Should you purchase the Nest Wifi Router or the Eero Pro?
Our Recommendation
Nest WiFi Router
Pros
- Integrates seamlessly with Google Home and Google Wifi
- Nest Points double as smart speakers
- Powerful onboard hardware
- Easy setup
Cons
- Dual-band only
- No support for Wi-Fi 6
- Router lacks smart speaker functionality
- Points are a little weak, specs-wise
There's a lot to love about the Nest Wifi Router. It's both powerful and easy to use, offering fast and seamless connectivity throughout the home. The only drawback is that the Points don't offer quite the same connectivity as the router. Fortunately, the router itself doubles as a network extender.
Still A Decent Choice
Eero Pro (2nd Generation)
Pros
- Tri-band Wi-Fi for greater consistency
- Excellent support for Amazon Alexa
- Easy setup
- Can set schedules that control connectivity to select devices
- Security features are top-notch
Cons
- Slower
- More expensive
- Requires a subscription fee for some features
- No support for Wi-Fi 6
There's a lot to love about the Eero Pro. Its tri-band hardware means more consistent speeds throughout your home, it integrates very readily with Alexa, and Eero's subscription service offers a lot of neat features. Unfortunately, these aren't enough to justify its higher price tag, especially when the Nest router outperforms it.
Although the 2nd Generation Eero Pro is an excellent product in its own right, the Nest Wifi Router is simply the better choice. Though it lacks the tri-band connectivity of the Pro, it makes up for that with better on-board hardware, more memory, and overall better network speed. It also costs less than the Pro, which is another point in its favor.
It's under the hood that counts
At first glance, you might expect the Eero Pro to outperform the Nest WiFi Router. It does have a few things going for it over its competitor. Tri-band connectivity offers slightly better reliability and an extra safeguard against signal interference.
Some of the Pro's extra features — most of which are only available via subscription — are neat, as well. They probably represent the product's most significant advantage over Nest, especially if you're privacy-conscious. Generally speaking, an Eero Pro subscription (either Eero Secure or Eero Secure Plus) is meant to give you more control over your network, your data, and privacy.
Eero Secure provides safesearch, content filtering, network-wide ad blocking, and priority technical support. Eero Secure Plus further sweetens the deal with accounts for encrypt.me VPN, Malwarebytes anti-malware, and 1Password. If you're concerned about protecting your network and data, this subscription alone could make the Eero Pro worth your while.
Ultimately, however, these features aren't enough to give Eero an edge over the Nest.
| Nest Wifi Router | Eero Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Bands | Dual (2.4 GHz/5 GHz) | Tri (2.4 GHz, 5.2 GHz, 5.8 GHz) |
| Wireless Standard | IEEE802.11a/b/g/n/ac | IEEE802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
| Wifi Output | 4x4 MU-MIMO | 2x2 MU-MIMO |
| Beamforming | Yes | Yes |
| Bluetooth LE | Yes | Yes |
| Processor | 1.4 GHz Quad-Core | 700 MHz Quad-Core |
| Gigabit Ports | 2 | 2 |
| Memory | 4 GB | 4 GB |
| RAM | 1 GB | 512 MB |
| Max Coverage (sq. ft.) | 2200 | 2000 |
| Security | WPA3 | WPA2 |
The Nest Wifi Router offers most of the same basic features as the Eero Pro, with better hardware and support for more devices on the same network. It also provides wireless coverage over a slightly larger area, and uses WPA3 instead of WPA2 encryption, meaning your mesh network will be more secure with Google's offering. Factor in backwards compatibility with Google WiFi and complete integration with Google Assistant/Google Home, and you've got a mesh network that's perfect to support your smart home.
Of course, there are a few things neither router does particularly well. One of our biggest gripes with both systems is that they sport only one spare gigabit port. If you want to connect more than one device via Ethernet, you're out of luck.
There's also the fact that if you buy extenders for either router rather than buying the routers themselves, there are a few drawbacks. In the case of Nest WiFi, the Nest WiFi Points don't offer anywhere near the same connection speed as the primary router, in addition to not having an Ethernet port. While this probably won't bother most people, if you have any network-intensive systems far away from your router, you may notice a bit of slowdown. This is mitigated somewhat by the fact that each Point also doubles as a Google Nest smart speaker, with full Google Assistant functionality.
Eero's expanders, known as Beacons, suffer from something similar. Like the Nest point, it doesn't have an Ethernet port, and is significantly less powerful than the Eero Pro. It does double as a night light, though — not quite as cool as a smart speaker, but a nice bit of added functionality all the same.
On the topic of extenders, this is another area where Nest comes out ahead of Eero, and not just because of the smart speaker functionality of the points. The Eero Pro and Beacon package costs around $299, providing up to 3,750 square feet of coverage. A Nest Wifi Router and Point combination, meanwhile, costs less and covers up to 3,800 square feet.
It's a small edge, but an edge just the same, and one more advantage Nest has over Eero.
Overall we think the specs speak for themselves. While Eero presents an appealing package at first glance, it can't live up to what Nest has to offer.
Our Top Pick
Nest Wifi Router
Fast, powerful, intuitive
Google has improved virtually everything about its wireless hardware with the Nest Wifi Router. It boasts outstanding speed, a cool design, and easy setup and configuration. While it might be a bit pricier than some other mesh solutions on the market, in this case, you get what you pay for.
Tri-band wifi
Eero Pro
Older, but still a strong contender
The Eero Pro might be outperformed by Google's offering, but that doesn't mean it's a bad router by any means. It's powerful in its own right, with tri-band Wi-Fi giving it a slight edge over the Nest in reliability. Plus, if you're willing to pay for a subscription, it offers a ton of additional features not found on the Nest. Still, even that doesn't really justify the higher price tag.
from Android Central - Android Forums, News, Reviews, Help and Android Wallpapers https://ift.tt/2p6vLxY
Post a Comment