Just got my hands on the ASUS ZenWiFi BD5, and wow—WiFi 7 is no joke! Speeds up to 5000 Mbps? Yes, please. The coverage is insane for a single unit (2500 sq.ft), and the dual 2.5G ports are a nice touch for my NAS setup.

BUT... setup was a nightmare. Had to factory reset twice because the admin page kept disappearing on Windows 11. Pro tip: Create a new profile in Windows and use that to access 192.168.50.1—saved me after 30 mins with ASUS support.

Older devices? Beware! My Blink cameras refused to connect until I manually set security to WPA2 (not WPA2/3 auto). Fire TV Stick 4K Max also threw a tantrum until I disabled WPA3 entirely. MLO is cool but finicky—had to sacrifice band-switching for compatibility.

Random reboots happened twice in week one, but firmware updates seem to have fixed it. AiProtection Pro is legit though—caught sketchy traffic from my smart fridge (!). For $200-ish, it’s a steal if you’re tech-savvy enough to wrestle with its quirks.