Kitz Forum
Computers & Hardware => Hardware - Deals & Bargains => Topic started by: michty_me on December 01, 2018, 11:26:03 PM
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I've been keeping an eye on prices for the Synology RT2600AC and I've noticed Onbuy (seller is actually Vargtech through Onbuy) but I've not heard of either.
I'm unsure if the units would be imported and require an adapter or such.
I believe Vargtech are in Leeds according to their website but oddly can't find that router on their website.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
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I see that the device is available via Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Synology-RT2600ac-Dual-band-Router-MU-MIMO/dp/B01MU50C41) for £235.43 with free delivery.
Ouch. :ouch:
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I see that the device is available via Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Synology-RT2600ac-Dual-band-Router-MU-MIMO/dp/B01MU50C41) for £235.43 with free delivery.
Ouch. :ouch:
Yup, it isn't a cheap device. I've said to myself I would probably go for it if it hit the £180 area but it seems to be going up in price!!
Edit to add:
I found a contact link to Vargtech so asked a few questions.
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I have ordered my sister's xmas present from onbuy only 2 days ago, as thats what she requested, so I got no feedback yet as nothing has arrived yet.
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there are far better routers out there for a similar or cheaper price than the synology.
i looked at one previously and the reviews were varied at best.
it's got a lot of nice bells and whistles, but for its primary task it is outperformed by other devices.
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there are far better routers out there for a similar or cheaper price than the synology.
i looked at one previously and the reviews were varied at best.
it's got a lot of nice bells and whistles, but for its primary task it is outperformed by other devices.
I know the reviews for the RT1900AC were very mixed but the reviews for the RT2600AC seemed very promising. It seems to be pipped against the faster wireless items from Netgear, Asus etc in newer reviews which are faster devices from the get go.
I just thought it might be worth a punt as Asus still can't sort out their issues that were ongoing from when I had that Ac68U.
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the main problem i saw with it was that it was trying to be a jack of all trades device, but not excelling in any of them.
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the main problem i saw with it was that it was trying to be a jack of all trades device, but not excelling in any of them.
I see, I know they have been working on improving the firmware and listen to feedback from customers which I like.
Are there any you would recommend other than the Synology that I could consider?
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it depends what you are trying to achieve.
there's a lot to be said for splitting out your boxes to ones that do a single job very well, rather than 1 box that does many not quite as well.
i'm on cable and utilise a 3 box system - 1 modem, 1 router/switch, 1 wifi ap.
the modem i have no choice over, but the router does just that (and does it very well), and 1 the wifi ap does just wifi (and also does that very well).
it means that if i ever want to upgrade the wifi (for whatever reason) then i'm just replacing that, and not having to replace the router and everything else at the same time.
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it depends what you are trying to achieve.
there's a lot to be said for splitting out your boxes to ones that do a single job very well, rather than 1 box that does many not quite as well.
i'm on cable and utilise a 3 box system - 1 modem, 1 router/switch, 1 wifi ap.
the modem i have no choice over, but the router does just that (and does it very well), and 1 the wifi ap does just wifi (and also does that very well).
it means that if i ever want to upgrade the wifi (for whatever reason) then i'm just replacing that, and not having to replace the router and everything else at the same time.
Ideally I'm wanting something reliable and will be pretty solid with good wifi, something with a fairly easy GUI would be ideal and have plenty features for future use.
People have tried to talk me into going the ubiquiti route but absolutely no need for it.
I'm in the process of networking my house to a switch under the stairs to various rooms so wanted a good solid unit to deal with everything.
I'm running a separate zyxel modem as I moved away from a one box solution due to lock ups on my D7000. It now only does the routing and WiFi but still locks up, hence wanting a new device.
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well i actually use ubiquiti.
for the price of that synology you could have got separate ubiquiti kit which would far out perform it.
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well i actually use ubiquiti.
for the price of that synology you could have got separate ubiquiti kit which would far out perform it.
From what I've been reading else where, people are saying the newer firmwares are quite buggy and basically customers are beta testers for the new equipment.
I priced up everything I would want from ubiquiti and it was going to come in at about £350-£400.
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can't say i've noticed any bugs on my kit, but it might be specific to certain devices.
however new firmwares aren't forced pushed on to devices, the user has full control as to when (or if) anything gets installed. their forums publish lots of what about gets changed in each release.
what did you price up out of interest? considering you've already got a modem i'm not sure what you'd need that would end up at £400. maybe you over specced. also, remember that you don't need everything to be ubiquiti. you could get an edgeouter to be your router (very low priced, but powerful, and gives you 4 ports for a switch), add a bigger switch and an AP.
as i said though, it depends on your specific site requirements, how many switch ports you'd need, how many APs needed to cover the whole site. whether you want/need PoE, etc etc
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its been shipped
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can't say i've noticed any bugs on my kit, but it might be specific to certain devices.
however new firmwares aren't forced pushed on to devices, the user has full control as to when (or if) anything gets installed. their forums publish lots of what about gets changed in each release.
what did you price up out of interest? considering you've already got a modem i'm not sure what you'd need that would end up at £400. maybe you over specced. also, remember that you don't need everything to be ubiquiti. you could get an edgeouter to be your router (very low priced, but powerful, and gives you 4 ports for a switch), add a bigger switch and an AP.
as i said though, it depends on your specific site requirements, how many switch ports you'd need, how many APs needed to cover the whole site. whether you want/need PoE, etc etc
I'll have a look for what I was planning to get and report back.
