What's your favorite enthusiast LEDE/OpenWrt device?

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

A very cryptic tease.

The device looks similar to the Gl.iNet MiiFi and Kingston MLWG2, but not finding it for sale anywhere..

The link indicates OpenWrt support, but there is nothing in the ToH. https://lede-project.org/toh/start?dataflt[Brand*~]=omy

If you know more will you please elaborate and create an appropriate ToH if officially supported ( I see no images)

There also appears to be this device with "OpenWrt" support.

Thanks for attention Ranger,we produce openwrt rotuer with basic function,most firmware is edit/recreate by clients,but our engineer will upload to officially support step by step

No problem with either release or snapshot images on mine. Be aware tho, that the newer units come with the locked down software, so you can't flash OpenWrt/LEDE thru Web UI and like RobertH said, the newer units come without header pins on the serial connector, making flashing over serial that much harder.

In terms of overall CPU power, it is definitely inferior to WRT3200 which I have and probably at best on par with less problematic WRT1x00 units.

Another vote for TP-Link here, they may have committed a faux pas with the US market but for the rest of the world they're still viable and from what I see the US ban on flashing hasn't exactly been enforced 100%.
I'm running 17.01.2 on a TL-WR902AC and for the size it is absolutely amazing. Same size and price as a MT300N but with 2.4/5GHz MIMO (2x2) radios. All powered from MicroUSB. https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_TL-WR902AC_v1.x
I've been running a C7 on OpenWRT and now LEDE and that's been a great device with solid support apart from a short problem with patchy 5GHz that was resolved by copying the correct firmware initialisation file into the image.
Just adding a C2600 for a friend and from reading the forums over the last few weeks the v1.0 version is now supported reliably, with maybe just a small problem relating to LED light control.
I like Netgear too and use those for wired switching but their wireless gear seems to head into uber-cool marketing territory which increases the price, whereas with TP-Link I feel like I'm getting the chipset I want, in a solid box and not paying for a marketing team to put out advertising comparing my router to a sportscar. Netgear didn't used to be like that, I have a DG834G and back then it was very sensible but now they seem to be trading on their brand more. That's purely subjective and only my opinion. I totally respect that other people have different ideas about this. End of the day, it's what you feel you can afford.