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Wireless is "cool" again; Belkin N1 Vision, $200, aux. display, easy setup

5thirtyone.com — Belkin's N1 Vision router offers an aux. display, 802.11n, and 4 gigabit ports packaged in an attractive glossy design for $200. This is one router grandpa, grandma, your parents, and in-laws can setup on their own.

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  • dareiff, on 10/10/2007, -4/+38That. Is a pretty router.
    Really, it's pretty.
    • rabidstrike, on 10/10/2007, -5/+11A lot of idiots buy stuff just because its pretty. especially regarding routers, leave the pretty out.

      There are quite a few pretty ones with flashy LEDs and Buzzword technologies in the market, but most of these, fold down and freeze/reboot with >30 simultaneous connection. Do you LAN a favor and get a router that can do what a router can.
      • bumblefoot, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3well apple have made alot of their profit in the last 10 or so years on pretty shiny things :p, but yeah stay with a router than can stay up when theres alot of activity i stand by my linksys WRT54G, my old netgear one was pretty solid too
    • ohthehumanity, on 10/10/2007, -1/+7No, THis is a pretty router
      http://www.fujitsu.com/img/PR/2006/20060525-1-l.jpg
      CIsco CRS-1 FTW
    • GliTCH82, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Sure, it's pretty, but I remember back when people used to buy routers because they were reliable.

      Anyway, I stopped buying routers altogether, I just build Smoothwall boxes now that do a 100x better job.
      • reddikilowatt, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Well, they all use the same chipsets, and the firmware for moving packets around is not exactly cutting edge, so, like GM in the 1950's, once the tech is stable, start making it pretty.
  • aldenhg, on 10/10/2007, -1/+19200 seems a bit steep. Sure, n hardware is going to come down in price, but what possible reason is there to get this over something cheaper.
    • undetected, on 10/10/2007, -5/+13Same reason people go for more expensive, less functional iPods. Prettier, easier to use, pleasant out-of-the-box experience, etc etc.
    • JenadaeXX, on 10/10/2007, -12/+3The fact that is makes my pants tight.
    • JenadaeXX, on 10/10/2007, -13/+6The fact that is makes my pants tight.
    • RubberBinder, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I'm sticking with my $50 Linksys router
    • BossKey, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1It's not just n. It's n and gigabit Ethernet. When I looking around, $200 was not out of the question for a router with those two features. Apple gets dinged for being expensive, but their new router has n and gigabit and is $20 cheaper, and that's the first time I have thought an Apple router was not overpriced. (I own Macs.)
      • linkinpark342, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1if its the 4x gigabit slots and n that you need, here's one for $20 less and comes with a free rainbow six: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124084

        take note that this search involved zero research and i just hit the 1000M switch in newegg, i do not endorse either purchase as i've never tried them...
        • cyrusthevirus, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1That draft-N router by Linksys has been out for a while and I'm sure it works fine, but the extra $40 for the Belkin goes to the flashy looks and the LCD display on the front. If you don't care about the status display and iPhone-esque looks, then certainly go for the Linksys.
      • rubyeyes, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0Except the Apple only has 3 gigaports, but it does have a sharable USB port. So they are kinda different.
    • arjung, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2it comes with an lcd screen, right? it's not that expensive if it is the first and only router with its own screen...
      • fearphage, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You bought an iphone didn't you? Sounds like a mac user's train of thought.
  • cactus476, on 10/10/2007, -4/+27$200 for a router? I'll pass.
    • randyfelcher, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Especially a Belkin. Does anybody remember when they got caught pushing spam through their routers? I haven't bought anything of theirs since.

      All I could find was this old article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/11/11/belkin_disables_router_spamming_feature/

