yeah I bought my express like half a year ago and some mini switches... (needed ports at various spots and not just in one spot) I have pondered deeply over what I need/want to expand it with and I might go "balls deep" as someone else said... and get the rack mount gear... it might be slightly overkill but I am a tech nerd... I live for that kinda stuff...
I have had a UniFi network running for 3.5 years now. The DM Pro has been rock solid. It was a bit shaky at first but the software and firmware upgrades over those years have improved the experience greatly. The Protect experience has been a real improvement, much smoother replay.
To fix the flicker on your cameras, go to the settings for the camera > image tuning > Advanced > frequency setting > 50 Hz (for Europe, assuming you’re there?)
@@headerahelix it’s not referring to the refresh rate of your display, rather the frequency of the AC power grid. You don’t see it with your eyes, but most lights ‘flicker’ at the frequency of the eye power fed to them. Applying this setting ‘compensates’ for that by adjusting the cameras shutter speed.
Your video sums up Unifi's biggest strengths and weaknesses rather well. As a business and personal user for the past five or so years, I have to agree with everything you said. Once you get past the poorly thought out website, in my opinion the two biggest holes in their product lineup are the camera / NVR options and the lack of a NAS device. My business is larger than what I would consider Unifi for on both fronts, but personally I would buy a NAS from them to complete the integrated product line at my house. Looks like Synology will get my cash for one of their rack mount NAS devices.
They are working on a NAS (allegedly), some references to a NAS product have been found in update files. Though no idea on when potential release would be!
I've never been a fan of NAS appliances ever since I bought one from QNAP, it's service period expired and now the thing is basically a useless antique ever since the root SSL certificates expired. Hardware is perfectly good though. I think next time I'm going to make my own TrueNAS box or something so I don't get screwed again
@@illeatmyhat you can create SSL certificates with win-acme, it’s free and I believe you only need to update every 6 months. Just forward port 443 to whatever machine you are running win-acme on while you’re creating the cert - then you can upload it to your QNAP. There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you’ve done it once renewals take 1-2 mins every 6 months. I agree with all your points btw - just thought I could help breathe some new light into your QNAP
The value proposition for me is no licenses. They have however started adding subscriptions for the new product line, LTE router/AP. I wanted to buy a LTE compatible device to use for some remote work that I do and I saw they charge a $2/month fee for it. The one big pro for Unifi products was no license so if they start introducing more licenses I'll have to jump ship.
Great video summing up UniFi. I’ve been using here at my house for 3 years and absolutely love it. I have a rather extensive setup: 48 PoE, 24 PoE, UDM Pro SE, 3 Flex XG’s giving me a 10 Gb network between 3 rooms, 4 APs, 2 PDU Pros, a couple Flex Minis, G4 Doorbell Pro and 6 cameras. It replaced a hodge podge of various unintegrated equipment and I haven’t looked back. It has been an absolute pleasure to use. Running Homebridge on my QNAP NAS and now can see all that UniFi environment in Apple Home, even on my Apple Watch (cameras too). The system is rock solid, and Teleport lets me access everything on my LAN from anywhere I am in the world. Over the 3 years I’ve easily upgraded various things, and most recently added the U7 Pro Max as my main AP, so all ready for a WiFi 7. To upgrade my U6 LR to the U7 Pro Max, popped it off the mounting plate, unplugged it, plugged in the U7, secured it to that same mounting plate, adopted in the UDM and within a minute or two had WiFi 7.. didn’t get any easier than that!
The network visualisation breaks as soon as you have any non unifi switches in the topology, it gets very confused and doesn’t render the correct topology, even more so if you have a third party router in the mix..
In your last video I made my comment that I am currently looking for the components of Unifi because I want to rebuild my network and I am looking forward to your other videos. The homepage of Unifi is simply confusing and too complicated. I would be happy to see more videos from you about Unifi. 🙏
THis is a good set of pros and conns as a long term unifi user. Cost is definetly an issue. My biggest annoyances are the lack of a full 24 port switch with all 2.5gbe also considering a semi useful DNS set up was only just added. Also wish there was a proper api for infrastructure as code and automated set ups
@nascompares I liked a review from someone who is not a complete fanboy and provide some objectivity! I have been looking at Unifi and Omada. Omada division of TP Link does not have the history compared to Unifi, but is a much better value. I was equally frustrated trying to find equipment on the Unifi site. The gateway is overkill since the HD space is only for the NVR and not network storage (what a waste-that would be perfect to backup my NAS). I would never use the Unifi surveillance system/cameras! $130 for a 3MP turret camera????? Instead you can get a 5MP Amcrest AI Camera and a Synology license, and a micro SSD card and have money left over. Even if I dumped Synology Surveillance I would still be ahead since I can use that camera anywhere (Oh, except Unifi). The weakness with Omada are the Routers. What most people do (and I am leaning towards) is use one of the Aliexpress silent PCs with OpenSense/PfSense with Omada switches and APs for a solid system and a Omada (Unifi copycat) system overview. As someone has mentioned a real comparison of the two systems would be interesting.
The biggest issue I've had with Unifi is the lack of more advanced network monitoring and reporting. For example, say a random Chinese wifi device is sending much more data via SSL/TLS, there's no good way to track which IP's it's connecting to, or even perform any sort of a basic packet capture via the admin console, no way to do so.
It's funny. I'm actually in the market for a larger switch, and wouldn't mind replacing our Netgate. I'm not unhappy with pfSense, but I'm not in love with it either. Thing is, looking into their Protect camera exclusivity makes me wonder what else they will simply not support.
I have to agree with all of the shorcomings that you have outlined - another one is that you tell the system to use 24 hour clock and then it tells you reports in 12 hour format !
I’d argue that Ubiquiti’s target customer is “PROsumer” at a minimum. And that level of customer is going to have a fair level of networking knowledge. They aren’t catering to my mom looking for a router.
Targeting mom looking for a router isn't a thing or anyone else that doesn't have a clue about anything. As soon as you do much of anything it's dealing with a prosumer user. But Ubiquiti is far from hitting the mark for Enterprise grade which it frequently is pushed as.
They are, with their amplifi line. Got one for my other apartment to check it out (I have a mikrotik hap ac2 in another apartment, and a mikrotik rb3011+5 APs in my home, now transitioning to omada). It's very barebones, plug-and-play, one-size-fits-all soccer mom kind of device.
I use one single ubiquiti device on my network - and Edgerouter 4. Been rock solid for 3-4 years now. I use Agent NVR for my surveillance and cheap Amcrest cameras. Simple proxmox camera with GPU sharing/pass-thru. I have a coral TPU coming this week and I'll probably switch to Frigate once I get it installed. Wifi are cheap TP-Link EAP's. Good enough for home use.
The biggest problem UniFi has is product development. It’s clear that different teams working on different features don’t talk and don’t have a joined up product strategy. It makes the user experience so random. Also, their firewall is abysmal.
@@ryanmalone2681 their firewalls have seen some rework in the recent updates. Even Tom Lawrence is now recommending them for home and small office use. As to your other point: totally agree with the different product lines and their development. To make matters worse, sometimes products are launched without key features. And their updates to that initial feedback is unreliable at best. Some examples that come to mind: layer 3 switching, customizable ringtones on their doorbell chime, lights off functionality on their pro max switches, >1 chime per doorbell, >1 doorbell sharing 1 chime, chime volume, deep traffic analytics, ancient mongoDB in self hosted controller and crappy upgrade process of the self hosted controller. With regards to the latter: if you struggle updating your self hosted controller check the amazing work Glenn R is doing. That shouldn’t be necessary though.
I use UniFi since 2015 and I´m happy I found out about it in a Hotel. Since then watched a lot of Videos and did a lot myself. Now working at an MSP we sell UniFi a lot :)
UniFi looks awesome. I want it. But I just switched my entire Ethernet network from 1G to 2.5 and 10g for less than the price of a single UniFi 2.5G switch. I desperately wanted to switch to UniFi but I just don’t have the need and couldn’t justify the expense.
I started looking at Ubiquiti last night, and what kills me is their lack of 2.5Gb and 10Gb SFP ports on devices. The Cloud Gateway Max would be perfect if it swapped the the WAN and Alt WAN/LAN to 10Gb SFPs. This would allow 2.5Gb+ internet, and a 10Gb Switch connection. Which leads me to my 2nd issue: They don't have a 1x10Gb SFP + 8x2.5Gb switch option. This is the setup I'm going for, but I'd have to spend a lot more money to get close to what I want, and take up a lot more space. The built in NVR and single ecosystem is what's really selling me, but I may just go with a Mikrotik router RB5009UG+S+IN and switch CRS310-8G+2S+IN, and some 3rd party NVR system. If I go Ubiquiti I think it would be a UCGMax or UDMPro, then add a cheap chinese 10Gb SFP + 8x2.5Gb switch, then get Ubiquiti cameras.
I agree the product lineup really needs more clarification. I understand their approach is to be be Apple for networking but naming their products as such is not helping anyone.
Speaking about UniFI bad documentation... if you by a RPS for a switch they don't indicate the switch cant be started from the RPS. So if your PSU fails upon power up/down, or your switch reboots and your main supply fails (say during a software update) your RPS is useless. AKA you can't boot off the RPS, The only real residency you get with a RPS is a way to power it via redundancy UPS's and power circuits. Not bad but they stopped at 60% of the goal.
