At a glance
The Mango 2 (GL-MG1300) is a strong pocket travel router for people who want real VPN and repeater features and can live with Wi-Fi 5 speeds. GL.iNet has gone back to the small, cheap idea behind the original Mango instead of chasing faster wireless standards. It is fanless, measures 89 x 63 x 15 mm and weighs 100 g. In my close-range test, its 5 GHz band delivered 538 Mbps down and 618 Mbps up.
What’s in the box
The product includes the router, a USB-C to USB-C power cable and a starter manual.
Design and hardware
The Mango 2 addresses the original’s main hardware limits: a dual-core 880 MHz processor, a 5 GHz radio, gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0 and USB-C power, all in a shell that stays pocket-sized.
| Spec | Mango (GL-MT300N-V2) | Mango 2 (GL-MG1300) |
| CPU | MediaTek, single-core 580 MHz | MediaTek, dual-core 880 MHz |
| Wi-Fi | 2.4 GHz only, up to 300 Mbps | Dual-band: up to 400 Mbps (2.4 GHz), 866 Mbps (5 GHz) |
| Ethernet | 10/100 Mbps | 10/100/1000 Mbps (1 WAN, 1 LAN) |
| USB | USB 2.0 | USB 3.0 |
| Power input | Micro-USB, 5 V / 2 A | USB-C, 5 V / 2 A |
| WireGuard, max | 45 Mbps | 184 Mbps |
| OpenVPN, max | 11 Mbps | 95 Mbps (with DCO) |
Figures are from GL.iNet’s comparison chart and spec sheet. The Mango 2 also has 128 MB of DDR3L memory and 128 MB of NAND flash, plus 2 MB of NOR flash. GL.iNet’s VPN maximums were measured in client mode on a local network.
The interface is one WAN and one LAN Ethernet port, one USB 3.0 port and a USB-C power input, plus a reset button and a toggle button. GL.iNet rates power draw below 5 W from a 5 V / 2 A input, and an operating temperature of 0°C to 40°C.
My take on the build: [add your impressions of the production unit’s case, weight and ports]
Software and features
GL.iNet pitches the Mango 2 as a travel router that connects to hotel Wi-Fi, Ethernet or your phone’s mobile data and puts your devices on one familiar travel Wi-Fi network.
The features that matter for travel:
- Four ways to get online, with auto-failover: public Wi-Fi repeater, Ethernet, phone USB tethering or a USB cellular modem, with a configured backup taking over if the primary drops.
- Portal login once: sign in to compatible hotel Wi-Fi through the router and reconnect all your devices to the network name and password they already know.
- VPN suite: WireGuard, OpenVPN DCO and Tailscale, plus policies that choose which devices or sites use the tunnel. GL.iNet lists support for over 30 VPN providers.
Performance
I measured Wi-Fi throughput on both bands with the test phone placed close to the router. That shows the best-case link, not real-world range.
| Band | Download (Mbps) | Upload (Mbps) |
| 2.4 GHz | 42.8 | 45.0 |
| 5 GHz | 538 | 618 |
Test setup: Samsung Galaxy S23 FE; Ookla Speedtest app
On 5 GHz the phone reached 538 Mbps down and 618 Mbps up, roughly 12 to 14 times the 2.4 GHz results. Both bands land below their rated speeds (866 Mbps on 5 GHz, 400 Mbps on 2.4 GHz). Uploads ran ahead of downloads on both bands, by about 5% on 2.4 GHz and 15% on 5 GHz.
Speedtest measures through to the internet, so my connection sets the ceiling and results vary from run to run. The 5 GHz figures show the internet link was not the limit at that speed.
Wi-Fi 5 limits and VPN ratings
Expect Wi-Fi 5 behavior, and judge it against hotel-room needs rather than home-router ones. The Mango 2 tops out at AC1300 rates and is not built to compete with Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 7 travel routers.
GL.iNet rates VPN throughput at up to 184 Mbps with WireGuard and 95 Mbps with OpenVPN DCO, against 45 and 11 Mbps for the original Mango. Those figures come from client mode on a local network. Real speeds depend on the VPN provider, server location and network conditions, and GL.iNet says they drop when the router acts as the VPN server.
Close-range results show only the best case. My test does not cover range, stability under load or multi-service behavior.
Verdict
The Mango 2 is an easy recommendation for travelers who want a cheap, pocketable router with the full GL.iNet software stack. In my close-range test its 5 GHz band delivered 538 Mbps down and 618 Mbps up. Dual-band Wi-Fi, gigabit ports, a dual-core processor and USB-C power address the original Mango’s main limits.
Buy it if you want captive portal handling, a VPN and phone-tether failover in something that fits in a pocket and runs off a power bank.
Skip it if you need Wi-Fi 6 or faster, high VPN throughput, or a router that can double as your main home gateway. GL.iNet’s Wi-Fi 7 models, such as the Slate 7 and Beryl 7, are built for that.
Sources
Specifications and VPN ratings come from GL.iNet’s product page. The Wi-Fi measurements are my own.