Impressions: Redmi AX5 / AX6 Router

I used to run junk routers from overseas as APs at home. Nothing really wrong with that, but recently I noticed the AP at one of my places started losing signal—my guess is one of the antennas died.

So with that, and the Double 11 sales landing at the same time, I decided to swap them out. My main router is a software router, so these were bought to be pure APs anyway; all they needed was good wireless specs. That’s how I ended up looking at two new Redmi models.

So I bought both, one AX5 and one AX6, to replace the two junk ones.

Since I’m only using them as APs and don’t plan to make either one the main router, I can only speak to that side of things:

• The signal is good. The antenna count isn’t anything crazy, but coverage is impressive—spots that used to have weak 5G are now strong.
• For Wi-Fi 6 I only have an iPhone 12 and a ThinkPad X1C on hand that support it. Tested it, and it’s just okay—no surprise, better than nothing. My NAS isn’t fast to begin with anyway.
• A lot of people say Qualcomm chips run hot, but maybe because mine sit in open spots, I haven’t noticed any heat issues.
• People complain about hijacking in Xiaomi’s built-in router system, but since I’m only using these as APs I haven’t run into anything bad. The built-in auto-reboot is handy, too.
• With these APs, IPv6 resolution suddenly works perfectly. No idea if the old junk APs had some limitation—in theory an AP shouldn’t affect that.
• I think they look kind of ugly. I prefer the barrel-shaped designs. The AX5 and AX6 look pretty much the same, the AX6 is just bigger.

All in all both routers are cheap—one was 149, the other 249, both bought at big discounts. They solved the bad signal at home and upgraded me to Wi-Fi 6, so I’m pretty satisfied.

I figure most people will gripe about security issues with Xiaomi routers, but at least as pure APs so far, I haven’t found anything off.