      Jerks.
      • Absinthminded64, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Agreed! I think a lot of people learned the hard way that they shouldn't be trusted to do more than make cables.
    • arjung, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1it comes with an lcd screen, right? it's not that expensive if it is the first and only router with its own screen...
  • PhoenixAvatar2, on 10/10/2007, -8/+45Someone's been taking packaging ideas from Apple. Looks a lot like the iPhone box.
  • EmileVictor, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11A note to those who own Nintendo DSs, Belkin Pre-N routers rarely work with the DS. Mine doesn't, nor does the next generation. I don't know whether belkin has remedied the problem, but let others be the guinea pigs first, shall we?
    • msgyrd, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Belkin hardware is fickle about compatability anyways. This looks nice, but I wouldn't buy anything from Belkin; too much proprietary crap for my tastes.
  • imran7, on 10/10/2007, -4/+21Who really cares about router "out of the box" experience? I mean it is a router. You set it and forget it! I guess thats where the extra money is going...
    • Tippis, on 10/10/2007, -2/+10Didn't you sort of answer your own question there? If the only experience you're (hopefully) going to have with your router is the one you have when you first take it out of its box and set it up, doesn't that make the "out of the box" experience kind of important?
      • wageslaven, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Maybe if you never turn it on. Then yes, retrieving it from the pile of garbage you purchased it with is the only experience. But if you intend to plug it in, then I guess all those transfered packets tend to become how you experience it.

        But, if you like the Apple method of "Designed by Apple in California" trying to rub a little American Nationalism on their product to misinform the marketplace about the fact that everything they sell is manufactured in China, then keep caring about the cardboard-garbage-experience.
        • Tippis, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1"But if you intend to plug it in, then I guess all those transfered packets tend to become how you experience it."
          And hopefully that experience is completely transparent -- you should never notice it past the setup phase.
  • JenadaeXX, on 10/10/2007, -13/+3Thats a sexy router.... my g/f never gets it when i drool over motherboard or things like this... ***** her, this thing's sexy and I WILL have one.
    • daven1986, on 10/10/2007, -4/+21maybe if you did ***** her and didn't get all horny over motherboards she wouldn't think you were such an *****
  • xshaisu, on 10/10/2007, -7/+2meh
  • piratearggghhh, on 10/10/2007, -0/+12Cool looking router but I'm waiting for ratification before I switch to N.
  • gossipninja, on 10/10/2007, -0/+7i like the aux display idea, not really needed, but nice. now if they added NAS and bittorrent capabilities it would rock
  • cgruber, on 10/10/2007, -4/+1I want onboard hardware.. I hate those usb/pcmcia wifi dongles to support this stuff.
  • fishbert, on 10/10/2007, -1/+17Doesn't having the fancy display on the front go against the "set it and forget it" ideal for a network router?
    A good router is supposed to be like a good waiter or sports referee -- you don't even notice that they're there.
    • Backdrifts, on 10/10/2007, -2/+17Dugg up for proper use of 'they're' and 'there'.
      • fishbert, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3And I didn't even take the quiz. =)
    • surfing, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Unless your router has a gambling problem and ends up owing money to the mob.
  • omgsoemo, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1Why do they bother? It sounds smarter to just go with a slimmer shape, rather than a sexier one. Like said before, 'set it and forget it' is how they should work. I guess it could be used as a wireless receiver for a TV?
  • Psykus2, on 10/10/2007, -4/+3Belkin, meh.
  • postaldave, on 10/10/2007, -4/+5Belkin=garbage

    my belkin wireless router can not take an update or allow me to change the dns on it eventhough it clearly has those option. screw them and their pretty little box. i'll never buy from them again.

    btw:to all you linux guys, they like to use those bastards at broadcom for their wireless nic cards too.

    • Matt01, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2The reason why it wont allow you to change the settings is because the router is faulty. I had the same problem for a few months, then I bought the belkin n1 router since i upgraded to adsl2. Send it back to belkin and they should give you a free replacement.
  • bobbob1016, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I do like the bandwidth speed test on the front, although I don't have much need for N. My PC's are networked through BPL (Powerline Broadband), so I don't need wifi for each. 85mbps (megabits not megabytes) is fast enough for me, not enough to stream HD, but enough for me.
    • vitriolage, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1How is 85 mbps not enough for HD? Unless your streaming raw HD I can't see where you'd have a problem except maybe decoding HD MPEG-2 streams.
  • dalesmatrix, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I think what a lot of home users need is a router like that with a nice display and a single "generate WPA key" button on it, that then displays said key on the display so they can type it on their computers. It could have all the usual web interface etc as well, but quite frankly a lot of non techy types are completely befuddled by setting up a router. All they want is a simple way to get secure wireless going. One button should do it.
    • Scruffydan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3WPA keys have to be long and random to be truly effective, making this feature less useful that it would first apear
  • schwit, on 10/10/2007, -1/+9Belkin's history with N routers is less than stellar. The N1 and Pre-N models have problems multi-second pauses in wireless traffic. Makes streaming and VOIP unusable.
    • supershawn, on 10/10/2007, -2/+3Absolutely. You beat me to it. I have the Belkin draft n and the performance was so bad I stopped using it. Even using a Belkin wireless card to connect (versus the internal Dell N card), performance is awful. Sure, you get a good signal, even in the backward or at the neighbors house, but the box bogs down very quickly while downloading or transferring files- especially if multiple machines are connected. Large transfers, especially Bittorrent, are dropped often or suffer from poor performance. It's not a setup problem, its the router itself. Check out these tests for more information: http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/reviews/article.php/3645166

