Just got my hands on the ASUS ZenWiFi BD5, and wow—this thing is a BEAST. WiFi 7 speeds up to 5000 Mbps? Yes, please. Coverage is insane (2500 sq.ft!), and the dual 2.5G ports are clutch for my home office setup. But… it’s not all rainbows.

First, setup was a NIGHTMARE. Spent DAYS wrestling with admin access on Windows 11—turns out you need to create a NEW profile just to log in?! ASUS support had no clue either. Ended up using my Android phone like some tech caveman.

Pro tip: If you’ve got older devices (looking at you, Blink cameras), FORCE WPA2 during setup. WPA3 straight-up broke my smart home until I figured that out.

The AiProtection security suite is legit though—enterprise-grade protection that actually makes me feel safe browsing sketchy meme sites at 2AM. Parental controls? Check. IoT network segregation? Double check.

Random reboots happened twice—annoying but not deal-breaking. And why only TWO Ethernet ports, ASUS? Had to grab a cheap switch like some networking peasant.

Final verdict? When it works (which is most of the time now), it’s glorious WiFi sorcery. But be ready for some first-week wizard battles getting everything playing nice.