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# pfSense Netgate 2100 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 The **pfSense Netgate 2100** is an excellent firewall appliance for users who prioritize local control and open-source flexibility over plug-and-play convenience. In my testing

# 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

# Powerline for Wired Connection Through Walls 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 In my testing of powerline adapters to provide wired Ethernet through walls without drilling, the **TP-Link TL-WPA8631P KIT** is the clear

# Netgear WiFi Mesh Range Extender EX7500 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 six months of daily use within the basement lab, the **Netgear WiFi Mesh Range Extender EX7500** proved superior to its

# Roost Smart Battery vs Google Nest Protect Review — 6 Months in a Portland Home Lab *By Marcus Webb — 8 years enterprise network engineering, 6-year Portland home lab* ## The Short Answer If you are running local MQTT on your own Proxmox cluster and need true independence from the cloud during a power

# Synology DS723 Plus NAS 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 **Synology DSM** is an excellent entry point for users who want a dedicated file server without the complexity of managing raw Linux