Mesh Wi-Fi pioneer Eero is tackling a new frontier: outdoors. Today, the Amazon-owned company announced the Eero Outdoor 7. Starting at $349.99, the 2.4 and 5 GHz dual-band Wi-Fi 7 access point boasts an IP66 rating and can provide up to 15,000 square feet of coverage external with speeds up to 2.1 Gbps. This should be enough to stream movies to your outdoor TV or projector, get a good connection for your security cameras and even channel good Wi-Fi to that shed at the end of the garden.
With connectivity now a necessity for so many things we do, from work to play, extending your Wi-Fi network beyond your home to your backyard feels increasingly important. Nick Weaver, CEO of Eero, said threshold in an interview that a purpose-built device to extend an Eero mesh network outside is their most requested product. “The thing we’ve heard time and time again from our customers since we launched is, ‘I have all these devices out there. Do you have a product for that?’”
With Eero Outdoor 7, Eero users can now use their Wi-Fi network outside, regardless of the weather. The device, which is compatible with all Eero products, has an IP66 rating, meaning it can withstand water jets and extreme temperatures. “Our design goals were that we wanted it to be able to work in the desert in the summer and in Alaska in the winter,” Weaver said, explaining that it had been tested “in the heat of Arizona, a commercial refrigerator, on beaches and in tunnel with 100 MPH winds.
“It’s the proliferation of devices and that people are just used to being able to work anywhere,” Nick Weaver
The device is rated for temperatures as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit and up to 130 F and comes with a new three-year warranty. (Eero indoor units have a one-year warranty.) The Outdoor 7 is designed to be wall-mounted and comes with mounting accessories for stucco, vinyl, wood, or fiber cement walls. Weaver says it can even be wrapped around a pole. “It’s really flexible,” Weaver said.
To maintain its waterproofing, there is only one port – a 2.5 GbE port that supports Power over Ethernet and has a special sealing gasket. There’s also the option of a 30W Outdoor PoE Plus power adapter that lets you plug the Outdoor 7 into an external AC outlet and connect wirelessly back to an Eero network. Weaver said this comes with a very long 18-foot cable. The Outdoor 7 comes bundled with the cable for $399.99.
While Eero’s indoor Eero Max 7 line is a tri-band router that adds the 6GHz band, the outdoor model only offers 2.4 and 5GHz. Weaver said this is because there are “some pretty big limitations on the external use of 6 GHz. It can really hurt the product experience. We felt that with up to 2 gigs per second and given the number of customers out there, this was a great balance in terms of what the technology could support and the price point.”
Outdoor 7 also offers point-to-point connectivity, so two located in line of sight can extend a network to other buildings, such as a shed or garage. This provides a faster connection, Weaver said. “Hundreds of megabits per second almost half a mile away,” he said. “Say, if you have a gig at your house, you can easily get 200 to 400 Mbps in a shed if it’s not too far away.” He said you can also connect devices from there using an Eero POE port or simply use Eero’s mesh networking technology.
Beyond extending Wi-Fi to an outdoor TV or entertainment system or working on your laptop in the garden, an outdoor access point can help with smart home problems like keeping your security cameras online.
Today, many other outdoor devices need Wi-Fi, from smart sprinklers and landscape lighting to connected pool pumps, garage door and gate controllers, and smart locks. Even cars need Wi-Fi now for software updates. Clearly, our needs for connectivity are growing. “It’s the proliferation of devices and that people are just used to being able to work anywhere, and a lot of customers are also building outdoor entertainment areas,” Weaver said. The Eero Outdoor 7 also works as a smart home hub, with support for Thread, Zigbee and Matter devices.
The Outdoor 7 costs $350. A Wi-Fi 6 outdoor access point from TP-Link costs less than half that (a Wi-Fi 7 version is coming soon). Ubiquiti’s new Wi-Fi 7 option costs $250. However, the combination of Wi-Fi 7, IP66, and 15,000 square feet of coverage on the Eero appears to be a first for a consumer-grade device.
The Eero Outdoor 7 will be available starting November 13 for $349.99 at eero.com, Amazon and Best Buy, among others. If you need the external power adapter, it comes in a bundle for $399.99. A Canadian version is coming soon.