I'm looking through Mikrotik's current product line-up and I can't see a single product, wired or wireless, that I could say "that's a killer product". Somehow it seems no matter which product I pick I'll be trading one set of features and limitations for another.

In my head I know exactly what I want: an hAP ax2 with a USB port, separate PoE in and out ports, and a shell that resembles a box rather than a Coca-Cola bottle. If I want the USB port instead I have to buy the hAP ax3, which is ginourmous (mostly hollow BTW), more expensive and more power-hungry. Maybe I could go with an Ethernet router + AP set-up, perhaps the hEX S? Sure, except it has a weaker CPU and no ARM architecture means no containers despite having a USB port.

I think it's silly to use a curvy shell with angled faces that then requires a strap-on base just so it can sit stably on a flat surface... Mikrotik offers many devices that use the old industrial look, but they don't satisfy my other requirements.

Want PoE on all ports? Get the hEX PoE, but you have a weaker CPU, and still no containers. Want separate PoE in and out ports? Neither the ax2 nor the ax3 can do this. No matter how I look at this, I'm going to need either a PoE switch or injectors.

OK, I thought, maybe they have something in store in their more industrial-looking range, perhaps the L009UiGS-2HaxD-IN (BTW small criticism here, but my product names like this are harder to remember than most of my passwords). A nice feature of this product is that it has the ports on the front, which IMO lends itself to more flexible mounting options. The L009UiGS-2HaxD-IN at first sight looks like it might fit the bill, until you realise it only has 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and not even a single PoE-out port.

OK, I thought again, maybe the RB5009UG+S+IN might be a little cheaper since it has no wireless interface. Turns out it cots double. I guess it's stronger in other areas. If you want PoE then it'd be the RB5009UPr+S+IN, which costs even more.

Besides, it would be nice if Mikrotik products had a consistent look and feel across the board, particularly for the consumer-oriented products. Believe it or not, people subconsciously appreciate that. For example, the hAP ax2 and the hAP ax3 don't speak the same design language.

In short, I see missed many opportunities. I still cannot make up my mind. I will probably just grab a hAP ax3 and live with its size and look.

The AXE3 by far is the best router ( with or without using wireless ) for its price point and features.
The RB5009 is by far the best router in its price range of any vendor.

However, your approach is all wrong, who gives a flying..........how it looks, does it do the job at a price you can afford.
So, what are the requirements.
a. how many users/devices
b. what type of usage will you expect from them
c. where is the location, size of location, how many rooms etc. ( is the location fully wired )
d. How many ISP connections do you have, what type, and what throughput do they provide ( today and approx within next 5 years ).

who gives a flying..........how it looks

Well, clearly Mikrotik does, as evidenced by very the existence of the hAP ax2. Otherwise they would have stuck with their former industrial look and feel. That said, the move to a more organic, contoured, shape is potentially a good move because, despite its disadvantages, it's more likely to appeal to consumers. It's just that the hAP ax3 is mostly empty space. A hAP ax2 with the CPU at base clock, with the USB port and separate PoE in/out would have been extremely appealing in my humble opinion. Literally, if THAT cost the same as the ax3, I would have bought the ax2. It would be a simple to understand compromise: want a faster CPU? Well, then you are gonna need a bigger case for better air flow. Want compact? Gotta trade on CPU clock frequency. Either way you'd still have the same features. It's a bit like internal vs external antennae, you are trading wireless performance for compactness; you are not trading wireless performance for PoE.

... separate PoE in and out ports...

This alone doesn't fly the pig. Generally PoE in can't really support both device's own consumption and PoE out ... if not for other things it's voltage constraints which generally can't be satisfied when daisy-chaining devices. Yes, it can work in some specific conditions, but when device is designed, it has to be designed for worst case scenario where it still has t operate within standard tolerances. And if such setup works for some other vendor, then that vendor is cutting corners (just like MT does when it comes to 802.3 af/at and quite a few people get bruises on the way).

Which means that the way MT designed their latest devices (single port acting as either PoE in or out) is the way to avoid deeper wunds (than bruises).

the way MT designed their latest devices (single port acting as either PoE in or out) is the way to avoid deeper wounds (than bruises).

Yeah I thought that might be the reason. On the hAP ax3 though, the PoE port is also the only 2.5 gigabit port. Would this port normally be used as the WAN port or to connect an AP?

Yes, that's the problem I encountered. I have a 2.5Gbit fiber line, and naturally, ether1 is the WAN port. However, this setup rules out the possibility of powering an access point without a separate power source.

Yes, that's the problem I encountered. I have a 2.5Gbit fiber line, and naturally, ether1 is the WAN port. However, this setup rules out the possibility of powering an access point without a separate power source.

Glad someone got my point It would have been useful to more people having a 2.5 gigabit port without PoE and then a separate gigabit port with PoE in/out.

Yeah I thought that might be the reason. On the hAP ax3 though, the PoE port is also the only 2.5 gigabit port. Would this port normally be used as the WAN port or to connect an AP?

I wouldn't use the fastest port on router to connect towards ISP ...
But that's me, my ISP only offers 1000/100Mbps service to me. So I'd use 2.5Gbps port to connect towards NAS or LAN switch because in my house that's where the highest peak rates occur. OTOH, if hAP ax3 is the only LAN infrastructure device in a property, then it's sensible to use 2.5Gbps port to connect to ISP ... because none other wired ports will likley be used ever.

