I saw in another thread around here that Grendal used them to setup the Hacking Dojo lab.  I went ahead and used them to setup a small lab myself too.  It's used equipment so there's some wear on them, but I haven't had any problems with functionality.

Before you fork over a lot of money, you should try and use GNS simulators. (http://www.gns3-labs.com/) Haven't ordered from the place you mentioned but haven enough hardware in my closet and basement to know it can become pricey. Simulators can do pretty much all that the hardware can do and its not uncommon that some CCNPs, CCIPs and even some CCIEs have used nothing but simulators.

Thanks sil, I started with the simulators and every image known to mankind.  I think I really need the hardware in front of me.  Probably just an excuse to get more hardware in my house, but either way, I will probably go the hardware route.  More blinking lights! FTW!


Thanks nicklauscombs.  Yeah I am looking at ebay now, and they have kits for half the price including a warranty.  I might have to try that.  Books are already expensive. Thanks everyone for the info. 

If you have an account on Cisco you should be able to download any of the images you need. What devices do you have? E.g., 2600, 3600, and what set are you looking for e.g., IPServices, Security, yadda yadda

I am pretty sure you are correct.  You only have access to the images you have support contracts for. 

Ah yea, forgot about about the contract shenanigans. I have access to mostly everything on there as well as Juniper. I download and horde things to play with. Whether or not I have it

I've ordered from them a couple times. Not the best experience in the world due to a few problems:

They sent me one of the wrong items and it was a hassle to get it replaced with the proper one.

Some of the equipment was VERY used

Two switches had bad roms (which they did replace), and it took quite a bit of troubleshooting on my end to figure out what the problem was. A little QA on their end would have kept these from going out the door in the first place.

I had several switches arrive with broken faceplates (as in broken off entirely) due to bad packing. I had to argue with them to get them replaced.

They sent out a CD with a gob of IOS versions on it for various equipment. Nice to have, but not kosher with Cisco's licensing.

Overall, a mediocre experience, particularly for the rather large amount of money involved. Would I buy from them again? Likely not.