It's a good video with solid findings. It would be nice if you could make a video of the setup of the system you created. And the implementation of alternative solutions (synology nas, alternative surveillance cameras, etc.).
Why is the UniFi product line so thin for 10gbe? Or even 2.5gbe? Their website feels like they consider anything faster than 1gbe "Enterprise". Well, my home internet service offers fiber up to 50gb, and it's pretty affordable up to the 5gb tier. A second local company is building fiber infrastructure and also offers up to 5gb at similar prices, today about $100/month. Only a matter of time & competition until 10gb becomes affordable too. Ubiquiti's UniFi product line really feels like they're stuck in the past when nobody could imagine multi-gigabit residential internet service. Fiber service isn't new. Multi-gigabit service exists and is affordable today in many areas and it's growing rapidly. Maybe someone ought to tell Ubiquiti?
Hello there! I'm just new to this Unifi stuff and if you don't me asking about your opinion if this is good setup already for hotel and resort with 54 rooms. UAP-AC-In Wall, Cloudkey +, Gateway Lite, and Standard POE Switch 24 port. Thanks!
I don't think they need a NAS. They just need to give local only setups some UX/UI love. Maybe some plugins for home assistant or something. Fun example: they have a way to use local email servers to send notifications, rather than having to be connected to the cloud. Except it can only send the test email (because you can specify where to send it), not the notification mail. It will only send notification mail to the address connected to the account, so if you use a local account, which can't have an email address attached, it'll refuse to send anything.
Great video, 1 correction though.....protect cameras can do RTSP which means you can actually use them as i have on other RTSP surveillance compatible systems. I enjoyed the video all the same though...many thanks
Not quite accurate. The cameras themselves do NOT publish an RTSP stream. The RTSP stream is served off of the NVR or whatever device is running protect. You still have to have a unifi protect proprietary appliance to get RTSP unfortunately. You cannot use their cameras on other surveillance solutions that receive RTSP streams from the cameras.
@@kuzru9656 admittedly havent tried recently because would mean resetting 1 of my cameras to factory but you were login to the IP address of the camera without the unifi protect proprietary appliance and run that camera(s) in "standalone" mode with RSTP.
@@lw_crypto4316 Yeah, you did used to be able to do that but unfortunately this option has been removed from the cameras themselves. You can only enable the RTSP stream off of the protect appliance now :(
With you on the site. I'm new to Unifi and couldn't find the routers for ages, and wondered if they offered modems. Had to research in order to answer both questions. Very bad UX if the consumer has to go off site to figure out how to use your website...
We have dropy fiber no matter the ISP, So Does UDM or CGU or CGM make seamless internet backup experience like 100% uptime during internet source switchover to backup internet. As my USG waits out 10s offline before allowing backup internet, and it can't detect slow internet😢. I end up having a separate wifi on vlan for reliable 4G backup.
We could outfit every floor in our building with brand new 10GB Unifi switches for the cost of one Cisco Wireless 9800 controller and still have money left over. Unifi isn't perfect, but does have the dataset most people need.
Nope wasn't notified about the earlier video. Maybe its a delayed "members only" video? It doesn't really matter though as they aren't available in / they don't ship to Australia.
@@whya2ndaccountthey ship to only a few retailers here and they spread their products to a few online stores, as Australians we are paying the ‘not America tax’ unfortunately
The worst bit is the split between the “Unifi Cloud Gateways” and the “CloudKeys & Gateways” pages on the store. To a newbie the fact that first has the Unifi software installed and the second requires a separate CloudKey for this is far from obvious. Also why does Enterprise Fortress Gateway run Unifi Network, but the Enterprise Gateway does not?
Finally watching the video. The eco-system is not easy to understand as you described. The UDM-SE (@15:37 point) cannot be an access point. BUT the reason why it is not recommended as a NVR is because it is a multi-task system and not a Protect NVR. The problem though that causes confusion is that the Cloudkey+ (they renamed it) should not be there as that is also a multi-task system. They would be better served with having a ‘runs protect’ section to highlight the Cloudkey+, NVR’s plus the Cloud Gateway’s that actually support protect rather than listing just the NVR. Cheers
Pricing always seems really competitive to me. I got a 10G network with 25G links between my main network and homelab for much less than the next closest priced option.
I chatted to a chap at UniFi about this and they felt the same tbh. There are definitely a a few devices in the portfolio that have some balanced pricing (alot of the entry/baseline switch lineup is very affordable), but this is not reflected across the whole UniFi range in terms of 'pure hardware'. I know that is arguably missing the point (UniFi is more about the software and the larger network ecosystem), but on a smaller physical setup where a larger ecosystem isn't as hotly desired, the pricing is still 10-15% higher than alot of other options in the market.
As a UniFi home user in multi homes for a few years now I am fully invested in their eco system, from Network to Security, yet I still have a Synology 4 bay NAS at one place and a hybrid built server in another. The one piece I’m constantly frustrated by is the lack of a native UniFi NAS, for both the NVR security environment however also for all the other typical features you mentioned of backups, media etc. I would, admittedly as a UniFi hobbiest like the system to be 100% UniFi. I like both the simplicity and complex-ability dependent on your requirements. I do see the frustration in the Apple like roll out of minor annual iteration updates and seemingly minor difference between series, rather than true focus on generational upgrades and capability. Holistically very much like the platform and glad you’re now investing in it. Really interested to see your long term view.
Great video! I adopted UniFi ecosystem about 2 1/2 years ago. you are spot on with your assessment after just one week!!! Even with all my experience with Ubiquiti, I still find their portal to be the absolute worst!!! I rely on notes and spreadsheets that I’ve developed along with third parties to figure out what products make the most sense for various installs. There have been great improvements since I started, and I see the value improving (especially with some of their new products for the low end). I don’t mind the lack of a NAS as I want them to take their time and get it right. There have been a few things they rushed out way back, but they seem to have learned and make sure everything is solid before rolling it out.
When has Ubiquiti ever got anything right at the time of launch? Always wait for 2-3 firmware updates after launch at a minimum, or wait for the second generation launch if possible. The hardware quality / reliability of the 1st gen protect access control was atrocious. At least they don't take 9 months+ to start pushing out firmware fixes like they used to be known for.
Amazing video as usual. I’ve implemented Unifi with great success and I recommend it. But your points are valid. I do cringe on their POE unit costs for sure.
I have been told off for not using dark mode by more people than I expected. I stand corrected (and mildly harassed). Will address this in future. Hope you liked the vid man
i think thats a very fair review, i do think however that some of your points dont really factor that the target audience is the "pro"-sumer not the entry based consumer. At this level they usually know terminology between "router" and "wifi".. but your point is dearly noted and fair to its own regard. a lot of PC company's use this same strategy, and again can just be explained that if you are just a consumer, then go for a rebuilt dell at your local bestbuy, but for those "pro"-sumers they go towards custom builds because they know the terms and what is needed to make it work. Not discrediting the handwork and honest approach you took, just some points to consider.
It would be nice to have a Unifi NAS...BUT....They may have the idea that you can only use a Unifi NAS for local storage and lock out other brands of NAS. Sometimes I think some things are best left alone ;-)
I know, I know! I only JUST deployed it and wanted to get everything perfect before cable tidying and labels. I'm very much in the 'do not remove that sweet, sweet protective film' still its complete' kinda guy... (which is why I genuinely think there is still a plastic cover on my TS-253A buttons..from 2018..in my cupboard. I am NOT a smart man....
I pulled out all my UniFi hardware last year. The more I started to use advanced features the harder it became to work with. When you first set it up, it seems great, but later on when you try to upgrade things, you can quickly get into a spot where things become very difficult. For example, devices that were adopted by another setup and refuse to let you adopt them on a new setup. Another annoying feature when I used the Dream Machine was having to login to it, and then from there login to the main UI along with the requirement that I have a cloud account and have this all connected to it. I don't need/want remote access to the networking equipment here and from a privacy and security standpoint most certainly do NOT want a third party company providing this access. With all the data breaches in the world, there is no reason to force people to do this for their network.
I originally had a point in this video (early draft and the article) that detailed more on offline access. However, I had to pull it after discovering a decent % of my existing knowledge was I correct on more recent changes to unifi with "pure offline /no UI account" setups and device adoption. They have changed some things in recent updates that do mitigate/remove these issues. It's still a hurdle to be confronted in some places, but they have seemingly address SOME of this. Cheers for sharing your input man
There is no longer a requirement to have a UniFi account. In fact when setting up devices, it asks you if you want it standalone or have remote access with 2-factor authentication. On your other point, you can easily reset a device by pressing a reset button on every device, allowing adoption to a new system.
What I don't like about UniFi is it still relies on STP for switch redundancy, there's no physical stacking or virtual stacking options so that means no MLAG for client redundancy, the firewall is still lacking although there's been some good progress in the last few updates (adding HA and improvements to NAT & DNS). There's a bunch of other nit picks that I have too about features that I use with Enterprise switch & wi-fi gear from Cisco, HPE/Aruba that UniFi doesn't have so it's not an Enterprise product in any way for me. It's SMB or prosumer at best. I really don't like their camera pricing though, much more expensive than competitors. I'd rather setup a Frigate box.
