MikroTik - hAP ax³

I was disappointed to find that the UDR7 only supports 2x2 MIMO. After considering this, I’ve decided to stick with my MikroTik hAP ax3, which allows me to achieve speeds of 850-900mbps when nearby and around 400-500mbps at a distance. PD: from what I’ve seen the UDR7 has a Mediatek chipset instead of Qualcomm.

Wait for WiFi 7, if you need containers you need a USB stick so go for the ax3 in that case (the new ax s wouldn’t work as it’s 32 bits and most images are now built only for 64 bits). PD: I have the ax3 and works great running Adguard Home as a container.

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've got two ax3's and a hapac2 running capsman and it works pretty seamlessly for me. When I look at the logs I can see devices roaming occasionally, especially phones.

MikroTik HAP ac3 or ax3. Either one is good. It just depends on your budget. These are reliable routers.

[MikroTik hAP ax³](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1872028-REG/mikrotik_c53uig_5hpaxd2hpaxd_us_hap_ax3_2_4_5ghz_wifi.html) It’s what I recommend to everyone. It’s a solid device that has great reliability.

Nope! It’s running full RouterOS.

I can recommend mikrotik routers. I had some cheap devices from them lasting for more than 10 years (bought them in university to have something to put theory in practice). if you are limited to a single device, I can recommend the hap ax 3, using it as my daily driver for more some time. I would recommend to split router and access point. On mikrotik.com, you will find performance measurements for each mikrotik router. Mikrotik has a had history with WiFi, their pre WiFi 6 accesspoints are not that stable. Since WiFi 6 (the models with ax in its name), for me the WiFi reliability is good (YMMV). You may also try to reuse your tplink router as accesspoints, it might reduce the load on it

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".

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".

I have an ax3 as main router and CAPsMAN and ax2 as a CAP/switch on another floor. Really happy with my setup

Mikrotik has good components, build quality and very long software support, but configuration is a little complicated. hAP ax\^3 should suit your needs. I've been using the hAP ac\^3 (previous generation) for 5 years. IMO software support is really important if you plan to use your router for a long time. New security vulnerabilities are found all the time, not having them patched put your data at risk, and not many consumer router brands push out security updates for 5 year old products. Performance and reliability aren't the only things to consider.

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