Ubiquiti launched the new Lite 8 PoE switch back in July this year and on the paper it seems to replace the older US-8-60W version but Ubiquiti is still selling both models at the same prices too. In this article, we’ll be covering the few differences between the switches and recommending which one is best to get.

US-80-60W

USW-Lite-8-PoE

Ports

8 (4 PoE)

8 (4 PoE)

PoE Budget

60W

60W

PoE Type

802.3af only on 4 ports

802.3af and 802.3at on 4 ports

Line Rate

8Gbps

8Gbps

PoE budget per port

15W

30W

Price

$109 / £79.82

$109 / £79.82

As you can see from the table above, the only noticeable difference is the PoE type, the newer Lite 8 PoE switch supports both 802.3af and 802.3at for use with higher powered devices, such as cameras and more powerful wireless access points. The other difference is the mounting solution, the US-8-60W uses holes in the back which you need to line up with screws on a wall which can be fiddly to do, whereas the Lite 8 PoE uses a plastic insert which can be mounted first, then the switch slots in and due to its design, it does work vertically or horizontally.

Recommendation

We would recommend the newer USW-Lite-8-PoE, it is the same price as the US-8-60W, has a better mounting solution and has a cleaner design meaning dust is less likely to get in. Not to mention it supports more powerful PoE devices on its four ports.

Purchasing

The pricing for the switches in the table come from the Ubiquiti Store (store.ui.com) however we found the US-8-60W for a bit less on Amazon.

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