I'm still contemplating about moving from my "all-in-one" ASUS router to UniFi system, but so far their portfolio is so messy I'm always disgusted to figure out what to buy
One of the dream machines can be all in one and add more ap's or whatever later. But yeah there are a lot of different ways to do it that aren't always laid out. Crosstalk solutions, Tom Lawrence, Willie Howe, Mac telecom, etc have some vids on it
Any of their Gen 6 and 7 AP's can run in stand-alone mode with the correct POE injector or POE switch, to Unifi them or to enable meshing you need to run the Unifi Network appliance. So either the Cloud Key or Dream boxes or the older not-supported (but free) linux\windows UniFi software. Ubiquiti seems to be geared for small businesses, and tech home guru types. The enterprises run mellanox, cisco, dell and other big-budget brands because they need 100-400gb fiber and 24/7/365 on-site \ remote repair services, monitoring and troubleshooting, which Ubiquiti doesn't offer. Ubiquiti is a step up from BestBuy gear, but not in the same realm as the big boys.
Once you understand the concept of a CloudKey, a Gateway and a Cloud Gateway (a combination of the two), you’re 90% there Just get a Cloud Gateway that suits your needs and build on that by adding WiFi, Switching, NVR & Cameras
You forgot to mention that Unifi has major stability issues with its firmware. I have a small network with a UDM SE (previously non-SE), a few cameras, and 4 APs, and in my 4 years of use, I've had to roll back firmware multiple times due to bugs that took down my entire network. It feels like their release versions are more like alpha versions, especially with newer updates. I can't imagine managing a larger, more critical network with such instability. Unifi should focus on fixing issues and consider offering an LTS (Long-Term Support) option instead of constantly pushing new features.
Ironically after NASCompares complains loudly about there is no Unifi NAS, Unifi basically leaks that one exists in the video introduction for another product.
I feel so heard by this! I love what I have, I want to buy more, but I can't justify the cost and performance. I'm happy to see 2.5 getting in some stuff, but it's too little too late.
Surprised you didn’t bring up that a lot of UniFi products don’t come with UK power supplies. A lot come with EU ones with a rubbish UK travel adapter on it.
I’m also not sure I’d agree with that you need or want the “one company to do it all”. NAS storage is very different compared to network infrastructure. I’d say it’s important to keep your focus on what you can do well. Possibly they could have a simpler “box” but then again they’d have a hard time competing with Synology / QNAP-systems. Should they go 4-bay, 8-bay, larger? What is their target customer? What other NAS-features should they have than dum storage? Backup? Syncing? Other cloud features? It quickly gets kind of messy and hard to compete. And you’d likely have yet another box you’re “locked down” with.
I liked your video, good insights and agree with your points. Ubiquiti is enthusiast / prosumer grade which translates OK into small business or office or cafe etc, not enterprise at all. It’s like the Apple of networking
A small annoyance regarding the cameras and Protect App: When your router is online and you've connected your phone via Wi-Fi, the UniFi App works great through the cloud. If the internet goes down, it works directly. Glorious. Try the same with Protect App. When the internet works, you can access the recordings just fine. But if the internet connection goes down, (unlike Unifi App) Protect won't work directly/locally. WTF?
Reason I’ve avoided their products is compatibility concerns. Their whole brand seems hinged on the idea of only using their (most of the time way more expensive) products together, rather than as a smaller part of existing networks. One of the reasons I went for Synology products was I could use different cameras, hdds, etc but they seem to be slowly going the same way. Trading compatibility for simplicity seems like a losing (and wasteful) strategy for me personally, but each to their own I guess. Be interested in how you find their different products with your other range of products and things that work well, and things that don’t 👍
Working on precisely this! UniFi vs QNAP switches soon, as well as Protect vs Surveillance Station (and you better BELIEVE camera compatibility, licenses and hardware are gonna be the order of the day!!!)
The different product lines work just fine on their own. Routing, switching, Protect, access control, etc. The whole idea of Protect is to use their gear. I don't want a screwed up mess of different products cobbled together. The HDD part doesn't make sense, Synology is the one going down that path and never Ubiquiti.
Yep exactly. Ive been removing a lot of cisco and Meraki gear because customers are tired of the licensing fees. Many have stated they'll pay higher prices if they dont have a high yearly licensing fees.
If I’m not mistaken the wifi7 AP has a fan in it for cooling. Add to that the heat from the router… I think in its current format they may struggle to keep it cool, affordable and small. In time though, I’m sure they’ll be updates
I have a Protect home surveillance setup and while I do love it, the ability to export/save videos from it is horrible. With that said, they've made some pretty substantial improvements recently towards making it easier to export videos, but it's still not where it should be.
Their L2 switches only having 1Gbps SFP uplinks instead of SFP+ is absolutely ABSURD in 2024. Their competitors at the same price all have a couple of 10Gbps SFP+ cages on equivalent products.
Hey gus, in your opinion whats the best software for port forwarding (or whatever its name is). Because I want to access my files remotly but idk if its just the same hassle in any OS for nextcloud or any other servirce in that line. Thanks!
Port forwarding us how you expose a device to the Internet. What you are looking for is doable via port forwards to expose your NAS, but dangerous. Qnap and synology both have apps that you can setup to do it safer
@@bengrogan9710thanks a lot! I'm guessing it's a baked in app for your stored stuff? Or is like an OS function that allows remote access to whatever I install/store on NAS?
Their gateway products have VPN tunnel capability to connect remote systems or remote networks together. Their wifiman app also has one built into the gateway and phone for securing phones or securing tethers. You don't want to enable port forwarding as that puts a hole in your firewall.
It's expensive for consumer hardware and dirt cheap for enterprise hardware. Just knowing your use case could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in licensing fees
Unifi wireless (and maybe switching) are the only real reasons its solid for me and makes sense to throw money at. Gateway I'll use a *sense setup when anything above a basic setup is involved. The camera system is what gets me... I would buy their rack NVRs yesterday if they would support Onvif (a standard which many cameras adhere to work with virtually any system that supports Onvif, even some UniFi cameras). Aside from that, I think you can't export video to other storage except for Google Drive which seems like a joke. Regardless, I'm happy with my Blue Iris system with Dahua OEM cameras on a restricted vlan which offers better camera quality at a lower price
@@neburnamal yup heard about this, and now it's in early access apparently. If they can support motion detection & PTZ controls (which I don't think is offered in this early version), I will be sold. Hopefully the finished product has these basic things but I will remain skeptical.
Then I am worried that the opening 60 seconds of this video MASSIVELY OFFENDED YOU! In my defence, it was after 1 week of setup and I didn't want to'set in stone' my hardware till I knew I had it how I wanted it. Thanks for watching
This is the thing about British sarcasm...it travels about as well as milk in a BBQ. I don't actually think your 'passion' is cable management. I mean, I don't want to 'yuck' anyone's yum, but that would be bloody bleak.
I mean, tbh, I think it does. But only because like 90% of my videos do. It's largely unavoidable and..at this point...openly encouraged. But, never say never...
@@nascomparesIt just makes me smile because it reminds me of how annoyed I get when the pigeons set off the motion detection on my cameras but a person walking past doesn't..
Compared to synology pricing is competitive, you are paying for the software like synology . You can use Unifi cameras on frigate so you are wrong there .
An official UniFi NAS is the glaring omission from the lineup and I was beginning to wonder if it was just me because I never see any talk about it. A rack mount 1u expandable UniFi NAS with Plex transcoding capable hardware and 2.5GBe/5GBe/10GBe would be dreamy. Taking it one step further, they've got server/cloud resources that they've been dabbling in for years now. What if they stepped up the capacity and offered a Back Blaze-esque cloud backup of their UniFi NAS for $99USD/yr? Sure it's 20% more expensive than the current Back Blaze offering but there's not a single person here with an all-UniFi stack that wouldn't pay the premium for an "integrated" solution. Either way, the addition of a UniFi NAS opens up the door for all sorts of revenue streams that Ubiquiti hasn't yet tapped. Not sure what the holdup is but if they start dropping NAS products I'm sure I'd be willing to part with thousands of dollars shockingly & embarrassingly easily.
Im working with cisco and fortinet at my IT job and they have that because its everywhere since ever...(like windows for PCs) but its not better.... its wayyyy too pricy, we have RMA on Access points and switches, etc, etc, etc like any other brands. Unifi is not really that far behind. Anytime if I can do it I will swap the big Cisco shit for Unifi. Even worst for the cameras system. Im working a lot with "entreprise grade" NVR and DVR and I can tell you that Unifi Protect is far ahead in term of software and the cameras are not bad at all and a lot of choice.
youre right on the hardware side, the cameras are poor for the money 2k prices are double the price of a 4k. I have a bunch of cameras from brands I use scripted with HomeKit no licence needed for cameras and free to use
I would love for them to make a nas but for god sake align the frigging drive bays so it isn't the horrible mess of the camera systems with misaligned drivebays... and if I can run unraid on it = perfect...
I have 1500 clients if you include the 600 guess clients any day of the week for cell phones 72 access points and 57 switches My network is exclusively ubiquiti other than the Firewalls / Router and guess what it runs pretty good. Is it perfect no what I prefer true enterprise grade stuff yeah probably so but for what I paid for it it's pretty good.
Oh and I'd also like to point out that an access point is so cheap that if it does go out I don't bother to RMA it or get an extended warranty or anything like that I just replace it and it still comes out a lot cheaper than Cisco or anybody else.
It’s 2024 so imo it’s a joke that their best gateway still comes with mostly 1 gig ports. Also I’m unsure about their privacy policy, seems they can track everything you do and use that information how ever they see fit.
