I normally use HP and Cisco for switches, but this is a home user and they have a much smaller budget than my typical client.
I'm in the same boat (still waiting for that MT switch that does basic the L2 stuff right...
).
So far I'm looking at the UBNT EdgeSwitch and Unifi Switch. Any others that you think I should be looking at?
After dealing with an ERL of UBNT (half baked firmware requiring to manually patch validation scripts to allow the configuration you want, inconsistent UI-CLI, firmware upgrades screwing configuration, ...) I'm however reluctant to go down that route again. Also, without any other Unifi stuff deployed the need to run a separate controller just for a switch doesn't make much sense to me.
I normally use HP and Cisco for switches, but this is a home user and they have a much smaller budget than my typical client.
In the price range of the UBNT switches there are the HP 1920 switches which (while running Comware from the 3Com stables) from price/feature/warranty point of view are unbeatable IMHO. They do lack "passive PoE" and enterprise features such as true stacking and a full featured CLI (there are hacks), but I have several deployed in SOHO/SMB scenarios and they are rock solid.
If you find another widely available switch that supports both passive & active POE, let me know!
At a slightly higher price point I'm currently contemplating to procure the HP 2530 (Aruba stable) for my home setup and to also power APs. They do include the CLI and stacking features should you require them and also do come with a pre-802.3af PoE compatibility option. Whether that will sufficiently tick your passive PoE box I couldn't tell...
Final note: if you're looking further down the HP offering, I'd skip over the 1820 series though. While I have some deployed (all working without issue), they just lack configurability (e.g. IGMP snooping is just a global on/off setting) compared to the 1920s with only a very small difference in pricing.