Yes all good choices, there are many targets with a couple simple steps, but if the requirement is for ease of installation it might not fit.
Thanks to all who responded. I am sorry not to have sent this earlier. I had this note half-composed, but didn't have time to finish it yesterday.
I am afraid some people are missing my point. I am seeking the best router for newcomers, not a favorite router of someone who knows all about OpenWrt. In the original post, I wrote:
The criteria laid out are intended to minimize the number of steps and to decrease the danger of making a mistake that would reflect badly on me, personally (because I recommended it), or on the OpenWrt project.
I regard the "one-step" installation to be critical. Two-step installations, especially those relying on preloaders that come from non-OpenWrt sources, are non-starters.
We list three routers that meet (or nearly meet) the criteria. Two happen to come from GL.iNet. One is well under $100; the other is now about $135. The R7800 might be underpowered for some people, but otherwise, as @hnyman points out, it's cheap, easy to install and rock solid.
Those routers provide a sufficient selection for newcomers to choose from.
My request going forward: If you have a personal recommendation for another router that meets ALL five criteria (or list where they deviate), please add it to this topic, following the form of the original topic. Otherwise, I am going to consider arguments or recommendations that don't address all five criteria to be off-topic and they will be hidden.
Thanks again for helping provide good recommendations to newcomers.
The ZyXEL Armor Z2/ NBG6817 would meet the same requirements (and performance limitations) as the r7800, as does the Netgear xr500.
OpenWrt has a factory image for the nbg6817, which can be directly flashed from the OEM firmware - no preparations or special considerations needed. The hardware is effectively the same as for the r7800 (minus the eSATA port); dual-firmware and a reliable push-button tftp based recovery mechanism.
The xr500 is basically the same device as the r7800, just a fancier case and twice the amount of flash, install procedures and performance are identical.
All of these ipq8065 devices are no longer in production and have some performance challenges, but they've been rather common and may be available on the local second hand markets for reasonable prices. They are still pretty decent devices and were among the high-end options for 802.11ac/ wave2, respectively wifi 5. OpenWrt support and stability is good and mature and pretty much equivalent between them. So this is mostly a question of local availability and pricing.
$127.30 with coupon.
I decided to keep the firmware that came on it since it is easy to open LuCI if I need advanced functions. With OpenWrt already on it, it is easy for a newcomer.
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Thank you for this post, I found it very helpful for determining a good router upgrade. Going to look into the MT6000, seems like a good potential candidate. I appreciate you taking the time to put all this together!
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Worth mentioning that GLiNet have a global sale on https://store-eu.gl-inet.com/ until Oct 15th.
The GL-MT6000 has a massive 42% off RRP down to €99, and you get 10% off of that amount with the coupon THANKS10. Bringing the ex VAT price down to €89.10.
This is about the only quad-core single-board router that can do WireGuard at (nearly) Gigabit speed, with 8GB eMMC and a couple of 2.5GBit ports. My only gripe is that it does not have an SFP port. Otherwise, at this price, a deal.
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