MikroTik - hAP ax2

ok now I know what are you talking about. First mikrotik wifi client will be best option like Hap ax2 will be ok but you must think about 5ghz radio usage when you like to setup bridge. When you setup client you are loosing 50% of radio bandwith. I recomend you mikrotik Audience because these device have two fizical 5ghz radios one for wifi client and one for ap.

If you like to setup these with two devices, your configuration in my opinion will be good.

I'm in a small flat so I don't know how it'll do for range, but I'm running a mikrotik hap ax2. No joke I get 850mbit on the 5ghz band, and mikrotik routers have every feature you could ever want in a router 

For my home network I run 2 MikroTik hapAX2's. Hardwired together. One does the routing and acts as an ap/managed switch, the other one runs just as an ap/managed switch. This is a setup that can actually route a 1gb/s connection, i'm not sure if the cheaper mesh systems can actually route a 1gb/s connection.

If you like to tinker I'd recommend mikrotik stuff - AX2 or AX3. But you really should like to tinker, they're not trivial if you get outside of the default config. They can do pretty much anything the enterprise routers and APs can do(even wifi roaming if you have a few). TP-link ones are ok if you don't want to spend time configuring. If you're doing <=1G wire speeds, wifi 7 won't give you any benefits over wifi 6/6e. Most enterprise wifi7 equipment does 10G, sometimes even with optics. For what you need, i'd get a <100$ wifi6 tp-link router, and not worry that much about future proofing, because of the price.

I have my daughter the ac2 with version 7.18.2 and two wireguard vpn and it works great with the new wireless package, but if I had to buy again I would avoid it, better an ax2, the 4011 is too much for a home network, the same as the 5009, plus they are more expensive

I think the AX2 is a good choice. I do something similar in my apartment where I have a Debian machine with a WiFi adapter receive the free building WiFi and then send it over to a hEX to create a private LAN/WLAN (for WiFi, i've setup an old tp link router/AP combo in bridge mode and plugged into the hEX). The whole set up works pretty well and is relaible, the only issues I encounter come from occasional speed dips but those are usually remedied by disconnecting/reconnecting the Debian box to the free building WiFi.

+1 mikrotik. Especially if you're not a heavy wifi user, as they are not the most advanced APs. I have a couple of hap ac2 and ax2 in different locations, and they're rock solid.

Ac2. But this router slowly die because of lack of memory. Actually i dont think its good deal in 2025. Maybe you can buy ax2 instead? It has 1GB RAM instead 128MB and 128MB flash instead of 16MB. Latest version of routeros is problematic on ac2.

I'm on hAP ax² on 1:1gb with \~20 firewall rules, some ports forwarding, no issues at all.

Get ac2 or ax2, hex has old cpu, new hex is okayish because it has arm but arm5 which is obsolete. Arm is a key factor here because you get free relay for your vpn (back to home cloud) and option for containers (apart from new hex which has arm5 with less containers options)

Get ac2 or ax2, hex has old cpu, new hex is okayish because it has arm but arm5 which is obsolete. Arm is a key factor here because you get free relay for your vpn (back to home cloud) and option for containers (apart from new hex which has arm5 with less containers options)