Pros: This router has a number of nice features, but I am going to focus on one in particular, because it is the feature that sets it apart from much of the competition: wickedly fast routing speeds. I have Comcast HSI and I would routinely see PowerBoost speeds of 20Mbps with my Buffalo G54 router. I thought that was pretty good. As it turns out, it wasn't Comcast that was limiting my throughput, but the Buffalo. Within two minutes of connecting the DIR-655, my PowerBoost speeds had jumped to 33-34Mbps, an improvement of about 60%. I'm told this speed is thanks to the high-performance network processor in the 655. Whatever it is, it certainly makes a difference.

Cons: The LEDs on the front of the unit are ridiculously bright, so you don't want this router in line of sight of your bedroom.

Overall Review: Another feature that seems to separate this router from the competition is the QoS. On my Buffalo, I had DD-WRT installed which offers QoS, and it seemed to work well enough to prioritize my VoIP, but the router's speed seemed to take a dive in p2p when QoS was enabled. As a result, I would often disable QoS in DD-WRT late at night when doing p2p. I can't detect any speed hit with QoS on the DIR-655. If your upstream is 2Mbps, you sustain 2Mbps upstream regardless of whether QoS is enabled or disabled. I don't understand how the DIR-655's QoS is able to work without reserving upstream bandwidth, but it seems to function much better than DD-WRT. With the DIR-655, you can set all p2p traffic to a priority of 255, and web, email, etc -- which uses a default priority of around 120 -- remains lag-free. I've set Vonage at a priority of 50 and call quality remains perfect no matter what I am doing.

Pros: Nice packaging.

Cons: Don't buy this drive with the expectation of 8x BD-ROM read performance. Newegg claims 8x BD-ROM. The box states 8x BD-ROM for single-layer titles and 4x BD-ROM for dual-layer titles. These numbers are extremely generous. Most Blu-ray titles are dual-layer (BD50). Actual read performance with this drive on dual-layer titles is only 3.3x (average), according to Nero DiskSpeed 5. Compare that to 5.97x (average) for the Pioneer BDR-203BK and 7.02x (average) for the Sony BWU-300S. All tested using Casino Royale. This product is non-refundable from Newegg.com.

Overall Review: The Lite-On has a P-CAV mechanism. Some 4x and 6x BD-ROM readers sold by Newegg are faster than this so called "8x" drive...at least on dual-layer titles, which make up the majority of Blu-ray movie titles. Read speed doesn't make a difference during playback, but it makes a substantial difference when using AnyDVD HD to backup your Blu-ray disks. With the Sony BWU-300S and Panasonic SW-5584, you can "rip" a dual-layer title in 25 minutes. "Ripping" the same title with this Lite-On drive takes closer to 65 minutes.