I'm moving to a new apartment and planning out the network for it. I've got a Juniper SRX I'll be using for most things and an old Asus 802.11n router running OpenWRT that I'll use as an access point initially but I'd like to get something faster and preferably PoE. Looking to spend in the ~$100 range. Right now the top candidate is an Ubiquiti AP AC Lite (https://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-lite/) but I'm curious if there are any consumer routers which can run open firmware and compare favourably.
AC Pro is what I rock and love it, never used the lite version
The AC Lite is a great Access point and I love mine, it just works. I've used numerous off the shelf AC routers and none have done as well as the AC Lite has just in reliability and speed. I basically killed a Netgear Nighthawk X4, and I really wore down an Asus R66U. The AC Lite kills both in wireless speed, strength, and reliability.
The AC Lite punches way above its price class. Buy it and be happy. If you need a router, get an Edgerouter X. Ubiquiti have extremely disruptive pricing on that unit, as well.
I have some of their stuff at work and while their APs are nice I have to say the EdgeSwitch we have is a POS. Much harder to work with than Cisco or Juniper gear.
The Edgerouter X, at $49, isn't exactly aimed at the enterprise market. I don't expect that comparing it to Cisco and Juniper enterprise gear is a fair comparison.
For a SOHO, or the OP's apartment situation, the Edgerouter X is a great option.
Fair, my point was just that while some of their gear is really nice I can't recommend everything they make.
Also, I am OP and I already have an SRX240 to use as the main router