I have been running with two WNDR-3800 (one on each floor) in my home for several years. They are running hnyman's build of OpenWRT.
If my budget is about $100/router and I want to run LEDE, what would you recommend as a replacement? We have lots of wireless devices. Comcast recently increased my Blast! Internet to 200M so I'd like something fast enough to handle this.
I currently see around 120M using a SB6120 cable modem, but recently purchased an SB6183 hoping that additional downstream channels would give me more speed.
I'm very happy with mine, although there's an SQM related bug which makes it trip over often... But if you don't need/use SQM it's a great device for the price (should be around 60-70 USD afaik).
What is the exact problem with DIR-860L and SQM? I read there is a problem with the driver. Is it connected to the WiFi or the Mediatek CPU? I also read that the 2.4Ghz WiFi is really bad on this router.
Because if you like the WiFi performance of WNDR-3800 then you might want to consider keeping them as dumb AP and buying Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X (no WiFi, only Ethernet) as main router.
I don't think that you can get a powerful router for 200 Mbit/s speeds with $100...
If you want a modern more powerful router, get Netgear R7800. It is somewhat more expensive as your price range, but gives good value for the money and is well supported.
I wouldn't recommend Broadcom, really. A Mediatek based DIR-860L B1 can be had for around 70 €, which is 802.11ac, comes with more RAM, flash and a better SoC.
Well, this comment in particular was about Broadcom's 802.11n platforms. While some of them do work with open wireless drivers, it makes little sense to recommend them nowadays when better 802.11n solutions (ath9k) or cheaper 80.11ac solutions (mt76) are available.
Wireless drivers for their more recent platforms are closed (similarly to what Atheros has done with ath10k). Like their 802.11n solutions, only specific Broadcom AC hardware is supported by the Linux kernel (with most functionality and 'IP' tucked away in the binary firmware blob).