Hi All,

This is my first post here... I'm looking for a decent router for my home, never had any experience with mikrotik. The choice is between various hex models. I have studied technical specs and it seems that hex lite is sufficient for what I might expect from a home router in foreseeable future. My Internet connection is ASDL (40/10) and I cannot get better than 80/10. I've replaced crappy ISP "super-router" with modem that acts as bridge and offers public Internet via DHCP. I currently use Gl.Inet with custmized OpenWRT as router (but not an AP). I have quite a lot of devices at home (myself plus two kids, so usual stuff - XBOXes, phones, laptops, tons of IoT/smart home, Kindles, printers, cameras, NAS, TVs, VoIP, etc...) - probably around 20 connected devices simultaneously, 30 in total... I als use HE IPv6 tunnel.

Is hex lite a good future-proof choice as of 2019 for a "power user" or should I go for bigger brother (hex / hex s)?. I do not need gigabit on router (have POE gigabit switch), but might be interested in things like isolating group of devices (e.g. Google home/chromcasts or CCTV cameras) into separate VLANs with dedicated AP/switch. Still no need for gigabit ports on the router.

What I really like in hex lite is low power consumption of 2W, what is awesome. On the other side it has only 64MB of RAM, while next model is 256MB of RAM.
Is RouterOS very RAM hungry?

Can someone share his/her experience here? Again it is to be used as home border gateway... expectation is it will be rock solid...

Best,
Bart

I started out at my house with a RB750r2 and it worked fine for me - until I got cable based internet that supported 124 Mb/s download via a gigabit interface. Because of strange stuff I was doing, I had a ton of NAT forwarding, and firewall rules in place along with at least a half dozen VLANs and the RB750r2 ran just fine. When I got the cable internet, I added a RB750Gr3 and kept the RB750r2 on the DSL. Each is driving at least a half dozen VLANs. I am using the routers exclusively as routers. Each LAN (either a physical port or a VLAN) dumps into a CSS326 switch to provide switching functionality.

Short answer is that I am very happy with both. If you have ANY prospect for wanting gigabit into the router, get the Hex, otherwise the Hex Lite should do what you want.

at the moment best router/price around 50-70euros is HAP AC 2. everything you need in this small magic box! it has also 2.4ghz/5ghz wifi. models you suggest dont have wifi.

https://mikrotik.com/product/hap_ac2

Short answer is that I am very happy with both. If you have ANY prospect for wanting gigabit into the router, get the Hex, otherwise the Hex Lite should do what you want.

Thanks k6ccc - that is exactly the answer I was looking for. I do not have (any) prospects for faster than VDSL Internet, so my (aftermarket) modem will stay 100Mbit in foreseeable future...

All my network is 1Gbit and I'm happy to manage separate switch. With my requirements from border gateway (mainly NAT and VLANs) I think hex lite will suffice.

I'm with freemannnn, it's minor price diff, but it's your decision (viewtopic.php?t=144034)
(wifi can be disabled)

at the moment best router/price around 50-70euros is HAP AC 2. everything you need in this small magic box! it has also 2.4ghz/5ghz wifi. models you suggest dont have wifi.

https://mikrotik.com/product/hap_ac2

If you need WiFi.

I have WiFi, but it's not combined with my routers - nor would I want it to be.

I have two hexes and upgraded from a hex to the RB450Gx4 because the hex couldnt handle 1gig connection from Bell, it maxed out around 400Megs........
With that being said, dont sell yourself short, get the hex not the lite is my recommendation.

I saw a post that stated the hex lite was only 10.100 for its ports (ie your LAN and WAN).
I double checked at the MT website for the product and the technical description diagram of the box clearly shows this is the case.
Hey if you are into black and white TVs and walkmans, the lite is for you.

If you want to step back into the 70s in terms of networking, this is the box to choose,
If not join the modern era with a HEX, its a couple of bucks more but you get tons more value
In addition the hEX can handle encryption in hardware so any VPNS or the like can be done efficiently by the hex (future proof when you want figure out accessing home from way by PC, smartphone etc..........)

at the moment best router/price around 50-70euros is HAP AC 2.

Thanks freemannnn, I'm not looking for router / AP combo. I prefer to have separate AP device(s). Additionally power consumption of HAP AC 2 is 16W compared to 2W of hex lite (not concerned about electricity bill, but like to safe energy, where I can).

In addition the hEX can handle encryption in hardware so any VPNS or the like can be done efficiently by the hex (future proof when you want figure out accessing home from way by PC, smartphone etc..........)

Thanks anav for pointing it out, will check on hardware assisted encryption (although I use SSH port forwarding rather than VPN).
I'm aware that hex lite is only 10/100, so is my DSL modem. I do not intend to use it as a switch.

Probably IPv4 NAT is the most important feature for me - but quality of this one is probably tied to RouterOS not the hardware.