I'm looking for a basic wireless router that is OpenWRT friendly.
Non-negotiables:
4 LAN ports (100 mbps is fine)
2ghz wireless radio
One physical button (at least)
Important, but somewhat negotiable:
Under $100
Easy to install OpenWRT
Easy recovery of original firmware in case of failed upgrade
I'm new to OpenWRT. I bricked a Netgear AC2400 router on my first attempt. I don't need that much router anyway. I just want something that I can have a good OpenWRT experience with. Used eBay routers are fine with me.
There are only two of us in a small apartment. Sometimes we use 2Ghz wifi, but mostly we like to use ethernet cable. We get 100mbps from our ISP.
Yeah, the A7 is a very nice little box for the money. I got one in 2015 or thereabouts, and considering it's a 16/128 device, it should be good for several more years of OpenWrt releases (see https://openwrt.org/supported_devices/864_warning for considerations if you decide to get something else).
My A7 is just a test device, so has not much in the way of "extras", but I do make a point of putting adblock on it with all the default block lists including oisd_small (~75k domains total). That doesn't strain memory space at all, it sits at about 58% free RAM most of the time.