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Originally Posted by DoubleF
The decision is probably closer than you think. The costs of the extra stuff you need to bridge the SE and Pro features is pretty dang close to that price difference. And then you pay a premium to have less bulk. Hard to say.
Check how much more it might cost to get your POE switch(es) and see how far the difference in final price might be. That $288 difference might erode quickly with the features built into the SE. If you're particular about things being neat and tidy, the SE will be significantly superior to the Pro in accomplishing that if it has a POE built in. IMO, the primary reason to choose SE over Pro is the bulk. After factoring in the POE and switch difference, is paying the remaining difference on a neater looking set up worth it to you?
But let's get back down to brass tacks. A UDM pro is overkill and a UDM SE is the next level up. You'll probably use that thing for like 10 years though vs other consumer grade #### that you'd have to replace every 18-36 months.
I have a UDM Pro. I had it before the SE was announced. Knowing what I know now, not having extra POE adapters makes it look so much cleaner. Same as not having extra switches with extra power cords etc. (Switches that are powered by POE) Not to mention each individual POE adapter is like $40-60, so if you do around 2 AP (assume same cost for either unit), that's $100 right there in difference and perhaps $10-20 patch cables and extra cables and a ton of extra bulk to organize or hide. Good switches with POE are harder to find/decide on than you'd think and cost more than expected. I think I paid $70 for a switch made with metal that has 4 ports one of which is POE. For what you're looking for, are those switches $100-150 each to have multiple POE and switches with POE that aren't enterprise level + seem to be more prone to failure since some are not well designed to disperse heat. But man, if the POE was built into the UDM and then I could also use switches at the upstairs ports that could be powered by POE, oh boy, that would be so slick to have less cables and power cords all over the place.
The remaining difference to future proof via the WAN isn't bad, but I honestly have no idea what to do with it.
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Similar. I have a UDMPro....great machine and I looked (greedily!) at the SE. But the reality is that Gig Fibre provides more than enough capacity for our rural home with multiple cams, a large variety of IoT devices (mostly on POE switches), 3 APs and multiple additional switches in weird locations to cover our 2.5 ac.
While it would provide some reduction in wire count, and some degree of future-proofing, my guess is that, by the time the future-proofing is required...the "UDM Pro-Future" will not be the SE, but something much, much better.
My approach: buy for now and the very near future. Update when required.