      And that review, as bad as it is, is more positive than the others. the others show an attempt with Bittorrent where conversations are so capped you can only achieve so-so feeds without crashing the router.

      The router featured in this Digg uses the same chip set and networking backbone. It may look "cool", but it performs like crap, and the "N1" speeds are often less than a 54g router at 1/3 the price.
      • Tippis, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2First thought when reading that review: "Modem status light, huh? What happens if you don't have a modem?"

        It's almost scary how many routers these days have setup apps that never consider the possibility that there is no modem involved -- that it's just a link in a chain of routers -- and which gets all huffy when you try to tell it that you connect to the internet directly.
    • alphgeek, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3Yep, Belkin is now on my 'do not buy' list. My pre-N router was great, nice interface, fantastic range etc. The only problem was the three or four dropouts a day that required me to power cycle the router. Kinda defeated the purpose really. I've gone to a Netgear WPN 824 and haven't missed a beat so far. YMMV of course.

      Oh yeah, the Belkin ran so hot I had to stand it on a muffin rack or it crashed.
  • screwloose45, on 10/10/2007, -2/+5Hey two weeks ago, how are you doing?
  • ThePerp, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Fancy looks, fancy price...it's still a Belkin! When was the last time you saw a Belkin unit doing anything important? There's a reason for that.
  • redwire, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Sad how they expect us to pay through the nose for features like gigabit which is cheap as hell to make and should have been standard on 2 years ago if not more.
  • MacParrot, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4What most of you hating on this device seem to forget time and time again, who is the target audience? It isn't the BIY geeks, down in the mud coding geeks, Unix/Linux geeks more familiar with a command line than a GUI, It's Bob and Susie Neighbor with no clue how to do most anything beyond turning it on and hoping it's easy. It's also for those with mid to high range tech skills that KNOW they can the things described somewhat loosely above, but don't want to bother with it anymore.

    Back on topic: Compared to Apple's Airport Extreme Base Station (hey they did it so I will too) it has some pluses and minuses.

    +: Gigabit ethernet wired ports. The new AEBS has it, but the older one did not. Why Apple put Gigabit ports in most of their machines and then crippled their router is beyond me. Anyway, kudos to Belkin for doing it out of the gate.

    Software set-up for both Macs and PCs. Most wireless routers only provide software set-up for Windows PCs. Everyone else has to use a browser and while it isn't hard to do, it's nice (as a Mac user) that they took the time to do so. They should do it for Linux as well.

    Minimalist packaging, everything clearly labeled.

    -: More expensive than the Airport Extreme Base Station which is also cross-platform.

    No USB port for easy sharing of printers (even those not meant to be networked) or for connecting a USB HD enclosure for a quick and easy NAS.
  • Zaramango, on 10/10/2007, -7/+1Do you know who was real inventer of wireless technology??It was an indian,Jagdish Chandra Bose and not marconi.See http://diggindianews.com/ScienceTechnology/REAL_INVENTER_OF_WIRELESS_TECHNOLOGY/
    • HappyScrappy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Wow, your facts really suck. No one says Marconi invented wireless technology. Marconi is credited with inventing radio (speech over radio waves). The wireless telegraph already existed before even Marconi came on the scene.

      I'm supposed to take my tech info on who invented what from someone as poorly informed as you?
  • JeffreyLloyd, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2When was "wireless" uncool?
  • KyleDoherty, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I know I'll get hate for it but without a doubt the easiest router setup I've ever had has been my Airport Extreme, I haven't had to open up the admin panel at all since I installed it 3 months ago. The wireless and wired printing also works like a charm. It's one of the few routers I would recommend to my technologically challenged friends or family. The $179 has been worth it all the way, setup took only 5 minutes, including the time it took to go around and install the bonjour printing software on the Windows pc's in the house. At least consider it if you're in the market for a router.

