GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 (Opal) Portable WiFi Travel Router, Mini VPN Wireless Router, Mobile Internet WiFi Repeater, Dual Band Openwrt Computer Routers, Home/Business/RV/Cruise

This GL.iNet device works very well when used as a dedicated Wi‑Fi access point. It’s compact, fast, and perfect for situations where you want to plug into an existing Ethernet port and add strong, reliable wireless coverage without replacing your main router. Once running, performance and stability are excellent for the price. There is one setup quirk worth knowing: if you switch the unit into Access Point mode (the mode you’ll use if you’re connecting it to an Ethernet jack to act purely as a Wi‑Fi AP), it stops using the default 192.168.8.1 address and receives a new IP from your home network. You need that new IP to reopen the admin login page — but the device doesn’t show it to you. Fortunately, the workaround is simple: open a command prompt and enter arp -a. In the list that appears, look for the entry whose MAC address starts with 94:83:C4 — that’s the GL.iNet access point, and the IP next to it is the one you use to log back in.

I've been using two of these units in different locations as wireless access points, and they've been working very well with very little setup required. One thing I appreciate is the user-friendly web interface. Configuration is straightforward, and the settings are organized well enough that most common changes can be made quickly without digging through complicated menus. I also like having access to more advanced options when needed. Being able to easily change settings such as the device name and MAC address has been useful for my network setup and troubleshooting. Both units have been stable and reliable in day-to-day use, requiring very little attention after the initial configuration. While these are marketed primarily as travel routers, they have worked perfectly well in my installations as permanent access points. Pros: Easy setup User-friendly web interface Stable and reliable operation Access to advanced configuration options Compact size Cons: None so far Bottom line: A versatile and easy-to-use router that has worked reliably as an access point in my network. The combination of simple setup and access to more advanced configuration options makes it a good choice for both casual and technical users.

I am so happy I got this little thing. I work from home and I was tired of working in the room I was in and wanted to move to another room. That room, however, didn’t have what I needed for the router to plug-in work. I’m on the other side of the house and I was able to connect this to my router via Wi-Fi and connected to my work computer. The speed is still great and I can take it traveling if needed, which is even better. I’m so glad I got this. Highly recommend!

I picked up the GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 Opal for a fairly specific application — building a local network to connect several IP cameras and a video switcher, with the goal of accessing all backend menus from a single device on the network. It handles that job without complaint. Configuration was straightforward with some AI-assisted setup, and once dialed in, performance has been solid. Responsiveness is fast, routing is reliable, and the menu system is genuinely approachable — basic data entry skills and a fundamental understanding of IP addressing is all you really need to get up and running. As a general-purpose home router it also holds its own, with dual-band AC1200 handling everyday browsing on 2.4GHz and more bandwidth-intensive tasks on the 5GHz band simultaneously, providing consistent coverage throughout the house. One legitimate gripe: the ethernet ports have no individual indicator lights. For most home users this is a minor inconvenience, but for anyone using this in a production or technical environment — where quickly confirming which terminals are live and communicating matters — it's a real oversight that shouldn't have been left off. Overall a versatile, capable little router that punches well above its size and price. Recommended, with that one caveat noted.

This little travel router is an awesome little workhorse. It does a great job of keeping us connected when we travel with the benefit of not having to deal with limits on how many devices we can connect to hotel wifi like some places have. We connect this device only and enjoy the fact that all of our other devices already recognize if because they've already connected to it before, saving the need to log in to the hotel wifi separately for each device we have. The speed is quite sufficient for streaming when the available wifi is fast enough, signal strength is good and has never failed to provide great connectivity in any location we've taken it to. The setup is reasonably simple for anyone who understands what a router does, using the internal web app interface and the included instructions. I recommend setting it up at home on your home wifi and then connecting any devices you travel with to it with them set to remember the connection. This makes it a simple matter to connect the router at your destination and have all of your devices automatically connect to the router every time. The controls are simple and the instruction book is clearly written. One upgrade I'd recommend is to purchase a small case to keep the router and accessories in to minimize the chance of misplacing them. The one we bought was inexpensive and suggested by Amazon when we bought the router and it holds and organizes the router, power supply, and cables perfectly.

Been using it for awhile now and I can honestly say that I am impressed. I didn't think that a router this small would be worth anything, but it works quite well for its size. I would definitely buy another. Its pretty easy to set up and although this one is being used as a primary router, I probably would use one for an extender too, as the size is small and actually looks sorta cute.

