# Synology DS1821 Plus NAS Review — 6 Months in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer The **Synology DS1821 Plus** is an over-engineered mid-range unit that struggles with its own bloatware and lacks the raw I/O performance needed for heavy […]
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# Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni Review — Six Months in a Portland Proxmox Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer After six months of daily use and roughly 720 hours of uptime on my four-node Proxmox cluster running Home Assistant 2024.5, the **Ecovacs
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# A Multi-Zone Heating and Cooling Guide for Home Lab Engineers — 6 Months in the Portland Basement *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer If you are running a Proxmox cluster or managing multiple HVAC zones via MQTT/Zigbee2MQTT, neither of the major consumer smart
# Smart Lock Security Audit — Can They Be Hacked? Real Lab Findings from Portland *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer The concept of a “hacked” smart lock usually stems from unpatched firmware vulnerabilities or weak encryption keys found in older Tuya-based ecosystems. In
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# Reolink Video Doorbell WiFi Review — 6 Months in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer In my testing of the **Reolink Video Doorbell WiFi**, this unit proved significantly more resilient than its rivals when integrated into a Linux-based smart
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# Color Changing Ambiance Lighting Review — 6 Months in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer After six months of daily use across my four-node Proxmox cluster and twenty-four-bay Synology NAS, the **Philips Hue White and Color A19** remains the
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# Zooz ZEN71 Smart Switch Review — 6 Months in a Portland Proxmox Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer The **Zooz ZEN71 Smart Switch** is the most reliable non-Lutron option for controlling legacy loads that lack native smart support, though it requires
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# Amazon Echo Show 5 Review — Six Months in the Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer The **Amazon Echo Show 5** is a competent entry-level smart display priced at approximately $109.99 that succeeds only as an isolated speaker unit with
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# How Many Cameras Do I Need for a Typical Home Review — 6 Months in the Portland Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer Determining camera count is rarely about buying more hardware; it’s about calculating blind spots based on your specific risk
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# How to Choose Air Purifier with Subscription Filter Plan Review in WiFi Routers & Mesh Systems: A Portland Home Lab Perspective *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer In my testing of the **how to choose air purifier with subscription filter plan**, I found
