Hey Everybody, I am thinking of upgrading my entire home network. I mean if POTUS wants to send me some more money, I need to spend it. What I am considering is the Unifi ecosystem. I was wondering if any of you use Unifi and how you like it, the advantages of it and if you would recommend Unifi.
Thanks in advance for your input.
I have an entire Ubiquiti UniFi system running in my house now. It has been very stable and reliable for our needs. I went with a UniFi Dream Machine (base model, not the pro model), as I believed that the integrated Wireless Access Point, plus lower cost, made more sense to me.) I have three additional wireless access points, a Nano HD, a Flex HD, and an AC-Lite. These are powered by UniFi POE Switches that I have throughout the house.
If I was going to start from scratch, I would probably go with the UDM Pro, a large UniFi POE switch, multiple UniFI HD or WiFi6 access points around the house, and UniFi Flex Mini switches at point of use areas. Running the UDM Pro + UniFI POE Switch on a UPS, would then ensure that all Access Points and Flex Mini switches would stay powered up during a power blip. Using the UDM Pro would also allow the flexibility of using the UniFi Protect software to monitor POE powered UniFi Cameras, if that is desired.
@stephack has a UDM Pro system, so I am tagging him to see if he'd like to share some of his experiences.
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just avoid the beta firmware 
i am on the beta track but hey, what can i say… i love problems and pain
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Yeah... I've had the unifi beta releases completely destroy my network more than once over the years (admittedly it is a rare occurrence though).
I am now on the production releases for everything that I can (can't yet on my U6 Mesh - and it has repeatedly crashed multiple times over the past 4 months on various beta releases - so it might be good that it is still EA only).
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I'm on the Unifi wagon as of mid-2020, moving up from a Netgear Orbi mesh. Definately prosumer and a step up. I know some grumble on reporting and firewall, as well as the newly removed need to have internet account to log into your local box, but i've been happy with the ROI I've gotten out of it.
Current Unifi Environment:
- UDM Pro
- Unifi 16 Port POE Switch
- Unifi AP-AC-Lite
- Unifi AP-AC-Pro
Once you go Hubitat and Unifi, you'll just keep going... When things settle down, i'll probably have a low voltage guy come in to run cable from my basement to my 2nd floor attic. I have what some builders have called an 'exploding rubics cube' house due to multiple additions.... i tried once and threw in the towel.
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This is my plan, if I get the money.
I currently have a Google wifi mesh system. The main unit is mounted near the ceiling at the rear of the house. I would place a UDM unit in this same location. It already has 2 ethernet cables running to it one to the cable modem and 1 to the Lan switch. I would replace this Lan switch with a Unifi lite 16 port switch with 8 port poe. I would install one Wifi6 AP where I already have one of the Google mesh units at the front of the house, it is hardwired. I would install a In Wall HD in the garage where the other Google mesh unit is, it is hardwired also plus it has 3 ethernet ports for other stuff in the garage. I am hoping that the Unifi wireless equipment would have as good coverage as the Google stuff. I cover 90% of my property with the Google. Just send me the money.
I am looking for more security with the Unifi, better control and monitoring of the network and I am retired and need something to do.
i have:
cloud key 2+
usg 3p
2 ap ac pro
1 ap ac m
48 port poe switch
4 cams
you may want to avoid the usg 3 series at this point
The USG is the one product from them I don't use. I just don't like it / think is has the right feature set for my needs. I have been much happier rolling my own gateway with Untangle or OPNsense.
But, if the USG line can do what you need, it is certainly convenient to have it all in the UniFi Controller view.
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I think I will stick with the UDM, it should do everything I need and avoid the USG.
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the usg 3 series throttles bandwidth to between 85-125 mbs so if you are on an isp with higher rates then you may be disappointed. and many have reported internal battery issues.
the uxg pro is currently in beta but who knows when or if it will be released.
there is a usg 4 pro
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I'm a Netgear Orbi fan. I've been using an Orbi RBK53 mesh system for four years, and it's simply awesome: fast and stable! I used to have more than 100 wi-fi IoT devices before migrated to ZigBee, and I never had problems. I would recommend its new generation with WiFi 6 support.
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I assume you're considering this UniFi switch?
The only thing to be careful of is that this switch cannot power a bunch of POE devices due to its 45W total power limit. Take this into consideration based on your total POE planned future usage.
I am a network newbie but I bought an Edgerouter X and a couple of their Unifi Flex Mini 5 port switches about 6 weeks ago. I am using the Deco M5s that I already had but now switched to AP mode. Thanks to YouTube, I was able to separate all of my IoT devices onto a 2.4Ghz wifi SSID & subnet and everything else on a separate subnet and dual-band SSID. I have 2 Deco pucks dedicated to each SSID.
Edgerouter and Unifi switches don't communicate as well as an all Unifi systems would and no traffic info comes from Decos. However I spent $60 on router and $29 each for switches. I have Unifi Controller running on an always on desktop.
It does everything I need it to do except talk to HE.
At the current time I have only 1 device a camera needing poe and I have an injector for it. With the new setup I should only need to power the 2 AP's and the camera. I would hope that the switch should take care of those needs. I also need to think about future addons.
I am using Unifi for wifi and switches, my router / security gateway is Untangle that I run on a Protectli FW4b: FW4B - 4 Port Intel ® J3160 - Protectli
I like the Orbi but their lack of supporting tagging for network segmentation is a miss with their platform. I wanted to create VLAN's for IoT, a lab network for testing out untrusted devices, and a guest network that prevents abuse though traffic shaping.
As for POE I am using all 8 POE ports of my 16 port lite switch and still have a reserve of:
PoE Power Consumption / Budget 19.04W / 42.00W
I have a very simple topology:
I also have an Edgerouter X that I am currently using as a switch. The problem was, when using it as a router that unless the Google system was plugged into the cable modem which only has one port, it would not function with the ERX. I tried many configurations of the ERX but could not make it work. If the Google system worked at all then both the ERX and Google were giving out IP addresses causing conflicts and the Google would lockup after about an hour. Believe me I tried to make it work without success.
Reading the comments on the unifi forum even the release is beta 
Yeah I read that the Google device will only work in AP mode if there is only one puck. That's not much of a mesh.
Yea, i've also done this. One VLAN for Core, One for IOT, One for Guest. I also have my main wifi network, iot wifi, and guest. Thinking about adding one in for kids.
Works really well. Only one tricky part is my Plex MS is on my core with my NAS, but my Roku Ultra's are on my IOT. Just a little bit more work to get those single static IP's to be able to chat.
You are only one firewall rule away.
I have quite a few rules for single device with one way communication.
I have similar setup to yours.
