power over ethernet – why do so many vendors do it so halfassed?

good thing: I think this weekend i figured out how to make a circuit that supports both cisco legacy and 802.3af/at power over ethernet as a consumer, and outputs to something like a linksys router, or a ubiquiti bullet, both of which i'd rather be powering off my POE switches rather than using wallwarts or power injectors.

meh thing: it's all surface mount, which means getting pricey boards with etch resist and hoping i lay out the pcb right the first time

bad thing: not having any time to try it all out

It definitely seems easy compared to all the half assed solutions i see out there, the ubiquiti methods included.