Sodola 8-port 2.5GbE and 1-port 10GbE Switch Review

Sodola 8-port 2.5GbE and 1-port 10GbE Performance

In terms of the overall 2.5GbE performance, we were able to get fairly normal 2.5GbE speeds from each of the eight ports.

Performance was good, in the range of the other switches we reviewed looking at the average transfer rates when loaded. So far, we have been within 3% or so on all of the switches in this class so it does not feel like performance should be the key buying criterion in this price range.

One item we were able to test was we hooked up the A Quick Look at the Asustor Flashstor 6 FS6706T NAS to this unit and run SMB3 multichannel from the NAS over the switch and to a 10GbE client using a SFP+ to 10Gbase-T adapter. It was awesome to see that this worked so easily and is a good type of use case for a switch like this.

Sodola 8-port 2.5GbE and 1-port 10GbE and Management Capabilities

Since we are going to be doing this as part of a series, we will note that this is an unmanaged switch. Also, we did not find PoE capabilities when testing this switch.

Sodola 8-port 2.5GbE and 1-port 10GbE Power Consumption

Here is a quick shot of the 12V 2A power adapter. This is not a huge adapter by any means. These switches have either the English or Chinese writing on them. This version is the Chinese version.

At idle, we saw 1.6W which is lower than many of the 3.8W-4.4W switches we have reviewed previously in the 5-8 port range.

Plugging in a port at 2.5GbE speeds we saw an incremental 0.7W of power consumption. That is in a more normal range.

Plugging in a 10Gbase-T to SFP+ adapter, that immediately starts to suck power, we found a 1.4W increase in power consumption.

This switch is one of the lowest power 2.5GbE options, and not just for 30Gbps of total networking switches, even down to the 12.5Gbps 5-port 2.5GbE options.

Final Words

To be frank, these switches are perhaps the best value for low-cost unmanaged fanless switches that have 2.5GbE and 10GbE ports. Of the eight units we have, across four brands, we have a few insights. First, the Horaco one from AliExpress saw a single instance where plugging in a SFP+ DAC reset the switch. We have not been able to reproduce it since, on this MokerLink or the other switches. Still, since they are the same architecture, we wanted to point it out. These are not perfect by any means, they are inexpensive and low power. We also wanted to note that MokerLink actually sent us one of the review units we have so there is a company behind MokerLink that has at least figured that out.

With that said, one of the biggest challenges is recommending one over the other. Of the three models we purchased on Amazon.com, the pricing was $119-129 or so depending on the discount, and some with free same-day Prime shipping. The Horaco from AliExpress took a long time to arrive (over 2.5 weeks) but was less expensive by ~$30. This Sodola is currently $108 with a $6 off coupon at the time of publishing.

If you want to learn more about this versus the other rebrands, feel free to take a look at the video while the reviews go online over the next few weeks.

What is clear, however, is that this offers something different using less power and at a relatively reasonable price.

Where to Buy

We purchased our unit on Amazon. Here is the affiliate link for this model.

Ultimate Fanless 2.5GbE Switch Roundup

You may have seen that we published the Ultimate Cheap Fanless 2.5GbE Switch Mega Round-Up. Here is the video for that one where this switch appeared.

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.