Eero Pro 6E

Editors' Note: This is the most recent version of the Eero Pro 6E. Read our original review from September 29, 2022 below.

When we reviewed the Eero 6 Plus earlier this year, it earned an Editors’ Choice award for its speedy throughput performance, its ease of use, and its ability to control home automation devices. The new Eero Pro 6E mesh system ($499) offers more of the same, plus it adds multi-gig connectivity and support for the 6GHz Wi-Fi band known as Wi-Fi 6E. It still doesn’t have any USB ports, and you’ll have to pay extra for parental controls and anti-malware protection, but neither of these minor gripes prevents it from earning an Editors’ Choice award.

Choosing the Right Pack of Eeros

For this review, we tested the $499 Eero Pro 6E two-pack, which provides coverage for homes of up to 4,000 square feet. If you don’t need that much coverage, you can buy a single node for $299 that gives you 2,000 square feet of coverage. Or, if you need to go big, the $699 three-pack covers 6,000 square feet. The white nodes are identical and sport the familiar, low-profile curvy shape of previous Eero devices. But at 2.2 by 5.5 by 5.5 inches (HWD), they are a bit bigger than the Eero 6 Plus nodes (2.6 by 3.9 by 3.8 inches).

A small LED indicator on the top of each node glows solid white when everything is connected and working properly, and flashes blue during setup. A red LED indicates the node has lost its internet connection. Around back are a USB-C power port and two auto-sensing WAN/LAN ports; one is a 2.5GbE port and the other is a 1GbE port. One of the ports can be used for wired backhaul. As with earlier Eero systems, despite the fact that it uses a USB cable for power delivery, the Eero Pro 6E does not offer the USB connectivity for printers or other peripherals that you get with the Asus ZenWiFi ET8 mesh system.

This is an AX5400 system that can reach top theoretical speeds of 800Mbps on the 2.4GHz band, 2.3Gbps on the 5GHz band, and 2.3Gbps on the 6GHz band. It’s also a Wi-Fi 6E system, which means in addition to 2.4GHz and 5GHz data transmissions it offers 6GHz data transmissions. It supports all of the latest Wi-Fi 6 technologies, including Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) data transmissions, WPA3 encryption, MU-MIMO simultaneous data streaming, direct-to-client signal beamforming, and 160MHz channel transmissions.

The Eero Pro 6E uses a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, and 4GB flash storage. It is equipped with a Zigbee radio that lets you use it to control home automation devices such as locks, cameras, and thermostats. It also supports the Thread networking protocol, which is designed for enhanced smart home connectivity.

As with earlier Eero systems, the Eero Pro 6E doesn’t come with free parental control and anti-malware software, but you can subscribe to an Eero Secure plan for both. For $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, the plan offers parental controls (including content filters that let you block access to adult-oriented sites) as well as the ability to create user profiles, block ads, and perform security scans. For more robust protection, the $9.99 per month or $99 per year Eero Secure Plus plan gives you everything in the Secure plan as well as Malwarebytes antivirus software, DDNS remote network access software, 1Password password management software, and Encrypt.me VPN software.

The Eero Pro 6E offers the same user-friendly mobile app as earlier Eero systems. The app opens to a Home screen with panels for internet connectivity and each connected node. When you tap the internet panel, you can view upload and download speeds and perform a speed test. Tap one of the node panels to see how the node is connected (wired or wireless), its data rate, which clients are connected to it, and its IP address.

Scroll down the screen to see a Profile panel that lists all of your family profiles and a Recently Online panel that shows which clients have logged on to the network. When you tap the Profile panel, you can edit current profiles or create new ones that let you assign parental controls, block apps and websites, and schedule internet access pauses.

At the bottom of the screen are Home, Activity, Discover, and Settings buttons. Use the Home button to return to the Home screen, and the Activity button to view upload and download speeds, the amount of uploaded and downloaded data, how many security scans were performed, and how many security threats were blocked.

The Discover button takes you to a screen where you can configure Eero Secure network security and parental control settings and connect the system to an Amazon Alexa account. The Settings button takes you to a screen where you can edit network and guest network settings, edit passwords, and configure notifications. Advanced network settings let you configure Port Forwarding, DNS, DDNS, and NAT settings, as well as create a Thread network to be used by Thread-compatible smart home devices.