In the end, I felt it was total overkill for what I would be using it for.
Taking edgerouter/ubiquiti or microtik out of the equation, what would you recommend?
@chrysalis, that's good to know. Thanks!
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all i could say is that i'd recommend buying kit from a company that actually specialise in that sort of thing.
synology have no track record of making routers/switches etc.
yes they make NAS devices (and seem to be reasonable enough at that), but you'd be jumping into the un-known by using them for routing.
stick to companies that specialise in routing.
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That's probably a fairly reasonable comment and didn't really think about that. I'll look into it again when I get home.
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the order did arrive a few days ago but didnt confirm until today when I opened the package.
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the order did arrive a few days ago but didnt confirm until today when I opened the package.
If you don't mind me asking, was it a router that was purchased?
Im now unsure what to do after checks rightly pointed out that Synology are new to the router game. But all the reviews I've read say it's a 'beast of a device'
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no wasnt pc electronics.
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no wasnt pc electronics.
Ok thanks!
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Chenks,
I believe the items I was recommended on the Ubiquiti forums were as follows:
Unifi USG (Around £110)
Switch 16 port (or two 8 ports to save £100) (£85-£95 depending on PoE requirments)
Access point AC-lite (possibly two) (£70 each)
Cloud key £65
So that works out at £340 if I just get an 8 port PoE switch and one Access point. It pushes it up to £490 if I need two switches although could just get a cheapo one for the second one.
I guess the cloud key wouldn't be required either and could just run that on a PC. If that is right enough, It could potentially cost around £270 cutting out all the extras.
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you don't need a cloudkey if you can host the unifi controller locally on a windows or linux box.
do you really need 16 or even 8 ports?
you could remove the USG and use an ER-X instead (which is what i use), that's a router and 4 port switch combined (with one PoE port). the ER-X can be powered via PoE (on port 0) and has PoE passthru on port 4 (which i then user to power the AP AC-Lite). the ER-X can be had very cheaply but is very powerful in what it can do.
you need to be careful about what "version" of PoE the switches support as ubiquiti kits uses two different types (depending on the specific kit). some use 24V PoE and some use 802.3af.
bear in mind you'll still need a separate modem in all of this - the USG (or th ER-X) is just a router/gateway, NOT a modem.
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I believe I was advised to go down the USG route as I told the person at the time I was more of a basic user. If I remember right, they said the edgerouter required some knowledge of cli which I don't.
As for ports, once I get time I'll be pulling cables into several rooms through my house.
I've got a HG612 and a Zyxel 1312-b10a to cover my modem side.
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ER-X pretty much everything you'd need via the GUI.
i've only had to dip into the CLI for some of the "power user" stuff.
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ER-X pretty much everything you'd need via the GUI.
i've only had to dip into the CLI for some of the "power user" stuff.
So it sound that I have been misinformed regarding what I would need and what would be simplest to use. Interesting to know!!!
I shall look into this stuff again then. Thanks!!
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i think you've definetely over-specced for a home system.
doubt you'd even need 2 APs, unless your house is massive and has brick walls internally.
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i think you've definetely over-specced for a home system.
doubt you'd even need 2 APs, unless your house is massive and has brick walls internally.
I wouldn't say overly big. It's 180m2 or a bit less. It's all modern built so just wood and plasterboard.
I've read the APs work best when pointing down so am considering maybe putting it in the loft if I go down that route.
I'm guessing I could go ER-X SPF for more PoE ports incase I require additional AP's without the need to use the PoE injection device?
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defintely the Unifi APs are meant to be ceiling mounted.
i'd maybe avoid the loft though and just put it on the upstairs landing ceiling.
the AP AC-Lite is the base model AP, but it still performs well, and "should" be enough for a normal house coverage. there are lots of other models though that up the performance at each step.
whatever PoE device you end up with, make sure it matches the PoE version that the other device support (see previous post regarding 24v PoE and 802.3af.
also, for PoE, make sure you invest in some good quality cabling (solid core, shielded etc).
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Yeah maybe a better idea to be fair.
I'll probably not order anything until I've got cables in place and ready to be used.
I've got a full box of cat5e cable with solid cores but I have a feeling it could be UTP.
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sure use the 5e if that's what you have, but if doing the cabling from scratch you may want to consider at least cat6.
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Cat5e is more than enough unless you want to future proof for 10Gb.
If that's the case then go with Cat6.
If there are very long runs you may want to consider Cat6a.
After a set distance (about 50m I believe?) Cat6 will drop off quite quickly but you would need an exceptionally big house or a really complicated long run around the building for this.
I'm about to buy some cable to wire up the upstairs and will be buying cat5e.
I can't see me buying kit that supports 10Gb at both ends for many, many, many years.
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I've got 305m of cat5e. I managed to get it for quite cheap but it is proper cat5e and not CCA or stranded wires.
Nothing I own is 10Gb capable and doubt it will be for a good while.
The routes I've planned will be simple to just attach different cable and use the old as a draw wire if for whatever reason I do decide to upgrade anything. I just need free time to get it done and don't seem to have any unfortunately.
Should I get this thread split as I've started going off on a tangent when the original question was about an online shop.