Even if that port is used to conenct WAN: one can use PoE injector if powering over PoE is a sensible idea (no reason not to put PoE injector on WAN line!).

if hAP ax3 is the only LAN infrastructure device in a property

The problem is combining PoE and 2.5 gigabit in one port. You can't suck and blow at the same time. If the hAP ax3 is the only LAN device in the property then it (usually) doesn't need PoE. And when there are other devices, the only port that delivers PoE is already used up for connecting to the ISP. The hAP ax3 is designed in such a way that it prevents the optimal configuration from happening.

Here's a thread where another user who faces a similar conundrum.

Yeah I thought that might be the reason. On the hAP ax3 though, the PoE port is also the only 2.5 gigabit port. Would this port normally be used as the WAN port or to connect an AP?

I wouldn't use the fastest port on router to connect towards ISP ...
But that's me, my ISP only offers 1000/100Mbps service to me. So I'd use 2.5Gbps port to connect towards NAS or LAN switch because in my house that's where the highest peak rates occur. OTOH, if hAP ax3 is the only LAN infrastructure device in a property, then it's sensible to use 2.5Gbps port to connect to ISP ... because none other wired ports will likley be used ever.

Even if that port is used to conenct WAN: one can use PoE injector if powering over PoE is a sensible idea (no reason not to put PoE injector on WAN line!).

Yes, 2.5 is ridonkulous to use as an ethernet port because the throughput on the routing side is maxed out at around 1.4Gbps. As stated makes sense to use to another device, like NAS.

As for poe discussion, its laughable. Get any available poe injector case closed.

I have a RB5009UG+S+IN now am very happy with it. But if MikroTik would release a successor device of the hEX S, in that form factor, with the exact same number of ports, but SFP+ instead of SFP, and five 2.5Gbps ports instead of the old 5 GbE ones, and maybe reuse the chips of the RB5009, then it would be the perfect device for me, and I would drop the RB5009 immediately for it. The 7 GbE ports of the RB5009 are much less useful to me than if they were 3 or 4 2.5Gbps ones.

Yeah, POE + 2.5G + 24V to me doesn't make sense. It seems one can only use two out of the three features of that port.

We use Tachyon radios in parts of our network, and it is nice to see that 2.5G port light up. But they want too much juice to use the router's POE, as do Wave radios. I use them with MikroTik radios too, and having only one power supply for both devices is so convenient.

Yes, 2.5 is ridonkulous to use as an ethernet port because the throughput on the routing side is maxed out at around 1.4Gbps. As stated makes sense to use to another device, like NAS.

As for poe discussion, its laughable. Get any available poe injector case closed.

You are basically agreeing with us: if the PoE out port should be used to connect to a NAS (or similar devices), the PoE out is superfluous. PoE out is probably used (in SOHO) to connect to APs or cameras. Do we need 2.5Gbps for those devices?
I suppose that the most common (not the only one, obviously) use case in which the AX3 is powered using the PoE in is when it is used (basically) as an AP (otherwise, if it is connected to the WAN and, maybe, other ports are also used, then I suppose that you can also have a power outlet available, since you have many patch cords). In that case, do we really need 2.5Gbps as uplink? Max real wifi throughput is half of 1200 + 574 ~ 1Gbps...

If I have a 2.5Gbps line and I want to obtain the maximum (accepting that I will not probably exhaust the link) why to stop at 1Gbps if the router is capable of 1.4Gbps? Is that ridiculous?

I'm happy of my AX3, but I just feel that some design decisions limited its flexibility and potential.

I seem to recall Normis once said poe out on ether1 was for powering isp gear.

Is there ISP gear that can be powered via PoE in? I'm not aware of that (at least in Italy).

Is there ISP gear that can be powered via PoE in? I'm not aware of that (at least in Italy).

AFAIK no home ISP provides PoE-powered gear, probably because 99% of their customers don't even know what PoE is. However, it exists, for example, the Ubiquiti UFiber Loco.

Edit: Apparently there are places where they do!

Thanks. I was not aware of that (and I neverd heard that someone was using it in my area).

Is there ISP gear that can be powered via PoE in? I'm not aware of that (at least in Italy).

Yes, my antenna was powered by port1 of the ax3, so there are a real use cases.

Even if we posit an ISP modem/antenna/whatever uplink that gets powered by the ax³, do you really want that to be your lone 2.5 Gbit/sec link? If your ISP download rate is over a gigabit, none of your other ax³ clients can pull more than a gigabit with this arrangement. Until you get 2 of them acting in concert, you can't get any use out of your gigabit+ uplink at all, and until you get 3+ working together, you can't hit 2.5G.

This is upside-down. A far more sensible arrangement is on the RB5009, where you've got a 2.5G link for the ISP, a 10G SFP+ link for aggregating traffic over fiber back to a core switch, and some number of bonus in-room ports for low-bandwidth devices, where even GigE is "lots".

The only reason I've got an ax³ running here is that I found a cheap deal on a returned unit, and I was tired of waiting for an "RB5009ax".

This dream product should be based on the PoE version of the RB5009, since it will be ideal for driving a bunch of CAPsMAN radios. Weirdos like me who want to put a camera or two on it instead will get our way as a side bonus.

Is there ISP gear that can be powered via PoE in? I'm not aware of that (at least in Italy).

Yes, my antenna was powered by port1 of the ax3, so there are a real use cases.

I use AX3's when my customer's wireless CPE is capable of 500-2500Mbps. If it's a MikroTik 60GHz radio, the router automatically powers the radio unless I disable it or use an external POE injector. Ubiquiti Wave can do 800-900Mbps, and Tachyon can do 2.5Gbps, but they both want more power than the AX3 can put out. (Tachyon's might work OK, but I prefer sticking with 48V for those Peraso-based radios.)