Can you elaborate more on this? I am not aware of this too much and (after pouring over their T&Cs a bit a couple of months ago for a video that I never went ahead with) didn't see anything too egregious. Happy to be proved wrong though.
@@nascompares Under section 1b of their privacy policy they state that they record any web request you make, any IP addresses you access, referring pages, location information, etc. They say they share that info with third parties and when required by law, for example under copyright law. If you go back and look at their privacy policy from 2021 they specifically stated that "we do not collect the contents of any communications that pass through our devices or services" but that has been removed. What I do on my network is none of their business and if they didn't track everything then they wouldn't be able to share any such information under a legal subpoena.
Where can I get me an ''I HATE SEAGULLS' t-shirt?.... I am not quite a technological luddite,but I am close when it comes to networking. BUT even though all the hardware is not up to scratch, I would be happier to have something that is easier to set up, than a series of 'black boxes' that I know nothing about. All I am wanting to do is provide seperate networks for my laptop, smart TVand NAS, my IOT network, security cameras, and a guest network for people who come over. correct me if I am wrong BUT I think the unify system will do just fine. AM I DOING VIDEO EDITING or anything else that requires high data throughput.... NO, so while I am taking your points on the synology surveillance system, I think I will be happy with my choice.
I was also missing that part a bit. The hardware is a bit more expensive but the Software is basically "free". In total it is fine. With HPE or Cisco or other professional network vendors you have to pay extra for a lot of the SDN stuff. Also the Firewall features in the Unifi hardware are license free, which is not the case with any other vendor. These are always on yearly plans.
Do you work in IT as a profession or are you just a CZcamsr IT person? When compared to other brands, Unifi gear is 10x cheaper for what you get. Try getting an enterprise switch from Cisco with full budget PoE. It will cost you around $20,000 USD or more. The fact that large scale deployments can be done with full redundancy, and you can control and monitor your entire building, or home without spending $100,000 or more is amazing. Stop complaining about the cost of Unifi, especially if you are comparing the cost to other consumer level products.
I mean, I'm gonna take you up on this. Let's say I'm a CZcams Newb and I have zero tech knowledge and/or zero network knowledgeable...how would this invalidate any of my points? Pro or Con?
@@nascompares Lets get started, this is going to be long. First at 9:19 you are comparing an older model of switch on a third party site to switch brands that require you to have a bit more of a tech background to navigate the UI, yes they have a higher POE budget, that is also the only Standard PoE switch that is still listed on the site, again this was the first line of switch they sold. You compare UniFi Protect cameras to a Reolink camera, one that requires a subscription if you want cloud backups, video is not stored locally by default, and if you want an NVR the best you can get is a 16 channel 4TB max NVR for not sale price of $339.99 USD when compared to the $299.99 USD cost of the UNVR that can take 4 drives, and hold a max of 60 cameras. Plus in the ToS for Reolink, it states you agree to all matters relating to your access to Reolink website, cameras and services shall be interpreted and understood in compliance with the lows of the People Republic of China, which means you cameras are not secure and are most likely sending data to China. UniFi sends nothing out of your network, and you can block all traffic to China and your gear will still function. By the way, the reason the Reolink camera is so cheap is due to the selling of data to China. (www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fpeoples-republic-of-china-in-terms-and-conditions-v0-71hlw1m3ypsa1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1134%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D0ed86351ce3068cf5dc7bc2b29f1fe6e66eabd94) At around the 10:00 mark you start talking about how the cost of UniFi hardware is kind of whack for what you are getting, I would disagree, you don't need to pay licenses fees, you get local storage for cameras, you get offline management if you want, or you can have free online access to your entire system if you use an online account. No other vendor on the market offers that. That is worth the cost you pay and is part of the reason the gear costs what it does. At the 11:00 mark you start taking about how the NVR hardware is a little less what others have on the market, and latter you complain that you can only use UniFi protect cameras in the ecosystem, that is why the hardware is a little lower, they only have to plan for the use of their camera's, not the requirements of 100 brands and different protocols. Also you say the NVR is missing direct HDMI output, who cares, get a viewport and put you cameras on any TV, if they NRV had direct HDMI output it would require more hardware, more power, and it is needless then you understand this is mean to be installed in a network rack in a room no one wants to spend time in. I will not talk about how you feel the website is a pain to understand, I feel that is just your own shortcomings. Lastly, I am sure they are working on a NAS, enough people want it, and it will probably be build on the NVR pro chassis.
Hi bud. I'm afraid I haven't responded yet because I have limited time for comments sadly. I could wax lyrical about how there's a whole bunch of support online for my points that I spent an age researching to verify that "it's not just me", plus sending this list to unifi themselves 2 weeks before the record to make their case (I removed a point about offline access use for that reason)...Or that I compared against Synology Cams and Vivotek pricing and inclusive licencing (but I was showing the reolink for 'lowest hardware price' as stated). Or that you are willfully misunderstanding the onvif and long term open use point I was making But also, I'm not sure you are not here to be convinced. So, I'll just leave you to it.
The website is a mess for sure. As highlighted in the video, finding what hardware can do isn’t easy e.g a security appliance or what on earth those dream machines are. I’d like to see user written reviews and 5 star rating system. Be good to tell people my NanoUD looks yellow but all the rest of my old and new kit are fine. Oh I’m sure too the CK2+ will have low rating with the terrible HDD & battery issues
UNIFI is an entire ecosystem where everything works together as one. Just like the Apple ecosystem. When you decide to go UNIFI you must go all the way in... "balls deep" as they say in the USA 🤣. That's why everything just works, like magic. It's beautiful! Having said all that, as soon as UNIFI releases a NAS, I will buy it immediately... knowing how well they will integrate it in their ecosystem. And that would replace my aging WD EX4100.
Yep, but what if you don't want to go "knackers up to the hilt" as we don't say in the UK? That's when the ROI of alot of uniFi deminishes. In their defence though, they literally call their product series "unifi' (ie unify/unification/uniform)..so going "all in" is the USP
I've added a mikrotik switch and people mix in pfsense but you lose a bit of the single pane of glass interface. Kinds screwd on other nvr for the cams cams unless you use limited rtsp stream on a synology or something
That is exactly the reason why I don't like unifi devices. Although the devices themselves are good, they are a pain to configure to work with devices from other manufacturers.
OH...I KNOW. I only raised this as an example as, if you are looking for a KIND of thing,they have beadcrumbed the hell out of their selection. however, yeah, once you get into the weeds and find 5-6 different 4-Bay devices... then it can be...interesting. But to their credit, they do show all the options and filters on the side to narrow it down. Just a question of knowing which filters/factors are important (now THAT could be clearer).
I would like to add that the Dream Machines have the added ability to go into an infinite boot loop upon reboot, requiring them to powered of for multiple hours before they can start again, if they ever can. I had the opportunity to replace both the DM pro and DM SE with separate gateways and controllers. Clown show
LOL they wasted a lot of phone systems.....every unifi system I see has no talk set up. I almost did it at my last gig, I know some do but damn....desk phones feel 1999
Just began my journey on UniFi. Spent a good few weeks just to wrap my head around their product lineup but really love how easy it is to use.
You summed it up better than my bloody video! Thanks for watching bud
yeah I bought my express like half a year ago and some mini switches... (needed ports at various spots and not just in one spot) I have pondered deeply over what I need/want to expand it with and I might go "balls deep" as someone else said... and get the rack mount gear... it might be slightly overkill but I am a tech nerd... I live for that kinda stuff...
I have had a UniFi network running for 3.5 years now. The DM Pro has been rock solid. It was a bit shaky at first but the software and firmware upgrades over those years have improved the experience greatly. The Protect experience has been a real improvement, much smoother replay.
To fix the flicker on your cameras, go to the settings for the camera > image tuning > Advanced > frequency setting > 50 Hz (for Europe, assuming you’re there?)
How would that help? We have had 60hz+ displays in Europe for decades?
@@headerahelix it’s not referring to the refresh rate of your display, rather the frequency of the AC power grid. You don’t see it with your eyes, but most lights ‘flicker’ at the frequency of the eye power fed to them. Applying this setting ‘compensates’ for that by adjusting the cameras shutter speed.
Your video sums up Unifi's biggest strengths and weaknesses rather well. As a business and personal user for the past five or so years, I have to agree with everything you said.
Once you get past the poorly thought out website, in my opinion the two biggest holes in their product lineup are the camera / NVR options and the lack of a NAS device. My business is larger than what I would consider Unifi for on both fronts, but personally I would buy a NAS from them to complete the integrated product line at my house.
Looks like Synology will get my cash for one of their rack mount NAS devices.
They are working on a NAS (allegedly), some references to a NAS product have been found in update files. Though no idea on when potential release would be!
I've never been a fan of NAS appliances ever since I bought one from QNAP, it's service period expired and now the thing is basically a useless antique ever since the root SSL certificates expired.
Hardware is perfectly good though.
I think next time I'm going to make my own TrueNAS box or something so I don't get screwed again
@@illeatmyhat you can create SSL certificates with win-acme, it’s free and I believe you only need to update every 6 months. Just forward port 443 to whatever machine you are running win-acme on while you’re creating the cert - then you can upload it to your QNAP.
There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you’ve done it once renewals take 1-2 mins every 6 months.
I agree with all your points btw - just thought I could help breathe some new light into your QNAP
The value proposition for me is no licenses. They have however started adding subscriptions for the new product line, LTE router/AP. I wanted to buy a LTE compatible device to use for some remote work that I do and I saw they charge a $2/month fee for it. The one big pro for Unifi products was no license so if they start introducing more licenses I'll have to jump ship.
