Never rebooted in 5 months

GL.iNet
Flint 2

What can I say? It’s a really good router. One of the best, I’d say. And I’ve never once had to reboot it.

Bought by me Not sponsored Not gifted
My grey GL.iNet Flint 2 router on a white windowsill, antennas up, with red, blue and grey ethernet cables tidied with a velcro strap and running into trunking.
Mine, on the windowsill, doing its job.

The short version

The good

  • 1,350Mbps download over WireGuard VPN
  • Faster CPU than the newer Flint 3, so quicker on a VPN
  • Rock solid: never needed a reboot
  • Powerful signal that covers almost the whole house
  • Built on OpenWrt, with everything you need out of the box
  • One of the cheaper ones, about £129

The not so good

  • WiFi 6, not WiFi 7
  • Turn on some of the newest features and VPN speed dips below 1Gbps
  • Signal strength and speed drop off at the far end of the house
  • Older hardware that will struggle to keep up with the new software

Who it’s for

Anyone on a 1G internet connection. It’s got everything out of the box. Not for me any more, but I’d recommend it.

£129 About what it costs as I type this.

Living with it

WiFi 6, not 7

It’s WiFi 6, not 7. I do believe the new Flint 4 is coming, with WiFi 7, but I’ve got no need for it right now.

Unless I get one for free, I probably won’t be writing a review of the Flint 4.

Why I picked it over the Flint 3

I bought this over the Flint 3 because the more powerful CPU inside actually pulls ahead when you’re using a VPN.

Using WireGuard, I got 1,350Mbps download.

The GL.iNet Flint 2 GL-MT6000 AX6000 wireless router, still sealed in its blue box, on my desk.
Still in the wrapper. Bought by me.

The new features slow it down

When GL.iNet released all its latest features recently, I found that if you go ahead and turn some of them on, the VPN speed dips below 1Gbps download.

My backup router

So why do I still have it? Right now it’s my backup router, with the WiFi switched off. If my pfSense box goes down for whatever reason, I just swap two ethernet cables round and I’m back in business.

A second AdGuard

I don’t use the VPN on it any more, but I do run one thing on it: AdGuard.

I like having two AdGuard instances in my homelab. If I have to reboot my other server, my family still gets the internet. It’s a failover AdGuard, if that makes sense.

The signal

Before this, it lived in the kitchen supplying the house. The signal is very powerful and covers almost the whole house, but signal strength and speed suffer at the far end.

For browsing, though, no problem.

Rock solid

It’s very reliable. It’s not one where it needs a reboot every week or every month. I’ve never bothered to reboot it since I installed it about five months ago.

The software

It’s built on OpenWrt, and I really like what GL.iNet are doing with their software.

The problem is that older hardware like this is going to struggle to keep up with it.

Everything it does

This thing does it all. Here’s what you get out of the box.

Modes

Router, access point, repeater (extender), WDS and drop-in gateway. Put it almost anywhere in your network.

VPN

WireGuard and OpenVPN, as a client or a server, plus Tor, Tailscale and ZeroTier. VPN policies let you choose what goes through the tunnel.

Privacy and blocking

AdGuard Home built in, encrypted DNS, and parental controls to filter sites and content categories and manage usage.

Never offline

Multi-WAN with failover and load balancing, including tethering a phone or a USB 4G/5G modem as a backup connection.

Network extras

Guest WiFi, port forwarding, DDNS, IPv6, a network storage share from a USB drive, and remote management through GL.iNet’s GoodCloud.

Full OpenWrt

Under GL.iNet’s simple interface is full OpenWrt, with LuCI and thousands of extra packages if you want to tinker.

The specs

GL.iNet’s numbers, and what I actually found.

1,350MbpsMy WireGuard download. GL.iNet claims up to 900Mbps
AX6000WiFi 6: up to 4,804Mbps on 5GHz and 1,148Mbps on 2.4GHz
2.0GHzQuad-core MediaTek MT7986 (Filogic 830)
1GBDDR4 RAM, with 8GB of eMMC storage
2×2.5G2.5Gbps ports, plus 4 gigabit LAN ports
4External antennas
£129About what it costs now

Ports

GL.iNet says vs what I found

GL.iNet saysWhat I found
WireGuard up to 900MbpsI got 1,350Mbps. It dips below 1Gbps if you turn on some of the newest features.
High-performance home routerNever needed a reboot in five months.
AX6000 WiFi 6, 4 antennasCovers almost the whole house. Strength and speed drop off at the far end, fine for browsing.
Multi-WAN and failoverIt’s my backup router. Swap two cables and I’m back online.
AdGuard Home built inMy second AdGuard, so the family stays online when I reboot my server.

Specs and features are GL.iNet’s published figures. The Flint 3 comparison uses GL.iNet’s own WireGuard figure for it (up to 644Mbps). Prices change, so check before you buy.

The verdict

After five months without a single reboot.

Got a question about the GL.iNet Flint 2? Email me at review@madrant.co.uk. Good questions get answered right here in the review.