I would have switched everything to Netgear. I personally find them very reliable and durable + super range (not even a Swisscom router with Wifi 6 comes close to the same performance). If I had, I would have switched everything to Wifi 6 (AX instead of AC). But yes, repeaters suck.
An access point is a device that receives a LAN cable connection and then broadcasts the internet in the form of WLAN - which is as harmless as radio waves.
A mesh system is even better. Because with a mesh, there "should" be several "routers" and they are in the same SSID network. This means: instead of your end device (smartphone, TV, laptop) deciding when it should switch Wifi networks (as with access points), a mesh system does it itself based on the signal strength. This way, your end devices do not experience any interruptions.
Netgear RBK352 Orbi WiFi 6 Dual Band Set of 2
or
Netgear RBK353 Orbi WiFi 6 Dual Band Set of 3
are super products!