I've owned and installed the Netgear Orbi (RBK53 version) for a week now. Given the short duration, I can of course not make any statements about the durability of the product and whether or not the signal is lost (not happened so far).
To start with a less essential point: design - the devices come across as a bit 'plasticy'; I expected a more quality feel from the product as it appeared on photos and videos (youtube). The devices also wobble slightly, so I can imagine if they are placed somewhere on a cabinet that you can easily bump into, that they will fall over quite easily. Not a problem in our case, but I thought it was striking enough to report briefly.
The installation process was fairly simple (follow the step-by-step plan), but we made sure that we carefully applied every step (incl. resetting the first - so pull the plug - from the telenet modem), then connect the router, follow the steps and then the first and then the 2nd satellite.
There is an app available (or better, 2 apps, the standard and a 'genius' version). You need the default app for installation. Afterwards, both apps seem to me to be a gadget rather than an environment in which you can set a lot. You probably have to do this via the website, but then you have to connect your router to a laptop (not tried). The router and sat's apparently also have the previous firmware version. We have not updated it yet, because it all works at the moment and the update features are not relevant to us. So we'll wait a little longer for this.
You may need to be patient for a few minutes during the installation process; in itself it is not much, but you also see little happening and then you soon have the tendency to actively intervene to see if everything is correct - don't do it, it really only takes a minute and then you get the message that ea. is installed or connected. For example, during the installation process, our own ORBI network appeared, next to the network we had given our own name to, but eventually this disappeared and only our network remained.
The router and the satellites do what is indicated during the installation (first white light for start-up, then blue for good connection found and then light loss if everything went well). We moved one of the satellites after 2 days, so we were curious if the connection was automatic again. The answer was yes, but as prescribed, you have to push the sync button on the router and the sat. After that, the reconnection went smoothly (again, you see, except for the colors, little happens, so be patient).
When the installation has been completed properly, all LED lighting goes out, and even then you tend to check whether nothing has gone wrong, but that is not the case. You then have internet access.
In terms of speed: we have a subscription of 200 mb down and 25 up, and these speeds are largely achieved in the immediate vicinity of the devices (eg 180-190 mb). In other words, the Orbi is fast, but this doesn't really mean anything when you consider the theoretical speeds you should get - but we don't get them based solely on our internet subscription). But our previous router - Apple extreme - maxed out at 140 MB.
The same if you are connected via the satellites. With a wall or ceiling between the router/satellite and your mobile device, the speed drops a bit, but in our case we just continue to achieve 50 to 90 mb depending on the distance, which is more than enough to surf comfortably via WiFi everywhere. to stream etc. Is this relapse 'normal' or 'unexpected'? Impossible to say. The Orbi replaces an Apple Extreme icm. 2 express extenders, and the speed of these (albeit older devices) cannot be compared (was around 10 mb in the same places in our house, sometimes even less or even no connection). So the Orbi does get very good marks (but is of course also brand new). Actually, we should do the same test within 5 years. One more point: double/well insulated glass is harmful to a WiFi signal, so that of the Orbi. So out in the garden there was a rapid decay.
So overall a good product. Is it worth its price? Can it be compared with similar products (TP Lin M9 that I've been hesitating for a long time)? Hard to say. The Airport extreme (200 euros at the time) and the 2 extenders (99 euros each) never achieved such performance as far as I can remember, while the price, taking inflation into account, was more or less the same. A comparison with other WiFi products, I can't say anything about that.
So happy with the purchase so far.
The negatives (until now):
We have a number of iPads at home (well, kids) and iPhones (ditto :). On a number of review sites you sometimes read about connection problems with iOS devices. No problem identified with us EXCEPT with 1 iPhone (version 8). It indeed disconnects sometimes, without any explanation and without this being the case with the other devices. So I can confirm that this could be an issue, but why and how is unknown. On the affected iPhone, we removed the Orbi network again, updated the iOS (still had to be done), rebooted the iPhone and added the Orbi network back, but this did not solve the problem. Please note, the device does connect, but sometimes there is a drop out and you have to wait a few seconds.
Another point is that a device sometimes hangs on the 5ghz network (eg from the router) while the connection is quite weak, and therefore does not switch to the closer and stronger 2 GHz network (eg from the satellite). No explanation here either as to how or why (Netgear probably thinks that you are even better off with the 5ghz network with a lower connection? You can't adjust this either (as far as I know, but I'm also largely a layman, so maybe that is all configurable.) In itself this is not a problem, but as a user you start to wonder whether your speed is sufficient (while it is, but yes, 'higher is always better') .
But despite these points, I can only say globally today that this is a good product.
