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Amazon eero is a series Mesh Wi-Fi System I haven’t really covered a lot. They’re a popular choice, I suspect partly due to Amazon’s ability to aggressively market products, but also because they just work.
The range has grown over the years and you can choose from a single pack of Amazon eero mesh Wi-Fi routers/extenders for £69 to The new flagship eero Pro 6E Three packs cost £799.
It can be confusing which option might best suit your needs. Do you really need the £700 eero Pro 6E, or is one of the cheaper options ok?
For comparison, I’ll focus on Wi-Fi 6 models from eero 6 to Pro 6E
Private issues
It’s worth pointing out that they did draw a lot of criticism from more advanced users. The biggest concern is that these are perfect tools for data mining.
According to the privacy policy of eero devices, they Collect large amounts of personally identifiable information.
Some of the things they then use that information for include:
- Tailor our products to your interests;
- To conduct research and analysis on your use of or interest in our products and services;
- manage our business;
Of course, if you use Google, shop at Amazon, or own an Alexa-equipped device, you’re giving up a lot of privacy in the first place. The argument here is that there are plenty of other grid systems out there that don’t require so much personal data.
Whether this is a problem for you is another question. I think most people are willing to sacrifice their privacy for convenience (or just don’t think about it).
Amazon eero Mesh Wi-Fi 6 key differences
I’ve posted a spec sheet below that shows the spec differences between each model. However, to try and simplify things, I’ll highlight the main differences (besides price) that you should consider.
Dual and Tri-band
None pro systems are dual-band. This means that the extender you connect must share its bandwidth with the client device (your phone or laptop) and the wireless backhaul to the router. This will result in about a 50% loss of signal, which means the eero 6’s theoretical 1200Mbps speed will be halved when you connect to the extender.
80MHz and 160MHz
Both the eero 6+ and eero Pro 6E are capable of 160Mhz, which would boost theoretical speeds to 2400Mbps.
On 5Ghz, this may be difficult to maintain due to congestion and radar issues. Due to this issue, my personal advice is to either pay no premium for the eero 6+ or pay more for the eero Pro 6.
For the eero Pro 6E with the 6Ghz Wi-Fi band, it should be able to deliver 160MHz without issue.
Tri-band eero Pro 6E
The eero Pro 6E has a similar issue with the dual-band eero 6 and 6+. Since Wi-Fi 6E now has three Wi-Fi bands that clients can use, one of the bands must be shared when communicating with the router.only one Quad-band Wi-Fi 6E system On the market from Netgear.
eero will dynamically choose the best frequency band, which is likely to be 5Ghz due to its improved range. Most of your devices will still use 5Ghz.
The result of this is that the eero Pro 6E will most likely provide lower throughput than the eero Pro 6 when you connect to one of the extenders. If you’re spending 40% more on this system than an eero Pro 6, it would be annoying to think it would be so much better.
eero Pro 6E router with 2.5GbE
However, one advantage of the eero Pro 6E is that the router itself has the potential to offer better performance than the regular eero Pro 6. You can connect 160Mhz on 5Ghz and 6Ghz for a theoretical throughput of 2400Mbps. The router also has a 2.5GbE port, so hook it up to a cheap 2.5GbE switch and you should be able to get multi-gigabit Wi-Fi.
Overall recommendation
If I were to buy one of these systems it would be the eero Pro 6. This should provide the best overall performance without being overly expensive. In particular, this will likely provide the most consistent performance in large homes.
Depending on the size and arrangement of your home, the affordable eero 6 or even the eero Pro 6E may be worth considering.
Both systems will provide the excellent performance of a router, and you’ll get the best results if it’s located in the busiest part of your home. The extender will still provide good speeds, it’s just that the performance drops significantly.
Amazon eero Mesh Wi-Fi 6 system spec comparison
| full name | Eero 6 | Eero 6+ | Aeropro 6 | eero Pro 6E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| band | Dual frequency | Dual frequency | Tri-band | Tri-band |
| wireless network | AX1800 | AX4200 | AX4200 | AXE5400 |
| aspect | 99 x 97 x 61 mm | 99 x 97 x 61 mm | 135 x 135 x 53 mm | 139 x 139 x 55 mm |
| first band | 2.4GHz AX: Up to 600Mbps (20/40MHz) |
2.4GHz AX: Up to 600Mbps (20/40MHz) |
2.4GHz AX: Up to 600Mbps (20/40MHz) |
2.4GHz AX: Up to 600Mbps |
| second band | 5GHz 2×2 AX: Up to 1200Mbps (20/40/80MHz) |
5GHz 2×2 AX: Up to 2400Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz) |
5GHz 4×4 AX: Up to 2400Mbps (20/40/80MHz) |
5GHz 2×2 AX: Up to 2400Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz) |
| third band | Not applicable | Not applicable | 5GHz 2×2 AX: Up to 1201 Mbps (20/40/80MHz) |
6GHz 2×2 AXE: Up to 2400Mbps (20/40/80/160MHz) |
| wireless return trip |
5GHz | 5GHz | Dynamic | Dynamic |
| wired backhaul support |
Does not work with extenders | Does not work with extenders | Yes | Yes |
| behind compatibility |
802.11ac/n/g/a/b | 802.11ac/n/g/a/b | 802.11ac/n/g/a/b | 802.11ac/n/g/a/b |
| wireless network security | WPA2, WPA2/WPA3 | WPA2, WPA2/WPA3 | WPA2, WPA2/WPA3 | WPA2, WPA2/WPA3 |
| web interface | not any | not any | not any | not any |
| Bluetooth | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Wire | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Zigbee Smart Hub | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AP (Bridged) Mode | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| USB port | USB-C (Power) | USB-C (Power) | USB-C (Power) | USB-C (Power) |
| Gigabit port | Router: 2x auto-sensing Extender: none |
Router: 2x auto-sensing Extender: none |
2x auto-sensing (LAN/WAN) | 1x Auto Sensing |
| Multi-gigabit ports | not any | not any | not any | 1x 2.5Gbps auto-sensing |
| processing power | 1.2Ghz Quad Core Coretex A53 512MB RAM, 4GB Flash |
1.2Ghz Quad Core Coretex A53 512MB RAM, 4GB Flash |
1.4 GHz quad-core CPU, 1GB RAM, 4GB Flash |
1 GHz dual-core CPU, 1 GB RAM, 4 GB Flash |
| 1 pack price | £109 | £139 | £209 | £349 |
| 2 pack price | £189 | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| 3 pack price | £249 | £319 | £559 | £799 |
alternative
There are many amazing mesh systems from other brands, most of which will have fewer privacy issues than eero. However, they may not always be that user-friendly when setting them up.
ASUS ZenWiFi XT8
The system should provide better overall performance than the eero Pro 6. It also has 2 channels of 5Ghz, but that’s more than 160Mhz error on the 4×4 band, and you also get the benefits of 2.5GbE per device.
Netgear RBKE963
I’m listing this just to highlight why Amazon may have opted for a tri-band Wi-Fi 6E system instead of the quad-band used by Netgear. Having 2x5Ghz channels and 6Ghz channels adds a lot of cost. However, if you can afford it, this is the best mesh system on the market.read my review here.
Netgear RBK753
The system has basically the same specs as the eero Pro 6, but it’s a lot less expensive.
Last updated on 2022-06-15 / Affiliate Links / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API
