I got this as a refurb unit but it has been working great for the past year and a half. It replaced an old linksys b one that keeps on needing to be reset all the time which is kind of annoying. Once I got the netgear N one, I don't need to reset. My laptop is able to pick up the signal from my back yard with 3-4 bars so the range is much better than my old one. All I can say is it has been working since installed and the range has been much improved.
As far as setting up, you need to download the latest firmware from the website or you can use dd-wrt which I have set it up and it has...