There are a few brands that pop up repeatedly when you’re shopping for whole-home mesh Wi-Fi systems. Netgear’s Orbi, Google’s Nest WiFi, TP-Link’s Deco, and Amazon’s Eero among others. There’s another option that I wasn’t aware of. EnGenius — a company with a long history in wireless communications (going back to the 1990s) — offers a line of consumer whole-home Wi-Fi routers. I tested the EnGenius ESR580, a tri-band, whole-home mesh Wi-Fi system.
First Impression and Setup
The kit I was sent includes two EnGenius ESR580 routers. Each of these pods is a shiny white cylinder, about 2-1/4 inches tall and 5 inches across. On the edge is a discrete status LED. Flip the router over and you’ll find a power port, LAN and WAN Gigabit Ethernet ports, and a USB 3.0 port.
The pods are quite compact and discrete, making it easy to place them throughout your home as needed. There are no unsightly antennas, and no nooks to catch dust. You can even wall mount them (hardware is included).
Setup was straightforward using the EnMesh mobile app, which walks you through the process. The app also includes a visual, color-coded indicator that shows you when the pod acting as a satellite unit is an optimal distance from the primary router.
Network Management Tools
The EnMesh mobile app includes useful network management tools. There are speed tests (internet and mesh), a suite of parental controls, a network map, device prioritization and other common features. To get into more advanced network management (port forwarding, for example), you’ll need to use the web for access.
Performance
Physical design, ease of setup, and network management features are all important, but the big win in moving to a new Wi-Fi router is improved performance. With a whole-home mesh system, the expectations are higher — that improved Wi-Fi should literally blanket your home, with no dead zones. How well did the EnGenius ESR580 system perform?
It was a bit of a mixed bag…
Short-range throughput when connected to the primary router was blazing. Sitting in the same room, I easily hit 590Mbps in testing. I have a Netgear Orbi AC3000 router (read the 12-month review here) and it maxed out at about 500Mbps in the same test. When connected to the satellite instead of the primary router, that speed dropped by more than half — but it was still respectable. To put that in perspective, Netflix Ultra HD 4K streams require a minimum speed of 25Mbps.
The real drop-off comes with distance and obstacles. My house is a modest size in terms of square footage, but it is split into four levels. There are also classic Wi-Fi obstacles like a brick chimney that extends up the middle of the house, and glass doors. Once I moved to another room or another floor, the maximum Wi-Fi speed dropped off quickly, often clocking at between 50Mbps and 100Mbps. Within the house, the mesh system did its job with no Wi-Fi dead zones, but there were definitely zones where the Wi-Fi was much slower.
I have a grilling shelter set up in my back yard, about 75 feet from the house. When connected to the Orbi, I get full Wi-Fi bars on my phone, and I can stream Apple Music with no problem. With the EnGenius ESR580 set up in the same location, I would get one bar of Wi-Fi signal strength at best, with Wi-Fi speed topping out at around 30Mbps. Sometimes I would lose the connection altogether. Distance is definitely not this system’s strong point…
In a simple home layout, performance of this mesh Wi-Fi system out of the box should be pretty solid. If you have a larger layout, or more obstacles, the base ESR580 kit would definitely benefit from adding more pods — something that you can do easily enough (up to a total of eight altogether), although it will add to the cost.
EnGenius ESR580 Key Specs:
- 802.11ac, tri-band Wi-Fi with maximum 2200Mbps throughput
- One 5GHz channel dedicated to backhaul
- Beamforming, band steering, MU-MIMO
- Integrated omni-directional antenna
- Qualcomm 717 MHz Quad-Core CPU, 4x ARM Cortex A7
- 2 x 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet
- USB 3.0
- WPA2 Enterprise (AES) security
- Auto firmware update
- Supports up to 8 pods
- EnMesh mobile app features include guest network, parental controls and other administrative options.
What About Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E?
The EnGenius ESR580 is a tri-band 802.11ac router. That puts it behind the curve of the new Wi-Fi 6 standard that’s beginning to go mainstream. And with Wi-Fi 6E (6GHz Wi-Fi) announced, future routers are going to get a huge performance boost.
So is this mesh system already out of date?
I wouldn’t be worried over a lack of Wi-Fi 6 support for most applications. 802.11ac is still nearly as fast, and unless you use devices that also support Wi-Fi 6 (and have a lot of connected devices) you’re not likely to see that big of a difference. Google didn’t bother adding Wi-Fi 6 support to the Nest WiFi when it was released… And Wi-Fi 6E is still a ways out before it’s actually implemented in routers.
In other words, if you need better Wi-Fi now, don’t dismiss the EnGenius ESR580.
Recommendation
During my testing, the EnGenius ESR580 offered impressive speed in small areas. It suffered a significant performance drop with distance and obstacles. I suspect that having a third pod would have helped in the case of my home, although it still wouldn’t have addressed the inability for the signal to reach the back of my yard.
Competition among whole-home mesh systems is steep, and at $379.98 MSRP for a two-pack, the ESR580 wouldn’t be my first choice. However, at time of writing, EnGenius has the system reduced in price to $249.99 and includes a third unit at no charge. That makes it an option that would be well worth considering if you’re looking for a whole-home Wi-Fi solution.
If you’re on the fence, EnGenius does offer a 30-day purchase price refund, so you don’t really have anything to lose by trying out the ESR580.
Disclosure: EnGenius provided a router for evaluation but had no input into this review.