Cisco catalyst 1200/1300 no license fully stackable and dynamic routing for the 1300. Features non-existing in the unify world.
The LTE fee is probably to pay the celltowers
Great video summing up UniFi. I’ve been using here at my house for 3 years and absolutely love it. I have a rather extensive setup: 48 PoE, 24 PoE, UDM Pro SE, 3 Flex XG’s giving me a 10 Gb network between 3 rooms, 4 APs, 2 PDU Pros, a couple Flex Minis, G4 Doorbell Pro and 6 cameras. It replaced a hodge podge of various unintegrated equipment and I haven’t looked back. It has been an absolute pleasure to use. Running Homebridge on my QNAP NAS and now can see all that UniFi environment in Apple Home, even on my Apple Watch (cameras too).
The system is rock solid, and Teleport lets me access everything on my LAN from anywhere I am in the world.
Over the 3 years I’ve easily upgraded various things, and most recently added the U7 Pro Max as my main AP, so all ready for a WiFi 7. To upgrade my U6 LR to the U7 Pro Max, popped it off the mounting plate, unplugged it, plugged in the U7, secured it to that same mounting plate, adopted in the UDM and within a minute or two had WiFi 7.. didn’t get any easier than that!
The network visualisation breaks as soon as you have any non unifi switches in the topology, it gets very confused and doesn’t render the correct topology, even more so if you have a third party router in the mix..
Would love to see a Unifi for dummies series please and thank you!
Already working on a follow up
In your last video I made my comment that I am currently looking for the components of Unifi because I want to rebuild my network and I am looking forward to your other videos. The homepage of Unifi is simply confusing and too complicated. I would be happy to see more videos from you about Unifi. 🙏
THis is a good set of pros and conns as a long term unifi user. Cost is definetly an issue. My biggest annoyances are the lack of a full 24 port switch with all 2.5gbe also considering a semi useful DNS set up was only just added. Also wish there was a proper api for infrastructure as code and automated set ups
@nascompares I liked a review from someone who is not a complete fanboy and provide some objectivity! I have been looking at Unifi and Omada. Omada division of TP Link does not have the history compared to Unifi, but is a much better value. I was equally frustrated trying to find equipment on the Unifi site. The gateway is overkill since the HD space is only for the NVR and not network storage (what a waste-that would be perfect to backup my NAS). I would never use the Unifi surveillance system/cameras! $130 for a 3MP turret camera????? Instead you can get a 5MP Amcrest AI Camera and a Synology license, and a micro SSD card and have money left over. Even if I dumped Synology Surveillance I would still be ahead since I can use that camera anywhere (Oh, except Unifi). The weakness with Omada are the Routers. What most people do (and I am leaning towards) is use one of the Aliexpress silent PCs with OpenSense/PfSense with Omada switches and APs for a solid system and a Omada (Unifi copycat) system overview. As someone has mentioned a real comparison of the two systems would be interesting.
what abous IPS/IDS?
The biggest issue I've had with Unifi is the lack of more advanced network monitoring and reporting. For example, say a random Chinese wifi device is sending much more data via SSL/TLS, there's no good way to track which IP's it's connecting to, or even perform any sort of a basic packet capture via the admin console, no way to do so.
Bugger, just looked at my system remotely and (at least from the default terminal), you are bang on!
@nascompares this is good to know, but what ecosystem DOES have this feature 🤔
It's funny. I'm actually in the market for a larger switch, and wouldn't mind replacing our Netgate. I'm not unhappy with pfSense, but I'm not in love with it either. Thing is, looking into their Protect camera exclusivity makes me wonder what else they will simply not support.
I was actually expecting you to be down next to the server rack... 😄
BUT MY KNEES???
I have to agree with all of the shorcomings that you have outlined - another one is that you tell the system to use 24 hour clock and then it tells you reports in 12 hour format !
I’d argue that Ubiquiti’s target customer is “PROsumer” at a minimum. And that level of customer is going to have a fair level of networking knowledge. They aren’t catering to my mom looking for a router.
100% this.
They have a good software experience on features that budget devices fail at, where a new user wouldn't value that as highly
Targeting mom looking for a router isn't a thing or anyone else that doesn't have a clue about anything. As soon as you do much of anything it's dealing with a prosumer user. But Ubiquiti is far from hitting the mark for Enterprise grade which it frequently is pushed as.
They are, with their amplifi line.
Got one for my other apartment to check it out (I have a mikrotik hap ac2 in another apartment, and a mikrotik rb3011+5 APs in my home, now transitioning to omada). It's very barebones, plug-and-play, one-size-fits-all soccer mom kind of device.
I’m looking at that Unifi rack setup and thinking, wow, nice and easy to steal and handy to have wheels and handles on it.
I use one single ubiquiti device on my network - and Edgerouter 4. Been rock solid for 3-4 years now. I use Agent NVR for my surveillance and cheap Amcrest cameras. Simple proxmox camera with GPU sharing/pass-thru. I have a coral TPU coming this week and I'll probably switch to Frigate once I get it installed. Wifi are cheap TP-Link EAP's. Good enough for home use.
The biggest problem UniFi has is product development. It’s clear that different teams working on different features don’t talk and don’t have a joined up product strategy. It makes the user experience so random. Also, their firewall is abysmal.
@@ryanmalone2681 their firewalls have seen some rework in the recent updates. Even Tom Lawrence is now recommending them for home and small office use.
As to your other point: totally agree with the different product lines and their development. To make matters worse, sometimes products are launched without key features. And their updates to that initial feedback is unreliable at best.
Some examples that come to mind: layer 3 switching, customizable ringtones on their doorbell chime, lights off functionality on their pro max switches, >1 chime per doorbell, >1 doorbell sharing 1 chime, chime volume, deep traffic analytics, ancient mongoDB in self hosted controller and crappy upgrade process of the self hosted controller.
With regards to the latter: if you struggle updating your self hosted controller check the amazing work Glenn R is doing. That shouldn’t be necessary though.
I use UniFi since 2015 and I´m happy I found out about it in a Hotel. Since then watched a lot of Videos and did a lot myself. Now working at an MSP we sell UniFi a lot :)
UniFi looks awesome. I want it. But I just switched my entire Ethernet network from 1G to 2.5 and 10g for less than the price of a single UniFi 2.5G switch. I desperately wanted to switch to UniFi but I just don’t have the need and couldn’t justify the expense.
I started looking at Ubiquiti last night, and what kills me is their lack of 2.5Gb and 10Gb SFP ports on devices. The Cloud Gateway Max would be perfect if it swapped the the WAN and Alt WAN/LAN to 10Gb SFPs. This would allow 2.5Gb+ internet, and a 10Gb Switch connection. Which leads me to my 2nd issue: They don't have a 1x10Gb SFP + 8x2.5Gb switch option. This is the setup I'm going for, but I'd have to spend a lot more money to get close to what I want, and take up a lot more space. The built in NVR and single ecosystem is what's really selling me, but I may just go with a Mikrotik router RB5009UG+S+IN and switch CRS310-8G+2S+IN, and some 3rd party NVR system. If I go Ubiquiti I think it would be a UCGMax or UDMPro, then add a cheap chinese 10Gb SFP + 8x2.5Gb switch, then get Ubiquiti cameras.
I agree the product lineup really needs more clarification. I understand their approach is to be be Apple for networking but naming their products as such is not helping anyone.
Speaking about UniFI bad documentation... if you by a RPS for a switch they don't indicate the switch cant be started from the RPS. So if your PSU fails upon power up/down, or your switch reboots and your main supply fails (say during a software update) your RPS is useless. AKA you can't boot off the RPS, The only real residency you get with a RPS is a way to power it via redundancy UPS's and power circuits. Not bad but they stopped at 60% of the goal.
It's a good video with solid findings. It would be nice if you could make a video of the setup of the system you created. And the implementation of alternative solutions (synology nas, alternative surveillance cameras, etc.).
Why is the UniFi product line so thin for 10gbe? Or even 2.5gbe? Their website feels like they consider anything faster than 1gbe "Enterprise". Well, my home internet service offers fiber up to 50gb, and it's pretty affordable up to the 5gb tier. A second local company is building fiber infrastructure and also offers up to 5gb at similar prices, today about $100/month. Only a matter of time & competition until 10gb becomes affordable too. Ubiquiti's UniFi product line really feels like they're stuck in the past when nobody could imagine multi-gigabit residential internet service. Fiber service isn't new. Multi-gigabit service exists and is affordable today in many areas and it's growing rapidly. Maybe someone ought to tell Ubiquiti?
Hello there! I'm just new to this Unifi stuff and if you don't me asking about your opinion if this is good setup already for hotel and resort with 54 rooms.
UAP-AC-In Wall, Cloudkey +, Gateway Lite, and Standard POE Switch 24 port.
Thanks!
I don't think they need a NAS. They just need to give local only setups some UX/UI love. Maybe some plugins for home assistant or something.
Fun example: they have a way to use local email servers to send notifications, rather than having to be connected to the cloud. Except it can only send the test email (because you can specify where to send it), not the notification mail. It will only send notification mail to the address connected to the account, so if you use a local account, which can't have an email address attached, it'll refuse to send anything.
