I’ve been running my home network on UniFi gear for over five years now, starting around the time I got a 10 gigabit symmetrical internet connection. I installed a UniFi Dream Machine Pro (compensated affiliate link) and built out a network using their access points and a few switches. Recently, I added a new component to the mix: the Flex 2.5GP PoE switch. That new switch is the subject of my latest video review.
This Flex 2.5 POE is designed more for home prosumers than for rack-mounted enterprise setups. But it will integrate into a business environment just the same. It supports 2.5 gigabit per second speeds across all its Ethernet ports and delivers power over Ethernet (PoE) to connected devices on each. It has an uplink port that supports either an SFP+ or a 10-gigabit RJ45 connection. I opted to uplink it to my 10-gig network backbone using a direct-attached copper SFP+ cable (compensated affiliate link) to my backbone switch.
The switch sells for a reasonable $199 (compensated affiliate link) but has one huge caveat: it doesn’t include a power supply! That cost me another $80 + shipping as I didn’t read the fine print prior to making the initial purchase. The Flex 2.5 POE can use power over ethernet to power itself, but using POE as the input limits the overall power budget—only about 16 watts in my case—while the external power supply gives you up to 196 watts in total with full POE++ wattage for each port on the output. A PoE++ input allows for a 46 watt power budget, and a PoE+++ input allows for 76 watts.
I picked up the Flex 2.5 POE mainly because I’m upgrading to Unifi’s Wi-Fi 7 access points, which now have 2.5 gigabit Ethernet ports. My older UniFi PoE switch only supports gigabit, so this new one gives me faster connectivity and power to those access points. It’s also useful for powering some of my video gear, which relies on PoE.
Hardware-wise, the switch feels solid but lacks the industrial sturdiness of their rack mounted gear. It’s fanless, so it runs quiet but gets a bit warm. It has rubber feet for desktop use and a wall mount option. You can only use one uplink port at a time—either the RJ45 or the SFP+—and only the RJ45 supports PoE in. It is possible to power over the RJ45 while using the SFP+ for data.
Setup was as seamless as usual with UniFi gear. As soon as I connected it, my network detected it, and I was able to adopt it from the web control panel. The firmware updated automatically, and then it was ready to go.
Testing it out, I ran a 2.5 gigabit Ethernet adapter from my PC and confirmed I was getting full speeds on both download and upload. At the same time, I was sending an NDI video stream upstream to my video production system, which added more bandwidth use beyond the 2.5 gigabit baseline. Everything performed as expected.
In the UniFi control panel, I could see real-time power usage across each port. I plugged in four PoE devices and was still using only about 27 watts out of the 196-watt power budget. As this is a managed switch you have full access to all of the configuration options that Unifi offers on their other switches on a per-port level.
What this switch offers is a nearly ideal mix of features for my needs: solid power support, 2.5 gig speeds, and tight integration with the UniFi ecosystem. I would have liked to see at least one more 10 gig port onboard, and it’s frustrating that the power supply wasn’t included. But otherwise, it fills a long-standing gap in UniFi’s product line. For now, it’s found a home in my network closet—and it looks like it’s going to stay there.