This wireless router can’t possibly be good… can it? - Minion Routers
Summary
TLDRThe video script discusses the reviewer's experience with Minion-themed Wi-Fi routers named Bob and Kevin. Bob is an AX1800 Wi-Fi 6 router, while Kevin is a more expensive, AX5400 Wi-Fi 6E tri-band router with additional features like a 2.5 GbE Uplink Port and an upgraded Qualcomm processor. Despite their novelty appearance, both routers offer mesh support and WPA 3 security. The review highlights the routers' performance out of the box, noting issues with band switching and antenna pickup patterns, ultimately concluding that while they are charming, their performance limitations may not suit all users.
Takeaways
- 🛍️ The Minion Wi-Fi routers, Bob and Kevin, were purchased as novelty items but are also functional networking devices.
- 🌐 Bob is an AX1800 Wi-Fi 6 router, while Kevin is an AX5400 Wi-Fi 6E router, indicating different levels of performance and support for newer Wi-Fi standards.
- 📈 Kevin supports tri-band frequencies (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz) at 160 MHz channel widths, a feature typically found in higher-end routers.
- 🔋 Kevin comes with a 2.5 Gb Uplink Port and an upgraded Qualcomm processor, as well as 512 MB of RAM, suggesting a focus on performance.
- 🔍 The routers are designed by Davincom, a Korean company specializing in business and education networking since 2000.
- 🖇️ Both routers support mesh networking, allowing for a network of Bobs connected to a Kevin for internet connection.
- 🔐 They support the latest WPA 3 security protocol, which is important for securing Wi-Fi networks.
- 📦 The box contents are minimal but include everything needed for setup, except for a network switch if more than one wired connection is needed.
- 🛠️ The setup process is straightforward, involving scanning QR codes for easy configuration, although the reviewer encountered issues with Apple devices.
- 📊 Out-of-the-box performance was decent but not exceptional, with good speed and transfer rates but issues with band switching and antenna pickup patterns.
- 🚫 The routers may not be suitable for larger spaces or for users who need consistent performance across different areas of a home or office due to antenna limitations.
Q & A
What are the minions Wi-Fi routers referred to in the script?
-The minions Wi-Fi routers mentioned in the script are named Bob and Kevin.
What Wi-Fi standards do the Bob and Kevin routers support?
-The Bob version supports Wi-Fi 6 (AX1800), while the Kevin version supports Wi-Fi 6E (AX5400).
How many frequency bands does the Kevin router support?
-The Kevin router is tri-band, supporting 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz each at 160 MHz channel widths.
What is special about the Uplink Port in the Kevin router?
-The Kevin router features a 2.5 Gig Uplink Port, which is notable at its price point and indicates a focus on performance.
What processor does the Kevin router use compared to the Bob version?
-The Kevin router uses an upgraded Qualcomm processor, while the Bob version uses a more basic dual-core MIPS IIA processor.
How much RAM does the Kevin router have?
-The Kevin router has 512 megabytes of RAM.
What company designed the minions routers?
-The routers are designed by Davincom, a Korean company specializing in business and education networking since 2000.
Does the minions router support mesh networking?
-Yes, the minions routers support mesh networking, allowing for multiple routers to be connected and configured together.
What security protocol does the minions router support?
-The minions routers support WPA 3, which is an important security feature for modern Wi-Fi networks.
What were the main concerns raised about the minions routers online?
-The main concerns were the lack of support for PPPoE and a vulnerability where the Wi-Fi passphrase is passed to the console in plain text, requiring physical access to the device.
What was the reviewer's final recommendation regarding the minions routers?
-The reviewer could not recommend the minions routers for anything other than their cuteness factor and suggested looking elsewhere for better performance, such as an ISP-provided access point.
Outlines
🛍️ Unboxing and Initial Impressions of Minion Wi-Fi Routers
The paragraph begins with the narrator sharing their experience of discovering Minion-themed Wi-Fi routers on Reddit and subsequently purchasing them. The routers are named Bob and Kevin, with Bob being an AX1800 (Wi-Fi 6) and Kevin an AX5400 (Wi-Fi 6E). The narrator highlights the unique features of the routers, such as the 2.5 Gbps Uplink Port on Kevin and the upgraded Qualcomm processor compared to Bob's dual-core MIPS processor. The routers are designed by Davin, a Korean company specializing in business and education networking. The narrator also mentions the inclusion of a QR code for the installation guide and the lack of additional information online beyond what's provided on the box. The paragraph concludes with the narrator expressing surprise at the detailed design of the routers, including the Minion's shoes and cable.
🔧 Setup Process and Initial Testing of Minion Routers
This paragraph details the setup process of the Minion routers, which involves scanning QR codes for easy configuration. The narrator encounters issues with the setup on an iPhone due to Apple's default DNS settings but finds success on Android and other devices. The control panel features a default admin username of 'Bob,' adding to the novelty of the product. The narrator discusses the lack of certain features in the Wi-Fi settings and addresses concerns raised online about the routers, including a lack of PPPe support and a potential security vulnerability. The paragraph concludes with the narrator conducting performance tests on the routers, noting decent out-of-the-box performance but highlighting issues with the routers' ability to switch between Wi-Fi bands and poor horizontal pickup pattern.
