Best Meraki Compatible SFP transceiver manufacture

[Happiman]

Hello,

I need to interconnect MX, MS and other vendors such as Fortignate and Dell/EMC.

As we all know,  the price on original Meraki SFP transceiver is 5-10x more expensive then 3rd-party vendors.

==Cables that I need to purchase==

MA-SFP-1GB-TX
MA-SFP-10GB-SR
MA-SFP-1GB-LX10

MA-CBL-40G-50CM

MA-CBL-TA-1M

================

I just wonder which manufacturers you guys've been using and if that was successful, recommending  or creating more complications.

Thank you.

[PhilipDAth]

I can't understand why people spend so much on networking kit, and then risk their support and the risk of software upgrades to cheap SFPs.

Meraki SFP's are reasonably priced compared to Cisco Enterprise ones.

[jdsilva]

Generally I agree with @PhilipDAth on this one. Cheap optics cause more grief than they're worth by far.

However, there is a third class of optics out there... https://interoptic.com/ is an example. I've heard very good things about InterOptic, but I have never used them personally and in no way endorse them. 

[BrandonS]

I don't completely disagree with PhilipDAth, but can understand why people look elsewhere when the price is so different.  I have had good luck with https://www.fluxlight.com over the years.

[Adam]

I've used both. If you want maximum support and visibility go with the Meraki SFPs.  As @PhilipDAth pointed out, they are not too much different in price from other leading vendor SFPs.  

[Roska]

I see a lot of Microsemi used. I believe that they are identical to the ones HPE Aruba is selling with higher prices.

[BlakeRichardson]

We mainly use Meraki SFP modules but have a couple of Cisco SFP modules and a couple of Allied Telesis SFP+ modules.

Be aware that Meraki won't offer support if your problem relates to a 3rd party receiver.

[Mio]

10Gtek is a professional transceivers vendor that compatible with Cisco, Meraki and other named brands. 10Gtek products are in a pretty good price and high quality. I have had good luck with 10Gtek https://www.sfpcables.com/sfp-transceivers and https://www.sfpcables.com/sfp-1-25g-series over the years.

[Mish]

Most people may disagree with me but I speak from 15+ years of experience using aftermarket SFPs with Cisco gear. There's no difference!

Cisco DOES NOT manufacture SFPs, they OEM it from Finisar and possibly others. I've bough SFPs straight from the Finisar factory and they told me Cisco was one of their clients. All they do it put a different branding sticker and sometimes hardcode a vendor ID in it, that's why you get a warning on some Cisco switches.

Buy it from the right manufacturer and it's the same. 10 years ago I used to buy thousands from the source for $20-30/piece for 1G SFPs when Cisco's list on those was $500 to $1000 !!!! At that point throwing in 10% extra was still 10x cheaper!!! And till today, I've NEVER had a single one fail! I still keep a 10 year old finisar SFP in my laptop bag that been abused, and it still works flawlessly! 

[Happiman]

100% agreed.

[AndreFouche]

Hi Mish - very interesting!  So there is no difference from the Finisar SFP's as compared to the "bespoke" Cisco SFP's?

I will certainly be giving them a try next time around.

Thanks

Andre