Nighthawk is owned by Netgear as Nighthawk is the product line that is owned by the company Netgear.
The name Nighthawk is used for NETGEAR's routers as well as NETGEAR's mesh WiFi systems.
NETGEAR is the parent company of Nighthawk and Nighthawk is the brand of routers and related networking products, which fall under the NETGEAR brand.
The lifespan of a NETGEAR router is between 3 years to 5 years, although some NETGEAR routers may last even longer.
I've had a NETGEAR router that lasted me 10 years before I upgraded my router to a new one when I moved and switched internet providers.
The NETGEAR router was still working fine and probably would've lasted another 5 to 10 years, but I was ready to upgrade as the NETGEAR router served me well over those 10 years.
After 3 to 5 years, it's often recommended that you replace your NETGEAR router or other brand of router, especially if you have any high bandwidth or smart home devices to maintain fast, reliable and secure internet speeds.
The more connected devices you have on your NETGEAR router, the most strain there will be on your NETGEAR router, especially if you have devices that use a lot of bandwidth, which can shorten a NETGEAR routers effective lifespan.
Keeping the NETGEAR firmware updated and regularly rebooting your NETGEAR router can also help to maintain high performance and extend the NETGEAR routers life.
The NETGEAR router itself often has a shelf life of 15 years even when unused and your results the lifespan can vary.
Most people will want to upgrade to a new router even when the old router is working just fine.