My Facebook feed is currently flooded with Eero ads for the new Eero Max 7, a Wi-Fi 7 compatible device to rival TP-Link’s Deco BE85 and Netgear’s Orbi 970 range. But is the Max 7 (and its competitors) any good – or are they a waste of money right now?

After all, the vast majority of household connected devices are still stuck on 5 GHz or even 2.4 GHz. Amazon (who own Eero) aren’t helping because they keep mass producing millions of Amazon Echo and Ring devices that are stuck on 2.4 GHz/5 GHz – with no WiFi 6 support in sight.

Plus most ISP’s are waaaay too slow, offering sub-gigabit speeds. So is there are benefit in buying the 10 gigabit-supporting Max 7 from Eero?

The short answer is YES: while it’s a really, really expensive product, it has some awesome new Qualcomm networking hardware and a larger antenna array – deliving longer Wi-Fi range and lower latencies.

I wrap up this video by discussing why I’m not personally upgrading my 4x Eero Pro 6 set-up just yet, though. I’ll probably wait another 4-5 years before upgrading.

If you prefer text over video, please read on for the guide/transcript version of this video.

Video Guide And Transcript

Hey everyone, I was recently browsing Facebook and I noticed adverts for the “all new Eero Max 7”, which is Eero’s first WiFi 7 compatible device:

The Eero Max 7

It joins a small number of mesh WiFi competitors including the TP-Link Deco BE85 and the Netgear Orbi 970. This is great, right? WiFi 7 is HERE and all our devices will now SUDDENLY be twice as fast, right? Well, no. Nope. Nada. Most of my household devices are still stuck on 5 GHz – or even 2.4 GHz only. Even Amazon (who own Eero) keep mass producing millions of Ring and Echo devices that have no WiFi 6 or 7 support whatsoever. And pretty much no-one’s phones or TVs support WiFi 7 either. So, what gives – is the Eero Max 7 a massive waste of money?

Yes, yes it is. Thanks for watching this video. If you liked it, please…

[Edit cut screen]

Just kidding, sorta. In general, RIGHT NOW, buying the Eero Max 7 (or a similar WiFi 7 model) IS a waste of money for MOST people. But there are some benefits to the Max 7, so let’s explore those.

Eero Max 7 Overview & Benefits

Firstly, the Eero Max 7 has a max speed of almost 10 gigabits per second when wired, or 4.3 gigabits per second in wireless mode. That’s pretty awesome.

Amazon.com sales page for the Eero Max 7

While WiFi 6 does – in theory – support these speeds, IN REALITY most previous Eero devices struggled to even hit gigabit speeds. The Max 7 also supports multi-gigabit backhaul meaning that when you plug them all in via Ethernet, you won’t be limited to sub-gigabit speeds in other areas of your home. This is achieved by the Max 7 offering four Ethernet ports – two are 10 gig, and the other two are 2.5 gig. That’s quite a nice benefit because SO MANY routers and mesh WiFi points are still stuck offering gigabit ports only.

Of course, there is a big downside here. ISPs. Most internet providers are still only offering sub-gigabit speeds. That’s certainly true here in the UK, and it’s generally true in large parts of America too. So if external internet connection is capped to a gigabit or less, you don’t really NEED the Max 7.

But would there be ANY benefit to buying the Max 7 in this case? Well yes, actually. The Max 7 isn’t just a minor upgrade: it features powerful Qualcomm networking hardware and also has a larger antenna array:

WiFi antenna information on three Eero models including the Max 7

This all means that the Eero Max 7 actually supports a wider range within the five and six gigahertz spectrums. This might not sound like much, but in practice WiFi signals on the Max 7 should have improved wall penetration – delivering a longer and more stable Wi-Fi signal to your wireless devices.

WiFi channels support on three Eero models including the Eero Max 7

Indeed, the range of the Max 7 is over 230 square metres per unit, which is pretty impressive. The improved hardware inside the Max 7 should also deliver lower latency – noticeably so in some cases – which is increasingly important for video conferencing y’know, along with gaming of course. Quite a few early reviews have found this to be the case for them, which is reassuring – although one guy made the same comment in various Facebook threads and Amazon reviews, which is a little bit suspect:

This review is popping up everywhere

4 Reasons Why I’m Not Upgrading Yet

But moving on, there are four reasons why I’m not upgrading from my Eero Pro 6 set-up just yet. Firstly, the WiFi 7 standard is still very new and it hasn’t even been fully ratified yet. I mean, the spec is unlikely to change in a way that makes the Max 7 redundant, of course, but it all feels a little TOO early for me right now.

Secondly, there are some early adopter niggles. The Max 7 firmware is a bit more buggy than the Eero 6 and 6e firmware, with various compatibility issues reported. Plus Eero ships this REALLY EXPENSIVE device with a 45 watt power supply. Apparently this isn’t always powerful enough, so users have then had to purchase their own 65 watt USB power supply to see increased performance – which they shouldn’t really have to do.

Limited AC power supply on the Eero Max 7

Thirdly, the price. Gosh. I mean, I get it. The Max 7 is Eero saying “hey look, we’re a cutting edge tech company” but £600 (or $600) per unit is a LOT. If you want WiFi outside, you’ll probably need to buy more than one – and immediately you’re paying over a thousand pounds (or dollars). Yikes. If WiFi 7 devices were widespread and I had a 10 gig internet connection, I MIGHT buy the Max 7 – when it’s on sale! But I personally have no need to buy it right now.

The UK pricing for the Eero Max 7

I AM looking forward to WiFi 7 though, and Multi-Link Operation looks really promising. This is a bit like HTTP 2’s stream multiplexing which really improved website speeds all around the internet. Actually, technically it’s different because stream multiplexing involves a single TCP port per website – whereas MLO actually establishes multiple WiFi band connections per devices then allows “mixing and matching” for the best traffic delivery. But the end result is the same for both: introducing a multi lane “highway” will always result in faster and more reliable real world performance.

Summary

And that just about wraps up today’s video. If I was suddenly rich and looking to buy a mesh WiFi system, the Max 7 would make sense. But I don’t personally understand people saying “I had an Eero 6e system and it was SLOW, but the Max 7 is resulting in much better speeds”:

This review says their Eero Pro 6E had some issues so why upgrade

Like, really? You had an expensive system already and it wasn’t working too well, so why upgrade with the same company? It’s more likely that you had a problem with your networking set up, in my opinion.

Anywhoo, if you have the money then MAYBE buying the Max 7 makes sense – especially if you use WiFi 6 a lot, and you already own a couple of WiFi 7 devices. You’re THEN investing in your home’s networking future. But in all other cases, buy a cheap Eero 6 system and relax: you’ll be fine for 5 or even 10 years! Disagree with me though? Please let me know down in the comments. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please click the thumbs up button. Please also subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already. Thank you!