Review: Eero Pro 7

Amazon’s Eero mesh range is tough to beat for folks seeking a set-and-forget mesh Wi-Fi system for their home. Simplicity, with a side of smart home support, makes the Eero Pro 7 a compelling prospect. It strikes a nice balance in Eero’s Wi-Fi 7 lineup, offering the faster 6-GHz band and better all-around performance than the entry-level Eero 7, while costing far less than the top-of-the-line Max 7.

While I experienced teething troubles with systems like the Max 7 when Wi-Fi 7 was new, my time with the Pro 7 has been plain sailing. Quick to install, easy to use, and reliable, this is an easy mesh to recommend, but there’s plenty of competition. At $700 for a 3-pack, the Eero Pro 7 is not cheap, and you need to shell out for an Eero Plus subscription to unlock all its features.

Easy Life

Photograph: Simon Hill

Eero systems have a well-deserved reputation for being easy to set up and use. Download the Eero app, sign in with your Amazon account, and follow the onscreen instructions to get your network up and running in minutes. The app keeps things simple, with a home page showing your internet connection, mesh routers, and connected devices. You can dig into the full list of devices and review activity, but everything else is hidden in the settings.

I tested a 3-pack of identical shiny white plastic routers, featuring the same tower design as the Max 7, just slightly smaller. They blend in easily and plug into power via the USB-C port on the back. Each unit sports two 5-Gbps Ethernet ports. The app guides you on placement, and it's best to think of your mesh as an internet spine for the home, so rather than placing a node in a dead spot, set it up halfway between your main router and the room you’re trying to cover.

My Eero Pro 7 testing spanned a house move, so I was able to test it in a modern home where two units easily blanketed every corner and in an old Victorian house with much thicker walls, where all three units were required. While speeds using Wi-Fi 7 devices in the same room as the main router were as fast as I’ve recorded, there was a significant drop-off one or two rooms over. This is because the 6-GHz band doesn’t penetrate as well as the 5-GHz or 2.4-GHz bands we are used to.

Photograph: Simon Hill

Designed to be a hands-off system, there isn’t much in the way of configuration. The Eero Pro 7 decides which band devices should connect to and when to hand over that connection. While I wasn’t blown away by the range, Eero’s secret sauce seems to be low lag and excellent stability, even when the network is loaded with devices. While the Eero Pro 7 was slower than similarly priced systems, like the Netgear Orbi 770 Series, in most of my tests, it wasn’t a big gap, and I had no issues with stability.

Support for Thread, Matter, and Zigbee makes it attractive for smart-home fans, and it can also serve as a home automation hub and respond to voice commands if you use Alexa. I love that Eero’s mesh routers are all compatible with each other, and you can even extend your network slightly with other Amazon devices.

To get the most from your Eero, you need to sign up for Eero Plus at $10 a month or $100 a year. That gives you advanced security, content filtering, ad-blocking, activity insights, VIP support, and third-party apps, including a password manager, VPN service, and antivirus software. Subscribers even get Internet Backup, allowing you to add secondary backup networks (alternative Wi-Fi or hot spot connections) should your main Wi-Fi network go down. It’s a big extra expense, but if you were planning to get some of these services anyway, it’s not a bad value, and Eero’s software is generally slick and intuitive to use.

The Catch(es)

Photograph: Simon Hill

There are two things I don’t like about the Eero Pro 7: ​the expensive subscription and the lack of ports. Subscriptions are unfortunately commonplace now, though manufacturers like Asus do still offer similar features for free. At least Eero Plus bundles together some useful stuff and works well. But let's say you keep the system for five years, that’s an extra $500 (assuming prices don’t go up).

Even less forgivable is having just two 5-Gbps Ethernet ports. This is downright stingy in a system at this price. I expect at least one extra port on the main router, because you need one for the incoming connection, leaving just one for wired backhaul or another device. You can work around it with an Ethernet switch, but it’s not an elegant solution. There’s no USB port either, which is a shame for folks looking to use network-attached storage (NAS).

Some folks may also be put off by the fact that Amazon owns Eero, or the lack of options if you want to dig into settings and tweak things. That said, Eero knows its audience is busy families who want set-and-forget Wi-Fi they can trust, and the Eero Pro 7 nails it on that front.

Competition Crunch

Photograph: Simon Hill

What Eero mesh Wi-Fi router to buy will differ from home to home, but for folks seeking a future-proofing Wi-Fi 7 upgrade, the Eero Pro 7 makes the most sense. The Eero Max 7 is too expensive and likely overkill for the average family, and the Eero 7 is only dual-band, so you don’t get one of the main benefits of a Wi-Fi 7 upgrade (the 6-GHz band).

If value is top of mind, the Eero Pro 6E is still real competition for the Pro 7, as it does have the 6-GHz band, also performs great on the 5-GHz band, and is more affordable (especially if you wait for one of its regular discounts). If you already have an Eero system, you may also consider just snagging a single Pro 7 and switching it in to act as your gateway.

While the Eero Pro 7 can go toe-to-toe with top mesh Wi-Fi systems, I slightly prefer the Netgear Orbi 770 Series. It’s the same price, performs at a similar level on every band near or far, and is every bit as easy to use, but has slightly better range and offers more Ethernet ports on the main router. If your budget won’t stretch, the cheaper TP-Link Deco BE63 is not far behind these systems on performance, though the company has faced scrutiny over its links to China.

To cover a large home or eliminate dead spots, and for busy smart homes with a preference for Alexa, the Eero Pro 7 may be the best bet.