I have Orbi and Asus ZenWifi setups in different places, now I need one for the Michigan compound. Old Apple Airports have gotten us this far. From reviews and best lists, the top contenders seem to be Eero and TP-Link Deco.  For what it's worth, here's the main challenge:

There are three separate buildings in the compound, the main house with the cable internet connection is down slope from the three story shop/garage/loft set into the slopes and lastly another cottage across from a garage. The in-laws have hard-wired ethernet cables running to two both ends of the main house and the top floor loft in the middle building. The biggest challenge is getting a decent signal to the third building from the second story loft. We do not have major demands or multiple smart devices -- people just want to be able to stream video in all three locations.

Either I just leave the main house the way it is and try a modern mesh system between the loft and the cottage or I try to have a single mesh system with at least one unit in each building and hope they bridge. I'm not sure if it makes sense to connect mesh units by ethernet where possible or if they only are meant to bridge between themselves wirelessly. 

Any thoughts are appreciated on the approach and favorite brands/models. 

Look into unifi wifi https://ui.com/wifi

It's meant for covering a large area with easy integration of multiple access points. You could put one access point in the main house and another in the loft over the garage and you should have excellent coverage everywhere. You would need to install the controller on your computer to set everything up, but once it's running you don't really need to do anything else. It would also give you the ability to easily monitor it all while you're away.

You could continue to use the current router, or you could use a unifi router (I have an extra in a box that I never opened of you want it).

I don't use mesh but I will definitely also recommend Unifi. I have a Cloud Gateway, a U6 WAP and one of their switches. The whole system was a dream to setup and piecemeal upgrade-able should I need it. No required subscriptions or cloud BS either for the security-minded folks.

Unifi is great, but often it's hard to get their equipment because of high demand.

They've been steadily improving on the software management side, too.

+1 for Unifi

Cool RGB / Blinkenlights

Power over ethernet (PoE) means you run single wire installs to both network and power your equipment.

and daisy chain them to where you need them.

 

Plenty of info / tutorials on YT.

Your use case?

Router (that supports PoE) where the internet comes comes into the property connected to a UPS,  That enables the first building,

Ethernet to the other two buildings

then add switches and Wireless access points as required.

simples.

 

 

 

 

OK, OK I'll take a look at unifi. And then I'll call Doug to explain it to me.🤓

My only concern would be that unifi had a big security breach a few years ago, but their gear is definitely pro quality.