First PoE switch

I am looking at buying my first PoE switch.

Currently I am using injectors for a few cameras and an AP.

I am looking at powering some RPi’s and one or 2 flex minis. Past that I don’t know what else I might want to use it for but I am sure many more use cases will come up.

I also have a 24 port switch so I don’t care about buying a PoE switch with the most number of ports. Something else I have decided is rack mount is nice but not a must have, I already have to put my pfSense firewall on a shelf.

I am currently looking at 3 switches and open to more options. The switches I am looking at are the UniFi switch 8 150W, switch 16 150W and the new switch 16 PoE. Those switches are in my price range.

Who has an opinion on what switch I should buy?

Personally I connect switches over LACP meaning two ports are used, so if you buy the 8 port you might quickly use up your ports. Using just one port is also fine but I’m lazy and like to have some redundancy.

I wonder if I would be selling myself short going with the 8 port switch I only need it for the PoE. I was about to type I have no need for LACP but when I break down and buy one of these switches I have a need. Any other switch I have is behind a TV or used for a spare ports at my dining room table now that the kid are learning from home.

I am leaning towards the one of the two 16 port switches. Right now I am just looking at the characteristics of the switches and wondering which one will give me more flexibility.

I have to admit when I was running cable in my house, I thought I only ever want to do this once, hence I doubled up in every room so I’m advocating LACP from that point of view. You might want to see if they have fans and the level of noise on the switches with more ports if you leave it behind a TV.

And don’t forget to consider the PoE type of all the devices involved. If you get an 802.3-only switch and your cameras are passive, then it’s all for naught and you’ll still need to use injectors.