The NETGEAR GS605AV

The GS605AV is a very small switch. It is not really much bigger than my iPhone. I was a little surprised at this, but to be honest I am not sure why I expected it to be bigger.

The front has a nice design that gives it a retro feel in a way. There is a "lip" at the front which allows you to view the status lights even if you cannot see the front directly.

One item that I am not impressed with about this design is the humped top. This makes stacking this almost impossible, which is a big downside for many people.

The back is also pretty simple, but it has an interesting twist. Remember how we told you that NETGEAR has made this very simple? Well, the ports on the back are all color coded. The port colors range from a single dark green to yellow. Each color has a priority level associated with it. For example, the single green port is the highest priority, the two light green are next with medium priority and the two yellow are the lowest priority. NETGEAR has also thrown in a real power button on the GS605AV.

The bottom has another label for the ports which does make setup pretty easy. Of course, once you mount or put the GS605AV in place the bottom label is not as much use, but it is still a nice touch.