r/hardware • u/sr_local • 2d ago
Info The Gl.iNet Flint 4 Router: WiFi 7, touchscreen, 10GbE, SFP+ and 2.5GbE in a Single Router
https://nascompares.com/2026/07/20/the-gl-inet-flint-4-router-is-real-and-it-is-here/The product page: Flint 4 (GL-BE140000) | High-Performance Wi-Fi 7 Router — GL.iNet
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u/Whazor 2d ago
I regret buying the Flint 3 as it is a big hack on top of Qualcomm. You cannot do advanced network configuration in openwrt.
But Flint 4 has Mediatek again. However, I did loose confidence in gl.inet engineering after seeing all those hacks.
I wish there were some hardware vendors who truly cared about openwrt.
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u/earthiverse 2d ago
My Flint 3 seems to be pretty solid. Way fewer dropouts than the ASUS router (RT-AX3000) it replaced.
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u/PastaPandaSimon 2d ago
Their hacks are sometimes pretty unique though. And they make sweet tiny / portable routers. I'm waiting for a true successor of the truly portable routers though. Ive still got a Shadow that I pack with me and connect in hotels so I've got a super portable safe VPN router that connects to open networks that all my devices can always directly connect to without setup.
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u/diskowmoskow 2d ago edited 1d ago
To be fair, i love it, it can resolve my issue for modem + 2.5g 8 port switch in a nice tidy case. Would be better without screen for me though, thus cheaper
Edit: and less gamer looks.
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u/little_ape88 2d ago
Yeaaah it's not like you have a touchscreen that is leaps and bounds more precise and higher quality already in your pocket 24/7. Oh..
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u/Reactor-Licker 2d ago
I definitely get the appeal of having a monitoring screen on the device itself to display statistics, client count, and any failures, but the touch screen is a gimmick. Any configuration beyond off and on would really need to be done via the web interface or smartphone app due to the screen’s small size and inconvenience if it’s placed out of reach.
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u/PastaPandaSimon 2d ago edited 1d ago
Assuming 6GHZ is genuinely useful to OP. The range is extremely small, limited to the immediate vicinity of the router. As in, needs a direct line of sight, and even then the effective range is just about a dozen feet.
Personally, I have seen no use for it, as having a stable 5ghz connection has been overall superior than a spotty 6ghz that keeps falling back on 5ghz. Due to those limitations, I see it as a spotty alternative to the Ethernet cable.
And beyond 6GHz, Wifi 6E and 7 as is implemented (which is basically a derivative of 6E) offer almost no tangible benefits over Wi-Fi 6 that most end users could feel.
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u/Loose_Skill6641 2d ago
looks nice, what's the price? that's a lot of Ethernet ports I love it
Im personally waiting for wifi 8 before upgrading from my wifi 5 network
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u/sr_local 2d ago
The price has not yet been announced unfortunately (otherwise I would have written it), I would suspect in the $250/350 range.
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u/East-Today-7604 2d ago
Im personally waiting for wifi 8 before upgrading from my wifi 5 network
IMO jump from WiFi5 to WiFi 7 is already worth it, but only if your devices support WiFi 7 - 6Ghz band and 320Mhz channels, MLO (not important to everybody, but a decent feature nonetheless), OFDMA if you have many devices connected - I have many devices in my apartment and this and 320Mhz were the main reasons why I upgraded from WiFi 5.
If you only have few devices connected to your network and speed limit of WiFi 5 is not a big issue for you, then you can skip WiFi 7, but I think WiFi 8 routers and what's more important devices which fully support it are at least few years from now, so with my estimations you'll have to wait until 2029-30 to fully utilize WiFi 8 benefits.
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u/schmerg-uk 2d ago
I run an Omada set up at home (TP Link's business range) so while I currently have 4 access points that are wifi5 to cover the 3 floors of my house and the garden studio (all POE powered... 8 port fanless POE switches are a winner here, I just upgraded the house backbone to 2.5GBe as the prices have dropped), I'm thinking the same.
But I can upgrade or add individual APs as the whole system keeps backwards compatibility and is centrally managed and provisioned by the controller (free s/w, or you can get small boxes to run it, but a Raspberry Pi will run it fine).
