@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ An LCD screen with resistive touch made me think it was coming from good old 200
Although Securifi seemed to have an intention of using touch screen as main interface, I found the screen was great for one thing which was setting up the internet at very first time. You didn't have to go through wizard on your computer since the interface was pretty much automatically. The rest was nah. It didn't scream come using me since my UI was beautiful or anything. Maybe it was because I didn't have any Zigbee sensor to play with.
Although Securifi seemed to have an intention of using touch screen as main interface, I found the screen was great for one thing which was setting up the internet at very first time. You didn't have to go through wizard on your computer since the interface was pretty much automatically. The rest was nah. It didn't scream come using me since my UI was beautiful or anything. Maybe it was because I didn't have any Zigbee sensor to play with.
For Almond+ web UI or Luna they called, not openWRT one, you could set dual band Wi-Fi networks consisting of
For Almond+ web UI or Luna they called, not OpenWRT one, you could set dual band Wi-Fi networks consisting of
* one 5GHz 802.11ac
* one 5GHz 802.11ac
* one private 2.4GHz 802.11n
* one private 2.4GHz 802.11n
@ -52,16 +52,18 @@ For a bit more scientific speaking, 802.11n did have 6-8 MB/s throughput while 2
> Network throughput for wireless network depended on many factors besides its signal strength; a number of antennas was one of influencial factors, but that was rarely mentioned in laptop's spec. Thus, results you found might have been very different.
> Network throughput for wireless network depended on many factors besides its signal strength; a number of antennas was one of influencial factors, but that was rarely mentioned in laptop's spec. Thus, results you found might have been very different.
If you guys were familiar with custom firmware or Unix-based command, then knowing that Almond+ software based on openWRT would be a nice plus. Although it didn't have nice and easy UI like Tomato Firmware, it packed with everything you needed to tweak and hack.
If you guys were familiar with custom firmware or Unix-based command, then knowing that Almond+ software based on OpenWRT would be a nice plus. Although it didn't have nice and easy UI like Tomato Firmware, it packed with everything you needed to tweak and hack.
### Price
### Price
$95 at Kickstarter and not available yet outside Kickstarter [check it out here](http://www.securifi.com/almondplus)
$95 at Kickstarter <del>and not available yet outside Kickstarter [check it out here](http://www.securifi.com/almondplus)</del>
It was a good price at Kickstarter's promised delivery day, but it turned to be a normal price as far as 802.11ac router competitors were concerned.
It was a good price at Kickstarter's promised delivery day, but it turned to be a normal price as far as 802.11ac router competitors were concerned.
__Jan 28, 2015 Updated__ It was publicly available now for $199 at [Amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R0C2U5E/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00R0C2U5E&linkCode=as2&tag=mycapsules-20&linkId=ZPSO3R6REJB2CEIT) The same price as Airport Extreme? That was a tough call then since so far, OpenWRT `opkg` had yet to work -- no working repository out of the box and as of Firmware Version R1.2.20.4, Almond+ was using pretty old kernel 2.6.36. We had to wait and see how the development team kept up with new stuffs. Otherwise, a bigger company like ASUS might be a better bet especially with cheaper price tag. _Please note that I had yet to see an advantage of its home automation thing; I only compared 802.11ac router to another comparable one._
### Verdict
### Verdict
Although I had used only routing networking, and Wi-Fi part of it, I wasn't regret backing it. Everything worked as expected with openWRT-based router. For spec alone, Gigabit Ethernet ports for both WAN and LAN and the best Wi-Fi performed as promised. Nonetheless, there were not available anywhere which meant no retail price. Until Almond+ could be bought, I could not say whether it would be worth its price tag, but I would be ok if Securifi did give Almond+ $149 price tag considering comparable alternatives such as [$199 AirPort Extreme](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DB9WCR6/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DB9WCR6&linkCode=as2&tag=mycapsules-20&linkId=KTJSN3N43AK2CKVQ) and [$165 Asus RT-AC66U](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008ABOJKS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B008ABOJKS&linkCode=as2&tag=mycapsules-20&linkId=EIP5HCM3C4XL24DS).
Although I had used only routing networking, and Wi-Fi part of it, I wasn't regret backing it. Everything, but `opkg`, worked as expected with OpenWRT-based router. For spec alone, Gigabit Ethernet ports for both WAN and LAN and the best Wi-Fi performed as promised. Nonetheless, there were not available anywhere which meant no retail price. Until Almond+ could be bought, I could not say whether it would be worth its price tag, but I would be ok if Securifi did give Almond+ $149 price tag considering comparable alternatives such as [$199 AirPort Extreme](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DB9WCR6/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DB9WCR6&linkCode=as2&tag=mycapsules-20&linkId=KTJSN3N43AK2CKVQ) and [$165 Asus RT-AC66U](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008ABOJKS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B008ABOJKS&linkCode=as2&tag=mycapsules-20&linkId=EIP5HCM3C4XL24DS).
