8U Server Cabinet, 10 inch Server Rack for Network, Servers, Audio, and Video Equipment, DeskPi RackMate T1 Rackmount, 7.87 inch Depth

Ok so I like many buyers have seen tons of videos from tech youtubers on the deskpi rackmates. Even some professional IT guys that have reviewed it have said that the rack holes don't line up, and there are some comments both on youtube and in poor reviews here on Amazon that say the alignment is off and that the finished rack is a bit wobbly. I dont want to discredit them, because maybe in between then and now deskpi fixed some issues... but mine has perfectly spaced mounting holes (THREADED too!, no need to screw around with pop-in sockets - if you have ever worked on server racks you know pop-in sockets were sent from hell to torment you). The alignment of all parts and pieces is perfect on mine (T1 Black, shorter depth). Also, I checked it without ANYTHING mounted: solid. Obviously even more solid with stuff mounted on the front but even bare it had ZERO wobble. Im not sponsored, paid full price and I usually don't even write reviews unless something is either a scam or truly surpassed my expectations. This truly surpassed my expectations. I thought with some professional IT guys having complaints about it that it would be workable but not great, satisfactory for a little mini desk rack. That is not what I got. I got a super sturdy super well built and meticulously machined rack that honestly is better built and well thought out than most commercial stuff Ive worked with. 6 stars!

This thing is amazing if you want a compact server rack, and great quality for the price! The acrylic side panel is great visually, and the metal feels very sturdy. I'm not afraid in any way that it'll fall apart or otherwise not hold whatever it is I want to put in it. The setup is pretty simple, just make sure you don't install the crossbar upside down like I did at first :)

The rack is nice and sturdy. Very flexible in what you can do with it, and tons of accessories are available. All the machined parts fit together perfectly and the quality is evident. The 8U rack has plenty of space for a patch panel, gateway, router, PiHole, MoCA adapter, smart home controller, and all the associated power power delivery. It dramatically cleaned up my leaning tower of routers, switches, and other networking gear into a much smaller space. I even had a couple of suggestions and requests for spare parts, and the company has been extremely friendly and responsive, typically replying in under 24 hours!

***** Updated Review (11/3/24) ***** GeekPi reached out to me offering a full refund shortly after my review went up (and before I could even contact them about the cracked acrylic top). I very much appreciate when companies have attentive customer service personnel who stand behind their products, so I'm updating my review and rating as I originally promised I would. Since I'm already here, I thought I'd give a bit of an update on my experience after using the RackMate T1 for about a week. I'll keep it brief (and I do recommend reading my initial thoughts below), but there were a few things I wanted to touch on and correct from my initial review. - The "Opening" Width between the front and rear mounting rails is 8.46". While I didn't see this on the productpage for the RackMate T1 when purchasing, GeekPi thankfully notates this very clearly in several of their rack shelf product pages. I should have checked that before purchasing, and that's absolutely on me. - The rack measures 11" in width, as advertised. Its internal clearance is just about 10" (I believe I measured it at 9.75"). - The internal depth is just shy of 7". So if you have a piece of hardware that's between 8.46" and 9.75" in width (but less than 7" in depth), you could probably muscle it in by introducing it into the rack diagonally. Now, for something that might come as a surprise: I ended up NOT returning my unit. After setting up my networking gear (with my Cisco Meraki MS-130 on a freshly 3D-printed top panel), I actually really love the tiny footprint of this rack! It fits perfectly in a tight space in my office, and I realized that there are already a ton of people making 3D printing files for custom mounting and shelves for this unit. I'm updating my score to 4/5 stars because of the prompt customer service response and my love of the form factor. I do think that receiving the product damaged with (possible) assembly issues is worth knocking a star off, but I can still easily recommend this product - especially with the great accessories being offered by GeekPi as well as the community (via print files). ----- Original Review Below (10/22/24) ------- I honestly love the design of this mini rack, and I was super excited for it to show up today. The frame seems sturdy and the finish on the aluminum parts looks great in person. I didn’t have any denting on the frame, which I was glad of after reading a few other reviews. With that said, I did unfortunately have some glaring issues with my unit: - Upon arrival, the top acrylic panel had large cracks in 3 of the 4 corners and was visibly bent (bowing) in the middle. - The top aluminum crossbars of the frame were assembled/installed upside down, which almost certainly caused both the cracking and bending in the top acrylic panel. If they had been installed correctly, the lip of those crossbars would have supported the acrylic panel on the top and prevented the stresses which caused the cracking/bending. [EDIT: I'm not entirely sure of this after spending some time squinting at some of their product photos elsewhere. But if they were installed correctly, it's a pretty big design flaw to not support the flimsy acrylic top panel] - Some parts of the chassis and a few panels don’t quite line up, though I’m not yet sure if these are assembly or manufacturing issues. Needless to say, I was disappointed - especially after spending nearly $200. I’ll contact GeekPi to see if I can get a replacement panel or return, and will update my review and score if we’re able to reach a satisfactory resolution. The last thing I want to make others aware of is that the clearance *between* the aluminum side pieces is a bit less than 9 inches (~8.75"). - While there may be clearance for 10” equipment *inside* of the chassis, it won’t be possible to fit any equipment wider than ~8.75" IF that equipment also protrudes from the back or front of the frame. - I was surprised and disappointed to find that my ~9” wide Meraki PoE+ switch could not fit in the rack because of this. To be fair, I'm not exactly familiar with measurement standards for racks smaller than the much more common 19"W x 24"/48"D racks that I work with, so I'm not necessarily counting this against GeekPi here. I just think buyers should be aware of this going into their purchase.

Love the way this looks and its small enough to fit in compact spaces. The value is great and allows me to do exactly what I need to in my homelab. Functions very well.

The packaging is compact and well-organized. Easy to assemble, sturdy and slick. A bit pricy at full price. The only complaint is the limitation of the included accessories. 1U and 2U ventilated shelves are more versatile. It would be great if aluminum rack shelves were available.

This is one of the best quality things I have ever bought on Amazon. Everything fits perfectly, thread size for mounting units is standard 10-32. It comes with a couple 1 u shelves, one for raspberry pi, and a standard one. The shelves and 1 u blank panels are steel, and great quality. If you want a mini homelab rack, this one is far above the rest! Don't mind my printed 1 u holders, im in the process of reprinting those😅

Solid built outside. Looks great (mostly). Very functional. My big qualm is that both side panels are completely scratched over. If I was putting this somewhere visual, I'd return and try to get a replacement, but it's going to be hidden so I'm not going through all of that. But if that came clear I'd give it 4 or 5 stars.