u/flying_unicorn

Looking for advice for my macbook pro with tb5 ports. I currently have an ivanky fusion max 1 that i'm looking to replace to get tb5 bandwidth. I will probably replace this mbp with a macbook studio in the near future.

My requirements are a little weird because I have a ton of lower bandwidth USB devices and I’ve already run into USB topology port tree depth issues when daisy chaining usb hubs off tb docks. Unfortunatly it took some trial and error with the 8 port usb hub I have and i returned 3 docks before i landed on the ivanky fusion max 1.

Current needs:

• 3x 4K monitors
• 10GbE
• Around 10 USB devices total (mix of USB-A and USB-C, mostly low bandwidth)
• 2 external NVMe drives
• • one dedicated for Time Machine backups
• Occasionally plugging in 1-2 external HDDs, or other random usb devices

Right now I’m debating between a few options:

iVANKY FusionDock Ultra This is probably my leading option right now.

Pros:

Built-in 10GbE

integrated cooling fan (i've read the cal digit ts5 plus overheats)

I should be able to use 1 display port and 2 tb downstream ports for my monitors leaving 2 tb5 downstream free for nvme

11 USB A/C ports means i may not need usb hub.

I'm familar with ivanky as i alreay have one of their docks.

the dual tb5 controllers (and dual upstream cables) means no DSC for triple displays.

Cons:

No built-in NVMe port.

Expensive.

UGREEN Thunderbolt 5 Max Dock OR Satechi Thunderbolt 5 Cube Dock

Pros:

integrated NVMe slot, which would simplify one of my SSDs.

Cheaper

Cons

Need a separate TB 10GbE adapter (add $150-$200).

i'd definitly need to keep a usb hub in the mix.

May wind up with DSC with 3 displays

Budget wise, I really don’t want to exceed the ~$650 price of the iVANKY setup. I’m also not opposed to running two docks if that ends up being the cleaner/more reliable solution, but i'm not sure it can be done at my price point, looks like for dual tb5 docks i'd be closer to $800, and dual docks seems silly.

EDIT: Formatting

it took me a bit to get the Matter integration to work with home assistant, but I finally did. For those curious I'm fairly convinced it was due to an ipv6 issue on my home network.

I have a couple of comments I would like to see Narwal improve the matter integration to make it more functional.

1.) The status doesn't seem to indicate dock operations such as "drying the mop".

2.) The cleaning options seem to be variations of "auto", "mop only", or "vacuum only", but no mop&vacuum.

3.) I would like to see maintenance items displayed as their own entities, how much time is left on the brush, the scraper, the filters, etc.

4.) I'd like to see water tank status as it's own entity. I don't know if there's a sensor that knows how full/empty the water tanks are, but if nothing else i'd hope there's one to know if the tanks are present (roborock has this with the Home Assistant Integration). Why you may ask? well i can create automations based on it of course. Have the water tank been emptied/filled since the last time it ran? If the tank has been removed/replaced I can assume the tank has been emptied/filled, and if the tanks have not been addressed i can have some sort of notification on my home assistant dashboard.

is ipv6 only being rolled out for DHCP clients? or for clients on static as well? if for static ip clients how do I get my ipv6 address? via DHCPv6? contact frontier?