While the price is right, performance using the wireless backhaul on the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor was less than thrilling.

Pros

• Strong wired backhaul performance

Broad compatibility with Asus AiMesh hardware

Mounting hardware included

Easy setup using the Asus Router app

Cons

Spotty performance using wireless backhaul

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We've reviewed a couple of outdoor-oriented Wi-Fi 7 satellite over the past year, both of which were made by TP-Link. The Deco BE25-Outdoor is a dual-band satellite, while the Deco BE65-Outdoor is its tri-band sibling. We now have a third product to add to the mix: the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor.

The ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor is a dual-band Wi-Fi 7 satellite and, as its name suggests, is designed for outdoor use to blanket your yard with wireless coverage. The satellite is compatible with Asus wireless routers that support AiMesh. It also sells for around $140, making it a relatively affordable way to expand wireless coverage outside your home.

Design of the Asus ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor

The ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor has a simple tower design and is constructed of white plastic. There’s an Asus logo at the bottom front of the unit and a single status LED above. On the back of the unit, you'll find a power port and two 2.5 GbE ports that support Power over Ethernet (PoE).

Given that the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor is designed for outdoor use, Asus includes a plastic mounting bracket, four mounting screws, and four plastic screw anchors for mounting to drywall. The bracket also features three weather-resistant rubber plugs that can be used to close off ports you aren't using on the satellite. Also included is a single 2.5-foot power cable.

The ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor measures 7.9 × 4.2 × 4.2 inches and weighs 2.3 pounds.

Asus ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor Specifications

Swipe to scroll horizontally

MSRP

Wi-Fi Standard

of Bands

2.4 GHz Speeds

5 GHz Speeds

6 GHz Speeds

Coverage

Ports (Router)

Asus ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor

$179.99

Wi-Fi 7

2

688 Mbps

4,323 Mbps

2,500 sq ft

2 x 2.5G, LAN

TP-Link Deco BE65-Outdoor

$299.99

Wi-Fi 7

3

688

4324

5765

3,000 sq ft

2 x 2.5G, LAN, 1x USB

TP-Link Deco BE25-Outdoor

$149.99

Wi-Fi 7

2

688 Mbps

4324 Mbps

2,800 sq ft

2 x 2.5G, LAN

Setting up the Asus ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor

For my testing purposes, I used the included bracket to mount the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor to the same tree in my backyard that I used for TP-Link Deco BE65-Outdoor testing. The tree is located 25 feet from the main router, with one exterior wall separating the two. Since I already had an Asus ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai review unit on my desk, and it supports AiMesh, it served as the main router for this review.

Given the temporary installation for this review unit, I used a 50-foot extension cord plugged into an exterior wall outlet. I then plugged the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor’s power plug into the extension cable.

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Since the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai was already configured via the Asus Router app on my smartphone, adding the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor was a simple affair. From the app home screen, you tap the “+” button in the top-right corner. Then you tap on “Add AiMesh node.” Next, the app will attempt to locate the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor, which it did for me in about 30 seconds.

After the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor was found, the automatic configuration process took another 5 minutes or so to complete. Once finished, it showed that it was connecting to the main ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai router with a 5 GHz uplink.

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Adding the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor to an AiMesh network with the Asus Router app(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

I also performed separate tests using a 100-foot CAT6e cable, connecting the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai to the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor. When the two network devices are connected via a cable, the uplink automatically switches from wireless (5 GHz) to Ethernet.

There are two locations I use for our outdoor wireless satellite testing: my back porch and my fire pit, which is 20 feet farther away. I included baseline testing to measure performance when connected solely to the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai. I then performed tests with a laptop, wirelessly connecting to the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor using wired and wireless backhauls.

Wireless testing relied on an HP OmniBook X (Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite) laptop with a Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 Wi-Fi 6E wireless card. Our venerable iPerf3 server was connected to the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai via a 10 Gbps Ethernet connection. I will note that Asus claims that the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai offers 3,500 sq ft of wireless coverage, while the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor covers an additional 2,500 sq ft.

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Baseline performance when connecting the OmniBook X to the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai was 222 Mbps on my porch and 124 Mbps at the fire pit on the 5 GHz band, using our iPerf3 throughput test. Switching over to the 2.4 GHz band, the numbers fell to 34 Mbps and 20 Mbps, respectively.

Interestingly, 5 GHz performance on the back porch was more than cut in half with the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor, compared to connecting natively to the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai. The only thing I can think of is that the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai was already providing a good enough signal. Plus, there’s added latency involved in maintaining the 5 GHz uplink between the router and satellite, which can impact client performance. On the positive side, performance was only slightly less (118 Mbps) at my fire pit. Also in the plus column, 2.4 GHz performance was higher across the board, with 39 Mbps on my back porch and 43 Mbps at the fire pit.

Unsurprisingly, I observed the best performance when connecting the ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai and ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor via a CAT6e cable. Using this setup, 5 GHz performance on the porch jumped to 470 Mbps, while I saw 196 Mbps at the fire pit. Performance on the 2.4 GHz band also spiked to an average of 84 Mbps on the back porch.

Bottom Line

Asus’s networking portfolio is vast, and the ZenWiFi BD5 Outdoor is the latest solution to hit the Wi-Fi 7 market segment. Although your mileage may vary with setting it up as a satellite using a wireless uplink to an AiMesh router, wireless performance in my testing was subpar and, in some instances, slower than when connecting directly to the main router (an ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai).

However, customers with the wherewithal to install a wireless satellite in their yard and plan to run an Ethernet line using PoE will experience much higher throughput. The ZenWiFi BD5 has an MSRP of $179.99, but it’s currently selling for $139.99 at B&H Photo. With the caveat that you plan on using a wired backhaul, the ZenWiFi BD5 is a worthwhile investment for adding outdoor coverage to your AiMesh network.

Brandon Hill is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware. He has written about PC and Mac tech since the late 1990s with bylines at AnandTech, DailyTech, and Hot Hardware. When he is not consuming copious amounts of tech news, he can be found enjoying the NC mountains or the beach with his wife and two sons.