I use a DVR, and only have the option for copper at less than Gb speeds with my ISP. I bought the express, but wasn't happy because I already have 3 AC-Pro's, 1 USW-8-Lite (Poe) and a Flex Mini. Being restricted to only 4 additional Unifi devices already had me hitting the ceiling. I decided to buy the UCG Ultra. For MY use case. This is perfect. It gives me the headroom for future expansion, while giving me the room for what I already own.
UniFi have a problem with their naming scheme, the Ultra and Max really don't denote their place in the line. The Ultra name means nothing when comparing it the Max's capabilities.
I bought the UCG-Ultra for my own home use, since I live in a smallish apartment and cannot install cameras. Saving that cash to invest into a U7-Pro instead of a U6-Plus for the newer WiFi-6E/7 compatibility felt very worthwhile to me.
@@oddmade I did the same thing and it works great. One thing I ended up doing pretty much a week after installing everything was also getting the USW-Lite 8 PoE, simply because I wanted to properly set all my VLANs and ability to power cycle my home assistant remotely if needed. One thing that surprised me a bit is how much heat the U7-Pro produces. I later found out that most Wi-Fi 7 APs run pretty hot, but initially, I thought something's wrong. One day, I'm going to measure the power consumption, but I imagine it might be a bit higher than with WiFi 6 APs.
Just picked up an Ultra and it's perfect for my 1G fiber. 8-port PoE switch feeds a couple APs for a slew of IoT devices, IoT hubs, flex switches for the office and entertainment room, and every device is happy. Also your lighting is incredible.
I got my Cloud gateway max a couple of days ago and outside my existing unifi 10gb switch and being relatively new to the unifi eco system, I love it... I'm comming from opnsense/pfsense in my homelab and those willl serve as backup. But atm I can highly recommend it.. Plan to hookup a few cameras in the future. I do notice unifi devices get TOASTY hot... But so far zero issues.. Adoption of my 10gb switch was obviously a breeze and resetting up my network was as well. I do hope they expand the logging and filtering capabilities a lot as this is so barebone. And the firewall rule system could use a bit of work.
I got the Ultra in my summerhouse. It replaced an aging UDM (pill shaped). I was looking for something without an AP as the router itself will likely last longer than the AP, and the Ultra fit the bill. Granted, the max wasn’t out at the time, and had I known, I probably wouldn’t have gotten the ultra. Still, it has 2 functions, it provides gigabit internet access over WiFi to my summerhouse, and maintains a site to site connection to my gateway at home, and the Uitra does that just fine. It took 5 years for me to upgrade from 200/200 to gigabit, and only because gigabit was cheaper, so for the needs I have there, the Ultra will probably do just fine for 5-8 years. Cameras are handled by HomeKit Secure Video in the summerhouse. I have protect at home, but being a small house, I didn’t have room to setup a “large” NVR or UDM Pro, so I went with WiFi only cameras, which has worked surprisingly well.
A few months ago, I purchased and installed the Cloud Gateway Ultra. The house I bought a few years ago had a couple of older Unifi APs and I controlled them on the web. That was a real PIA. I am not interested in any of the other UniFi stuff only the APs. I have StarLink as my ISP and the router I was replacing was an old Peplink Balance 20. I have upgraded and replaced some real old APs from Ubiquiti that I had. For me the CGU was perfect. Easy to setup with a very attractive price for so many useful features.
my only complain for all this new white boxes from UBN - they massivly overheat. There is zero holes or any vents to dissipate heat. We monitor temperatures in all Rack cages our customers have and Unifi white boxes even old CLoudkey2 are 50+ celsius without any usage at all. This all can be "OK" but imagine to have it for 5 years unattended in a rack. Of course those office racks are not in laboratory 21C air conditioned dedicated rooms...
I feel there is a lot of marketing on Unifi devices that allows them to claim one thing and deliver the other. UDP/SE both have 1g backplanes. The Ultra (which I own) has a 2.5g wan but can't deliver above 1g? On these smaller devices switching capacity is never stated. For the record, I really like Unifi stuff.
I have been running a Unifi Express now for a few months in my house, not had any issues so far. The only thing I will say is that the UI can be a little slow. Recently paired a UK Ultra (Swiss Army Knife) onto it via Mesh which is also working well.
I am installing a CGMax in my parents network. Also installing upgrading a regular USG to a Gateway Max at a short term rental house. The sites will all be tied with VPN and the latter is over Starlink. My house is on a UDM pro. I think this could be an interesting setup as it’s a really good use case for short term rental owners. If we do any future sites I’ll probably stick with Cloud Gateway Max and a small PoE switch, 3 AP 2 inside one outside, 4 cameras a doorbell.