Great video, 1 correction though.....protect cameras can do RTSP which means you can actually use them as i have on other RTSP surveillance compatible systems. I enjoyed the video all the same though...many thanks
Not quite accurate.
The cameras themselves do NOT publish an RTSP stream. The RTSP stream is served off of the NVR or whatever device is running protect. You still have to have a unifi protect proprietary appliance to get RTSP unfortunately. You cannot use their cameras on other surveillance solutions that receive RTSP streams from the cameras.
@@kuzru9656 admittedly havent tried recently because would mean resetting 1 of my cameras to factory but you were login to the IP address of the camera without the unifi protect proprietary appliance and run that camera(s) in "standalone" mode with RSTP.
@@lw_crypto4316 Yeah, you did used to be able to do that but unfortunately this option has been removed from the cameras themselves. You can only enable the RTSP stream off of the protect appliance now :(
With you on the site. I'm new to Unifi and couldn't find the routers for ages, and wondered if they offered modems. Had to research in order to answer both questions. Very bad UX if the consumer has to go off site to figure out how to use your website...
We have dropy fiber no matter the ISP, So Does UDM or CGU or CGM make seamless internet backup experience like 100% uptime during internet source switchover to backup internet. As my USG waits out 10s offline before allowing backup internet, and it can't detect slow internet😢. I end up having a separate wifi on vlan for reliable 4G backup.
Sounds like you need to look for a load balancing active-active setup rather than a active-passive failover
We could outfit every floor in our building with brand new 10GB Unifi switches for the cost of one Cisco Wireless 9800 controller and still have money left over. Unifi isn't perfect, but does have the dataset most people need.
Nope wasn't notified about the earlier video. Maybe its a delayed "members only" video?
It doesn't really matter though as they aren't available in / they don't ship to Australia.
REALLY???? No AU? I did NOT know this!!!! I will look into this and mention in other videos if true
@@nascompares Well that's what they told me why I emailed them.
Happy if its changed.
5 👀
@@whya2ndaccountthey ship to only a few retailers here and they spread their products to a few online stores, as Australians we are paying the ‘not America tax’ unfortunately
@@kevy_. Ah OK.
I have an email from them saying they just don't do it.
Without knowing which "on-line stores"' there isn't much point looking.
The worst bit is the split between the “Unifi Cloud Gateways” and the “CloudKeys & Gateways” pages on the store.
To a newbie the fact that first has the Unifi software installed and the second requires a separate CloudKey for this is far from obvious.
Also why does Enterprise Fortress Gateway run Unifi Network, but the Enterprise Gateway does not?
Finally watching the video.
The eco-system is not easy to understand as you described.
The UDM-SE (@15:37 point) cannot be an access point. BUT the reason why it is not recommended as a NVR is because it is a multi-task system and not a Protect NVR. The problem though that causes confusion is that the Cloudkey+ (they renamed it) should not be there as that is also a multi-task system.
They would be better served with having a ‘runs protect’ section to highlight the Cloudkey+, NVR’s plus the Cloud Gateway’s that actually support protect rather than listing just the NVR.
Cheers
Pricing always seems really competitive to me. I got a 10G network with 25G links between my main network and homelab for much less than the next closest priced option.
I chatted to a chap at UniFi about this and they felt the same tbh. There are definitely a a few devices in the portfolio that have some balanced pricing (alot of the entry/baseline switch lineup is very affordable), but this is not reflected across the whole UniFi range in terms of 'pure hardware'. I know that is arguably missing the point (UniFi is more about the software and the larger network ecosystem), but on a smaller physical setup where a larger ecosystem isn't as hotly desired, the pricing is still 10-15% higher than alot of other options in the market.
I have an all Unifi setup and they are kind of like Synology, all about the software and reluctant to put more 2.5gb ports in hardware.
Or 10 gbit uplinks on all switches
@@sanderdelft Yeah that’s not nothing and can make a big difference if you have multiple switches.
As a UniFi home user in multi homes for a few years now I am fully invested in their eco system, from Network to Security, yet I still have a Synology 4 bay NAS at one place and a hybrid built server in another. The one piece I’m constantly frustrated by is the lack of a native UniFi NAS, for both the NVR security environment however also for all the other typical features you mentioned of backups, media etc. I would, admittedly as a UniFi hobbiest like the system to be 100% UniFi. I like both the simplicity and complex-ability dependent on your requirements. I do see the frustration in the Apple like roll out of minor annual iteration updates and seemingly minor difference between series, rather than true focus on generational upgrades and capability. Holistically very much like the platform and glad you’re now investing in it. Really interested to see your long term view.
Great video! I adopted UniFi ecosystem about 2 1/2 years ago. you are spot on with your assessment after just one week!!!
Even with all my experience with Ubiquiti, I still find their portal to be the absolute worst!!! I rely on notes and spreadsheets that I’ve developed along with third parties to figure out what products make the most sense for various installs.
There have been great improvements since I started, and I see the value improving (especially with some of their new products for the low end). I don’t mind the lack of a NAS as I want them to take their time and get it right. There have been a few things they rushed out way back, but they seem to have learned and make sure everything is solid before rolling it out.
When has Ubiquiti ever got anything right at the time of launch? Always wait for 2-3 firmware updates after launch at a minimum, or wait for the second generation launch if possible. The hardware quality / reliability of the 1st gen protect access control was atrocious. At least they don't take 9 months+ to start pushing out firmware fixes like they used to be known for.
I wish that the hardware was user upgradeable for simple stuff like the RAM
Amazing video as usual. I’ve implemented Unifi with great success and I recommend it. But your points are valid. I do cringe on their POE unit costs for sure.
Not using the dark mode? You monster!
I have been told off for not using dark mode by more people than I expected. I stand corrected (and mildly harassed). Will address this in future. Hope you liked the vid man
i think thats a very fair review, i do think however that some of your points dont really factor that the target audience is the "pro"-sumer not the entry based consumer. At this level they usually know terminology between "router" and "wifi".. but your point is dearly noted and fair to its own regard. a lot of PC company's use this same strategy, and again can just be explained that if you are just a consumer, then go for a rebuilt dell at your local bestbuy, but for those "pro"-sumers they go towards custom builds because they know the terms and what is needed to make it work.
Not discrediting the handwork and honest approach you took, just some points to consider.
It would be nice to have a Unifi NAS...BUT....They may have the idea that you can only use a Unifi NAS for local storage and lock out other brands of NAS. Sometimes I think some things are best left alone ;-)
Great video. Would be good to hear your thoughts on the lack of a UK smart PDU with integrated battery.
Peel those LCD stickers!
I know, I know! I only JUST deployed it and wanted to get everything perfect before cable tidying and labels. I'm very much in the 'do not remove that sweet, sweet protective film' still its complete' kinda guy... (which is why I genuinely think there is still a plastic cover on my TS-253A buttons..from 2018..in my cupboard. I am NOT a smart man....
I pulled out all my UniFi hardware last year. The more I started to use advanced features the harder it became to work with. When you first set it up, it seems great, but later on when you try to upgrade things, you can quickly get into a spot where things become very difficult. For example, devices that were adopted by another setup and refuse to let you adopt them on a new setup. Another annoying feature when I used the Dream Machine was having to login to it, and then from there login to the main UI along with the requirement that I have a cloud account and have this all connected to it. I don't need/want remote access to the networking equipment here and from a privacy and security standpoint most certainly do NOT want a third party company providing this access. With all the data breaches in the world, there is no reason to force people to do this for their network.
I originally had a point in this video (early draft and the article) that detailed more on offline access. However, I had to pull it after discovering a decent % of my existing knowledge was I correct on more recent changes to unifi with "pure offline /no UI account" setups and device adoption. They have changed some things in recent updates that do mitigate/remove these issues. It's still a hurdle to be confronted in some places, but they have seemingly address SOME of this. Cheers for sharing your input man
There is no longer a requirement to have a UniFi account. In fact when setting up devices, it asks you if you want it standalone or have remote access with 2-factor authentication. On your other point, you can easily reset a device by pressing a reset button on every device, allowing adoption to a new system.
Yep..THIS!
What I don't like about UniFi is it still relies on STP for switch redundancy, there's no physical stacking or virtual stacking options so that means no MLAG for client redundancy, the firewall is still lacking although there's been some good progress in the last few updates (adding HA and improvements to NAT & DNS). There's a bunch of other nit picks that I have too about features that I use with Enterprise switch & wi-fi gear from Cisco, HPE/Aruba that UniFi doesn't have so it's not an Enterprise product in any way for me. It's SMB or prosumer at best. I really don't like their camera pricing though, much more expensive than competitors. I'd rather setup a Frigate box.
I'm still contemplating about moving from my "all-in-one" ASUS router to UniFi system, but so far their portfolio is so messy I'm always disgusted to figure out what to buy
One of the dream machines can be all in one and add more ap's or whatever later. But yeah there are a lot of different ways to do it that aren't always laid out. Crosstalk solutions, Tom Lawrence, Willie Howe, Mac telecom, etc have some vids on it
Any of their Gen 6 and 7 AP's can run in stand-alone mode with the correct POE injector or POE switch, to Unifi them or to enable meshing you need to run the Unifi Network appliance. So either the Cloud Key or Dream boxes or the older not-supported (but free) linux\windows UniFi software. Ubiquiti seems to be geared for small businesses, and tech home guru types. The enterprises run mellanox, cisco, dell and other big-budget brands because they need 100-400gb fiber and 24/7/365 on-site \ remote repair services, monitoring and troubleshooting, which Ubiquiti doesn't offer. Ubiquiti is a step up from BestBuy gear, but not in the same realm as the big boys.
