MikroTik - hAP ax2

Mikrotik hap ax2. I connect to the isp via pppoe and it works great. It supports any kind of configuration and protocols you could imagine as long as the hw can handle it

I have the ax^(2), it's a fantastic little wifi router. I've never had a problem with the wifi - in fact it's the best wifi I've ever had at home. I live in a rural area so there's zero interference, so ymmv, but my own take is that if Mikrotik wifi was bad in the past, it's fine now. Performance/capability-wise it punches well above its weight. The only things I wish it had are better heat sinking (the CPU is limited to \~800MHz to prevent overheating) and a USB port - relevant to you as you mentioned wanting to run containers. While the ax^(2) has 1GB RAM and a good CPU, it has only 128MB onboard storage, and no USB port to provide an easy way to add more. 128MB is so small it's ridiculous, especially when you consider the CPU and RAM. You can still run containers but you'll need to configure network storage, which adds some complexity and fragility. If this is a big issue for you, consider the ax^(3). It adds a USB port and also has a larger heat sink, so the CPU is also unlocked. The ax^(2) has only 1Gb Ethernet. If you have an internet connection equal to/faster than 1Gb/s download or upload and want to be able to utilise all of it you should look at other brands or consider pairing a more power router with a separate wifi AP.

The hAP ax is a great router/AP combo unit and has a good default config out of the box, but if you end up wanting to change any of the default settings, it’s probably the least user friendly networking gear I’ve ever used. I personally run Mikrotik for my home lab and setting up things like VLANs is horrible compared to other brands listed in this thread

I'm in a small flat so I don't know how it'll do for range, but I'm running a mikrotik hap ax2. No joke I get 850mbit on the 5ghz band, and mikrotik routers have every feature you could ever want in a router 

You could take a look at the hAp ax S. Just be aware that this is going to be their first MediaTek wifi device, so some initial flakiness could be present... The ax2 on the other hand is an absolutely reliable tried and tested product, which I would have no trouble recommending. The ax2, however, doesn't have a usb port, which makes it kind of unsuitable for containers...

To answer your questions and to add more ideas to the topic: \- AX-Line cant run WDS (easiest repeater setup) \- AX-Line can run as a "stupid" repeater as in: Connect to Wifi X Bridge to own WiFi in AP Mode. No capsman. See: [https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/spaces/ROS/pages/313262189/Configuring+repeater](https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/spaces/ROS/pages/313262189/Configuring+repeater) As you already want to go the "buy another" device route it seems like i could recommend an AX3. Might be a lot more expensive depending on where you live, but it can offer quite a bit more Wi-Fi range. For a "real world" comparison of the ax2 or ax3: In one setup i did the ax3 has around 4x the range of an ax2 (always depends on A LOT of factors, but the big antennas do help a lot) But if you just want to add an AP id personally would just go with a hap ax S (cause cheap) and then ignore capsman. And yes keep in mind the usual of "location scouting" and "frequency optimizations".

For my home network I run 2 MikroTik hapAX2's. Hardwired together. One does the routing and acts as an ap/managed switch, the other one runs just as an ap/managed switch. This is a setup that can actually route a 1gb/s connection, i'm not sure if the cheaper mesh systems can actually route a 1gb/s connection.

hap ax works for me as a station, not a repeater

This. Mikrotik is always behind the curve and go more for stability and value than cutting edge. At the low price that an hAP AX² goes for, you can easily buy that then in two years buy whatever the new model is, and likely STILL come out cheaper than some crap Netgear spider antenna monstrosity.