Nicgiga S25-0802P Management
This is an unmanaged switch. As a result, we do not have a management interface.
Nicgiga S25-0802P Performance
In terms of performance, this was not stellar.
Again, we see slightly lower performance than some of the 8+1 models on the ports, but we see significantly more overall throughput with the second SFP+ port. At the end of the day, having a second SFP+ port pushing ~9Gbps adds almost a third more throughput to the switch. If you want to get a better switch chip solution, the MikroTik CRS310-8G+2S+IN is better, albeit more expensive and without PoE.
Gigaplus GP-S25-0802 Power Consumption
The power supply of this switch is internal and is large if you are not using the PoE+ features.
At idle, we saw 3W which is exactly 1W higher than the non-PoE Gigaplus unit.
With a single 2.5GbE port plugged in, we saw 3.6W. That 0.6W is at the higher end of what we see from linking a 2.5GbE port on lower-end switches, and again is 1W higher than the Gigaplus.
We used a 10Gbase-T SFP+ pluggable to add a good amount of power consumption in a SFP+ port and we got 4.6W for 1.6W over our baseline.
Paying a penalty of around 1-2W for PoE is not bad. We only found PoE+ working on this switch, and plugged in a few cameras, splitters, and an AP for around 80W total. The listing for this device says 130W PoE+ power budget, but we usually see those as high figures.
Final Words
The Gigaplus switch without PoE is one that we have preferred over the more traditional 8+1 switches. Having the extra 10G SFP+ port is very useful since it adds another physical port to a low-port count switch. That extra port is also a 10GbE port so one can add a higher speed device or use it to uplink a local in-room setup to a higher-speed switch upstream.
The regulatory and safety markings in this one are not great. The PoE+ board saying no isolation should also give one pause. Performance is OK, but not stellar.
Still, it was great to see a switch PCB that we have been using recently in a different switch. These 8+2 switches seem to be the new exciting ones in the market that add more ports yet still maintain a sub $100 price point. This might be an option if you want something with PoE.
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. We also recently published our Mega Round-up 2024 edition, in which we tested 21 new switches, including this one.
We went into the expanded methodology where this video took over 5000 testing hours to produce in our MEGA 2.5GbE Switch Guide Update with 21 New Models Added piece.
A few months back I was looking for a 2.5 GbE PoE+ injector, and the cheap ones were about $35. I stumbled upon the 4-port version of this switch for $50 and thought, “Well, if I pretend the switch is just 4-port poe injector, I’m saving a bunch of money.” Haven’t tried vlans on it yet, but it’s still fine if it doesn’t work.
Oh! This looks like just one I needed! It was a shame the Yuanley TS25-0801P didn’t have rack ears…
Love the name, definitely buying!
The port count and the POE functionality is ideal, I’d buy one for sure if they come out with a version that also have layer 2+ management!
I guess no isolation means if a port shorts out it take every port out
@Lexx I was wondering what the impact would be of no isolation. Would there be any increased risk to the peripherals that are being powered by the PoE or would it just impact the switch?
From the ‘maybe a stupid questions’ section:
Why does none of these cheap 2.5GbE switches ever come with at least one proper 10GbE ethernet port? Is it purely about cost savings or is there something else too?
For me as an end customer in the west a proper SFP+ module is almost as expensive as the switch itself but this can hardly be true in the assembling factory, or?
@Arneby IMO it’s part of the thermal design & target market. These are fanless, cool, compact systems for home enthusiasts. I, the target market, bought a few of this new generation of cheap fanless 10Gbps SFP+ switches for my home because I wanted 10Gbps, but not a hot, loud switch whining away (or self-immolating) in the closet. And because of that, I have no intention of going 10GBase-T except where it’s absolutely required. As far as I’m concerned, 10GBase-T is an anti-feature — if a switch has it, I’m not interested. Clearly there are other opinions, but I think your home enthusiast networking market isn’t as hooked on 10GBase-T as it once was. You’re going to see more switches like this, not less.