Eero mesh router review
Our Verdict
The Eero mesh kit excels, with tiny devices that are inexpensive and that offer an easy, phone-based setup. It, all the same, falls brusk on range and performance, while its Secure Plus plan tin can protect your family'southward digital assets – at a price.
For
- Piece of cake setup
- Small, easy-to-hide devices
- Extra security
Against
- Low performance
- Doesn't include speaker or microphone
- Expensive security options
Tom's Guide Verdict
The Eero mesh kit excels, with tiny devices that are inexpensive and that offer an like shooting fish in a barrel, phone-based setup. It, still, falls curt on range and operation, while its Secure Plus plan tin protect your family's digital assets – at a price.
Pros
- +
Like shooting fish in a barrel setup
- +
Minor, easy-to-hide devices
- +
Extra security
Cons
- -
Low performance
- -
Doesn't include speaker or microphone
- -
Expensive security options
Going against the grain, the latest Eero mesh kit is congenital around pocket-sized, inexpensive devices, merely it lacks the speaker and microphone yous'll observe on the Orbi Voice and Nest Wifi routers.
Editor'due south Note: We periodically update our reviews to make certain that pricing and information is upwards to date. The rating and recommendations in our Eero mesh kit review is unchanged from when information technology originally published in February of 2020.
As this router is the follow-up to one of the best mesh Wi-Fi systems on the market place, nosotros've been eagerly waiting to come across what the new Amazon-endemic Eero would deliver, and the results are mixed. It doesn't mensurate up on range and performance, and its Secure+ protection plan costs an extra $100 a yr. Even so, at $249 for a 3-pack, it's the best bargain in mesh networking today.
Eero Mesh review: Design
Since beingness purchased by Amazon last year, Eero has been very decorated. It has not simply engineered a smaller mesh networking kit that should be more than than enough to make full almost homes, merely the company has as well dropped its prices; at $249 for a three-pack, it costs $150 less than the similar trio of devices for the 2017 Eero.
Minor, white and with rounded corners, the Eero device is ane of the smallest networking designs around. At three.nine inches foursquare and 2.iv inches alpine, it's smaller than Google's Nest Wifi devices and positively miniscule compared to Netgear'southward Orbi devices. In other words, it's piece of cake to hide (like on a bookshelf) but is unobtrusive plenty to be left out in the open on a coffee table.
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Eero Mesh product specs
Wi-Fi specs: 802.11ac/dual-band mesh kit
Number of antennas/removable: 4/no
Ports: Ii 1Gbps Ethernet
Processor: Quad-cadre 700 MHz
Memory/storage: 512MB/4GB
Wi-Fi chip: Qualcomm IQP4019
Size: three.9 x 3.9 10 2.4 inches
Peak throughput: 342.1 Mbps (at 5 feet)
Range: 65 feet
Price: $250 for three units
Eero is available in whatever colour so long as it'due south white, making for a rather plain dissimilarity with the Nest Wifi'due south pastel colour choices. The Eero device also misses the opportunity to double as a smart speaker or house-wide sound system, because information technology lacks the speaker, microphone and sound amplifier that Nest Wifi and Orbi Vocalization have. It's not an Alexa endpoint, but if you have an Repeat speaker, it can reply to commands like "Alexa, turn off Eero's LED."
Each Eero can human action equally a router or extension, depending on how it'southward configured. While the iii-pack of devices costs $249, private extensions are $99 each. That's nearly twoscore% off the price of the previous iteration and a bargain compared to the $349 Nest Wifi three-pack. The company also sells the Eero Beacon ($119), a plug-in, wireless-only extension, as well as the tri-band, high-performance Eero Pro ($159).
The Eero devices I looked at had a pair of gigabit RJ45 Ethernet ports, which is a step forward compared to the Nest Wifi extensions, which are wireless only. The Eero units tin can connect either wirelessly or with an Ethernet cable and are perfect for plugging in a printer or network storage device. A reset push button on the bottom of the device lets you lot wipe it clean of settings.
Despite being new and fresh, the electric current gear tin can work with older Eero units. According to the company, there's no limit to the number of Eero devices on a network, although the returns will probable diminish at five or six extensions. Each device can comprehend i,500 foursquare feet, while the three-pack is good for a 5,000-foursquare-foot home. That'south much larger than the typical abode, making the Eero iii-pack an inexpensive way to fill a house or apartment with Wi-Fi.
Small and unobtrusive, the Eero devices are stuffed with powerful wireless technology. Each unit of measurement has iii built-in antennas and Bluetooth 5.0 for use during setup and when communicating with household devices. Eero uses beamforming to tailor the transmitted data and Mu-MIMO to maximize bandwidth, but this router lacks the latest, Wi-Fi half dozen technology.
