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# Asus ZenWiFi Pro XT12 with VPN 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 **Asus ZenWiFi Pro XT12 with VPN**, I found it to be an excellent choice for users who […]

# Motorola MB7621 vs Netgear CM1100 — A Cable Modem Showdown in the Portland Basement Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer Between these two DOCSIS 3.1 gateways, the **Motorola MB7621** wins for anyone running a Linux-based smart home ecosystem because it supports OpenWrt

# Honeywell Lyric Wi-Fi Water Leak 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 **Honeywell Lyric Wi-Fi Water Leak**, I found it to be a viable budget option for simple plug-and-play setups

# APC SRT1500RMXLT 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 on my four-node Proxmox cluster and Synology NAS infrastructure, the **APC SRT1500RMXLT** remains a solid mid-range choice for users needing

# IKEA FYRTUR Smart Roller Blind Review — 180 Days in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer After running continuous stress tests on my four-node Proxmox cluster with Zigbee2MQTT handling over fifty devices across the basement and attic of my

# Helping One Specific Dead Zone Room Review — 6 Months in the Portland Basement Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer After running continuous stress tests across my four-node Proxmox cluster and connecting over forty Zigbee devices through a congested basement-to-attic path on

# Are Smart Smoke Detectors Worth the Extra Cost? A Portland Home Lab Analysis *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer In my testing within a basement environment filled with Wi-Fi congestion from apartment neighbors and legacy HVAC systems, smart smoke detectors do not justify

# Photo Backup and Google Photos Replacement Review — 6 Months in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer When I needed to replace my cloud subscription with something that actually respects local privacy laws while keeping file integrity checks running

# Philips Hue Gradient Lightstrip Review — 18 Months in the Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer The **Philips Hue Gradient Lightstrip** is a premium fixture for users who prioritize color accuracy and smooth gradient rendering over price sensitivity. In my

# Zooz ZEN77 Smart Dimmer Review — Six Months in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer After running this device through my four-node Proxmox cluster with Zigbee2MQTT for the last six months, I found that the **Zooz ZEN77 Smart Dimmer**