VLAN - good routers that make setting up and managing VLANs easy?

[Music1969]

if it's just as effective from a security point of view, what are the added advantages of going with VLAN at all, if there's a much easier pick?

I'd say cost difference, amount of hardware involved with cascading routers

Security not an issue of cascading routers as long as each router has modern firmware update

Maybe using router with last firmware update in 2016 isn't ideal

 

[d6jg]

IT pro here and I agree with my colleague. VLAN is complicated and frankly there is very little to be gained from implementing them in a domestic network. Yes you can segregate IoT devices from other stuff but there are two or three easier ways.
Cascading Routers is one but personally I would try to avoid that as it will mean at least 2 WiFI networks competing with your neighbours WiFi for the best channel to operate on. You can increase the security of this approach by using a primary router that has port based VLAN capability.
However my preference from a simplicity approach would always be a highish end WiFi router or separate WAP that is capable of “client isolation”. When switched on client A uses your standard network settings but is firewalled from client B and also from everything else on the network. It can only see the default gateway. Draytek manufacture such routers and WAPs.
If your requirement is that some IoT devices need to be able to see each other then I’d use a combination of the two approaches.

 

[restorer-john]

I actually tested today but found that any streamer on a guest network can't talk to anything else, even on the same guest network.

You should have an option for wireless isolation on the guest network. Uncheck that (default is usually on). Then your 'guest' connections can talk to one another and be isolated from you main network infrastructure.