The Eero organization uses a dual-band design, which is a step down from the Orbi and Eero Pro systems, which use a tri-band design. The host base station, which Eero calls a gateway, acts as the network's router to fix upward a daisy-chain or hub-and-spoke topology with its extensions. This system tops out at a maximum throughput of 550 Mbps, far below the Nest WiFi'southward 2.two-Gbps rating.
Eero Mesh review: Performance
Based on Qualcomm'due south ubiquitous IPQ4019 Wi-Fi chipset, the Eero devices apply a 700-MHz quad-core processor that'due south one-half the speed of the Nest Wifi'south CPU. The Eero has 512MB of RAM and 4GB of flash storage space for its firmware and settings.
To see how well the Eero devices work, we ready the system up at the Tom'south Guide open office. The router hitting its elevation at five feet from the client, with 342.two Mbps available. This performance puts the Eero well behind the Google Nest Wifi' and its 653.ii Mbps, the original Eero and its 573.7Mbps, and the Orbi RBK50 and it 552.1Mbps. The new Eero's performance dropped off to 319.8 Mbps, 285.7Mbps and 213.9Mbps at 15-, l- and 100-pes measurements, scores that were at least 100 Mbps less than what the Orbi RBK50 and Nest Wifi were capable of.
In our single-hop mesh test, where the extension was set 50 feet from the host, the Eero proved less than stellar, delivering 169.1 Mbps of bandwidth, nearly 1-third of the throughput of the Nest Wifi's 480.ane Mbps. We then added the second extension at a right angle l feet away. At this location, the router provided only 50.6 Mbps, versus 211.4Mbps for the Nest Wifi system.
We set the router and client upward with three walls and twoscore feet between them to examination how well the router handled mutual obstructions (like walls); it again disappointed, with only 84.0 Mbps of bandwidth available. That'due south less than a quarter of the 400.seven Mbps available from the Nest Wifi arrangement under the same conditions.
These results were mirrored when I set up the Eero system at my three,500-foursquare-foot home. I installed the router in the centre of the main level and placed the extensions on floors above and below. The devices had a range of 65 feet, which is second all-time backside the Nest Wifi's 80-foot range. My dwelling house'due south older construction often foils even the strongest Wi-Fi router, and the Eero three-pack left several portions of the dwelling house unconnected.
Information technology passed my informal throughput saturation test, in which I used four computers at one time: ane playing the BBC World Service audio feed, 2 playing YouTube videos, and the 4th moving data onto and off a networking storage device. Neither the audio nor the video streams had whatever dropouts, artifacts or other bug.
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When information technology was doing its matter, the Eero devices never got more than warm to the touch. Each device uses a modest 3.6 watts of power, which is on a par with the Nest devices but half the power consumption of Orbi Voice. That usage all adds up to estimated annual expenses of $four.10 for one, $8.20 for two and $12.30 for 3 Eeros if y'all pay the national boilerplate of 13 cents per kilowatt of electricity.
Eero Mesh review: Setup
Happily, the new Eero devices are only as easy to set up every bit the old ones, and the devices are interchangeable. Using my Milky way Note 10 phone, the process started with downloading and installing the Android app; there'due south also an iOS app for iPhones and iPads. Every bit is the case with the Nest Wifi gear, there's no way to use a web browser to set the devices upward. While the app has lots of illustrations to depict the process, it started off with iv screens extolling Eero'south virtues.
To begin setup, I clicked on Let's Go Started and created an business relationship with Eero using my email accost and phone number. I needed to validate the email accost with a verification code, but it took a frustrating 3 minutes for the code to arrive, slowing the overall process.
Side by side, I checked that the terms and conditions were OK with me, and so the app took over, asking me to plug in the gateway device and connect information technology to my broadband router with the included Ethernet cable. The device turned itself on, and its LED glowed white; there's no on/off switch.
On the app, I tapped that I was installing a standard Eero device, not a Pro model. Then, I tapped Adjacent to come across a cartoon of the parts I needed; all were supplied, except for the broadband modem. Later I allowed the app to apply my location, information technology scanned for the Eero device equally the device's LED blinked blue.
The app found the Eero in virtually twenty seconds, and I selected the device'south location, which names each unit to help keep things straight as you add extensions throughout the house. All looked skillful, with the device'southward light now glowing solid blue. If the low-cal had turned crimson, it would have meant that I'd lost the Eero's web connection, while yellow would mean something was wrong with the power adapter.
I finished up by typing in a network name and password and let the software register the device with Eero central. In a moment, the app showed that everything was set and active — no restart required. Once agile, the Earo delivered a network with a single proper name that covers both the 2.iv- and 5-GHz segments and provided 180 Mbps to my iPad Pro on the showtime attempt.