📶 Evaluation of Minion Routers' Performance and Practicality
In the final paragraph, the narrator evaluates the practicality of using the Minion routers as functional Wi-Fi access points. Despite their cute design, the narrator finds that the routers are not recommended for anything beyond their novelty factor due to their performance limitations. The narrator notes that the routers work well in extremely small spaces but advises users seeking better performance to look elsewhere. The paragraph ends with a comparison to an ISP-provided access point and a recommendation to subscribe to 'Short Circuit' for more tech-related content.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Minions Wi-Fi routers
💡Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E
💡AX1800 and AX5400
💡Tri-band
💡2.5 Gig Uplink Port
💡Qualcomm processor
💡Mesh networking
💡WPA 3
💡Performance
💡Antenna pickup pattern
💡Novelty item
Highlights
The user purchased Minion-themed Wi-Fi routers named Bob and Kevin, inspired by a post on Reddit.
Bob is an AX1800 Wi-Fi 6 router, while Kevin is an AX5400 Wi-Fi 6E router, indicating different levels of performance and support for newer Wi-Fi standards.
The Kevin version is tri-band, supporting 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz each at 160 MHz channel widths, which is unusual for a novelty item.
Kevin features a 2.5 Gb Uplink Port and an upgraded Qualcomm processor, compared to the dual-core MIPS IIA processor in Bob.
Both routers have 512 megabytes of RAM, which is surprisingly ample for devices perceived as novelty items.
Designed by Davincom, a Korean company specializing in business and education networking, the routers also support mesh networking and WPA 3.
The physical design of the routers is detailed, with attention to features like the Minion's shoes and cable.
The setup process involves scanning QR codes, but the user encountered issues with Apple devices, which were not present with Android or desktop/laptops.
The control panel has a default admin username of 'Bob', adding to the novelty and charm of the product.
The user discusses a sponsor, manscaped, offering a discount with the code 'circuit', highlighting a humorous and somewhat unrelated product placement.
The Minion routers were tested for functionality, with Bob achieving 500 Mbps download and 700 Mbps upload, showing reasonable out-of-the-box performance.
When moving away from the router and through walls, the routers struggled to switch between bands effectively, leading to inconsistent connections.
The antenna pickup pattern was found to be vertically strong but horizontally poor, affecting the router's ability to provide consistent Wi-Fi coverage across a space.
The user concludes that while the Minion routers are charming and cute, they are not recommended for performance, except in very small spaces or as a novelty accessory.
The review suggests looking to an ISP-provided access point for better performance over the novelty Minion routers.
Transcripts
yep just like you I saw the minions
Wi-Fi routers on Reddit and went those
can't be real can they but then unlike
you I actually bought them so here they
are Bob and Kevin ready to turn your
Wi-Fi evil how evil you ask Does this
answer your question this piig b b
banana
ban oh there's a thing about me the
truth is there's not a ton of
information about these other than what
the manufacturer publishes is on the box
the Bob version is ax1 1800 so this is
Wi-Fi 6 while the Kevin version is Axe
5400 so WiFi 6E other than that the
Kevin version is triband which it has to
be to be Wi-Fi 6E so it's got 2.4 GHz
support and 5 GHz and 6 GHz each at 160
MHz Channel widths it has a 2 and 1/2
gig Uplink Port which is not necessarily
surprising at this price but is a little
surprising on something that I had
perceived to be pretty much a novelty
item typically they give no thought to
Performance whatsoever but this clearly
does because all we have to do is flip
over one more panel and we see that it
also uses an upgraded Qualcomm processor
versus the more basic uh dual core mys
IIA processor on The Bob version and
it's got more I guess Dam I'm assuming
flash Dam doesn't really mean anything I
think they mean Flash and Dam so uh has
512 megabytes of ram this side of the
box is also where we find out these are
designed by davink a Korean company
that's been around since 2000 and
specializes in business and education
networking uh we've got a QR code for
the installation guide and then that is
about it and online you won't find much
more in the way of information compared
to what they tell you on the box they
are mesh supported you could have one
Kevin for your internet connection and
then I have a whole mesh of Bobs
connected to them uh they have support
for WPA 3 which we actually did a video
over online as Tech tips recently and uh
explained why that's very important and
what's included in the box is apparently
all yeah we're going to need a little
bit of clarification on that so why
don't we go ahead and get oh my God it's
so
cute my very own
Minion it's not very heavy but a
wireless router doesn't necessarily need
to be heavy to indicate its
quality oh my God it's so cute if you
want to connect more than one wired
client you're going to need a network
switch so you've got just the one Wan
port and the one Lan Port there's a mesh
button which I assume is for setup an
LED which I have to assume lights up the
eyes I really really hope it does and
then power in oh my God the shoes are
rubber the attention to detail you
guys it's so cute
cute even the cable's cute look it's a
Minion's cable not really expecting to
find anything extra in Kevin's box but
who knows he does cost
$130 compared to just $69 for Bob he's a
lot heavier which highlights that this
is a completely different product not
