Is the Redmi AX6000 still worth buying? I bought a used car for 260 yuan and tested it with AX3000T for three days to tell the truth

colleague Lao Zhang's house, the router sent by the assembled PC couldn't hold up. He was in the bedroom watching videos and spinning around, only getting signal when he reached the living room door. He gave me a hard argument: budget 300 yuan, second-hand is fine, but you need to be able to carry more than a dozen devices at home. I spent two nights browsing on Xianyu and ordered a Redmi AX6000 for 260 yuan—the 2022 batch of machines called the "cheapest quad-core 2.0GHz" models. The items were sent to my house first. I didn't rush to deliver them, but placed them in the same spot as my personal AX3000T for three days. This article covers the accounts for those three days.

Why can't you avoid this machine at the 250-yuan price point

Redmi AX6000 was launched in 2022. Back then, it was listed on JD.com for 489 yuan, and teardown circles rated it as "the cheapest quad-core 2.0GHz." Prices dropped steadily, with brand new ones dropping to 289 yuan. After discontinuation, second-hand models remained strong. Now, on Xianyu, prices are stable between 250 and 300 yuan, holding their value better than many other machines from the same year.

value retention depends on the hardware foundation. MediaTek MT7986A, quad-core A53 with a clock speed of 2.0GHz, 12nm process; 512MB DDR4 memory; 128MB flash storage. Both band bands are 4x4 specifications, with 5G at 160MHz bandwidth reaching up to 4804MB, 2.4G at 1147MB, and the official claim is 256 wireless routers. Compared to my AX3000T that's been used for two years: dual-core 1.3GHz, 256MB RAM, and only 2x2 2402MB 5G support. On paper, the AX6000 has the overall advantage—except for the network port, which we'll discuss later.

to clarify a common pitfall: the Redmi AX6000 and Xiaomi AX6000 are two completely different machines. The former uses a MediaTek solution with a full gigabit port, while the latter uses a Qualcomm solution with a 2.5G port. When searching on Xianyu, make sure the bottom sticker model is RB06. Don't be misled by the vague "AX6000" label in the title—the price difference is quite noticeable.

do five things on the day you receive your order—don't rush to praise the seller

the depth of the second-hand router isn't in the machine itself, but in the inspection itself. On the day I got this machine, I followed five steps in order:

first look at the bottom shell and the grille. four floor pads have hidden screws under them, and the pry marks are obvious at a glance. If you've disassembled the phone, be wary of third-party firmware flashes and then restored. The port clip plug plug is plugged in and unplugged with the network cable a few times; if it's loose, bargain directly.

Step two: model and SN. sticker model RB06, take a photo of the SN serial number and store it. Four-year warranty is common, so don't expect official warranty. SN can match the production batch; if it doesn't match the seller's description, it's refunded.

Step three: Check the power supply. comes with original 12V 2A, DC connector 4.0x1.7mm, compatible across all Xiaomi Redmi models. I've previously written a dedicated article about power adapters in detail ( about power adapters). If the seller casually equips a 9V 1A aftermarket adapter, the device will restart when fully loaded, and you can directly cut it off by 20 yuan to pay for a new power supply.

Step 4: Check the running time in the backend. connect to its WiFi, enter 192.168.31.1 in your browser, and if you can access the backend, it means the device is working. Looking at firmware versions and runtime, several thousand hours is fine, but if runtime keeps resetting to zero, you might be torn by frequent power outages or looped restarts. Don't accept that.

Step 5: Have the seller unbind in person. the most crucial step: have it delete the router in the Mi Home app, then restore it to the factory. The order cannot be reversed—only restore the factory without deleting the device, and the cloud still has its binding attached. When it's your turn to bind, it gets stuck as binding failed; It only deletes the device without restoring it from the factory, and its WiFi password is still on the machine. I've disassembled the details of this sequence before ( the factory restoration ).

and AX3000T tested for three days, the numbers are right here

two machines take turns as the main router, mounted in the same spot on the living room TV cabinet, and the same phone supports 160MHz, also tested during the 8 PM slot for three days to stabilize the values. My home has gigabit broadband, and the results are as follows:

wired cables are all gigabit ports, so it's certain that the cap around 940 will be high. The difference lies entirely in wireless: nearly 90 Mbps in the same room, which is considered "usable and indeed faster"; In the master bedroom, two walls apart, the AX6000 signal is -61, the AX3000T is -68, a rate difference of 80MB—this is the capital saved by 4x4 and four independent signal amplification chips at the edge. The master bedroom of Old Zhang's family is right on the diagonal of the layout, and this 80MB experience is truly real.

