Editorial, 22 Aug 2026. Specs from maker pages and recent street reports. We have not burned these units in. Affiliate tags are not live.
UniFi Switch Ultra 60W: new fanless PoE, not a used 48-port Catalyst
If the house is already UniFi, do not drag a used Catalyst PoE into the closet. Buy the Ultra 60W new on the UI store. Fanless. Eight ports. PoE budget tied to the adapter.
This is not a rewrite of cheap PoE for two APs — that piece still defaults to the TL-SG1005P. This note is the UniFi-already-in-the-house replacement for a used Catalyst PoE.
USW-Ultra-60W: $159 / $171 surcharge-incl. on store.ui.com, 22 Aug 2026. 52 W PoE with the 60 W adapter; 42 W on PoE++ in; 17 W on PoE+ in; 8 W on PoE in (Streakwave / UI note). Fanless. Device draw is small; the PoE budget is the wall number. USW-Lite-8-PoE is the smaller sibling: $109 / $117 surcharge-incl. UI store. Datasheet: max device 8 W, 52 W PoE budget, fanless, external 54 V / 60 W. Already in the cheap-PoE guide — not the hero here. USW-Ultra without PSU: Micro Center $129.99 (SKU 861328). PSU not included. Easy to get wrong.
The short list
| Box | PoE / power | Street, 22 Aug 2026 | Buy if |
|---|---|---|---|
| USW-Ultra-60W | Fanless. 52 W PoE with the 60 W adapter. UI Care 5-year add-on $29 — see lifetime vs SmartNet. | $159 / $171 surcharge-incl., UI store. | Already UniFi. Eight ports. New paper. Not a used 48-port Catalyst. |
| USW-Lite-8-PoE | Fanless. Max device 8 W. 52 W PoE. 54 V / 60 W brick. | $109 / $117 surcharge-incl. | Smaller UniFi sibling. Two APs. Easy to outgrow. |
| USW-Ultra (no PSU) | Same switch. No adapter in the box. | Micro Center $129.99, SKU 861328. | Only if you already own the 60 W brick and you counted twice. |
Skip
Skip the used 48-port Catalyst PoE. We are not affiliating eBay Cisco PoE lots. The ports are lovely. The fans, the 208 V aisle, and the SmartNet story are not — used vs new, brick rule. Skip the Micro Center Ultra if you do not already have the PSU. Skip this whole page if you are not already UniFi; go back to cheap PoE.
Sources
UI store Ultra 60W (fetched 22 Aug 2026). UI store Lite 8 PoE. Lite datasheet. Micro Center 689993. Streakwave / UI PoE-in budget note. Street moves.