NavePoint 18U Wall-Mount Server Rack with Swing Gate Review

The frame holds 18U of standard 19-inch EIA rack space inside a frame 36.5 inches tall, 20.8 inches wide and 18 inches deep. It is made of 0.06 in (1.5 mm) cold-rolled steel with a black powder coat and weighs about 35.1 lb empty, so one person can lift the bare frame onto the wall. The rack units are stenciled and numbered, which saves time when you plan where each piece of gear goes.

It is an open frame: no door, no fans, no lock. Air moves through on its own, which suits a closet where heat builds up. The rack is built to the DIN 41494, EIA/ECA-310-E and IEC-60297-3-100 standards, so standard 19-inch servers, AV gear and network equipment bolt in without adapters.

Buyers on Amazon most often praise the build quality and the sturdiness, and assembly gets mostly positive mentions too. The complaint that comes up most among them is ease of use: the latches are hard to reach once the rack is loaded and the gate doesn't always swing freely. Buyers are also divided on sturdiness, with some noting the frame flexes a lot when the front is swung to the side.

The front gate opens a full 180 degrees and hangs on spring-loaded pivot pins, so you pick left or right at installation. The gate also comes off completely and goes back on, which means you can build it on a bench with the patch panels and switches already mounted, then hang it on the frame.

Choosing the hinge side

Pick the side based on where your cables come into the closet and which way you will actually pull the gate. If the rack sits in a corner, hinge it on the wall side so the open gate swings into free space. The pins let you change your mind later, but the cables you have already dressed will decide for you in practice.

The load limit when the gate is open

The rack holds up to 110 lb, and the owner's manual puts the figure at 50 lb once the gate is swung open. That derating is the reason to mount the heaviest gear low in the frame and to close the gate rather than leave it hanging open under a full load.

Is the gate a gimmick?

It solves a real problem: reaching the back of a patch panel or a switch when there is no space behind the rack. One owner on a forum points out that the gate only pays off if the cables are routed to allow the swing, and says his swing rack was never opened after installation. In a closet with no rear clearance, the gate is the reason to choose this rack over a fixed bracket.

The gate carries threaded 12-24 holes on one face and universal square holes for M6 cage nuts on the other. You decide which face points forward when you bolt the rack together, and changing it later means taking the frame apart.

Square holes take standard cage nuts and suit most modern network and server gear. Threaded holes take 12-24 screws and skip the cage nuts entirely. The box includes all hardware necessary to assemble.

The rack ships flat-packed and has to be put together. Buyers on Amazon rate assembly mostly positively, but reviews at other retailers mention that it takes longer than expected, with one technician reporting close to three hours. Plan an evening rather than ten minutes.

The sequence in the manual runs like this:

1. Bolt the two wall-mounting frames to the two horizontal support bars, eight M5 screws first, then eight M4.
2. Slide the two metal sleeves into the lower bar and the two plastic sleeves into the upper bar.
3. Click the equipment mounting frame onto the sleeves.
4. Mount the empty rack on the wall.
5. Install the gear.

Buyers on Amazon report alignment trouble, particularly with the retaining pins lining up on only one side, and reviews at other retailers mention painted threads and incorrect screw sizes in the box. Have a socket set, a screwdriver, a level and a helper on hand, and chase any tight thread with the matching tap before you force a screw.

The wall-mount holes sit 17.75 inches apart, which does not land on standard 16-inch-on-center US studs. The honest fix is a plywood backer board or a pair of horizontal cleats screwed across the studs, then the rack bolted to that. Skipping this step means drilling into drywall alone, which will not hold a loaded rack.

The manual lists wood stud, solid concrete and brick as suitable walls, for indoor use only. The six M6 wall screws in the box suit some of those substrates, but the right anchor depends on your wall, so match it to what you are drilling into.

Mount the rack empty and load it afterward. Put the heaviest equipment at the bottom of the frame. The manual also calls for checking the mounting security at regular intervals.

Eighteen inches is the outside depth of the frame, not the space your equipment gets. The gate, the rear frame and the bend radius of your cables all eat into it. The working rule is your deepest device plus about 2 inches for cable clearance, which puts the practical limit at roughly 16 inches of gear.

What fits

Switches, patch panels, shallow 1U servers, AV gear and UPS units all sit comfortably. A typical home lab build uses 8 to 10U of the 18U available, which leaves headroom for a shelf or a second switch later.

What doesn't

Full-depth 2U and 4U servers, which run 28 to 30 inches deep, do not fit and need a floor rack instead. Measure your deepest device before ordering, and if it comes close to 16 inches, plan the cable route carefully or step up to a deeper rack.

Is 18U the right size?

Eighteen rack units give about 31.5 inches of usable rail height inside the 36.5-inch frame. It is the right call if you know a 12U rack would be tight. Skip it if you will stay under about 8U of gear, or if the rack has to fit under a desk, since the frame stands 36.5 inches tall.

Route cables from the center of the back of the rack if you want the gate to swing either way, or from the hinge side if you will only ever open it in one direction. Either way, leave a service loop with slack so the gate moves without pulling on the terminations.

One owner on a forum warns that repeated swinging works the cables and can loosen punch-downs over time, so plan the loop so the gate travels without stressing the connections.

There is no lock, no door and no dust or EMI protection. An open frame is fine in a locked closet or a home, and wrong in a shared office, a retail floor, a classroom or anywhere with kids or cleaning staff around.

The 110 lb capacity, halved when the gate is open, rules out dense server loads. Assembly is required, and buyers on Amazon report alignment trouble with the retaining pins and flex in the frame when the gate is swung. The 17.75-inch hole spacing means a backer board for most walls. The rack comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and no warranty term is published.

NavePoint also sells a 15U open frame server rack with a 180-degree gate, model 400476960, that works freestanding or wall-mounted, for a smaller build. A second 15U swing gate wall-mount rack, model 400441744, comes 24 inches deep, which suits deeper gear than the 18-inch frame takes. Choose the 15U 24-inch-deep rack when your equipment needs more depth than the 18-inch frame offers, and the 15U freestanding or wall-mount rack when you want fewer rack units and the option to skip the wall.