The router performance is about the same as the Tenda AC1200 AC8 it replaced. It does that with MUCH smaller antenna and only two of them compared with 4 antennae of the AC8. Prepare for very small fonts in the start up instructions! I did have an issue and needed to go online to the site for clarification. Possibly due to language differences there was confusion as to which password to enter into the router once it rebooted. Either the new router password or the host password. That was resolved and the router has run smoothly since 12/11/24. It was setup in our house but it will be transferred to an office environment shortly where its host and password will again be changed before it settles into service at that location. Based on its performance we ordered three more. This router was approved for use by our national organization. We also bought the carry cases for them as Amazon offered a case designed for this router. We do need a case to protect the router when not in use. If you use "WISP" mode to connect to the host wirelessly this router does not have one. Its equivalent mode is "Repeater" and it works the same as WISP as it connects to the host and on to the Internet in our case. We have not used the router in any other mode, however we expect that it will meet our expectations. There are two LAN and one WAN port along with a 2.0 USB port. With its small size we may use a switch for allowing access to other devices. A four port switch device is very light and won't interfere with portability this router affords. The color blends in very well with our office surroundings. The AC8 was only offered in black or white colors and with 4 large antennae it did not blend in very well. Packing it for travel or storage was very annoying. This Opal router works well and has side benefits. The antennae design worked well in a TP-Link access point we used several years ago. The Internet speed test we ran did not differ very much from the AC8 design so we expect about the same performance from this smaller unit as compared to the larger Tenda AC8 design. I also bought one for our house. A nice touch was the power supply and cord. Both match the unit color and the plug has a unique design. The cord is a flat design that FOLDS very nice within itself. I am NOT going to purchase round cords any longer. When one coils (folds) this cord just follow the contours that you see when you first look at the unit in the box. You can then fold it back into the same size. I took a photo of it so I could refold it correctly and it DID! A nice small package without using an elastic. Its funny how the little things add up to a nice design. The Gli folks have a nice design throughout the product. Even the box design is very well done. BTW the route unit takes up about 1/2 the box and the cord and power supply take up the other half. The router is in a soft sleeve and one will realize it is only 1/2 of the box size. The plug of the power cord will need a 10 second assembly. It seems to be a universal plug that allows the unit to adapt to US, EU and other electrical systems. The contacts assembly are separate from the remainder of the cord assembly. The instructions indicate how to connect the contacts to assemble it to the cord unit by aligning the contact unit with the cord unit and then clicking the two into place with a slight twist of the wrist. Sounds complicated BUT it is like aligning an aspirin bottle top with the bottle edge and slightly twisting the top on. The U.S. model has a standard U.S. plug contacts. The units going to the EU probably have the EU type contact assembly. Slick! We do not need speed greater than the AC1200 standard right now. However, if we need more speed or more features the GLi company will be the first place we will look. GLi put a lot of thought into their design and it makes me confident that their electronics are designed with the same care and detail.

Great little router that you can throw into your travel tech pack. As we travel with the family and everyone's got their laptop / tablet / phone / handhelds etc, makes it super easy to connect to one travel router all the time from hotel to hotel. Has plenty of bandwidth for holiday travel especially. I see around ~80MB/s max12 without VPN. Also has VPN support if you are overseas or on business travel although VPN is not quick since it has an older CPU. I see around 1.2 MB/s, okay for emails and documents, but tough for larger files. I like the Opal that I plan to upgrade to the Beryl 7 for the much faster (almost 100x) VPN speeds for business travel in the future.

L’ho configurato come client WireGuard e funziona perfettamente. Molto comodo lo switch meccanico per attivare o disattivare il tunneling al volo.

I am quite pleased with the product. Compact enough size for travel. Works great with almost any type of usb power source. Easy to set up, with a lot of features. The VPN functionality is especially straightforward.

If you’re looking for a portable router that packs a serious punch, the GL-iNet travel router is hard to beat. I personally use it to provide router-level VPN across all devices in my home, including smart TVs and other networked devices, and it works flawlessly. Setup is quick and straightforward. Power it on, connect via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, and enter the router’s IP in your browser. The admin panel is extremely intuitive, making it easy to configure VPN settings, connect to networks, manage devices, or adjust firewall and port options. Even complex routing setups are simple to manage thanks to the clear interface and helpful documentation. The router supports both OpenVPN and WireGuard, but from my experience its real strength is getting full network-level VPN without having to configure individual devices. The physical VPN switch on the side is a clever feature, letting you toggle the VPN on or off instantly. And if I need to travel, it’s incredibly convenient—compact and foldable enough to carry in a bag. I can take it abroad and set it up in hotels or other networks to create my own secure Wi-Fi, piggybacking off the existing router or Ethernet connections. This makes accessing a safe VPN on all my devices easy, even when away from home. Overall, this is a small, portable router that delivers full-featured, router-level VPN at home, with an incredibly user-friendly admin panel, strong Wi-Fi, and excellent support. For the price, it’s hard to find a better option. Highly recommended.

Klockren liten router som passar fint i husbilen!

If you're interested in networking, it's fun to have one of these around just to play with, let alone the benefits it offers if you travel often. It runs OpenWRT behind the scenes with a nice, custom GUI overtop. Not only can it act as a Wi-Fi repeater, it can go from Wi-Fi to ethernet, ethernet to Wi-Fi, and act as a small switch. It has built in support for multiple VPN types, including Wireguard, which is by far the best protocol these days. It's very fast and easy to set up, with connecting to the Wireguard peers happening very quickly after activation. You can set the switch on the side to do all sorts of things, including turning your VPN on/off. It also has built-in support for Tor, so you can have a separate Wi-Fi network connected to Tor if you want. You can also directly access the OpenWRT GUI behind the scenes, and you can install all sorts of different networking software packages. I've barely tapped into the stuff this thing can accomplish, and I'm already very satisfied with the price. I think if you want to install a lot of the software, you'd maybe want to find one that has more Flash built-in, but even this model has enough to install and play around with quite a bit. You can SSH in and get access to the Linux system running everything, which is oodles of fun and just begging to be customized. If you just want to play around with networking without messing with your main access point or router, this is a great device for that. If you travel often, you can easily set up a Wireguard peer on your home network which you can then connect to from anywhere in the world, allowing full access to your home network devices and also encrypting your traffic when using untrusted WiFi or LTE/5G. With an external USB LTE/5G modem, it can also connect to the internet that way, but you can also tether your phone to it and still route all your traffic through the VPN. Every businessperson who travels and stays in hotels should have one of these.