If the title didn’t give it away, it is a lighter model of the USG line which has been the spine of the Nebula-powered networks for years. And by mild, I don’t imply that it weighs much less, though it does for the reason that router is now product of plastic as a substitute of metallic, however about Zyxel’s try at simplifying issues for the SMBs and energy customers.
The USG Lite 60AX continues to make use of the Nebula Cloud platform and, identical to the SCR 50AXE, there isn’t any native administration platform which I discovered a bit curious. This signifies that this router is sensible when used alongside a number of entry factors and switches, in any other case, the Nebula platform is certainly overkill.
At the identical time, I observed the similarities between it and the ASUS TUF-AX4200, so there’s a likelihood you can set up OpenWRT in case Zyxel decides to not help this machine anymore. The USG Lite 60AX does have a few 2.5GbE ports, a transparent enchancment over the WiFi 6E SCR 50AXE, however no, there isn’t any help for the 6GHz radio. Does it matter? I don’t assume it’s a deal breaker particularly contemplating the present state of 6GHz adoption which isn’t that nice.
MLO is barely supported on some cell gadgets. Could it have been a future-proof characteristic? Maybe. But then once more, I’m positive a brand new WiFi 7 USG safety router will turn out to be out there when the brand new customary matures a bit. Some different options embrace a Subscription-free ransomware safety, in addition to different security-focused options together with an Ad-blocker. These appear to be getting extra in style these days. I ponder why is that, Google? Anyway, let’s get a more in-depth have a look at the Zyxel USG Lite 60AX.
Design and Build Quality
The USG Lite 60AX has a special type issue than let’s say the USG FLEX 200HP which was designed to take a seat in a rack. It follows an identical design to the SCR 50AXE, so it sits vertically and it depends on a rotating piece of plastic for stability.

It does work, however I’m fearful about its longevity. The case is product of plastic and Zyxel says that it used 95% post-consumer-recycled (PCR) plastics within the building of the machine which is a step in the precise path. The body of the router is white, like the remainder of the case, however there’s a pink portion which is a type of attribute for the Zyxel USG routers and gateways.
From beneath it, there’s a single standing LED which shined by way of and also you do must seek the advice of the handbook to know what every shade means. The particular person standing LEDs are simply not cool anymore. Sigh. Flip the router round and we are able to see the ports space. The first 4 are Gigabit LAN ports, adopted by a few 2.5GbE ports, one for LAN, the opposite for WAN.

Underneath them, there’s the Reset button and the 12V Power port. If you’ve gotten a more in-depth look above the ports, we are able to see a detachable cowl which hides a Console port and you may see the schematics right here.
The Heat Management
After seeing that the USG Flex 200HP relied on passive cooling, I had no doubts that the Lite 60AX would take the identical street and certainly, there are not any followers. Ubiquiti appears to be the one one adamant on normalizing it, however different producers discovered different methods to maintain their {hardware} cool.
As you’ll be able to see from the video I took with a thermal digicam, the USG Lite 60AX doesn’t warmth up and the temperature stays inside affordable limits even whereas I used to be operating a few of the extra heavier checks.

Zyxel USG Lite 60AX Teardown
Dust could accumulate in time and maybe the thermal paste must be modified, so it’s necessary to know if it’s simple to get into the USG Lite 60AX. I solely needed to take away the 2 screws on the backside after which utilizing a prying device, I indifferent the 2 vertical elements. Then, I may see the antennas and after taking out the warmth spreaders, I may see the principle elements. I did make a devoted teardown video if you wish to see it in additional element. And I additionally added a comparability desk.
Zyxel USG Lite 60AX | Asus TUF-AX4200 | Asus TUF-AX6000 | Asus TUF-AX5400 | |
CPU | quad-core 2.0GHz Mediatek MT7986AV | quad-core 2.0GHz Mediatek MT7986AV | quad-core 2.0GHz Mediatek MT7986AV | tri-core 1.5GHz Broadcom BCM6750KFEBG |
RAM | 1GB Nanya 2237 NTAD512M16C4-JR | 512MB Nanya NT5CB256M16ER-FL | 512MB | 512MB Nanya NT5CC256M16ER-EK |
Storage | 512MB Winbond 25N04KVZEIR | 256MB Winbond 25N02KVZEIR | 256MB | 256MB Winbond 25N02KVZEIR |
Switch | Mediatek MT7531AE | MXL TC1PZ4122 | unknown | Broadcom BCM6750KFEBG |
5GHz Radio | Mediatek MT7976GN an/ac/ax 4×4:4 | Mediatek MT7976DAN an/ac/ax 3×3:3 | Mediatek MT7976DAN an/ac/ax 4×4:4 | Broadcom BCM43684 an/ac/ax 4×4:4 |
2.4GHz Radio | Mediatek MT7976AN b/g/n/ax 4×4:4 | Mediatek MT7986AV b/g/n/ax 2×2:2 | Mediatek MT7986AV b/g/n/ax 4×4:4 | Broadcom BCM6750 b/g/n/ax 2×2:2 |
The Wireless Test (5GHz)
Now let’s get on with the checks and we’re going to begin by checking the one consumer throughput utilizing three totally different consumer gadgets. One is WiFi 6 and two are WiFi 5.

