Engenius Cloud Managed ECW536 Wi-Fi 7 Access Point Review

TweakTown's Rating: 90%

The Bottom Line

The ECW536 is the highest-performing access point we have tested to date, though its reduced price has definitely affected its availability.

Pros

• Performance
• Wi-Fi 7
• 10Gbe uplink
• PoE+

Cons

• Price

Should you buy it?

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We have eagerly been waiting for vendors to start sampling their Wi-Fi 7 appliances, so much so that we purchased a few access points and even the Archer BE550 to get a taste of Wi-Fi 7 in our home network. With that, the Engenius ECW536 is one offering we have been waiting to get our hands on. It is the highest-spec access point available on the market, which means it boasts the most advanced features and capabilities in its category.

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The ECW536 is also built on the Qualcomm Networking Pro platform, as was the 336 we reviewed just a few months back. This time around, we have the 1220, which offers us a base platform with a quad-core ARM A73 operating at 2.2GHz that can be paired with either DDR3 or DDR4. The standout feature is the tri-band radio arrangement, with the 2.4GHz band capable of 1440Mbps, the 5GHz band ramping up to an impressive 5800Mbps, and the 6GHz band, a massive 11600 Mbps.

The EnGenius ECW536's uplink includes two 10Gbe multi-gig ports, one of which is passthrough. The access point also supports the 802.3bt PoE standard and has a 35W peak power consumption. The MSRP for the Engenius ECW536 is $1199, but we've got some good news. The price has recently dropped to $499 at several retailers, making it a much more affordable option, though availability has gone to backorder.

Packaging

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The ECW536 arrived in its factory packaging, which includes EnGenius Cloud branding and model identification at the lower right.

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Unboxing, we have the ECW536 above and the mounting accessories below secured in their own foam retainer.

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The ECW536 itself carries a rather large footprint of 9 x 9 inches. We have Engenius Cloud branding on top and a simple power LED on the front.

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The bottom of the 536 has two multi-gig 10Gbe ports, LAN1 supporting PoE and LAN 2 being a passthrough. There is a 12vDC barrel plug and the reset button further right.

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In what may be a first, we noted the ECW536 did have a Kensington lock slot.

Access Point Setup

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We started with the EnGenius to-go app; you must create an account before adding devices. To start the setup of the AP, we register our first device in the app, as seen above.

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Once we add the 536 to our account, it will appear on the network it has been assigned to, the "Monroe" network.

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We then moved to the network tab and, along the bottom, the dashboard. This allows us to see online devices, the throughput of each access point, and a client list.

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After creating our Wi-Fi network, we set up three SSIDs for testing, as seen in the Wi-Fi tab.

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Further details can be seen for each wireless radio. Above, we have the 2.4GHz band. The tabs across the top allow us to configure the security type, Client mode, and any bandwidth limits.

1st Test System Wi-Fi

• System: Alienware M16 R2
• Wi-Fi: Intel Wireless Wi-Fi 7 BE200
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (buy from Amazon)

2nd Test System LAN

• System: Lenovo Thinkpad X1
• LAN: Marvell AQC113 10Gbe Thunderbolt Adapter
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (buy from Amazon)

Wi-Fi Testing

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2.4GHz performance for the ECW536 landed between 82 and 85 Mbps in testing.

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5GHz was extremely better, pushing at a minimum of 1034 Mbps, though we did peak at 1249 Mbps.

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6GHz ramped things up even higher. With the 10Gbe uplink, we could touch 1294 Mbps minimum and 1568 Mbps at peak.

Final Thoughts

Like the 336, the EnGenius ECW536 has some initial caveats. These come from this AP's Cloud-Managed capability. This means it cannot be used as a standalone device and requires the EnGenius Cloud to Go application for setup and functionality. The application provides a user-friendly interface for managing the AP, including setting up the network, monitoring device performance, and conducting firmware updates. While the AP does have a web interface, it is mostly limited to firmware updates.

Using the Access Point in our home network for roughly a month, the 536 offered reliability, as we had no issues with drops, reboots, or any of the bugs we often find when testing routers and APs. The 10Gbe network passthrough is a fantastic feature of the ECW536 and one we rarely find on many access points. With that, the performance of the EnGenius was fantastic overall; 2.4GHz did show to be average, with 85 Mbps being our peak throughput number.

5GHz certainly spiced things up a bit, with throughput reaching 1249 Mbps in testing, and that number was repeatable, as seen in our raw testing data. 6GHz was the best we have seen from a Wi-Fi 7 AP - 1568 Mbps of throughput, which was our peak number, but routinely getting 1490 Mbps.

As for the hardware itself, the EnGenius ECW536 is a beast. It carries one of the largest footprints I have seen at 9 x 9, and even with its rather low power consumption of just 35W, we did note a little heat coming from this unit. The mounting options included with the 536 all worked great and as intended.

As for the pricing, at its MSRP of $1199, the EnGenius ECW536 is just damn expensive and hard to recommend, even for a homelabber. At its recently advertised price of $499, we are starting to get somewhere where this is an affordable solution for a business or series of homelabbers wanting the best hardware available.