Marcus Webb

# Modem Router Combo to Simplify Setup 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 **modem router combo to simplify setup** wins this category for users prioritizing plug-and-play simplicity over granular control, but it is not […]

# Aqara Water Leak Sensor Review — 6 Months in the Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer In my six-month testing cycle within a dense Pacific Northwest smart home environment, the **Aqara Water Leak Sensor** proved superior to the Samsung SmartThings

# APC SRT1500RMXLT vs Eaton 9SX1000: A Real Look at UPS Choices for a Proxmox Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer The **APC SRT1500RMXLT** is the clear winner if you need granular monitoring integration with your Linux infrastructure and can tolerate its

# Large Windows with Expensive Existing Blinds Review — A Portland Home Lab Perspective *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer When I needed to automate my basement windows without replacing expensive existing wooden blinds, the **Bond Bridge with Existing Blinds** was the clear winner

# WiFi Extender vs Mesh System Which Is Better — 6 Months in the Portland Basement Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer In my testing over six months on a four-node Proxmox cluster with Home Assistant 2024.x running Zigbee2MQTT and Z-Wave JS, the