Mikrotik hAP ax2 Router

As I continue to lean more and more towards the the Mikrotik, I did not hesitate to pick up their hAP ax² router couple of years back. This gigabit router seemed powerful enough to handle pretty much any number of devices for an average mid size family. I used both the wired and wireless connection on this router and I could not be happier.

I used this router primarily in New York with 300 mbps internet connection and this little monster router handled everything with ease. I was so impressed with the performance of this router that I did not mind to take it with me to use it during my stay in Bangladesh. Even though I knew it was a bit of overkill for fairly low speed internet connection available in Dhaka.

Mikrotik hAP ax2 Router. © Mikrotik.

Compared to other traditional routers, hAP ax2 is quite small in size but packs a huge punch. This dual-band dual-chain radio with 802.11ax standard of this router is way faster than my hAP ac or even hAP ac2 router at both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz spectrum. This is particularly more apparent when connecting to the router with the modern devices that also supports wireless generation 6 technology.

Powered by an ARM 64bit quad-core CPU (IPQ-6010) running at a clock speed of 864 MHz, this router is anything but slow. Interestingly enough, the same CPU has been used on the hAP ax3 router. However, the CPU frequency on ax3 can clock between 864-1800 MHz which indicates that the processor speed has been fixed on the ax2 router to keep the temperature in control.

Here is one important issue that I must address. This little router runs quite hot and requires fair amount of air flow to keep it under control. Specially if you are planning to use it in hot cities like Dhaka, make sure you have good air flow or air-conditioner running where this router is placed. I noticed that during summer time in Dhaka, the temperature of this router can reach up-to 60 degree Celsius or 140 degree Fahrenheit even when it is barely being used.

This router was equipped with 1 GB of RAM and 128 MB of storage which was sufficient enough to try out the latest RouterOS (v7) and it performed pretty well. I recently upgraded the RouterOS to version 7.20 and did not notice any major issue whatsoever.

Overall, this is a very capable router for any home usage only if you know how to use it properly and get the most out of it. If you are living in a hot environment, I would strongly suggest you to get the ax3 model which is a bit bigger in size but will allow the electronic parts to have a bit more breathing room. Apart from that, this is just as powerful router as the ax3 is but it lacks the USB port. Hope that helps.

Disclosure: This Review is not Sponsored.