Problem 3: Black list device list now appearing after numerous reboots. But I add a device, go to add another and the previously added device is in the device list. Ugh!! I thought Netgear router software was bad but usability here is awful.

New Problem 4: Port forwarding is not working. Anyone know if this is a reported problem on firmware version 2.1.6 Build 20230907 rel.65510(4555)?

If there is no other way of managing this device that makes things easy it's going back to the shop for a refund.

Problem 1: OK reservations being done manually. Still only 7 pages limit is shown, added devices remain in the list. Very poor usability design.

Problem 2: Bit the bullet and renamed devices. Had to look up by MAC addresses. 

Problem 3: I suppose turning Access Control off and on again is a way to go. 

Problem 4: Port forwarding still not working. Will come back to this.

Final account and final request for help:

All set up although usability is still awful. Port forwarding somehow started working. Reboot number 10 might have been the lucky one.

It seems though the whitelisting is limited making access control pointless. I need to automatically block new devices when they connect, not connect and then be blacklisted. Am I missing something?

  @Sunshine Thanks for replying. I have actually raised a ticket about the address reservation and whitelist limit. It seems the whitelist limit is 64 devices which in a modern smart home is a very small amount. I guess raising the limit increases the possibility of the router slowing down. The old Netgear one, which I'm replacing, did slow down but only in terms of the management UI, not the routing of devices. Limits need to be removed. By all means have warnings for end users and then they can take the risk.

Currently I have had to turn off access control and not use address reservation because of these limits. This makes management of the router less than desirable and actually less secure. I'm pushing back on the tickets to see if the limits can be removed.If not then I might have to look into another router, although I'm going to hate that because 3 days I've spent on the change over and things are still less than stable for most devices. 

Regards