? Seems kind of pointless to me.
Last edited by karlw2 May 4, 2023 at 07:18 PM.

Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.

May 5, 2023
325 Posts
Joined Feb 2007
May 5, 2023
bobnfloyd
May 5, 2023
325 Posts
Quote from karlw2 :
The RT-AX89X goes as low as $299 (Micro Center price matched). It has two 10Gbit ports. Perfect for me now that Optimum rolled out 5gbit service here. It's a different SOC than the one Merlin writes for (so it won't support it), but I'm fine with the Asus linux fw it comes with.

It makes me giddy watching those linux isos come flying down at 650MB/sec

Also, what's with the trend of putting in just ONE 2.5 gigabit port? Now that multi-gig is a thing, why would you cripple a router with just one multi-gig port? Seems kind of pointless to me.
I totally agree, I recently got 10gbps fiber from Sonic.net in the bay area, and trying to find a multigig router at an affordable prices has been miserable. After trying a rax12 and a qnap301w, I am waiting on a amazon open boxed ax89x since it has 10gbe wan and a 10gbe lan (sfp+) port. That means you can actually share that input speed of 10gbps out to other devices at greater that gigabit. No matter what the marketing for wifi is. With 2x2 clients, and so much sharing of the airwaves from your devices, my 6E speeds of 1.9gbps link speeds are in practical speeds, about 1gbps for large file transfers, say (10GB continuous files).

Leave a Comment

Unregistered (You)

Popular Deals

View All

Trending Deals

View All