Reyee E6 AX6000 gaming router review: Winning without breaking the bank?

Summary

• The Reyee E6 AX6000 gaming router offers solid throughput speeds and dedicated game band for stable gaming.
• It lacks USB ports and parental controls, but is priced competitively with good performance for small setups.
• While coverage could be better and the app needs improvements, the Reyee E6 is a reliable choice for economical shoppers.

The Reyee E6 is one of the many gaming routers you'll find on the market, and I believe it's well-equipped to power your online gaming sessions, delivering a good experience. It's not the best — and is certainly far from the most expensive — router out there, but it offers stable and reliable connectivity, with good throughput speeds for gaming. There's plenty to like about the Reyee E6 gaming router, including its performance, design, and ease of use, but it also misses a few marks that keep it from being an easy recommendation for those looking to level-up their online gaming experience.

About this review: Reyee provided its E6 AX6000 gaming router for testing. It had no input into the content of this review.

Pricing, availability, and specifications

The Reyee E6 gaming router is fairly new to the market, launching earlier this year in January. It's readily available to purchase now, and you can grab one for your home from Amazon in the U.S. The Reyee E6 is priced at $230, but it's frequently discounted and can be had for around $160. That's on-par with what you'd pay for the best Wi-Fi routers in 2024, so I'd say it's priced very well for what it brings to the table.

What I like

Designed to be a solid addition to your gaming setup

The Reyee E6 router specifically targets gamers, and it certainly looks the part. This particular router looks like a relic that came out of a sci-fi flick, and it's got a massive footprint that absolutely dwarfs some other routers that I've used previously. The E6's gamer-friendly aesthetics will definitely get a nod from gamers, but you may or may not like it depending on how you feel about flashy and standout designs.

I wouldn't mind putting this next to my gaming rig as a part of my setup which already includes some over-the-top accessories and peripherals like the GravaStar Mercury M1 Pro gaming mouse, but I would definitely think twice before placing it in the living room where it would just look out of place. It's an octagon-shaped unit that stands 2.5-inches tall and is about 10-inches wide. It is a sizable router that sports eight adjustable antennas. It features a matte black finish on the top, and it has a button along with two LEDs that act as the status indicators.

The E6's gamer-friendly aesthetics will definitely get a nod from gamers.

The Reyee E6 also features the usual set of I/O, including a 2.5GbE WAN/LAN port, a 1GbE WAN/LAN port, and up to three 1GbE LAN ports. One of these ports, mind you, is a dedicated game port that automatically grants additional bandwidth priority to the device that's connected to it. It's perfect for those who want a speedy, stable, and reliable connection for online multiplayer gaming, be it on their consoles or gaming PCs. If I had to nitpick, though, I'd say the lack of USB ports on this router is a bit of a bummer, as it could've been quite handy to have one.

Good performance and reliable connectivity

The Reyee E6 is a dual-band Wi-Fi 6 router with an AX6000 connection. It can hit theoretical speeds of up to 4,804Mbps on the 5GHz band and up to 1,148Mbps on the 2.4GHz band for its total capacity. Much like the Acer Predator Connect W6 gaming router we reviewed not too long ago, the Reyee E6 also has more bandwidth allocated to the 5GHz with 160Hz support. The lack of a 6GHz band isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for the E6 when compared to modern tri-band Wi-Fi 6E options, unless you really want the additional band to free up capacity at 5GHz.

I say that's a non-issue because the Reyee E6 automatically creates a "5GHz Game" network for wireless gaming. I highly recommend taking advantage of this additional network that's created for gaming, as it uses the best QoS settings for better stability and performance. Notably, the E6 router also allows you to separate your IoT devices with a dedicated IoT network that's different from the regular 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks.

The E6 router also allows you to separate your IoT devices with a dedicated IoT network.

I had no issues connecting my devices to the Reyee E6 Wi-Fi, and I didn't face any connectivity issues, such as dropped connection, either. That's great, considering how plenty of routers out there have trouble maintaining a stable connection, even with the right QoS setting. I even had no trouble gaming while on a shared connection, as the Reyee E6 allows you to prioritize bandwidth for your gaming hardware, be it a wired connection for PCs or a wireless connection for your handhelds.

Reyee E6 AX6000 5GHz speed test (download/upload)

Reyee E6 AX6000 2.4GHz speed test (download/upload)

I tested the E6 router mostly on my dedicated 300Mbps gaming internet connection, and I'm happy to report that I saw stable download and upload speeds across various devices. Speeds on both 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks looked great, and the pings sent to the router from a Wi-Fi 6-enabled M1 MacBook Air were returned in well under 2ms for the most part, which is pretty good for gaming.

What I don't like

The companion app needs more work

Setting up and using the Reyee E6 from scratch via its companion is an absolute breeze, and the software covers all the essentials to help you set up and get started. You don't even have to access the full router console on a web browser to set up and use all the features of this router, which is pretty neat. While the app itself is well-designed and has all the options perfectly laid out for ease-of-use, it is worth highlighting that it misses out on a few things like anti-malware solutions. It just feels like a glaring omission considering how many IoT devices are susceptible to vulnerabilities.

The software also lacks proper parental controls.

The software also lacks proper parental controls, which is also a bummer considering how many similarly-priced routers, or even a basic one, come with good parental controls these days. The only option you get as a parent trying to control your kids' usage is blocking the entire access or scheduling usage blocks for their connections. There's no option to, say, filter adult content and messaging services, create timeouts, and more. Heck, you can't even have different profiles for kids, meaning you simply have to tap and select individual devices from the network list and block their access separately.

Coverage leaves a lot to be desired

I was a bit disappointed by the coverage offered by the Reyee E6 as well, and it didn't sit quite well with my expectations. To no one's surprise, the E6 did offer better coverage than some basic, entry-level routers I have in my inventory, like the TP-Link Archer AX1800, but that's just a very low bar to clear, considering this one costs double the price, if not more. The speeds would fall sharply if/when I move around the house while connected to the E6 router at 5GHz.

It wasn't particularly bad as the router never dropped a connection unless the device was taken to a completely different room far from the router's relative position, but it certainly fell short in the coverage department, while going against some other options like the RT-AX82U and the TP-Link AX5400 routers that I have used in the same space. There are no dedicated features to optimize your gaming connection, either, and all you really get is just a dedicated "5GHz Game" network that's automatically created during the router's initial setup.

There are no dedicated features to optimize your gaming connection, either.

Should you buy the Reyee E6 AX6000 gaming router?

You should buy the Reyee E6 AX6000 gaming router if:

• You want a fast, dual-band gaming router with a 5GHz band.
• You want a gaming router for a reliable and speedy connection within a confined gaming setup.
• You want a simple app that'll give you the basic information and controls.

You should NOT buy the Reyee E6 AX6000 gaming router if:

• You want a router with a minimal design.
• You want a router with good parental controls, and other consumer-facing software features.
• You are looking for a high-end router with more bands.

The Reyee E6 AX6000 gaming router isn't perfect by any means, but it's safe to say that it punches well above its weight for the price. Budget-minded gamers looking for a reliable connection with all the essential features like QoS settings, dual-band connection for a reliable connection, etc., will find plenty to like here. While it might lack the top-of-the-line specs of some premium routers, the E6 AX6000 delivers a smooth gaming experience without sacrificing your wallet.

It is true that there are a lot of gaming routers out there that might deliver a better overall experience, but none of them go as easy on your wallet as the Reyee E6 AX6000 router does. It stands as a compelling choice for both casual and competitive gamers who prioritize value. The Reyee E6 AX6000 can be a dependable companion on your online adventures as long as you know its limitations and keep your expectations in check.