Next up, I wanted to add the Eero extensions. After plugging one in on the flooring beneath where the host gateway was located, I used the app's bill of fare to tap on Add together Extension. I viewed the app's three setup tips and and so plugged in the device; information technology blinked white at first and so blueish. The app scanned for and found the extension. The unit's LED glowed green to show a successful connection.
I used Eero's placement test to verify that the device was online and in the right position to transmit and receive the strongest bespeak. With that done, I added the 2nd extension for a three-Eero network. All told, it took 15 minutes to set up up the gateway and extensions for my home network.
Eero Mesh review: Configuration
Although information technology can seem cluttered at kickoff, Eero'southward dwelling page is a masterpiece of integration, showing all key elements of the network. Reading downwardly from the top, there's an overall-status message, on which green means everything is OK, followed by the number of continued clients and the top 3 devices, ranked by use of bandwidth.
Beneath that, you tin run across what Eero devices are continued, and if you lot tap on that display, you get to the configuration folio. Forth the bottom are the well-nigh contempo download and upload test results and a place to run a fresh examination. Tap the upper correct, and yous'll get a weekly activity study, with details on malware scans, threats and ads blocked, equally well as the software's family online-content filters.
Happily, unlike the Nest WiFi, which requires ii apps for adjusting the configuration, Eero does it in a unmarried app. In addition to changing the network proper noun, countersign and time zone, y'all tin can besides employ the Advanced Settings section to alter things like setting static IP addressing. I was able to arrange the firewall and domain name server (DNS), set up port forwarding, and choose the details of the internet connection. At whatsoever fourth dimension, I could remotely restart or delete the network and start again.
The configuration items are not deep, but they are adequate, considering the audience. If you subscribe to the Eero Secure Plus service, there's a link to become to the underlying details, including using the ad blocker.
Eero Mesh review: Smart home integration, security and parental controls
The base of operations Eero has adequate security using WPA2 encryption but doesn't have the ability to apply the stronger WPA3 protocol or a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for authenticating its firmware upgrades. Updates are non encrypted and might be a backdoor for a hacker to enter your network.
At that place are ii security options that can help raise a shield effectually Eero the network, merely they volition price you.
The Secure option costs $2.99 per month or $29.99 for a full year and beefs up the defenses with Eero's Ad Block, a reputation-based cloud analysis of websites, the ability to block sites and objectionable content, and ad blocking. You'll go a weekly security written report.
The Secure Plus option raises the price to $9.99 per calendar month or $99 a year. For that, you go the 1Password credential managing director, which is good for five users, every bit well every bit unlimited access for 5 users to encrypt.me'due south virtual private network (VPN). The best part is the 3-organisation license for Malwarebytes Premium antivirus software.
Together, the parcel is worth much more than the annual $100 fee, making it a bargain for those who don't currently have this level of protection. On the other mitt, the Netgear Nighthawk AC2300 (RS400) cybersecurity router includes in its purchase price three years of an unlimited license for Bitdefender Total Security that includes a superlative-shelf malware protection and a countersign director merely not VPN access; later on that three-yr period, it costs $70 per year.
Dissimilar Google'southward Nest Wifi, the Eero devices don't have heavy home-automation integration. You can employ Alexa over the network to interruption the internet, just you can't practice more-advanced deportment, like having Malwarebytes run a scan.
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The Eero devices come with a i-year warranty and a slew of tech support options from the Eero Assist Heart. You lot tin can ask questions and troubleshoot problems with technicians over the phone, in a conversation window or via e-mail, and there are manufactures on the hardware and software, networking primers, and assist with the mobile apps. It'due south all very useful and a step up from the 90 days of support that Netgear provides with its Orbi mesh kits.
Eero Mesh review: Verdict
Small and easy to set up, the new Eero mesh kit tin fill up most homes with Wi-Fi, but it doesn't impress on range or overall functioning. Less expensive than the original Eero, the latest iteration has expensive security options that add together a layer of protection merely that can raise the price past up to $100 a year.
The Eero mesh arrangement delivers business firm-filling Wi-Fi at a reasonable toll. It's also one of the all-time bargains in mesh Wi-Fi, offering a three-pack for less than the cost of the two-slice Nest Wifi kit. You'll give up the Nest's congenital-in Google Dwelling house smart speaker, but that'south nonetheless a relatively new feature that hasn't nevertheless proven its long-term value.
For the best home Wi-Fi performance, our top pick is still the Netgear Orbi (RBK50), which has neat speed and range and fifty-fifty lets you add vocalism interaction with the addition of the Orbi Vocalization. But if you want simple coverage that won't get out expressionless spots in your abode, the Eero mesh organization is an excellent bargain.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/eero-2019
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