[Bloat] Disappointment on "Best Newcomer Router" front

[Rich Brown <richb.hanover@gmail.com>]

For the last several years, I have responded on various boards to complaints about bad latency with a happy-go-lucky "Or just try OpenWrt!". [recent example: https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNetworking/comments/1ay509v/comment/krx120h/?context=3] I used to mention IQrouter, but that's no longer a possibility.

Not wanting to give hollow advice, I decided to gather information about router models that support OpenWrt without much risk to a newcomer's: 

- home/family network
- free time
- wallet

My hope was to collect a few recommendations for units that might permit a someone who was intrigued by our "Just try OpenWrt!" enthusiasm to spend a few bucks and a few hours and see if it made things better. So I threw this note over the wall to the OpenWrt forum: https://forum.openwrt.org/t/best-newcomer-router-2024/189050 

Along with two options (only available on eBay), I got back a whole lot of unsatisfactory responses. (See https://forum.openwrt.org/t/best-newcomer-router-2024/189050/21)

But then thoughtful messages started arriving, discussing the state of the world for modern OpenWrt routers, and why the firmware really isn't as easy to install as one might wish, how capable routers aren't as inexpensive as one might hope, etc.

Am I right to despair? Are there no routers out there that we can recommend in good faith that are easy to install, powerful enough (for SQM) at ordinary speeds, and won't break the bank?

Many thanks.

Rich