Protectli Vault FW4B - 4 Port, Firewall Micro Appliance/Mini PC - Intel Quad Core, AES-NI, 8GB RAM, 120GB mSATA SSD

Had a Ubiquiti USG-3 prior to getting this device. My USG would run at 100% CPU and ping response time would get up north of 1500MS when running a VPN tunnel through the firewall. I installed PfSense on The Vault and ran the same tests. This firewall runs at 6% CPU MAX when running the same tests. So far I am very pleased with the performance. Will update as I turn more features on.

Its more expensive than other hand warmers on the market but it works reliably! Plug-and-warm. I think it even has others features I dont use.

I had trouble with my first device, and the company resolved the problem.

It works, and it works great. Yes, a little pricey, but Ive had no issues with running pfSense on it. My old pfSense overheated and died on me (used hardware that lasted 5+ years), and I bought this to replace it.

*** Recommendation for international purchasers - if you want this unit, dont purchase the mSATA as its an unknown brand (PHISON) - rather purchase a trusted brand from a local vendor with warranty. We suspect the mSATA failed. The memory supplied has Samsung modules, these are known to be reliable. ***

I found this while looking for a replacement for an old first-generation FitPC device that I used to use as a network firewall. The FitPC still runs, but for the last few years, Ive needed something with gigabit ethernet ports, which it doesnt have.

I use this as my firewall/router at the colo facility Im hosted at and it is a solid unit, does not require any maintenance or cuddling and very compact design.

I have installed 4 of these in my remote locations and they work flawlessly.

I have bought many of these for Pfsense firewall projects in the past. These firewalls do not disappoint. These a great and drive packets home to their destinations quickly and efficiently. I recommend this over any closed source firewall or any consumer grade junk out there. Great base for a wired LAN and wLAN project!! I will continue to buy these for any future project that comes up!

I wanted a replacement for my existing consumer router which was running dd-wrt. The FW4B provides hardware allowing the option to use several open source firewall solutions. For the firewall, I installed pfSense without issues and found it much simpler to configure than dd-wrt, especially with interfaces, vlans and firewall rules. So far, the only hardware issue is the unit runs warmer than expected but the larger cooling fin design built into the case helps. I will update these comments if any new hardware issues arise.