First, what doesn’t decide it
Yealink, Logitech and Cisco all offer certified Microsoft Teams Rooms hardware. All three make auto-framing cameras, touch consoles and booking panels. If a salesperson tells you one of the three “doesn’t work”, be wary.
Image quality in particular is rarely the deciding factor. Remote participants tolerate an average picture, not unintelligible sound. In a large room, audio pickup (table or ceiling microphones, distributed speakers) matters more than the camera brand.
So here are the criteria that actually tip the balance in our projects.
Criterion 1: your meeting platform
We always start from the platform you already use. You don’t need to switch platforms to equip a room.
- Microsoft Teams: all three brands have certified Teams Rooms systems.
- Zoom: most Yealink devices come in both Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms versions; Logitech is also well established on Zoom.
- Webex: Cisco’s home ground. But Cisco devices can also run in Microsoft Teams Rooms mode.
If your organization is on Teams and staying there, the platform doesn’t separate the three brands: move on to the next criteria.
Criterion 2: the range for your room sizes
All three cover everything from huddle rooms to large rooms, with slightly different approaches. Here are the lines we install.
- Yealink: MeetingBar A20 and A40 for small and medium rooms; MVC systems for large rooms, with SmartVision cameras; touch controllers and RoomPanel booking panels.
- Logitech: Rally Bar Mini and Rally Bar for small and medium rooms; Rally Plus for large rooms, with extra microphones; Tap and Tap IP controllers, Tap Scheduler at the door, Scribe for sharing a whiteboard.
- Cisco: Room Bar and Room Bar Pro for small and medium rooms; Room Kit EQ for large rooms; Board Pro for collaboration rooms.
In very large rooms, the difference is mostly flexibility: several cameras, ceiling microphones, external audio processing. In Brossard, a Yealink MVC S80 system runs with two cameras, two Sennheiser ceiling microphones and a Q-SYS processor.
Criterion 3: remote management
Once you have several rooms, the question becomes: who notices when a room goes offline, and how do updates get done?
- Cisco: everything is managed from Control Hub, a single console, with the updates and encryption security teams require.
- Yealink and Logitech: each manufacturer has its own cloud portal to monitor and update its devices.
- In Teams Rooms mode, whatever the brand, the Teams Rooms Pro licence gives access to Microsoft’s management portal.
If your IT team wants one console for everything, that’s a strong argument for Cisco, or for a single brand everywhere paired with the Teams Rooms Pro portal.
Criterion 4: the ecosystem and what you already have
Keeping one brand everywhere simplifies everything: same consoles, same accessories, same portal, same training. If half your rooms are already Logitech, you need a good reason to switch.
The ecosystem matters at installation time too. With Yealink, for example, a camera is powered over the network (PoE) only when the room has an AVHub; otherwise it gets its own power adapter. The RoomSensor always goes on the ceiling, and the network jack must be in the same spot as the MCore room computer. These details are planned before installation day, not on it.
When Yealink is the best choice
When many rooms must be equipped the same way, with excellent value. And when a large room needs a complete package: certified system, four-lens 4K camera that follows whoever speaks, second camera, booking panels. It’s the brand in the large Teams room in Brossard, and we also support Yealink rooms in a public transit organization’s offices in Longueuil and Saint-Hubert.
When Logitech is the best choice
To quickly standardize a fleet of small and medium rooms without major work: one device, one touch controller, and the meeting starts. Logitech is also a natural fit when the budget has to cover many rooms, or when you want to share a whiteboard with Scribe. For a very large room, we add microphones or move to a more advanced solution.
When Cisco is the best choice
When your organization lives in Webex, or when IT has a say on security and wants a single console. Cisco is strong in multi-site organizations and regulated industries (finance, healthcare, legal), and in executive rooms where nothing can fail. We register devices in Control Hub or Microsoft Teams, depending on your platform.
What about Neat?
We install Neat too. In a downtown Montreal meeting room glazed on all four sides, a Neat video bar and its Neat Pad controller are built into a custom media unit. If Neat is on your shortlist, we’ll talk about it just as frankly.
The best test: try them in your room
Spec sheets don’t tell you how a camera behaves in your room, with your lighting and your acoustics. In Saint-Laurent, a distribution company had us install a Yealink system on a trial basis, then a Cisco system, so the team could compare in real conditions before choosing.
You can also see an equipped room in our Boucherville showroom: a free demo, with your team on site or remote. For budgeting, our Pricing page shows ranges by room size, whatever the brand.
