What's your favorite enthusiast LEDE/OpenWrt device?

...the only feature I miss the cheap routers, e.g. TP-Link TL-WR1043ND, is hardware supported VPN (/OpenVPN).
Any models?

Xiaomi Mini :wink: Costs $20 and outperforms $100+ devices

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But the Ethernet ports are only 100 Mbps, at least according to the wiki.

It runs openwrt even though it has a mediatek chipset?

what about Linksys EA8500? is it good?

With the latest snapshot builds, yes - testing a EA8500 with this recent build now:

LEDE Reboot SNAPSHOT r4589-cb2a391 / LuCI Master (git-17.194.28316-2224714)

Just flashed this week (7/20), so only up for 2 days so far, no issues.

Depending on the Board Rev., flashing without header pins for the Serial TTL -> USB cable is a bit challenging though.

The 17.01.2 release build did not run well on this unit, it locked up.

I would use the 4.9 current snapshot build:
http://downloads.lede-project.org/snapshots/targets/ipq806x/generic/

which includes all the excellent work done by the kind folks in this thread:

Still new to all this, so ..

The hardware is good, radio range is excellent / just shy of the WRT1900ACS, but you'll need to crack the case open to flash, and possibly fabricate a header pin adapter as well - the older EA8500 boards have header pins, the later board Revs. do not.

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Interesting. I read the same on the ddwrt forum, but I saw a youtube video of some dude using stock firmware and the range on the wrt3200acm is amazing.
Is this a problem that occurs only with custom firmware?
My 3200 should be arriving soon.

Actually with Fast Path it is. The same with WR1043ND (same CPU).
Around 500-600 Mbps with SQM.

But I read the 2.4Ghz WiFi is just terrible, almost impossible to use.
The SQM fix is only a couple of days old I think and not available in 17.01-SNAPSHOT yet if I'm not mistaken.

I've seen people recommend Linksys WRT1200AC, Linksys WRT1900AC, Linksys WRT1900ACS and Linksys WRT3200ACM and then I saw the same people writing posts needing support with LEDE not working properly on those devices, mostly issues about WiFi. I heard though that Ethernet works very well on those boxes.

Works fine for me(tm)

my 1900ac

BusyBox v1.27.1 (2017-08-11 12:53:06 CEST) built-in shell (ash)

root@DD-WRT 5d:e1:f6:~# iw ath1 station dump
Station b4:75:0e:fe:a1:84 (on ath1)
inactive time: 8310 ms
rx bytes: 67251473
rx packets: 462397
tx bytes: 11093627
tx packets: 32221
tx retries: 0
tx failed: 0
beacon loss: 2
beacon rx: 217405
rx drop misc: 0
signal: -49 dBm
signal avg: -49 dBm
beacon signal avg: 207 dBm
tx bitrate: 1300.0 MBit/s VHT-MCS 9 80MHz short GI VHT-NSS 3
rx bitrate: 1300.0 MBit/s VHT-MCS 9 80MHz short GI VHT-NSS 3
authorized: yes
authenticated: yes
associated: yes
preamble: long
WMM/WME: yes
MFP: no
TDLS peer: no
DTIM period: 2
beacon interval:100
short slot time:yes
connected time: 22274 seconds



root@DD-WRT 5d:e1:f6:~# iw ath1.1 station dump
Station 10:da:43:1d:ea:fc (on ath1.1)
inactive time: 0 ms
rx bytes: 2773147
rx packets: 20754
tx bytes: 18060308
tx packets: 22740
tx retries: 0
tx failed: 0
rx drop misc: 0
signal: -45 dBm
signal avg: -45 dBm
tx bitrate: 866.7 MBit/s VHT-MCS 9 80MHz short GI VHT-NSS 2
rx bitrate: 866.7 MBit/s VHT-MCS 9 80MHz short GI VHT-NSS 2
authorized: yes
authenticated: yes
associated: yes
preamble: long
WMM/WME: yes
MFP: no
TDLS peer: no
DTIM period: 2
beacon interval:100
short slot time:yes
connected time: 3442 seconds
root@DD-WRT 5d:e1:f6:~#

I'm running WRT1200AC with 17.01.2 and WiFi is ROCK SOLID - both 2.4 and 5 with lots of devices connected. It seems to be well regarded too https://sorenpoulsen.com/install-lede-on-a-linksys-wrt1200ac-router.

I found the WiFi range on the Linksys WRT1900ACS V2 to be bloody awful.

I've just ordered a NETGEAR R7800 on @hnyman's recommendation. Will let you know my thoughts.

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I'm getting 2 x 80MHz channels of about 260 to 290 MBit/s per channel in a room furthest away from the wrt1200ac and elevated about half a story. Seems OK to me. If you are trying to cover a multistory house then maybe a single router is not enough.

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Got my R7800 and WiFi performance is worse than my Archer C7! I've had rubbish WiFi on NETGEARs in the past but I hoped it might be better now but no! :frowning:

I might try another Linksys on @spaceoutboy's recommendation. Thank you mate.

That's odd, I've replaced a VR900 with the R7800 and wireless is miles better - consistently maxing out the PHY on the RE450 repeater upstairs (also ath10k) and stronger signal.

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GnuBee PC1 is stable with LEDE, now this version is wired only, the wifi version will coming soon or you can check with them

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OMY-LT01 support LEDE too
http://www.omylink.com/eshowProduct.asp?id=42#.WZ01lbZLfIU