The throughput is greater than anticipated, going above 1.7Gbps upstream when utilizing the 160MHz channel bandwidth.

It’s truly second to the ASUs TUF-AX4200 which does share the identical platform with the UG Lite AX60, so it’s not a coincidence.

Using the 80MHz channel width, there are higher routers on the market, however the Lite AX60 remains to be performing rather well, going shut to 1 gigabit.

The throughput stays wonderful even downstream, however let’s additionally take a look on the vary of the wi-fi router.

We are essentially the most within the spot the place the sign attenuation is -85dB and we are able to see that the WiFi 6 consumer had no bother sustaining an honest throughput, whereas one WiFi 5 was a bit much less spectacular and the opposite dropped out fully.

And that is true each upstream and downstream. So, to get the utmost out of this router, use WiFi 6 gadgets.

I’ve additionally added a longer-term efficiency graph which included a comparability with the ASUS TUF-AX4200.
The Wireless Test (2.4GHz)
Let’s now take a look at the throughput when utilizing the two.4GHz radio band because it’s going for use quite a bit contemplating the ever rising variety of consumer gadgets.

I used the 40MHz channel bandwidth to get a greater throughput, but it surely’s most certainly wiser to make use of 20MHz for a greater sign penetration. That being mentioned, upstream, it’s an honest efficiency, particularly when utilizing the WiFi 6 consumer, whereas the 2 WiFi 5 purchasers outcomes have been much less fascinating.

The vary check exhibits that we’ll get goo outcomes fairly far and at 70 toes in my home, the sign attenuation was -74dB. When in comparison with different wi-fi routers, the USG Lite AX60 is barely above common.

The Multi-Client Tests (5GHz)
Let’s transfer on and see how the Zyxel USG Lite AX60 handles varied varieties of site visitors ran on a couple of consumer gadgets on the similar time. And I used the identical computer systems as earlier than which you’ll see right here. And I’ve additionally added the sign attenuation that I measured on the consumer stage.
2x Lenovo Y520 | Custom PC | MacBook Pro | ZimaBoard 832 SBC | |
Signal Attenuation | -34dB & -37dB | -34dB | -42dB | -68dB |
The device that I used is net-hydra which was developed by Mr Jim Salter and you should use it for your self since it’s out there on GitHub. That being mentioned, let’s see the latency when 5 consumer gadgets ran simultaneous 1080p site visitors.

Unsurprisingly, we see the WiFi 6E and the 6 purchasers performing the perfect, with two of them remaining close to 50ms for all the period of the check. The relaxation raised close to and above 100ms which is a bit removed from ideally suited efficiency. Moving on, it’s time to run simulated 4K site visitors on the 5 consumer gadgets and, whereas there’s positively a latency enhance, it’s not as radical as I anticipated.

It’s truly a really related efficiency to what I noticed once I examined the ASUS TUF-AX4200. It’s nonetheless not a great latency, so it is best to restrict the variety of purchasers or depend on cable when you completely want 5 gadgets to run 4K streaming on the similar time.
After that, I included intense looking site visitors to run alongside 1080p streaming and the primary graph exhibits if there was an impression on the previous kind of latency.

There clearly was, with the WiFi 6E consumer freaking out and going above 100ms for 10% of the time. The relaxation stayed close to 100ms, with one consumer, the ZimaBoard going a bit previous 100ms for all the check.

The intense looking graphic confirmed an honest efficiency, with one consumer going above 1s for 1% of the time, so it’s negligible. Overall, it’s a greater efficiency than the TUF-AX4200.
Afterwards, I ran the extreme looking site visitors alongside 4K streaming and, whereas it was a good efficiency between the 5 consumer gadgets, the TUF-AX4200 did a bit higher right here.