also checked the memory capacity. I installed all 62 devices at home, and the AX6000 used 48% of its memory. In the same AX3000T test that year, it was 62%. The advantage of 512MB versus 256MB isn't usually the case. During the evening rush when all the devices in the house are rushing for network coverage, I did a detailed calculation before ( how much RAM the router has enough ).

temperature and electricity bill as well: running all afternoon at 28°C, the area near the top cover cooling vent felt warm, and the thermometer was 47°C, three to four degrees higher than the AX3000T, still within the normal range. Standby power is around 7.4 watts, with an annual electricity cost of 35 to 60 yuan. The body is a size larger than AX3000T, so fitting a weak current box isn't suitable, but it's fine to put it on a TV cabinet.

three major flaws—think carefully before spending money

First, there are no 2.5G ports; all four ports are gigabit. Back then, it cut the 2.5G to bring the price down to 489. Gigabit broadband is fine, but if you have a NAS or a private network at home and want to run over gigabit, this device is the end of the line—all four ports fully plugged in only get 940.

Second, it does not support dual WAN. If you have two broadband lines at home and want to aggregate and split the stream, you can just take a detour—this feature doesn't exist at all.

third, there are few ports and no USB ports. The device is quite large, only providing four network ports, so families with many cables need to add their own switch. There's no USB port, so if you want to plug in a hard drive as a family shared drive, don't expect anything from a machine at this price point.

there's another not a major flaw but something you should expect: a four-year-old phone has capacitors and power supplies in an aging cycle, while routers last six to eight years. Buying second-hand is basically a gamble on leftover quality. This risk applies equally to all second-hand devices. Before buying, check five aging signals from old machines and compare them with them.

official firmware still keeps up? If you want to flash your phone, check here

official firmware updates have been slow in recent years, mostly at the pace of security maintenance, so don't expect new features. However, the daily functions of the Jiamijia app in the 31.1 backend are all present: device management, child control, visitor network, scheduled restarts, all in the same mold as AX3000T—if you know how to operate one, you can switch to another. One detail surprised me: it defaults to 802.11k/v, so you don't need dual-band integration. The phone switches between 2.4G and 5G more decisively than expected, which is rare among older phones at the same price point.

What really

its second-hand price is the flashing ecosystem. MT7986A plus 512MB of memory, both OpenWrt and ImmortalWrt support are quite mature, and you can easily find plenty of tutorials. A comparison makes the difference clear: the brand-new AX3000T now comes in different versions. After switching to Qualcomm chips in the new V3 version, OpenWrt hasn't caught up, and the batch starting with SN code 64595 can't even be flashed if you wanted to; The older MediaTek version can be flashed, but it only has 256MB of memory. AX3000T remember all these pitfalls in the of the OpenWrt post. If you want to seriously play OpenWrt, a 250-yuan second-hand AX6000 is much more reliable than a brand-new 200 AX3000T. Of course, flashing the system carries the risk of bricking. Before starting, go through the SSH unlock together—the approach is clear.

three types of people should close their eyes and avoid three types of people

hesitating between the two, you can add 100 yuan to get the brand-new BE3600 white 2.5G version. The new version comes with warranty and even a 2.5G port, but the trade-off is that 5G is only 2x2, covering less than half a stop, the pitfalls of four versions I've dismantled before; If your budget is tight, you can get a CR8809 for 95 yuan to flash reference firmware and do it—that's another way to tweak ( bargain record here ). If you don't want to look at scattered models, the three-tier budget purchase ledger just copy the homework.

my conclusion for Old Zhang is: 300 Mbps broadband, two bedrooms and a living room, more than a dozen devices—this machine is enough for him to use until he changes houses. On the day I delivered it to his home, from unpacking to whole-house network connection took forty minutes. The master bedroom signal went from -78 to -62, and his wife was no longer buffering even when streaming on the balcony.

Here's the order for wrapping up: first count the number of network cables and devices at home, then confirm the bandwidth megabyte, decide whether you want a 2.5G port, then check SN for negotiation, follow the five-step inspection upon arrival, and only after all passes do click confirm receipt. If you get stuck, come back and check this article again. Don't force money.