Cheapest price by a long shot at the moment. Not sure if has been cheaper in the past.
Price beat by 5% at my local Officeworks (from $748).
which particular ubiquiti?
U6 Lites are the usual recommendation from anyone who likes Ubiquiti.
You should be able to set them up via phone app rather than the preferred method of having a dedicated software controller.
As much as I personally dislike Unifi gear, I'd still prefer a couple of U6 Lites and a hardwired router over this Orbi ripoff. But I'd still buy other things first (and am totally happy with my existing setup).
Holy f*cakes that's expensive for 2 consumer mesh pucks. And that's talking about the discounted price. The 'original' 800+ is simply insane, if it really did retail for that much.
Spending this much on home-level wifi equipment is a bit like… I can't think of a good analogy… something like giant mag wheels and glowing undercarriage on a Ford Fiesta.
Wifi is a huge compromise to start with- compared to wired, it's unpredictable and unreliable. So why spend huge amounts of money on a compromise that will be obsolete and possibly unsupported in 3 years time.
Personally, if I needed new mesh for not much money, I'd buy some simple Deco system.
(And on the comment before mine, I would not drop that much money on Ubiquiti gear either, my opinion of that gear and the company is just as low as my opinion on Negear wifi.)
What would you suggest for multi-room internet where running ethernet lines is not an option (such as in a large apartment or townhouse, or when renting)?
I already said it in my second last paragraph. Either I'd just get a cheaper triple pack of Decos or I'd get a bunch of Asus routers and flash them with Asus AIMesh.
I don't buy into tech jargon like 4x4 MU-MIMO, and whatever else that Orbi spec sheet is pushing.
A lot of outdated ideas about Wi-Fi there
Wifi has usually sold more on marketing crud than usable and tested real world performance, but hey it it makes you happy, go ahead and sink money into buzzwords.
$400 per mesh node for home Netgear is taking the piss.
FYI. The router can't be used as a satellite. (Checked with Netgear support. I had to add a satellite to an earlier model and had a spare router. Not possible).
Are you saying that the master Orbi unit can not be added to an existing mesh as a slave?
That makes the whole thing even worse than I'd though.
If you are spending that sort of money, go with Ubiquiti gear