ienRon HG0402XG-P Management
This is an unmanaged switch, so it does not have a management interface. Management on PoE switches is nice because it usually provides an easy path to power cycle IoT devices like cameras that can be mounted in hard-to-reach places.
There is a VLAN switch that turns port isolation on or off on the 2.5GbE ports, but that is not what we would call even a smart managed switch.
ienRon HG0402XG-P Performance
In terms of performance, this seems to be a decent but not top-tier performer.
Performance is standard for a 4+2 switch. Part of why we are doing this is also to subject the switches to load and our Wireshark network for an extended period of time.
ienRon HG0402XG-P Power Consumption
Here, we can see the 1.25A 52V power supply. The 65W PSU is much more than we need for the switch itself, but it is larger to support PoE devices. This is it if you want to talk about a hard-to-read, high-contour but low-contrast label.
Something we should note is that while this switch shared its switch PCB with the Nicgiga NIC-S250402 non-PoE switch, the power supply is completely different from what we saw in the Nicgiga S25-0402P PoE version. Nicgiga did not just add a PoE board for its PoE 4+2. Instead, it changed switch PCBs and used an internal power supply.
That 65W power supply led to slightly higher idle power at 2.6W. We typically see higher idle power on PoE switches, so seeing an extra 1W here seems normal.
With a single 2.5GbE port plugged in, we added 0.7W for a total of 3.3W. This was the same increment as we saw on the Nicgiga.
We used a 10Gbase-T SFP+ pluggable to add a good amount of power consumption in a SFP+ port. Here, we saw an increase of 1.7W to 4.3W.
Overall, the power consumption was reasonable for a PoE model. We have a 65W PSU, and the switch itself should use 9-10W, leaving 55W for the PoE devices. If you are trying to use higher-power PoE+ devices on all four ports, you will run out of power. This works if you have a mix of devices or need PoE+ on 1-2 ports.
Final Words
We purchased the switch for $63. At that price, it is certainly not bad if you just need cheap switch that can also power a few devices. Nothing about this switch, other than perhaps its metal case, was really designed to be nice. This is designed to be cheap, as we would expect from iEnron.
That said, if there are deals on this switch, then it gets more interesting. On the day we are posting this review, there are so many discounts that the price can be as low as $30. At that price, this is an awesome value. It may not be fancy, but at that price, it can be useful just to have, even as a spare.
Where to Buy
We purchased our unit on Amazon. Here is the affiliate link for this model.
Ultimate Fanless 2.5GbE Switch Buyer’s Guide 2024
You may have seen that we published the Ultimate Cheap Fanless 2.5GbE Switch Buyer’s Guide now with around 60 switches. We also recently published our Mega Round-up 2024 edition, in which we tested 21 new switches, including this one.
We decided to do the round-up first and will be filling in with reviews that we had not published at that point, including this one. We are trying to keep everything in a single resource for folks there.
iEnron, Nicgiga LOL
I think they are having a grand old time competing with each other on who can move the most product with the worst names.
Enron…
I’ve been wanting to experiment with 2.5G PoE for a while now and, at this price, I decided to go for it.
Cheap switches – Do you get what you don’t pay for?
I also wonder if you have to notify your local fire brigade and liability agent if you use these cheap goods?
Just wondering if this switch will pass vlan tagged traffic? If so it’d be ideal for a few WiFi 7 AP’s that have multiple networks. It be great to include this test with all poe+ 2.5gbe switches, since I think it’s a great use-case for them.
Would be good to know how it handles 802.1q. does it pass through?
I get mine delivered tomorrow and will report on 802.1q passthrough unless someone beats me to it!
@rgb The people creating these brand names are not a native speakers of English. They are accidental edgelords.
Confirmed 802.1q tag passthrough.
I’m also relieved that I can use DAC cables without ground loops.
Perfect, thanks, going to order it.