This is the gear that is actually in the lab: the switches, drives, adapters, tools and boards I have bought and used, grouped by what they do. Every item here came out of my own order history — nothing on this page was sent to me, and nobody paid for a placement.
The price next to each item is what I paid at the time , not today’s price. Hardware prices move constantly, so check the listing before you buy. Links on this page are affiliate links.
I get commissions for purchases made through links on this page. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
2.5GbE and the network Gigabit was the ceiling for years. These are the pieces that actually moved this house past it, in the order I bought them.
10-port 2.5G unmanaged switch (8x2.5G + 2x10G SFP)
Cheapest way I found to get a 2.5G backbone plus two 10G uplinks without touching the rest of the rack.
paid $69.98 - bought Jan 2026
Zyxel MG-105 5-port 2.5G unmanaged switch
The fanless 5-port I ran first. Still the quiet default for a small desk stack.
paid $99.99 - bought Oct 2022
SODOLA 5-port 2.5G switch
Second 2.5G switch in the house, bought when I needed a port where the cabling already was.
paid $87.99 - bought Oct 2022
Plugable 2.5G USB-C / USB-A Ethernet adapter
How a laptop actually reaches 2.5G without opening the case.
paid $28.95 - bought Oct 2022
TRENDnet 2.5G USB-C to RJ-45 adapter
Same job, different chipset. Useful when one adapter misbehaves on a particular dock.
paid $34.99 - bought Oct 2022
Cable Matters USB-C to 2.5GbE adapter
The cheapest 2.5G adapter on this list.
paid $21.59 - bought Oct 2022
NETGEAR Nighthawk CAX80 cable modem + WiFi 6 router
Modem and router in one box. Replaced a two-device stack.
paid $299.99 - bought Oct 2022
ARRIS Surfboard G36 DOCSIS 3.1 + AX3000 router
The combo unit that does multi-gig on the WAN side.
paid $296.99 - bought Oct 2022
UPS and power Four tiers of battery backup, from a flicker-absorber to a pure sine wave unit that runs the storage.
CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD 1500VA/1000W sine wave UPS
Pure sine wave. This is the one that runs the NAS and the switch stack.
paid $219.95 - bought Jun 2024
CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA/900W UPS
Same capacity class, simulated sine wave. Fine for a desktop, not for a PSU that cares.
paid $161.95 - bought Oct 2021
Powertech PT-600 600VA UPS
Small tower for a single machine.
paid $73.99 - bought Dec 2022
APC Back-UPS BE425M 425VA
The entry tier. Enough to ride out a flicker.
paid $44.99 - bought Jun 2019
Drives and bays NAS-branded drives next to bare enterprise pulls, with what I paid for each.
Seagate IronWolf Pro 4TB NAS drive
The NAS-branded option, priced like it.
paid $84.95 - bought Feb 2022
Seagate IronWolf Pro 4TB NAS drive (second unit)
Bought a second one at a higher price, which is the usual pattern.
paid $105.59 - bought Jan 2022
HGST / WD Ultrastar DC HC520 12TB
Enterprise pull. 12TB for less than three times the price of the 4TB NAS drive.
paid $94.94 - bought Oct 2024
Seagate Enterprise Capacity 10TB (helium)
Server-grade drive, bought bare, no NAS branding.
paid $132.96 - bought Nov 2023
Syba 5-bay tool-less hot-swap SATA enclosure
Five bays over USB. The bridge between loose drives and a proper server.
paid $136.38 - bought Oct 2022
Single-board and dev boards Small computers doing specific jobs, plus the parts they need to be useful.
Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, 2GB
The board that ends up running some small unfashionable service.
paid $98.91 - bought Jul 2026
Orange Pi Zero 3, 2GB
Cheaper Pi alternative. Bought alongside the Pi 4 to compare.
paid $63.99 - bought Jul 2026
USB-C 5V 4A 20W power supply for Pi 4 / Orange Pi 5
Boards fail on bad power supplies. This one is rated for the job.
paid $9.99 - bought Jul 2026
ESP32-C3 Supermini development board
WiFi microcontroller for sensors that do not need a full Pi.
paid $12.99 - bought Jan 2026
ESP32 ESP-WROOM-32 Type-C development boards (2 sets)
The workhorse module, with a Type-C connector instead of micro-USB.
paid $16.99 - bought Jun 2024
PN532 NFC / RFID reader module kit
Reads cards and tags over I2C, SPI or serial.
paid $12.99 - bought Jan 2026
DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor
The cheap sensor. Ties into the local automation stack.
paid $6.99 - bought Jan 2026
MG90S metal-gear micro servos (4-pack)
Small metal-geared servos for anything that has to move.
paid $10.99 - bought Aug 2025
Breadboard header pin kit (75 pieces)
Headers for wiring up the above without waiting on another order.
paid $12.99 - bought Jan 2026
Cameras, sensors and monitoring The sensors feeding the local monitoring stack. Local first, cloud only where there is no alternative.
Anker PowerConf C200 2K webcam
2K webcam with a built-in privacy shutter. Used for calls and for filming hardware.
paid $47.49 - bought Jan 2026
Wyze Cam v3
The camera that the local NVR setup consumes.
paid $33.94 - bought Oct 2022
Wyze Cam v2 with Wyze Sense starter kit
The original pair, and the first contact sensors on the network.
paid $47.96 - bought Aug 2019
Amazon eero 6 mesh WiFi extender (refurbished)
Extends the eero mesh into the far rooms.
paid $49.99 - bought Nov 2024
Emporia smart home energy monitor
Circuit-level power monitoring. This is where the electricity data comes from.
paid $69.99 - bought Jun 2021
Wyze Plug WiFi smart plug
Smart plug with local-capable firmware.
paid $39.95 - bought Dec 2021
Amazon Smart Air Quality Monitor
Air quality sensor that reports into the same local dashboards.
paid $49.99 - bought Mar 2023
Zigbee door / window sensors
Contact sensors, paired to the local hub rather than a vendor cloud.
paid $7.90 - bought Oct 2022
Where a piece of gear replaced something else, the post about the swap is linked from the relevant article rather than repeated here. If something on this list has since failed, been replaced or stopped being worth buying, it comes off the page.