    But I usually trust Derek's reviews so this could be a good alternative. The screen is definitely a nice touch, much easier to diagnose than some blinking lights.
  • michaelbolton, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2nice - set it and forget it. I'll be out front with KisMac.
  • pcsperson, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2I really enjoy having the clock display, perfect since I do not have a hallway clock
  • TimeoftheTwins, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2I've had nothing but trouble with my current belkin router. It randomly disconnects my internet connection all the time, though only for a few seconds. Still this sucks when you're trying to play a game and BAM you're hit with a disconnection. I'll never get another belkin that's for sure
  • Corbet, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Pretty nice router but for me a USB port for Printer/External HD is a must nowadays. For shame Belkin.
  • cdmarcus, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I'm not buying another Belkin product... I had a Belkin PCMCIA card, and it wouldn't connect to the Belkin router unless I moved within 5 feet of it. Also, when I replaced my card, I noticed that the router was dropping the Internet connection every so often, requiring a power cycle.
  • crackedlogic, on 10/10/2007, -2/+2You want to know how I know this is SPAM? Because wireless was ALWAYS cool...
  • mlerner, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1$200 for a SOHO router, i'll pass. I'd rather pay that for an enterprise class router.
  • alekies, on 10/10/2007, -2/+0I doubt my grandpa needs a 802.11n wireless connection for his single computer, which he uses for word editing and email. Once a month.
  • cello, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I have a Belkin wireless G router and I can't, for the life of me, get it to keep a wireless connection for more than a little while.

    Maybe it's Vista's fault, maybe it's the Belkin's fault .... but it's annoying as HELL.
  • philiaC, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0It's got good speed but it's range sucks. And why the hell is this one of the top Dugg stories?
  • Typhoon2009, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1But will it bl-er, have a good range and signal reliability?

    I love the convenience of wireless, but I absolutely DETEST how the signals just seem to drop.
  • HappyScrappy, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2Apple's router is cheaper, easier to set up, even better looking and also has 4 gigE ports.

    No, it doesn't have the goofy display, but it does let you effortlessly share printers and hard drives (at the same time!) to PCs and Macs.

    I fail to see why I would buy this thing.
  • aDJsavedmylife, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Does anyone know if this is available in the UK yet?
  • digitallysick, on 10/10/2007, -1/+2belkin products always suck, i always find them at thrift stores about 6 months later for less than half off the original price
  • sdigroup, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1ts all about the web 2.0 look Glossy, black with big fat letters...geezzzz
  • captaindoobers, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Oh no! It's a Best Buy exclusive. Better give consumerist a heads up on this one...
    • isdereks, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1Definitely sucks when manufacturers try and make products exclusive at certain stores - especially Best Buy. According to Froogle (http://urltea.com/19g8) there are some other vendors that plan on carrying the router. I was really hoping for Amazon to have picked it up by now.
  • ELITEELECTRONIX, on 10/10/2007, -6/+1We currently offer this model for 194.95 at http://www.elite-electronix.com/product_info.php?products_id=1275 . Even though we offer this model for less than most other retailers, its still pretty expensive in my opinion. My linksys router works just fine even if it doesn't have a chic digital display.
  • jamesrouse, on 10/10/2007, -1/+0So whats up with the Jawbone Bluetooth headset package in the pics?
    • isdereks, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1You should have noticed the Apple packaging as well. Both photos were included as comparison for electronic(s) packaging trends.
  • nmckinlay, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1$6 less?
    FOAD.
  • meshman, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1pfft.. I had wireless before it was cool.
  • thenome, on 10/10/2007, -2/+1Pretty... apple should make their router like this, but I don't have ether one :(
  • Wolfman~K, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1It's very cool but this is a like a dupe from a month ago... :/
  • Lokomis, on 10/10/2007, -1/+1Yes, I'd like to spend more for a computer that doesn't even need it's own head 99% of the time. /sarcasm

    Unless it has some wardriving potential or feeds me my delicious data by the terabyte, I'm not sold.
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