I would like to stay under $100, preferably around $50. I only have ten megabits down but I want a reasonably speedy router. I am not opposed to used. I am kinda leaning towards a C7 or Linksys AC1200. What should I buy?
Take a look at this guidance and list of LEDE-supported 802.11 AC routers...
https://lede-project.org/toh/views/toh_available_864_ac-wifi
Thank you, I have read a ton of LEDE stuff in the last 3 days and while I have learned much I am still unsure of a proper choice. Maybe I should just jump in.
The C7 is a solid choice for low latency and pretty good WiFi. The USB performance is pretty terrible though.
The XiaoMi MIR 3G seems to be pretty popular around here. The WiFi recently got faster thanks to driver changes. Requires latest development builds.
The Linksys AC1200 should be avoided as the WiFi is not very good.
The C7 v2 would likely be a used one and I have concerns with possibly getting a locked one.
I am looking at Xiaomi 3G more now.
The AC1200 v1 and it's dual cores are drawing me. I live in a location with zero wireless pollution beyond my own. Does the WiFi perform THAT badly to be avoided.
It's not a problem with signal quality. It's with overall stability.
I see, stability issues are not fun.
I got a used C7 v2 cheap AND a XiaoMi Router 3G to tinker with.
:). There's a thread here on overclocking the C7v2 should you wish to go that route 
@nathan7 I recommend you an Archer C7 v2 + [GCC 7.2 BUILD] Optimized TP-Link Archer C7 V2 AC1750 LEDE Firmware that's the firmware I been using for the last year and 0 problems.
It's on the way. Did you worry with TFTP functionality or just flash LEDE?
From stock Firmware just flash LEDE using the web interface. Use the xxx-xxx-factory.bin file NOT xxx-xxx-sysuprade.bin, once you have LEDE installed you can use xxx-xxx-sysupgrade.bin to upgrade your firmware version, but from stock firmware allways xxx-xxx-factory.bin.
Awesome, will do.