Reddit mentions of NETGEAR Nighthawk X6S AC4000 Tri-band WiFi Router, Gigabit Ethernet, MU-MIMO, Compatible with Amazon Echo/Alexa (R8000P)

I personally have a NETGEAR Nighthawk X6S AC4000. Netgear seems to be the top of the food chain with respect to consumer grade routers.

I had a link-sys that would drop connection every 15 mins and required daily restarts. Their support sucked but thankfully Amazon said to just return it for a full refund (after around 6 months of ownership- return window closed). I will never touch linksys ever again. Awful products that I don't understand why gets such high praise on Reddit.

My Netgear is perfect- I get the full speed my ISP advertises and it has really good range. It's an investment, but in my opinion, worth it.

A newer version exists and a lot of people complain about 2.4ghz problems. Owned it briefly and returned it for a Linksys EA7500 which I’ve had no problems with.

I use the Edgerouter X (56.50) and UAP-AC-Lite ([79.15]
(https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Unifi-Ap-AC-Lite-UAPACLITEUS/dp/B015PR20GY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526999758&sr=8-1&keywords=uapaclite))

 

I get that $135 investment is a lot, but it is not as much as the "high end gaming routers" that manufacturers push out. But I guarantee that my setup will be rock solid for a very very long time. And for a fraction of the Netgear (298.94, 248.99, 188.99), Asus (258.90, 235.91, 229.00), or Linksys routers (237.68, 249.97, 206.99)

 
 

Now yes, I did cherry pick some of the more expensive routers that these guys offer, but I chose their "gaming" routers. The edgerouter x and uap AP will provide just as many options and coverage as all of those much more expensive routers, as long as you're willing to do the setup.

Got it through Netgear, but I just checked Amazon and it's currently priced above your budget.

I have one of these. but I will admit that its probably over kill for most peoples needs https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Nighthawk-Tri-band-Ethernet-Compatible/dp/B072LZZZXB/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538427445&sr=8-1&keywords=Nighthawk+X6S+Tri-Band+AC4000

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One of these would probably work as well for most people for quite a bit less: https://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Max-Stream-Tri-band-Wireless-EA8300/dp/B06X9CPC45/ref=pd_sbs_147_8?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B06X9CPC45&pd_rd_r=9f795cda-c5ba-11e8-9a2e-4fdf5cd00c25&pd_rd_w=XhO8n&pd_rd_wg=30Jc0&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=0bb14103-7f67-4c21-9b0b-31f42dc047e7&pf_rd_r=TM9GR2S3BD9DM9YBKRA2&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=TM9GR2S3BD9DM9YBKRA2

But I cant really speak on how easy either is for normal people to setup, as I do an IT job for a living, and setup far more complex enterprise grade kit on a regular bases.

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So you might want to find some reviews first that talk about setting them up to make sure it would be something you would be happy doing.