Velop Atlas Max 6E (MX8502)

In reality, the only device that is supported is the „ZenWiFi BT8“, „OpenWrt“ has pretty horrible support in terms of „Wi-Fi 6E“ and „Wi-Fi 7“, there is also the „Banana Pi“, but that is more like a hobby project, than a real router, more like a computer, which does work, but it's most likely not what you are looking for. There is also the „Linksys MX8500“, but it doesn't have the best support in terms of features, as „Qualcomm“ drivers. If only the „Flint 3“ was based on open-source drivers, then it would be a clear recommendation, but if you like stuck on an old „OpenWrt“ version, then the „Flint 3“ is a solid option. Having a „Wi-Fi 7“ router, rather than a „Wi-Fi 6E“ is a actually a good thing, everything gets updated in random patches, you don't go full on upgrade sprees, maybe you will drop your phone and buy a new, which will support „Wi-Fi 7“ and etc. There are very good changes in „Wi-Fi 7“, including range and speed.

You dont have to do wired backhaul at all if you dont want to. Been running a three node mesh wirelessly for a couple years. (Linksys MX8500 6E). Main Node (Router) in my Office on far end of the hose. One node halfway down the basement stairs on a ledge in the Middle of the house, and one node in the far corner of the dining room on the other end. Tons of IOT devices, multiple streaming TV's, Console, and I work from Home on VPN all day. My PC gets 950Mbps download, all the IOT works great, all TV's work great streaming. Get a good three node mesh and you will be fine. It works better if the two satellite nodes are about the same distance away from the main node and not in a line (think star connection instead of linear hops). Wireless mesh was designed for wireless backhaul. YES there are advantages to wired backhaul, but you dont need it. Anyone on here that had horrible experiences either didnt know what they were doing, had walls made out of concrete and steel, or had a POS mesh. Go with a Wi-Fi 7 Mesh...BE63 is cheap and works great after F/W updates. If you can swing it, get the better tier BE67/68 or even step up to the BE77.

Linksys Mx4200/Mx4300/Mx5300/Mx8500. You can purchase these off eBay for under $100. The hardware is great and will last a long time for routing purposes (supports Qualcomm hardware acceleration).

I've bought myself a set of three Linksys Atlas MX8500 recently. They have a 5Gbps WAN port, Wifi 6E and USB.

gigabit ethernet is plenty (1G).. 6Ghz is not essential, at least 5Ghz is though.. you aren’t going to get much distance out of 5 or 6Ghz anyway, they’re high bandwidth signals but have low range, ideally you need to be within line of sight of the router.. i spent $90 on a Linksys WiFi 6E and get a 2400mbps connection to the headset, but like you said my PC’s ethernet is only Gigabit.. but having the overhead, especially in the WiFi connection, doesn’t hurt anything