which router should i get?

[jim trudel]

It's a good practice indeed to have a backup router, no matter what make/model the main one is. @William Bonneau, whatever your final decision is, keep the existing RT-N66U as it is configured for emergency situations, especially if you go with RT-AC86U...

I forgot about R7800 @thiggins suggested above. One of the best WiFi routers I've ever played with in terms of signal strength and coverage. If the current RT-N66U almost covers the house, a single R7800 may be good enough. I don't know where @William Bonneau lives, but this model periodically comes on sale on Amazon. Some people in US managed to get it for $120 in Dec 2019. In case custom firmware is needed for R7800, it is supported by Voxel and OpenWRT.

+ ddwrt my preferred

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[Val D.]

+ ddwrt my preferred

Reading DD-WRT forums, seems like current development is behind OpenWRT.

 

[avtella]

Reading DD-WRT forums, seems like current development is behind OpenWRT.

At least in my testing when I still had my two R7800s last year, OpenWRT was much more stable than DD-WRT and performance was higher. Not to mention OpenWRT has SQM Cake for buffer bloat management which DD-WRT still does not have. DD-WRT at this point seems more preferable for Broadcom based routers (as they have asses to the proprietary BCM binaries which OpenWRT lacks), but for Qualcomm chipset based devices like the R7800 I’d probably go for OpenWRT.

 

[jim trudel]

Reading DD-WRT forums, seems like current development is behind OpenWRT.

Not really.
Brainslayer updates the firmware every week with small features, patches etc..

I reallly like it. Easier to do things vs open wrt according to me

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[Val D.]

Brainslayer updates the firmware every week with small features, patches etc..

Same answer on automatically generated weekly updates:
https://www.snbforums.com/threads/which-routers.62552/#post-558313

 

[Sachb]

You are in predominantly ASUS users forum, so suggestions like the one above are expected. There is no "one size fits all" in WiFi world though, so based on your simple requirements I would suggest to you something different:

If you need good set-and-forget WiFi system, more than enough for your 250Mbps ISP line, go with Netgear Orbi RBK50 (good even for 400Mbps ISP). It is a bit expensive and not the latest and greatest, but proven reliable, very user friendly (10min setup), very fast (has designated WiFi channel between the router and the satellite), with excellent WiFi coverage (up to 5000sqf, ideal conditions though) and you can connect 7 wired devices to it (3 x LAN on the router, 4 x LAN on the satellite), if you need to. It will cover your house with a strong signal for sure, the family will be happy with your decision and you can focus on more important and pleasurable things in life than tweaking your WiFi router.

Avoid this particular ASUS RT-AC86U due to inconsistent build quality, high failure rate as a result and still unresolved software (or hardware) issues. There are hundreds of threads here on this forum discussing RT-AC86U issues. Don't install any custom software, if you don't need to. Scripts, USB sticks, swap files... if you just need fast and reliable WiFi connection, don't waste your time with flashing, resetting, long setup processes, fine tuning of hundreds of options, etc. Also, you don't need an AX router now. They are all for early adopters, very few AX devices are available and WIFI 6E (with 6GHz band support) is already around the corner. It is not going to be an investment in the future.

This statement is true actually, Netgear is set and forget with constant speeds throughout its end of the life period.
Netgear not even once rebooted. I had AC68U, AC88U and now the AC86U, all of them drop WiFi speeds or just had speed fluctuation. People here suggest doing this, doing that, which means the default settings on the router is at fault.
That's the reason why I'm still using the R7800, but R7800 does have it weak spots too, Windows 7 backup and restore never worked with it. Always produced an error (0x80070005).

Also Netgear has pretty much limited features, for example OpenVpn config like the Asus has which enables you pick any public VPN file and drop the config on the router so that all the devices at home go through that VPN. Only useful if you want to unblock sites or apps.
In my region pretty much every VOIP app is disabled, so I need to use VPN to bypass the restrictions. That's why I use Asus in the room, so that when time comes I can use the VOIP apps.

So it all boils down to your requirements and needs.