The intense looking graph does put the Lite 60AX within the benefit. Now it’s time to alter issues a bit and embrace a few downloading purchasers, leaving one for the 4K streaming and two for the extreme looking.

The efficiency of the downloading purchasers appears a bit totally different than what I noticed on the TUF-X4200, regardless that one did keep close to 100ms just about on a regular basis. Also, the general throughput for the downloading purchasers is 627.2Mbps.

Next, I eliminated one downloading consumer and changed it with 4K streaming. One 4K streaming consumer gave up instantly, however the remainder carried out a lot better than anticipated, higher than what I noticed on the TUF-AX4200.

Let’s go even lighter on the USG Lite 60AX by operating there varieties of simulated site visitors on three consumer gadgets. The downloading consumer did a bit higher than on the TUF-AX4200 and I suppose the opposite two purchasers exhibits a considerably related efficiency.

Let’s restrict the stress much more by downloading a 1MB file this time alongside intense looking and VoiP. I’m going to check the latency with the TUF-AX4200 as soon as once more and each the VoiP and the extreme looking and virtually equivalent, however the downloading consumer appears a bit higher on the Zyxel router. The downloading consumer throughput was 192.8Mbps.

Lastly, I ran the downloading site visitors on the 5 consumer gadgets and the result’s as anticipated. One consumer managed to go over 3s, so it’s greatest to not push the router this a lot. Also, the full throughput was 659.1Mbps.
The Standalone Platform
Just like the SCR 50AXE, the Zyxel USG Lite 60AX was developed with the Nebula Cloud platform at its core, so there was little or no thought put in for the standalone software program. There is one, but it surely’s severely bare-bones.

There are three important areas, one is the Dashboard which exhibits some standing data, adopted by the Network the place you’ll be able to alter the WAN settings and lastly, there’s the Maintenance the place you get some instruments for trying out some community behaviors and a Log part. That’s all, however as I discussed within the intro, I’ll try to put in OpenWRT on it, so keep tuned for the subsequent video.
The Nebula Cloud Controller
After including the USG Lite 60AX to the Nebula Cloud Controller, I may see some standing data on the Dashboard, however I initially couldn’t get a few of the areas type the Security part to get populated. I discovered later that it’s because I had no accessed the controller for greater than 30 days, so the Cloud Saving Mode was mechanically enabled.

Disabling it did be certain that the beforehand unpopulated areas would now present the mandatory data. That being mentioned, the Monitor and the Configure sections work as meant and I may examine the logs, the VPN connections and get a Threat report, whereas the Content Filter report was underneath a paid subscription. Under Configure, we get fairly a number of choices. First, we have an interest to arrange the WiFi side which might be executed underneath Radio and SSID settings.
And there are some Advanced settings as properly for Rate-limiting, organising an authentication methodology for visitor purchasers and adjusting the way in which the purchasers will work together with the networks. We’re not executed as a result of it is a safety router and it does have some highly effective options to supply. You can see underneath Threat Management you can allow the blocking of assorted varieties of intrusions, together with advertisements, however it’s attainable to set an Exception record for IP handle or purchasers, in addition to block or permit sure domains.

Under Traffic administration, we get some site visitors shaping choices, content material filtering and extra. We additionally get a Firewall with implicit guidelines and it’s attainable so as to add a NAT digital server. Lastly, we get some VPN settings and we are able to arrange Site-to-Site VPNs, together with for Non-Nebula friends and I’ve observed that there’s a Remote entry VPN which appears to be in Beta proper now. I noticed that there have been two 2.5GbE ports out there and assumed that maybe we might get some dual-WAN choices, however sadly I couldn’t discover it. Maybe sooner or later.
The Conclusion
This hands-off method may be very in style for lots of purchasers as a result of in any other case they would want a devoted IT division, so the prospect {that a} distant group can deal with all of their wants is essentially the most interesting to them. Which is why the Cloud-only method makes quite a lot of sense for many companies, but it surely doesn’t for energy customers. So who’s the Zyxel USG Lite 60AX for? Judging by the Cloud-focused software program, I’d say that regardless of being referred to as lite, it’s nonetheless designed with companies in thoughts, most certainly the smaller ones.
Zyxel USG Lite 60AX

Mark is a graduate in Computer Science, having gathered helpful expertise through the years working in IT as a programmer. Mark can be the principle tech author for MBReviews.com, protecting not solely his ardour, the networking gadgets, but in addition different cool digital devices that you could be discover helpful in your every single day life.