I had an Orbi and was happy until around last October when they added Daisy Chaining of the nodes via a firmware update.  Orbi has a 4x4 backhaul where eero uses a 2x2.  Orbi was/is able to wirelessly transmit nearly gigabit speeds even through the nodes because of it’s more robust wireless backhaul.  Eero is only able to wirelessly transmit those speeds with a wired backhaul.  I sincerely hope eero gets a major hardware update make it’s backhaul substantialy more robust and while they’re at it adding WiFi 6 standard would be awesome.  I switched to eero because the Orbi became unstable with all my devices dropping connections.  I’d rather have stability than raw speed.  Sucks that we are forced to make the choice of speed vs stability.

I figured a quick addition to this thread was worthwhile, since it comes up in Google searches quite a bit.

I'm a certified eero installer focused on residential customers. Covid has been a significant driver for my business. I've installed thirty eero networks in the last six months. The new eero 6 and 6 pro are definitely faster than the previous generations. Some rule of thumb notes that people may find helpful;

1. Measuring speeds is not straight forward and it's only an estimate of real-world performance. Always toggle the WiFi off / on first, to ensure your device is connecting to the nearest eero unit. I use 'Speedtest' (app version) on iphone and macbook. Take the time to test with multiple servers (you can select / change servers in the app). You should eventually find a server that's faster than the rest. Make that your benchmark server for any speed tests in that home / locale. This is super important! Also make sure that no other device is using internet bandwidth when running the tests (this includes NAS drives backing up to cloud services!!)

2. Width versus speed: a speed test actually shows you total bandwidth. No single device ever needs all the speed at once. It's the width that's important. Given that the most intensive use cases are streaming high quality video, video conferencing and cloud backups, ~ 10mbps consistently delivered simultaneously to multiple devices should be the goal of the WiFi network.

3. Always wire the eero units if CAT5e or better cabling infrastructure is available. Larger homes can use the lower cost units in this scenario and still get the required coverage. Topology is important: modem --- eero gateway --- switch ----- eero leaf nodes. If no suitable wired infrastructure exists and the home is large, use the pro units (dedicated wireless backchannel) and try to position the gateway centrally. I've repositioned cable modems to tap off coax feeds for TVs in better locations to achieve this on occasions. You can always use beacons to out-fill edge areas, tight corridors, etc. It's fine to mix wired and wireless units if needed.

4. At the time of writing, as a gateway node, an eero 6 unit (firmware 6.0.4) currently tops out at around 640mbps with 1GB service / 5Ghz device, while eero pro units can pretty much reach the service max. Wireless leaf nodes will drop those speeds by roughly half (less than that for the pro versions). This is not a problem for real-world usage (see 2. above) unless you have 25mbps DSL (or slower!). I try to use the 6 pro for 1GB installs, but if cost is an issue then the regular eero 6 unit delivers excellent performance, especially if you can wire the nodes.

5. Always use high quality ethernet cables, ideally CAT6 or above, and 1GB switches throughout the network. I see so many homes with old CAT5 cables, with broken tabs, old 10/100 switches deployed, etc.

6. After a number of failed or temperamental network installs where I have initially used Google WiFi, Orbi and Velop, I've now settled on eero as the only mesh system I will install. Done right, they just work.