Seconding flint 2 as well. It would have been my go to if I had to just buy a consumer grade router. But I have opnsense on a dedicated box so it was overkill for me and I got a Cudy WR3000H and put openwrt on it and turned into alll in one managed switch with VLAN aware SSIDS
The oft-heard recommendation for people who seek inexpensive, power-efficient, and decent is Cudy WR3000 / 3000E / 3000H / 3000S. They are inexpensive and snappy. Bonus: you can replace the stock firmware with OpenWrt, which is infinitely more configurable than the stock firmware.
One step up price-wise (and also OpenWrt-compatible) is Flint 2 by GL.iNet. Now that the manufacturer is rolling out Flint 3, they occasionally sell Flint 2 at a discount.
Cudy mesh routers are very good value if you're ok with stuff that just works reliably without bells and whistles or want to install OpenWRT.
See their emulators if that level of configuration options is enough for you. If it is, they are really stable and good value.
Top WiFi Routers on Reddit
1
GL.iNet
GL-MT6000 (Flint 2)
91% positive of 197 users
OpenWrt enthusiast's choice; good value, but lacks 6GHz.
AlexDnD