just two different versions of the same
thing stuffed into a smaller chassis and
a larger chassis this feels like it's
got some heat sinks in it too oh my God
his hair TFT is rubber too oh it's
probably not the eyes that light up it's
probably this right here okay oh wow
this is a really short ethernet cable um
that's kind of a bummer hey there we go
we got activity LED now well here let's
let's do the setup this is pretty simple
just scan this QR code to connect to it
and then scan a second QR code well the
easy setup kind of broke down here well
we got there it turns out that whatever
Apple's doing with their default DNS
settings and Safari on the iPhone it
just doesn't work for this it works just
fine on Android and it works just fine
on a desktop or laptop so let's go ahead
and check out this control panel I love
that the default admin username is Bob
come on how perfect is that like they
really did they really did put in the
work on this one guys
wait what if you
reconfigure SSID
Z SSID 1 just shows up so now I've got
Kevin sucks and I've got bobor one how
do I turn how do I turn that one off oh
yeah it's not secured what is going on
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shipping was this enabled box here
before no that enable and disable thing
is not here and this Supply button that
is here in the easy setup is not here in
the Wi-Fi settings one right guys tell
me tell me what's happening right
now does that
apply the little paper airplane is apply
wouldn't recommend using the Easy Wi-Fi
setup there were a couple of concerns we
saw raised about the device online
someone said that it doesn't support
pppe so if you need that then I guess
the minion
router uh is not for you and more
importantly a Reddit user pointed out
that there's a vulnerability where the
Wi-Fi passphrase is passed to the U
console in plain text however it should
be noted that someone would need
physical access to the device in order
to take advantage of that exploit so
once someone's got physical access
you're pwned anyway enough chitchat
though it's time for the moment you've
all been waiting for is it actually a
functioning Wi-Fi router it's a gigabit
connection running into it half half a
megabit wow uploads even better 500
megabit download 700 up very reasonable
but can Kevin do better I'm not going to
bother configuring everything on this
one and guys I'm sure there's things we
could do to tune things a little bit
better but we want to see how these are
going to perform out of the box because
realistically come on that is how most
people buying a novelty
router like this are going to use it all
right not bad you can see our ISP is
delivering a little bit more than
gigabit on this connection unfortunately
UBC is really not giving us good enough
consistency in our downloads to really
draw any kind of reasonable conclusion
let's move the test inconsistency isn't
that big of a deal though because under
normal circumstances you're not going to
be right next to your router anyway and
the bottom L is going to be you know
what kind of connection can you get to
it through a wall or whatever so we're
at one wall right now let's see how
we're doing here
oh yeah I don't think the University of
British Columbia is the problem here
wow okay so then I just go through this
one door oh wow this is with no wall
guys look the set is right there it's
like right there this is bizarre
guys
Kevin
Kevin are you okay it probably switched
over to 2.4 when I went on the other
side of the door and then just didn't
grab 5 GHz or 6 GHz again ooh oh that's
not good oh man I had not intended to go
into Kevin's control panel but I'm going
to have to do that so here's what we're
going to do you're in apartment and you
just don't need 2.4 GHz and we're just
going to turn 2.4 off so the question
we're trying to answer here is can you
buy one of these for your mom or is she
going to call you complaining the second
she walks you know 30 ft away from it or
goes into another room
if you understand the compromise you're
making that 2.4 GHz isn't going to work
let's go let's go again back to the
other side of the door we go okay moving
around doesn't seem to be good for it
seriously surprisingly this fares much
better so the problem is not
necessarily the wall or the distance I'm
probably about the same distance from
Kevin as I was before the issue seems to
be the pickup pattern of the the antenna
so if you live in like a row home you
know like a three level but like small
building man
Perfect all right we're
back all right yeah like we can really
see it here so the problems are TW full
one switching between different bands is
handled extremely poorly now that could
potentially be um exacer ated by the
devices own Tendencies but whoever's
fault it is it's not a good experience
with the minions routers I'm assuming
Bob is no better than Kevin and then
problem number two is that the pickup
pattern on this antenna is I don't know
what word to use to describe it other
than
inexcusable um it worked great upstairs
so it's not that it's completely unable
to punch through walls it's that the
pickup pattern is really strong
vertically and and yeah yeah it's all
it's it's a it's a Cenna sticking out of
the top of this thing and really poor
horizontally so at this point in time I
can't say that I can recommend the
minions routers um for anything other
than cuteness Factor so if you're in an
extremely small space and you just want
a cute little Wi-Fi access point then
they're great and if you want
performance then you should probably
look elsewhere like to your ISP provided
access point compared to these
things
subscribe to Short
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5.0 / 5 (0 votes)
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