An Unexpected Key Lesson
During Patrick’s photography/ video, the mounting arm for an Aputure p300c swiveled and fell directly on the unit. As a result of this, he mentioned a key lesson in the video.
While this is not a ruggedized unit, it is still a fan-less system that has a metal chassis. The impact from what was like a hammer did leave a mark in the chassis but did not impact operation. A key use for a switch like this, especially given its size may be taking it to less controlled environments such as on sales trips or other functions. This is a metal chassis unlike some of the plastic switches we see in the sub-$100 space. That helps with durability even though this is far from the thickest metal we have seen.
Also, seeing damage to one of these units, and it still worked made us think that an advantage is that the relatively solid feature set at under $100 means that it can be used in places where there is a risk of damage. It is better to have a less expensive switch get damaged than a more expensive switch.
Final Words
Overall, this is a unit that divides us. From a sub $100 switch market perspective, it may be one of, if not the best offering out there. Dual 10GbE ports and 8x 1GbE ports is a solid feature set.
The fact that we get dual power supply options, rack mount ears, and a silent, fanless metal chassis makes it work just about anywhere. If you saw this rack from our MyElectronics.nl Apple Mac Mini and Raspberry Pi Rack Review this is an ideal candidate for a switch like this instead of the 54-port switch (CRS354) we have here. We could add another node, a NAS, and a 10GbE uplink and keep everything in a small and lightweight footprint.
The challenge for us is really that the MikroTik CSS326-24G-2S+RM exists. This too is a SwOS unit at $40 more for a $139 MSRP. The switch takes what the CSS610 offers, but adds 16x more 1GbE ports for only an incremental $40 or $2.50/ port. If you think you may need more than 8x 1GbE ports, then it would be wise to get the larger unit instead. It is more expensive, and it is physically larger, but it is still very tight segmentation.
What we would love to see is a switch that uses this form factor, with a similar switching capacity to the MikroTik CRS305-1G-4S+IN just with 8x 2.5GbE plus 2x SFP+ ports. In 2021, we are going to see a large number of 2.5GbE devices hit the market as desktops start to incorporate the new standard. We even saw the QNAP GM-1002 3U Dual ZFS NAS trade 1GbE ports for 2.5GbE ports. If MikroTik could make version of the CSS610 in that configuration, in the $150 price range, that would likely win an Editor’s Choice Award like the CRS305. Given this is 1GbE, we could not give this unit an Editor’s Choice Award.
Still, if you just need an inexpensive, small, silent switch with 2x SFP+ ports and 8x 1GbE ports, then this is a great little switch.
The moment they release a version of this with 2.5GbE instead it’s an instant purchase, for now it just offers a bit too little
Amazing switch for the money. Great for home lab. Anything like this with more 10gbe ports?
Yes the prior gen of this has 4 spf+ ports with poe option on all rj45 ports and a no poe but with wifi version
I would like to have seen higher port speed but for price wonderful
Note there is a 5 port sfp+ switch too in this price point but no 8+ port near this price
Hi
How is this a home lab switch? Why not serve the HOME?
Those square indents on the bottom of the case are there to heatsink ICs to the case. I would bet that if you lift the PCB out you will find the three chips at those spots with thermal pads on them.
This is nice, but I would like to see something like a 1*10GbaseT to 10*1GbaseT “breakout switch”, or in other words, a dead simple, dirt cheap, unmanaged switch that has 1 10/5/2.5/1 Gbps over Cat 6A and 10 standard gigabit over Cat5e ports. Something to really cheaply aggregate a modest number of 1G links to a 10G link over copper.
A 10G to 4*2.5G “dumb breakout” would also be nice.
“Yes the prior gen of this has 4 spf+ ports with poe option on all rj45 ports and a no poe but with wifi version”
What model is that? I was aware of the “CRS112-8P-4S-IN” which kind of fits what you mentioned, but just SFP, not SFP+.
This new model with 2 more SFP+ ports and poe would be perfect for me.
Did you guys test the dual power supply function?
I love price point of this but, as others have said, I’d need at least a couple of the ports to be 2.5Gbe to make it worthwhile for me to switch (no pun intended) from my current Netgear setup.
I’d like to see it with 4 POE ports, maybe give us 2 2.5GbE and 2 1GbE ports with POE. I would not mind paying more for it. They could offer a POE and non-POE version…
Those unpopulated spots on the PCB suggest that’s exactly what they’ll be doing. Not sure why they didn’t join the dots in this review, but no doubt STH will review the POE version when it’s out.
The CRS112P is just a bit too expensive for what it is, IMO [not to mention being a previous generation].
I absolutely love the listed feature set of this switch. There is literally nothing else out here quite like it. I was all set to click “buy,” but apparently I’ve learned something in my 30 years in the tech industry and started poking around the forums.
In short, the software that runs it is an absolute dumpster fire. MikroTik actually shipped the units with a bastardized version of SwOS called SwOS lite that was release candidate software. Among the notable omissions were being able to access the web management interface via the SFP+ ports and VLANs weren’t functioning(!). For those that want to read the gory details, or rather issues and complaints, check out:
[https://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php?t=167891]
MikroTik engineers have been iterating fast and furiously, but it seems like a lot of problems remain and no one from the company is providing timelines for resolution, so I’m holding off. This switch is a unicorn in the industry and I desperately hope they stabilize the software, but I am not overly optimistic at this point.
Hmm,
How are those test results not perfect?
Its 8 1Gbps port + 2 10Gbps for a total of 56Gbps.
Isnt that exactly the output of the switch?
what am i missing?
As Mark Belanger said, the SwOs Lite is a dumpster fire. Just got this, I woke up to find an unresponsive switch that had to be power cycled to work. Very unhappy.