Funny you mention this as I was in the same boat. The final argument that pushed me towards the AX6000 was the fact that the value-add from the 16000 didn't seem equivalent (for my use case, anyways) to what I'm expecting to be double the price. That Merlin is available now for the 6000 is icing on the cake - and here's my specific example: I couldn't for the life of me get VPN Fusion to work on the stock firmware. I get that it's supposed to be a kinda-sorta analogue to VPN Director, but it's got a far clunkier UI and I think some of the hidden attributes that Director exposes are needed for my situation.I was initially waiting on the ROG AXE1600 but didn’t feel the cost was worth it considering how few 6E devices are out there (none in my household yet) and with other AXE routers surely on the way in the near future - so I picked up the ROG AX6000.
a) did I make the proper call (or should I have held out for the upcoming AXE1600)?
b) is using RMerlin f/w a must on the AX6000 - or should I stick with stock Asus f/w?
Bird in the hand, as they say! No complaints here.