2. AirLink101 AR504

Plain and gray, the AirLink101 AR504 seems almost like a throwback to simpler times when 10 Mbps was blazingly fast and 10Base2 BNC connectors were a common site on network devices.

Thankfully, the AR504 does not offer features or performance to match its retro design, though its memory size weighs in at the lower end of the spectrum with 2 MB of RAM and 512 kB of flash memory. But while memory configuration may be small, the AR504 uses the most powerful processor of the bunch, the Amlogic AMRISC 9041.

The AirLink101 AR504

Inside the AR504 (click image to enlarge)

The administrative panel interface is only a slight aesthetic step up from the design of the device itself, but it does its job well. It is the only panel in the roundup that allows for SNMP management, and also includes a very clear logging feature that logs system events as well as selective content filters.

The AR504's logging option are the best of the group with logs that can be cleared, saved, or emailed (using a specified external SMTP server). This product is also the only one to support logging to a syslog daemon. Newly logged events are added to the bottom of the log window, however, meaning that the window must be scrolled down in order to view them.

The AR504's administrative panel (click image to enlarge)