7800DXL build quality ?

[heavywater]

I'm looking to update my 10 year old home networking kit and have settled on a choice between two possible options. The 7800N or the 7800DXL. What's putting me off the 7800N option is the stories of failing WiFi after a few years due to the combination use of a separate WiFi card and brown glue inside it. Anyone know what the build quality of the 7800DXL is like ? Is the WiFi handled by proper surface mounted chips and is there any of this notorious brown glue inside it ?

[Philip_L]

Hi

The 7800DXL is all component mounted on the same board and no separate cards like the 7800N. The 7800N is a pretty poor build quality with heat sinks only half stuck on (because of no clearance and obviously an afterthought) and so almost shorting the Ethernet sockets!

Make no mistake the design is bog standard Broadcom reference based, differing little from any other much cheaper affair. The extra cost of these over more cheaper ones hasn't gone on the hardware, but more towards advance features in the firmware and better support.

Both are still housed in a pretty flimsy plastic case, they certainly don't scream quality.

The 7800DXL circuit board is mostly empty space as the design is the same as the VoIP models, just with the missing components, not uncommon. The heat sinks on the 7800DXL are now ceramic, presumably these are designed to radiate heat rather than use convection. The box stays fairly cool and is well ventilated.

Definitely get the new model, or if you can stretch to it, get a Draytek

Regards

Phil

[heavywater]

Thanks Phil. That's exactly the sort of info i was looking for. Much appreciated.