Once you understand the concept of a CloudKey, a Gateway and a Cloud Gateway (a combination of the two), you’re 90% there
Just get a Cloud Gateway that suits your needs and build on that by adding WiFi, Switching, NVR & Cameras
@@NIAtoolkit ah so Gateway and Cloud Gateway are completely different things too? amazing :P
You forgot to mention that Unifi has major stability issues with its firmware. I have a small network with a UDM SE (previously non-SE), a few cameras, and 4 APs, and in my 4 years of use, I've had to roll back firmware multiple times due to bugs that took down my entire network. It feels like their release versions are more like alpha versions, especially with newer updates. I can't imagine managing a larger, more critical network with such instability. Unifi should focus on fixing issues and consider offering an LTS (Long-Term Support) option instead of constantly pushing new features.
Ironically after NASCompares complains loudly about there is no Unifi NAS, Unifi basically leaks that one exists in the video introduction for another product.
Irony IS one of my 3 superpowers sadly. I save very few citizens with that one...
Unless they changed something, you can use the cameras in a 3rd party system. just set the camera to stand alone. good fanby-free video.
I feel so heard by this! I love what I have, I want to buy more, but I can't justify the cost and performance. I'm happy to see 2.5 getting in some stuff, but it's too little too late.
Surprised you didn’t bring up that a lot of UniFi products don’t come with UK power supplies. A lot come with EU ones with a rubbish UK travel adapter on it.
Do you need to have internet access to setup a Unifi system from scratch?
Not anymore, no. You do not need a UI.com account either
I’m also not sure I’d agree with that you need or want the “one company to do it all”. NAS storage is very different compared to network infrastructure. I’d say it’s important to keep your focus on what you can do well. Possibly they could have a simpler “box” but then again they’d have a hard time competing with Synology / QNAP-systems.
Should they go 4-bay, 8-bay, larger? What is their target customer? What other NAS-features should they have than dum storage? Backup? Syncing? Other cloud features?
It quickly gets kind of messy and hard to compete. And you’d likely have yet another box you’re “locked down” with.
I liked your video, good insights and agree with your points. Ubiquiti is enthusiast / prosumer grade which translates OK into small business or office or cafe etc, not enterprise at all. It’s like the Apple of networking
A small annoyance regarding the cameras and Protect App: When your router is online and you've connected your phone via Wi-Fi, the UniFi App works great through the cloud. If the internet goes down, it works directly. Glorious. Try the same with Protect App. When the internet works, you can access the recordings just fine. But if the internet connection goes down, (unlike Unifi App) Protect won't work directly/locally. WTF?
The Protect app is buggy enough as it is via the cloud, not surprising.
Reason I’ve avoided their products is compatibility concerns. Their whole brand seems hinged on the idea of only using their (most of the time way more expensive) products together, rather than as a smaller part of existing networks. One of the reasons I went for Synology products was I could use different cameras, hdds, etc but they seem to be slowly going the same way. Trading compatibility for simplicity seems like a losing (and wasteful) strategy for me personally, but each to their own I guess. Be interested in how you find their different products with your other range of products and things that work well, and things that don’t 👍
Working on precisely this! UniFi vs QNAP switches soon, as well as Protect vs Surveillance Station (and you better BELIEVE camera compatibility, licenses and hardware are gonna be the order of the day!!!)
The different product lines work just fine on their own. Routing, switching, Protect, access control, etc.
The whole idea of Protect is to use their gear. I don't want a screwed up mess of different products cobbled together.
The HDD part doesn't make sense, Synology is the one going down that path and never Ubiquiti.
9:25 u have to consider that Unifi has no yearly licensing fee compared to other companies like cisco. considering that it is very cheap.
Yep exactly. Ive been removing a lot of cisco and Meraki gear because customers are tired of the licensing fees. Many have stated they'll pay higher prices if they dont have a high yearly licensing fees.
Really wish they would update the Dream Router with WI-FI 7. It’s such a good little router, switch and Wi-Fi hub for apartments and small homes.
If I’m not mistaken the wifi7 AP has a fan in it for cooling. Add to that the heat from the router… I think in its current format they may struggle to keep it cool, affordable and small. In time though, I’m sure they’ll be updates
Have you tried exporting video from protect yet? Seems limited in duration.
I'm hugely deep diving Protect at the end of Aug/Sept (alongside a surveillance station comparison), so will check this. Thanks man
I have a Protect home surveillance setup and while I do love it, the ability to export/save videos from it is horrible. With that said, they've made some pretty substantial improvements recently towards making it easier to export videos, but it's still not where it should be.
Yeah, they added functionality to export to cloud storage, but not to SMB. I haven’t tested if the cloud option allows for lengthy exports though.
Their store page should embed videos to explain the product range. Spec sheets go against their ease of use ethos.
Solid content. New sub.
Their L2 switches only having 1Gbps SFP uplinks instead of SFP+ is absolutely ABSURD in 2024. Their competitors at the same price all have a couple of 10Gbps SFP+ cages on equivalent products.
Last week’s video appears to be set as “private”?
Could you please check? Appriciated 👍
Will check asap (afk ATM). But it should be live
@@nascomparesThank you.
Thats interesting
Hey gus, in your opinion whats the best software for port forwarding (or whatever its name is). Because I want to access my files remotly but idk if its just the same hassle in any OS for nextcloud or any other servirce in that line. Thanks!
Port forwarding us how you expose a device to the Internet.
What you are looking for is doable via port forwards to expose your NAS, but dangerous.
Qnap and synology both have apps that you can setup to do it safer
@@bengrogan9710thanks a lot! I'm guessing it's a baked in app for your stored stuff? Or is like an OS function that allows remote access to whatever I install/store on NAS?
Their gateway products have VPN tunnel capability to connect remote systems or remote networks together. Their wifiman app also has one built into the gateway and phone for securing phones or securing tethers. You don't want to enable port forwarding as that puts a hole in your firewall.
It's expensive for consumer hardware and dirt cheap for enterprise hardware. Just knowing your use case could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in licensing fees
Unifi wireless (and maybe switching) are the only real reasons its solid for me and makes sense to throw money at. Gateway I'll use a *sense setup when anything above a basic setup is involved.
The camera system is what gets me... I would buy their rack NVRs yesterday if they would support Onvif (a standard which many cameras adhere to work with virtually any system that supports Onvif, even some UniFi cameras). Aside from that, I think you can't export video to other storage except for Google Drive which seems like a joke. Regardless, I'm happy with my Blue Iris system with Dahua OEM cameras on a restricted vlan which offers better camera quality at a lower price
They just announced that Onvif support will be added to Protect in the next month.
@@neburnamal yup heard about this, and now it's in early access apparently. If they can support motion detection & PTZ controls (which I don't think is offered in this early version), I will be sold. Hopefully the finished product has these basic things but I will remain skeptical.
Cable management is my passion
Then I am worried that the opening 60 seconds of this video MASSIVELY OFFENDED YOU! In my defence, it was after 1 week of setup and I didn't want to'set in stone' my hardware till I knew I had it how I wanted it. Thanks for watching
It's Monday, are you going to start your week by taking a comment from a stranger so seriously?
This is the thing about British sarcasm...it travels about as well as milk in a BBQ. I don't actually think your 'passion' is cable management. I mean, I don't want to 'yuck' anyone's yum, but that would be bloody bleak.
Before I hit play, I will be disappointed if this episode does not include seagulls..
I mean, tbh, I think it does. But only because like 90% of my videos do. It's largely unavoidable and..at this point...openly encouraged. But, never say never...
@@nascomparesIt just makes me smile because it reminds me of how annoyed I get when the pigeons set off the motion detection on my cameras but a person walking past doesn't..
Compared to synology pricing is competitive, you are paying for the software like synology .
You can use Unifi cameras on frigate so you are wrong there .
They have just come out with the EFG for enterprise which looks interesting.
An official UniFi NAS is the glaring omission from the lineup and I was beginning to wonder if it was just me because I never see any talk about it. A rack mount 1u expandable UniFi NAS with Plex transcoding capable hardware and 2.5GBe/5GBe/10GBe would be dreamy.
Taking it one step further, they've got server/cloud resources that they've been dabbling in for years now. What if they stepped up the capacity and offered a Back Blaze-esque cloud backup of their UniFi NAS for $99USD/yr? Sure it's 20% more expensive than the current Back Blaze offering but there's not a single person here with an all-UniFi stack that wouldn't pay the premium for an "integrated" solution.
Either way, the addition of a UniFi NAS opens up the door for all sorts of revenue streams that Ubiquiti hasn't yet tapped. Not sure what the holdup is but if they start dropping NAS products I'm sure I'd be willing to part with thousands of dollars shockingly & embarrassingly easily.
You can use their cams via an rtsp stream.... no onvif however 😢
I'm pretty sure "weird" is spelled the way I wrote it... but i'm not a native English speaker...
You get fantastic software online and Honey Pots for free and the honey pots are not cheap
Im working with cisco and fortinet at my IT job and they have that because its everywhere since ever...(like windows for PCs) but its not better.... its wayyyy too pricy, we have RMA on Access points and switches, etc, etc, etc like any other brands. Unifi is not really that far behind. Anytime if I can do it I will swap the big Cisco shit for Unifi.
