Gryphon AX Wi-Fi 6 Router Review

Gryphon is a relative newcomer to the Wi-Fi market, coming in during the security and privacy wave a few years back. With privacy and security being more important than ever, Gryphon proved to be a superb platform when we reviewed their initial offering back in 2018. A few months back, they released their latest solution, Gryphon AX, and as the name suggests, this platform took a few updates bringing in Wi-Fi 6 technology.

Hardware for this platform includes an ARM-based quad-core CPU, 1GB of memory, and 512MB of flash. It is a tri-band solution with a single 2.4GHz band operating at 600Mbps and two 5GHz bands - one at 1200Mbps and the other 2400Mbps. One omission from this platform is the lack of 160MHz band support, which has become a suitable replacement for wired clients with Wi-Fi 6. It does offer two gigabit ports, one for WAN the other for LAN.

The MSRP of the Gryphon AX comes in at $279 for a single unit, and a mesh two-pack is available for $479.99.

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Packaging includes an image of the router centered branding above.

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The back includes a few features listed, package contents below.

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We have an ethernet cable, power adapter, and reading materials included in the box.

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Gryphon AX is a white tower, similar in design to past solutions. We have simple branding along the bottom with an LED above.

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The backside includes the I/O. We have two gigabit ports, LAN and WAN; power below and reset up top.

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Gryphon Connect is the setup and management application for Gryphon AX.

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Gryphon does keep their setup and management behind a user account, there is no way around it, but it does just take a few moments to set up.

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Once you are through to the account and initial steps for setup, you will have the opportunity to set up the SSIDs and passwords.

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Setup complete, we have the dashboard. This includes an internet speed test to the right and a data usage meter on the left. You can shut down the internet to all devices as well.

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Gryphon does include the option for advanced internet protection and Homebound for $90 per year.

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Running the speed test, our results offered 463 down and 23 up.

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Running through the app, Gryphon allows you to create users, add them to a profile and then assign users to devices.

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Settings for this router include WIFi and LAN/WAN configuration along with higher-level features such as DDNS, QoS, and malware protection.

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Additional preferences allow you to choose the theme for the app along with LED light, time zone, etc.

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Wi-Fi Settings allow you to change the primary and guest network options. You can also manually select channels for both bands and change Wi-Fi security.

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I quickly ran through a few tests with the Gryphon AX to get an idea of the performance. With our Xenia 14 Notebook with AX201 installed, the Gryphon AX gave us an average of 104Mbps of throughput with the 2.4GHz band.

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For 5GHz, we ran the same test three times and came away with a pretty solid 900Mbps on average, a few spikes up over 1000 Mbps, either way, limited by the gigabit LAN connection.

This being my second Gryphon platform tested, for parents that want the utmost control of their kid's content, this platform delivers that in a remarkably easy-to-use package. The ability to create users and then assign them to devices means a single button press can quickly change internet access to a blanket of devices at once. Optionally, this platform can also root out malware and provide ad-blocking capabilities across the entire network.

In testing, the Gryphon AX was an average platform; held back by its 1Gbe connection in 5GHz operation, but it does mean you will saturate your ISP connection before you pull down the performance of the router hardware itself. In mesh operation, the extra 5GHz band will lend itself to a high-speed backhaul where previous platforms require a wired connection.

Overall, despite the prominent selling features of this platform being pushed behind a paywall at $89 a year, I do like the Gryphon AX. It's effortless to set up and has a good amount of configuration available for those that want to dive in. I would certainly like to see the next platform offer increased throughput by opening up the WAN and LAN connections to 2.5Gbe and maybe 160MHz support!

TweakTown External Storage Test System

• System: XPG Xenia 14
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)