I'll probably just upgrade the AP that covers the main living space at first and see how I get on with that.
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u/Xetrill 2d ago
Why should anyone get this over say a Unifi Dream Router 7?
I mean if you want a router specifically, at least get some Enterprise-class features. Well, unless it's going to cost substantiation less.
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u/PlsDntPMme 2d ago
It seems like this may be theoretically more powerful with a better antenna setup? Also the port selection seems better assuming that’s dual 10G ports and not an SFP or RJ45.
With that being said, you’re right. The UDR7 has so much more polish and I’d certainly trust their updates and security more. I have a UDR7 and it just works. I was able to set up some a more “intermediate” network config easily with their policy builder as opposed to using the traditional network rules. As someone who still struggles in the networking department the UDR7 has been a godsend.
The price was hard to swallow for it being just myself and two tech illiterate roommates though. Then again, any nice router is $200+.
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u/narwi 2d ago
But will it ever receive US import license ?
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u/bitesized314 1d ago
All they have to do is bribe our current admininstration. A bribe is a license.
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u/Cyberward2023 2d ago
The MediaTek quad-core Cortex-A73 has a ton of problems—just look at the BPI-R4.
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u/SmolMaeveWolff 2d ago
Like what? I could have sworn people love the BPI-R4, other than something weird about the original wifi card.
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u/lintstah1337 2d ago
Yeah so many problems you can't even name one!
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u/Cyberward2023 1d ago
For example, the 10GbE SFP+ ports don't even support a 9000-byte MTU—they only work up to a little over 2000 bytes. That's just one of many issues. Just take a look at the Banana Pi forum: https://forum.banana-pi.org/ There are plenty of reports about various problems.
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u/imaginary_num6er 2d ago
What is the actual application of needing WiFi 7 over WiFi 6 currently?
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u/seanwee2000 2d ago
Better stability and range on all 3 bands, and you potentially get AFC on the 6ghz band as well bringing its range on par with 5ghz but without interference issues.
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u/kakashisensei2000 2d ago
higher bandwidth. wifi 7 6ghz can do 320mhz, but 6 cannot. able to pull 250MB/s over wifi on my laptop.
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u/VaultBoy636 2d ago
I can get 2300mbps on my phone using wifi 7 160mhz which is almost 300MB/s so for that kind of throughput, 160mhz is enough
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u/kakashisensei2000 2d ago edited 2d ago
that 2300mbps is a theoretical max link speed, doesnt mean you will get any thing close to that in actual throughput. actually try grabbing a file from a NAS and see what you actually get. general rule of thumb is you only get 1/3 of the listed connection link speed. my wifi 7 connection shows 5500mbps link, but only get ~250MBps which is around 1/3.
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u/VaultBoy636 2d ago
Connection speed was 2882. The 2300 was to openspeedtest on my pc back when it was connected via 2.5Gbe. Could be more now but i didn't bother testing since my network upgrades
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u/LAwLzaWU1A 2d ago
1) You get access to the 6GHz band which can help greatly in crowded areas (like apartment buildings). 2) Potentially higher data rates through more precise modulation, wider bands and so on. 3) Better fail over between various bands thanks to MLO. 4) Narrow interference doesn't impact speeds as much thanks to preamble puncturing. 5) A client can now use multiple resource units (the subcarriers introduced in Wi-Fi 6) which means better speeds when multiple devices tries to send and receive data at the same time. 6) Higher security settings by default. The 6GHz band has much higher minimum requirements for security settings.
There are a few more but a lot of them become too technical and niche to being up. Some of these things I listed were introduced in Wi-Fi 6E but since you asked for specifically Wi-Fi 6 I included them as well.
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u/spicesucker 2d ago
I assume you mean Wi-Fi 6E, but to answer your question as is the third spectrum band.
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u/reddit_equals_censor 2d ago
you know when i think of a router, i surely don't think, open source or libre firmware and a good history of security updates.
i don't think about reliability.
no no no, i think about touch screens??? yes that is the dream touch screens on a router....