Ultra or Max make sense for my parents who may never get a camera but at least the option is there with the Max. Waiting for a Cloud Key Gen 3 since I went the Gateway Pro route
I think the Express is a great option as a travel device, or standard apartment living. I am currently deciding between the Ultra and the Max for my brother's deployment at his house and I think I'll probably go with the Max w/o storage to give them that 2.5gb longevity for the future and the option for supporting a video doorbell if they eventually want one.
I upgraded my EdgeRouterX at home to the UCG-Ultra. I'm pleased with the upgrade, and I feel like the integrated controller / Unifi Network app was worth the price difference. My $0.02 as a random internet nobody.
4 cameras wireless cameras turned into 15 really quick Once figured out Ethernet paths to where I wanted them . The UNVR is the ways to . The CloudKey crashed way to much .
i bought ultra little bit before max came out. still happy, its half price here, have 750mbit fiber (doubt it will be more than 1gbit here in near future). dont really care for 2.5gbit lan and link between garage and house will still be 10g fiber. dont really care for protect, ill setup my diy solution with frigate and cheaper cameras. i would go pfsense router but ultra was too good deal considering theyre products are pretty expensive normally
I just bought an Ultra in May and I wish I had known the Max was coming because I would've went that way. Oh well, the Ultra is good enough for me right now.
If you don't have 2.5G link or connections to 2.5G switch when Ultra is great. Nvme is also for camera recording only (if you'e planing investing in Unifi cameras).
The Max was finally enough to me to replace my USG (with a the controller running in a docker container on my unRAID server). Should have it in a couple days and really look forward to setting it up.
I am looking at a netgate 1100 to put in front of the cloud gateway ultra. After watching you when it comes to pfsense and all it offers I am hooked. My big thing is nobody out there running unifi has touched on whether this is possible or if pfsense will cause a conflict in the unifi system. Don't plan on using cameras or the like in the setup at least not in the foreseeable future. Just a few access points.
@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS so basically in your opinion there really isn't a need for the netgate as long as I am running unifi with Intrution Detection Intrution Prevention and set up the firewall rules. Is that right?
I think I might have stated things incorrectly. What I was referring to wash the firewall rules on the unifi system itself as part of the Intrution Detection and Prevention. Do you have a patreon or some means I could speak with you directly to resolve whatever questions I have so that you are getting paid for your time and we are not going back and forth in the comments section.@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS
Why does the Max consume 16W, but the Ultra only 6W? Same SoC, so it must be the SSD? Also, listing it with only 1 WAN port when it has an optional second WAN port is an odd decision. Unifi's obsession with providing Apple-like specifications is super obnoxious.
Theoretical max consumption is not average normal consumption. The extra 10 watts assumes powering the SSD while reading and writing video, handling calls and access, under IDS/IPS load etc. Under normal load without an SSD installed they'll probably operate at well under 6W each..
For the love of God do not use the Express if you have anything better than ADSL. It's so underpowered for anything more. I got it myself and after wasting a few days of my life I just decided to not rage throw it through the windows and use it as an AP for offspring's room instead. CPU load 4+ constantly, if you turn on speed limits on WiFi WLAN speeds drop tu under 100 megs and many, many similar "features". Use UCG Ultra instead. After my OG UDM died my topology is: UCG Ultra, USW Lite 8 PoE, 2x USW Flex Mini, U6 Liteand Express in AP mode.
Was thinking about buying the ultra but will for sure go for the max. Mainly because it ALSO supports Protect and im planning on buying some cams. From what i heard a 4TN ssb in de Max will we way sufficient for lets say 4 cams 24 h recording uo to 7 days❤❤
When you do the review of the Cloud Gateway Max, I would like to know if I can buy it with no storage and add (or upgrade) later? I noticed in this video that the storage was fa Kingston SSD. I almost wrote down the model number! That seems like valuable info to anybody (homeowners, or relatives of techies, ect) who are doubt that they would ever ever use the UniFi apps (cameras or door entry systems, ect).
Great video. If you have 2.5G at home and use case like using and working against NAS or expanding infra with cameras when Max is the choice. You need also invest in extra POE/2.5 switch for best match and performance (extra cost). Otherwise Ultra will do the job.
Ultra is unique device, it is basically cloudkey with gateway for the price of old gateway. Much faster hardware. Great device if you don't need wifi built in and additional apps Max offer for almost 2x of the price.
In Australia, the 129$ ultra and 279$ max are sold at 200$ and 640$. It makes no sense for currency conversion and you don’t have a choice to buy the Max without storage. Lol
I'm curious about the value and positioning of the UCG-Max-NS vs the UXG-Max, the former is $3 CAD cheaper for basically the same device but with more features. Obviously, if you already have an NVR and Controller (CloudKey Gen2/2+, self-hosted, or cloud hosted most likely), then the UXG-Max probably makes the most sense, otherwise, new network, or upgrade from USW/USW-Pro-4 with CloudKey Gen1 (and maybe self-hosted controller) seems to make more sense and provides greater value. Have I missed something? Next we need a UDR-Max with all the same features as the UCG-Max but with a Wifi 7 AP and of course 2x PoE+ (maybe PoE++) ports.