Testing the Eero Pro 6E: Speedy Performance

As with nearly all mesh systems, the Eero Pro 6E is very easy to install and configure. Start by downloading the Eero app and creating an account, then tap Start Setup on the opening screen. Follow the onscreen instructions to unplug and restart your modem, and connect an Eero node to the modem using the included LAN cable.

Power up the Eero node, and after 30 seconds or so the LED will begin flashing blue indicating that the node is in pairing mode. Once the node is paired, you’ll be asked to give the node a location and give the new network name and password. After another few seconds, tap Add Another Eero Device, place your satellite node somewhere between the router node and the area you want to cover with Wi-Fi, plug it in, and tap Next to have the app search for the node. Once detected, give the node a location and update the firmware (if necessary) to complete the installation.

The Eero Pro 6E turned in high scores on our throughput performance tests. The router node’s score of 925Mbps on the 5GHz close-proximity (same room) test beat the TP-Link Deco XE75 Pro (853Mbps), the Linksys Atlas Max 6E (806Mbps), and the Asus ZenWiFi ET8 (869Mbps). At a distance of 30 feet, the router managed 330Mbps, once again topping the TP-Link XE75 Pro (322Mbps) and the Linksys Atlas Max 6E (300Mbps) but not the Asus ZenWiFi ET8 (350Mbps).

The Eero Pro 6E satellite node also delivered good 5GHz throughput. Its score of 812Mbps on the close-proximity test led the pack, while the TP-Link DECO XE75 Pro node scored 801Mbps, the Linksys Atlas Max 6E node scored 792Mbps, and the Asus ZenWiFi ET8 node scored 787Mbps. On the 30-foot test, the Eero Pro 6E satellite node garnered 565Mbps, topping the TP-Link XE75 Pro node (512Mbps), the Linksys Atlas Max 6E node (515Mbps), and even the Asus ZenWiFi ET8 node (531Mbps).

The Eero Pro 6E router’s score of 922Mbps on the 6GHz close-proximity test was a bit faster than the TP-Link XE75 Pro (900Mbps) and the Asus ZenWiFi ET8 (918Mbps) but not quite as fast as the Linksys Atlas Max 6E (929Mbps). However, it led the field on the 30-foot test with a score of 375Mbps.

The Eero Pro 6E satellite node’s score of 611Mbps on the 6GHz close-proximity test took top honors, with the TP-Link Deco XE75 Pro scoring 601Mbps, the Linksys Atlas Max 6E scoring 598Mbps, and the Asus ZenWiFi ET8 scoring 580Mbps. The Eero node provided 375Mbps of throughput on the 30-foot 6GHz test, beating the Linksys Atlas Max 6E (218Mbps) and the Asus ZenWiFi ET8 (333Mbps), but not the TP-Link Deco XE75 Pro (382Mbps).

We use an Ekahau Sidekick Wi-Fi diagnostic device and Ekahau’s Survey mobile app to measure Wi-Fi signal strength. (Our Sidekick does not support 6GHz signal testing, but a new version that does is on the way.) This combination generates a heat map that displays the router and satellite node’s signal strength throughout our test home. (Note: Ekahau is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company.) The circles on the maps represent the location of the router and the node, and the colors represent signal strength with dark green representing the strongest signal, yellow representing a weaker signal, and gray representing no measurable signal.

As shown on the map, the Eero Pro 6E router and node did a fine job of providing a strong Wi-Fi signal to the entire home.

Ushering in the New Wi-Fi 6E Eero

The Eero Pro 6E mesh system makes it easy to blanket your home in the latest Wi-Fi technology. It installs in minutes and delivers speedy performance and excellent signal range, and it supports 6GHz data transmissions. Granted, Wi-Fi 6E is still in its infancy, but as more and more compatible client devices become available, this mesh system will let you take advantage of the relatively un-crowded 6GHz radio band without missing a beat. Throw in support for Zigbee home automation devices, and you’ve got our new Editors’ Choice winner for Wi-Fi 6E mesh systems.