Even worst for the cameras system. Im working a lot with "entreprise grade" NVR and DVR and I can tell you that Unifi Protect is far ahead in term of software and the cameras are not bad at all and a lot of choice.
youre right on the hardware side, the cameras are poor for the money 2k prices are double the price of a 4k. I have a bunch of cameras from brands I use scripted with HomeKit no licence needed for cameras and free to use
I would love for them to make a nas but for god sake align the frigging drive bays so it isn't the horrible mess of the camera systems with misaligned drivebays... and if I can run unraid on it = perfect...
I have 1500 clients if you include the 600 guess clients any day of the week for cell phones 72 access points and 57 switches My network is exclusively ubiquiti other than the Firewalls / Router and guess what it runs pretty good. Is it perfect no what I prefer true enterprise grade stuff yeah probably so but for what I paid for it it's pretty good.
Oh and I'd also like to point out that an access point is so cheap that if it does go out I don't bother to RMA it or get an extended warranty or anything like that I just replace it and it still comes out a lot cheaper than Cisco or anybody else.
It’s 2024 so imo it’s a joke that their best gateway still comes with mostly 1 gig ports. Also I’m unsure about their privacy policy, seems they can track everything you do and use that information how ever they see fit.
Can you elaborate more on this? I am not aware of this too much and (after pouring over their T&Cs a bit a couple of months ago for a video that I never went ahead with) didn't see anything too egregious. Happy to be proved wrong though.
@@nascompares Under section 1b of their privacy policy they state that they record any web request you make, any IP addresses you access, referring pages, location information, etc. They say they share that info with third parties and when required by law, for example under copyright law. If you go back and look at their privacy policy from 2021 they specifically stated that "we do not collect the contents of any communications that pass through our devices or services" but that has been removed. What I do on my network is none of their business and if they didn't track everything then they wouldn't be able to share any such information under a legal subpoena.
Website annoyance: try figuring out if devices are compatible!
Where can I get me an ''I HATE SEAGULLS' t-shirt?.... I am not quite a technological luddite,but I am close when it comes to networking. BUT even though all the hardware is not up to scratch, I would be happier to have something that is easier to set up, than a series of 'black boxes' that I know nothing about. All I am wanting to do is provide seperate networks for my laptop, smart TVand NAS, my IOT network, security cameras, and a guest network for people who come over. correct me if I am wrong BUT I think the unify system will do just fine. AM I DOING VIDEO EDITING or anything else that requires high data throughput.... NO, so while I am taking your points on the synology surveillance system, I think I will be happy with my choice.
I think the price is good because it doesn't need licenses. @12:00
A very valid point!
I was also missing that part a bit. The hardware is a bit more expensive but the Software is basically "free". In total it is fine. With HPE or Cisco or other professional network vendors you have to pay extra for a lot of the SDN stuff. Also the Firewall features in the Unifi hardware are license free, which is not the case with any other vendor. These are always on yearly plans.
Hernandez Ronald Williams Brenda Johnson Donald
Your mini rack wiring makes my nauseous.....
17:23 - Wierd?....weird*
Do you work in IT as a profession or are you just a CZcamsr IT person? When compared to other brands, Unifi gear is 10x cheaper for what you get. Try getting an enterprise switch from Cisco with full budget PoE. It will cost you around $20,000 USD or more. The fact that large scale deployments can be done with full redundancy, and you can control and monitor your entire building, or home without spending $100,000 or more is amazing. Stop complaining about the cost of Unifi, especially if you are comparing the cost to other consumer level products.
I mean, I'm gonna take you up on this. Let's say I'm a CZcams Newb and I have zero tech knowledge and/or zero network knowledgeable...how would this invalidate any of my points? Pro or Con?
@@nascompares Lets get started, this is going to be long.
First at 9:19 you are comparing an older model of switch on a third party site to switch brands that require you to have a bit more of a tech background to navigate the UI, yes they have a higher POE budget, that is also the only Standard PoE switch that is still listed on the site, again this was the first line of switch they sold.
You compare UniFi Protect cameras to a Reolink camera, one that requires a subscription if you want cloud backups, video is not stored locally by default, and if you want an NVR the best you can get is a 16 channel 4TB max NVR for not sale price of $339.99 USD when compared to the $299.99 USD cost of the UNVR that can take 4 drives, and hold a max of 60 cameras. Plus in the ToS for Reolink, it states you agree to all matters relating to your access to Reolink website, cameras and services shall be interpreted and understood in compliance with the lows of the People Republic of China, which means you cameras are not secure and are most likely sending data to China. UniFi sends nothing out of your network, and you can block all traffic to China and your gear will still function. By the way, the reason the Reolink camera is so cheap is due to the selling of data to China. (www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fpeoples-republic-of-china-in-terms-and-conditions-v0-71hlw1m3ypsa1.jpg%3Fwidth%3D1134%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D0ed86351ce3068cf5dc7bc2b29f1fe6e66eabd94)
At around the 10:00 mark you start talking about how the cost of UniFi hardware is kind of whack for what you are getting, I would disagree, you don't need to pay licenses fees, you get local storage for cameras, you get offline management if you want, or you can have free online access to your entire system if you use an online account. No other vendor on the market offers that. That is worth the cost you pay and is part of the reason the gear costs what it does.
At the 11:00 mark you start taking about how the NVR hardware is a little less what others have on the market, and latter you complain that you can only use UniFi protect cameras in the ecosystem, that is why the hardware is a little lower, they only have to plan for the use of their camera's, not the requirements of 100 brands and different protocols. Also you say the NVR is missing direct HDMI output, who cares, get a viewport and put you cameras on any TV, if they NRV had direct HDMI output it would require more hardware, more power, and it is needless then you understand this is mean to be installed in a network rack in a room no one wants to spend time in.
I will not talk about how you feel the website is a pain to understand, I feel that is just your own shortcomings. Lastly, I am sure they are working on a NAS, enough people want it, and it will probably be build on the NVR pro chassis.
@@nascompares What no response now?
Hi bud. I'm afraid I haven't responded yet because I have limited time for comments sadly. I could wax lyrical about how there's a whole bunch of support online for my points that I spent an age researching to verify that "it's not just me", plus sending this list to unifi themselves 2 weeks before the record to make their case (I removed a point about offline access use for that reason)...Or that I compared against Synology Cams and Vivotek pricing and inclusive licencing (but I was showing the reolink for 'lowest hardware price' as stated). Or that you are willfully misunderstanding the onvif and long term open use point I was making But also, I'm not sure you are not here to be convinced. So, I'll just leave you to it.
.....It's almost as if the UniFi website was designed by Ai, possibly UniFi GPT?😉
The website is a mess for sure. As highlighted in the video, finding what hardware can do isn’t easy e.g a security appliance or what on earth those dream machines are. I’d like to see user written reviews and 5 star rating system. Be good to tell people my NanoUD looks yellow but all the rest of my old and new kit are fine. Oh I’m sure too the CK2+ will have low rating with the terrible HDD & battery issues
UNIFI is an entire ecosystem where everything works together as one. Just like the Apple ecosystem.
When you decide to go UNIFI you must go all the way in... "balls deep" as they say in the USA 🤣. That's why everything just works, like magic. It's beautiful!
Having said all that, as soon as UNIFI releases a NAS, I will buy it immediately... knowing how well they will integrate it in their ecosystem. And that would replace my aging WD EX4100.
Yep, but what if you don't want to go "knackers up to the hilt" as we don't say in the UK? That's when the ROI of alot of uniFi deminishes. In their defence though, they literally call their product series "unifi' (ie unify/unification/uniform)..so going "all in" is the USP
I've added a mikrotik switch and people mix in pfsense but you lose a bit of the single pane of glass interface. Kinds screwd on other nvr for the cams cams unless you use limited rtsp stream on a synology or something
That is exactly the reason why I don't like unifi devices. Although the devices themselves are good, they are a pain to configure to work with devices from other manufacturers.
I have to say QNAP has one of the most confusing portfolio I’ve ever seen. Not that this makes Unify better in any way buuuuuut… :)
OH...I KNOW. I only raised this as an example as, if you are looking for a KIND of thing,they have beadcrumbed the hell out of their selection. however, yeah, once you get into the weeds and find 5-6 different 4-Bay devices... then it can be...interesting. But to their credit, they do show all the options and filters on the side to narrow it down. Just a question of knowing which filters/factors are important (now THAT could be clearer).
Wilson Patricia Thomas Cynthia Anderson Maria
You should check out Omada ecosystem from TP Link also
I would like to add that the Dream Machines have the added ability to go into an infinite boot loop upon reboot, requiring them to powered of for multiple hours before they can start again, if they ever can. I had the opportunity to replace both the DM pro and DM SE with separate gateways and controllers. Clown show
I hate UniFi and Meraki for Enterprise. UniFi wireless is Junk and Meraki Firewalls are junk. There are way better options out there.
LOL they wasted a lot of phone systems.....every unifi system I see has no talk set up. I almost did it at my last gig, I know some do but damn....desk phones feel 1999
Energy and Solar integration are my next hope for them.....
UniFi is pure garbage. Terrible security. Terrible support. Total amateur rubbish.
Ubiquiti UniFi is the Apple Computers of networking.
Nah, no support or help. Cluttered unintuitive UI.
Well, you shoudl be glad, they did not release NAS, everybody would use it and ... nobody would give a cr.p about other NASes you test :)