It seems imposible to get a Max without the 512gb NVMe. I dint plan on replacing my current cameras for a long time Is there anything else you cane use the storage on the unit? NAS, or something?
If I have a separate system for cameras and only want a unit to run my network I assume the Ultra is fine and I’m not gaining much by doing the Max? I’m replacing a nest WiFi system and just want a more reliable set up.
What role is the UX taking in your home network for the past 6 months? (that it does really really well) Myself and a whole bunch of other people on reddit and unifi forums have a lot of issues with UX crashing and slowness. its been out for a while now but UI are still not able to push out a proper stable update for it.
I’ve also been quite disappointed. I just upgraded to the Cloud Gateway Ultra, and the difference in performance is definitely noticeable. I also don’t think it works great as an AP either
Great video thanks. I currently have UDM (Old) and wish to move to WIFI6. If I go with UCG-MAX (great features), how do you recommend to solve the problem of WIFI6 requirements? which AP do you suggest connected to UCG-MAX? Thanks, in advance.
To clarify: this will work as a router, NVR, and unifi management console? Since there's onboard NVME drive for storage, can it also function as a really basic NAS? (Like as an unprotected folder that's open to the network, to use in a pinch, or as an always-on target to back up something like the configuration from my TrueNAS)
It'll won't work as a nas out of the box. You would need to fiddle with it via shell. It's still Linux... But the changes I make will be void of you update the firmware.
Using a few UXG-Lites. They keep crashing and loosing connection to the Net. Sometimes they dont report back to my Site over STUN and so on.. Kinda unstable :/
I just got into Unifi by getting access points and am also looking at a 2100 Netgate. Is the Unifi gateway a decenet option over the 2100 for home use out of a security perspective?
But ... I still need another router or a modem for my DSL connection. I don't see the reason why I should get a Unifi Gateway when I can't use it directly on cable from my DSL provider.
I'm looking to step up from the the edgerouter x With the unifi controller running on my nas I'm hoping one or more of these will do the job to replace the edgerouter x and get the controller away from my nas
kingson in the 512gb model, the $79 upchage for a $40 drive, i hope the no storage option ships with an empty sled and i put in my own 2tb samsung for an all in price $100 less than what UI is offering for max with a 2tb drive
It should have PoE like their real switches! 4 PoE/+ with maximum 60W would be all I need.. to be really compact because now i need another white box within my limited space..
So if I buy the Max with no storage, am I am to install an aftermarket NVMe. Is the Kingston storage you showed in your video at 1:24 what comes in it?
im waiting to see what is sent on the 23rd, if no sled like if seen others suggest then your gonna spend the money on a 512gb unit and upgrade, wish they had a 4tb option or that it could work with a 4tb aftermarket drive as that would be ideal
@@robertgrabowski2265 for clients network pass true for TV boxes. Unifi doesn't allow it and I know in pfsence you can. And Lawrence always says that unifi was lacking more features in comparison to something like pfsence.
Lawrence, I was planning to buy the Max variant and use it behind pfSense. As gateway of my VLANs but pfSense as my perimeter firewall, for VPNs and such. I think you could do a video about this in the future. Thanks.
Does CGU or CGM make seamless internet backup experience like 100% uptime during internet source switchover. As my USG waits out 10s offline before allowing backup internet, and it can't detect slow internet😢. I end up having a separate wifi on vlan for reliable 4G backup.
@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS I just need the same functionality as a cloudkey. I might go virtual but having the controller separate from my homeland would be better. So this thing runs the same things as a cloudkey gen2 plus?
@@LAWRENCESYSTEMSAh yeah makes sense. I currently have a UDM SE with U6 Pro APs. Was thinking of tidying everything up and going for the CG Max and a USW-Enterprise-8-POE instead and then I could add in U7 Pro APs in the near future. Was slightly concerned about the drop in throughput with IDS/IPS which was why I asked.
Gateway max would cost extra as it doesn’t run its own software for network. In unifi naming scheme if it says “cloud” it will run its own network software and you don’t have to pay for remote network
Or maybe we already bought the Ultra as we didn't think they would launch the MAX only 3 months later... I really hate their launch strategy and their confusing line-up. There's are huge overlaps between their products, it's getting very confusing to my opinion. Also, why do so many tech companies use the "Max, Pro, Plus, ultra, enterprise" suffix... doesn't mean anything.... Anyway, great products, but shity line up and marketing
i am planning on buiying ubiquity cloud gateway max. there is a no storage version. my question is, do i need to buy a nvme caddy as well for installing the nvme or does it come with the caddy and i can just install the nvme on the caddy and be good to go?
