Ok, so I got a pair of R730s as an experiment coupled to a Davuaz Da-K6402WP PoE switch (2.5gbe, 30w max per port, 75w power envelope). I crossflashed them to the R850 unleashed firmware and I think I can largely mirror what people have seen here, but I'll point out a few items I think are noteworthy:
- It defaults to 802.3af on the Davuaz which wasn't ideal. Cranking it up to 802.3at was still causing it to complain about lack of power, so I put it into 802.3bt/class5 mode even though the Davuaz in theory can't handle the peak (35w vs 30w max per port). This at least caused it to stop complaining in the web interface and the radios seemed to act better, but I was also seeing the PoE port drop from 2.5gbe to 1gbe on the controller node.
- 160mhz definitely appears to have problems, and it appears to manifest differently depending on the client chipset involved. Intel AX chips seem to be largely unaffected, but upload speeds severely tanked (down to 200Mbps from 600+) on my Pixel 7 Pro, and I later noticed my iPhone and other Pixel clients would end up with hung/lost connectivity after a while. I haven't tested 80mhz as extensively, but it appeared to be rock solid at roughly the max speeds it should be capable of (700-800Mbps both directions) in my limited tests.
- I think my secondary AP might be running into boot loop issues. I'm not sure if this is power related due to the switch or if this particular unit is actually having trouble after the crossflash.
In short, I tried putting them into production around the house hoping to improve my 5ghz 160mhz-capable coverage, but that appears to be bust at this point, unless the DC power adapters on the way change the situation significantly. That being said, if 80mhz stays stable, it'll still be an improvement over the 2x2 80mhz 5ghz radios that came with my cheap 6ghz rollout (refurb Linksys MR7500s) and will improve coverage around the house with the Linksys APs relegated to 6ghz-only operation.