Review on 💻 Zyxel GS1900-8HP: Smart Managed Gigabit PoE+ Switch - 8 Ports, 70 Watt Budget, VLAN, IGMP, QoS by Michael Tran

I take the time to review a product if it is either exceptional or so inferior in performance or value that I wouldn't even give a law to my brother-in-law. The Zyxel GS1200-5 belongs to a later category. I'm a big fan of Zyxel and have a lot of their products. There aren't many fans at the moment. Good Features: Reasonable price and competitive at $29.95. Has all the bells and whistles; Managed, VLAN, IGMP Snooping, Q801, etc. Bad: The configuration is not intuitive. very limited scope. Ugliness: The firmware needs to be updated. just right? Not right! I made a new firmware, read the procedure and warnings. OK, simple enough. I connected via LAN, uploaded to the GS1200-5, waited for the reboot. "Update Failed" Hell, what if it didn't? It uses Uboot, a very reliable firmware updater. Tried again, same results. Investigated the issue and someone said it reboots and first checks the DHCP server and uses that instead of the fixed IP address 192.168.1.3. No mention in Zyxel Rev, Notes. I checked my DHCP server and found no IP assignments for the switch's MAC address. Tried to update again, only this time it's "blocked". Attempts to boot, lights flashing, new download begins. Loops only. decision time. I knew opening the case would void the warranty. What the heck, it's only $30. Internally it uses a WinBond chip for its Flash:Uboot on Hex0-20000Kernal on Hex20000-13C73Croot on Hex13C73C-750000 This is not a Zyxel property, but the default limits for Uboot. Well, if I can look into the root I can probably find what's broken and maybe fix it. Dug up my FTDI serial cable, checked the serial pins on the board after soldering. Used PUTTY, serial number @ 115200.8N1. Nod-yes, nothing. threw. Made a nice noise bouncing off the sides of the bin. Conclusion: Don't buy with an opinion. Recommended 8-port TP-Link, TL-SG108 unmanaged or TL-SG108E single-managed. Geezer70