If you’re having trouble providing a strong wireless signal to devices such as outdoor smart grills and Wi-Fi-enabled robotic lawn mowers, or if you simply want to stream smooth video while relaxing by the pool, the eero Outdoor 7 ($399.99) can help. Designed to withstand the elements, this rugged mesh access point uses Wi-Fi 7 technology to extend your eero mesh network to areas outside of your home or office. It offers good outdoor coverage and is relatively easy to install, but doesn’t support 6GHz transmissions or 320MHz channels. Moreover, it’s expensive, and you’ll need an eero mesh system to use it. Most households will instead be better off adding an additional indoor mesh node near the outdoor area they want to cover. Additional nodes for the Editors’ Choice-winning eero 6+ are $140 each.
Design: Works Best With a PoE Switch
The Outdoor 7 is not an actual router but instead serves as a node for an existing eero mesh system, such as the eero Max 7. It is backward compatible with all eero mesh systems. It uses a white IP66 weather-resistant enclosure that protects internal components from dust and water ingress and can operate in temperatures from -40 degrees to +130 degrees Fahrenheit. Five internal antennas provide up to 15,000 square feet of outdoor coverage.
A single 2.5GbE LAN port located on the base handles data and power via Power over Ethernet (PoE). It shares space with a grounding port, a reset button, and an LED indicator that is solid blue when the device is ready for setup, blinks blue when pairing with Bluetooth, is solid white when it is online, and is solid red when it is offline.
(Credit: eero)
The Outdoor 7 is rectangular with rounded corners, weighs 2.5 pounds, and measures 8.1 by 6.3 by 2.2 inches (HWD). The included wall mount adds another 1.3 inches to the depth. (The node must be mounted on a wall at a height of 6 to 15 feet.) Also included in the box is a heavy-duty weatherproof PoE AC adapter with a 15-foot power cord, mounting hardware, and an installation guide. You can save $50 if you forgo the AC adapter and connect the device directly to a PoE switch or injector via a LAN cable.
The Outdoor 7 uses a 1.5GHz quad-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of flash memory. It can deliver theoretical data rates of up to 688Mbps on the 2.4GHz band and up to 2,161Mbps on the 5GHz band. It does not offer a 6GHz radio band or support 320MHz channel transmissions. Instead, channel bandwidth tops out at 240MHz on the 5GHz band.
(Credit: eero)
Supported Wi-Fi 7 technologies include Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), 4096 QAM, and WPA3 encryption. MU-MIMO is not supported, nor is Beamforming, and support for Multi-Link Operation (MLO) is coming soon. As with the Max 7, the Outdoor 7 serves as a Thread border router and supports both Matter and Zigbee smart home technologies. It works as a point-to-point wireless bridge when paired with a second unit.
Testing the eero Outdoor 7: Streaming in the Sun
The Outdoor 7 uses the same mobile app that works with every other eero device, appearing on the Home screen as a node in your eero mesh network. Tap the node’s panel to open a screen where you can view information such as the IP address, serial number, firmware version, and connection type (wireless or wired). Here, you can also see which devices are connected to the node, view PoE usage, and enable or disable the LED light.
(Credit: eero)
Installation is very easy, but as previously mentioned, you’ll have to have an existing eero mesh system installed before you begin. For my tests, I used a Max 7 mesh system. I used the included mounting bracket and screws to mount the device on a deck post in my backyard, plugged the node into a nearby GFCI outlet using the provided AC adapter, and waited for the LED to blink blue for Bluetooth pairing. I opened the app, tapped the + icon in the upper right corner, and tapped “Add or replace eero devices.” I tapped “Add outdoor eero” on the next screen and skipped the placement guidance and installation tips. The device was immediately recognized, so I tapped “Connect to network,” and the node was instantly added to my Max 7 network. I named it, tested its connection, and updated the firmware to complete the installation.
The Outdoor 7 delivered decent throughput scores in my testing but it couldn’t match the scores that the Max 7 indoor router and satellite node delivered. It managed 851Mbps on the close proximity (5-foot) test compared with the Max 7 router’s score of 2,149Mbps and the satellite’s score of 1,795Mbps. At a distance of 30 feet, the Outdoor 7 managed 363Mbps while the Max 7 router scored 770Mbps and the Max 7 satellite scored 1,062Mbps. Streaming video played smoothly at up to 50 feet from the outdoor node but became a bit choppy at around 75 feet (which put me in my neighbor’s fenced yard).
It’s important to note that the Max 7 router and node can take advantage of the speedy 6GHz band, while the Outdoor 7 cannot. It should also be noted that the Outdoor 7 was likely subjected to more interference installed in the backyard of our test home than the indoor components were.
Verdict: Simple Backyard Surfing
With an IP66 weatherproof rating, the eero Outdoor 7 will stand up to rain, snow, dust, and hot and cold weather. It is easy to install and delivers good throughput performance and signal coverage based on our testing. That said, it doesn’t offer a 6GHz radio band, and it doesn’t support all of the latest Wi-Fi 7 technologies. At $399.99, it is relatively expensive for a single mesh node. Still, you don’t have many other options if you want to bring wireless connectivity to your poolside, backyard, or other outside area using a mesh node that’s mounted outdoors.
The Bottom Line
The eero Outdoor 7 is a dual-band mesh node with good throughput and wide signal coverage, but its expense and limited Wi-Fi 7 support mean it isn’t a slam-dunk alternative to adding an indoor mesh node.
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About John R. Delaney
Contributing Editor
