Ubiquiti just launched the first device in its new line of 'Ultra' devices. Looking back a few months, Ubiquti revealed at the time that the new line is going to focus on a low price, while still retaining good performance. This decision might mean there are one or two comprimises but overall the package should be pretty good. In the example of the new Swiss Army Knife Ultra (UK-Ultra), we can see this in the wireless specs which reveal we don't have 802.11ax (WiFi 6) here, just the older 802.11ac standard. For the price of $89, this can be somewhat excused.

What is this new AP?

The new AP has a similar footprint to the U6-IW, to give some reference point. Dimensions are 137mm x 84mm x 34mm and it is designed to be as flexible as possible, terms of how and where you can mount it. As of writing, the optional external antennas are not yet available, but these include a clip on directional antenna plate as well as two 'bunny ears', which look to be indentical in design to the ones found on the UAP-AC-M. The AP can be mounted indoors or outdoors either on a ceiling, wall, pole or a desk using docking station accessory.

How does it compare to the UAP-AC-M?

Compared to the UAP-AC-M, the integrated antenna on the UK-Ultras offers more gain than the external ones do on the AC-M. On the Ultra, we have two antennas for each frequency and both are 6dBi. On the AC-M, the 2.4GHz one offers 3dBi and on 5GHz at 4dBi. Ubiquiti hasn't yet confirmed if the 'bunny ears' antennas that will be offered are going to be identical to the ones found on the AC-M, if this is the case then we can expect identical if not very similar range on both APs.

Both are also 802.11ac APs with support for 200-250 clients. Strangley, the higher mnumnber is for the AC-M. For power, both support 802.3af standard PoE, whereas the AC-M also supports 24v passive PoE which might be a useful consideration for solar deployments.

In all other aspects such as maximum throughput, they are pretty identical on paper.

Price and availability

The new Swiss Army Knife Ultra (UK-Ultra) is now on sale in the official Ubiquiti store for $89 in the US and €87.60 in the EU. In Canada and the UK it is marked as 'coming soon' and will cost $105CA in Canada and £75.60 in the UK.

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