I am wondering what anyones thoughts are on the best (or wises) equipment needed for studying for CCNA.

I know there are many topics online regarding this with many different answers and even companies set up just for supplying second hand Cisco gear for CCNA students, but many of the answers I find seem a bit dated.

I have been watching Jeremy Cioara's CBT Nugget videos on the CCNA and he recommends the Cisco 851W router because it has the full IOS plus WIFI etc. This guy really seems to know what he's talking about, so I'm tempted to go down that route, but just wondering what anyone else's thoughts are.

Cheers,
Jimmy

I presently have a CCENT and am preparing to take the 2nd (ICND2) exam soon to become CCNA certified. On recommendations of others, I purchased a low-priced assemblage of 3 old Cisco switches and 3 Cisco routers. I also purchased Odem's CCNA Network Simulator through Amazon.

I found the simulator to be a better tool to prepare for the ICND1 exam. It has a hundred or so ICND1 and ICND2 simulations and prepackaged labs (with answers to questions the labs might ask). I was expecting the real Cisco gear to be a better learning aid, but that not the case.

The simulator was that the lab exercises had a high level of correlation to the sort of questions and simulations I faced when taking the ICND1.

My problem with the real Cisco devices is that there are differences in the way to do things using older IOS versions. That is, what I read in the latest textbooks could not be practiced using my older gear. Some IOS commands agreed with the textbooks, but other commands -- especially VLAN commands -- could not. I spent a lot of time trying to find equivalents to the IOS commands I found in the books. Usually I could -- but it was distracting and counter-productive. That is why I still prefer to use Odem's lab simulator.

Perhaps if I were preparing for higher level exams, I would rely more on real CISCO gear. But since Odem's simulator is much less expensive than real gear, my vote is for the simulator -- at least until I seek the CCNP or one of the specialty certificates.

Packet life has an online lab with real Cisco equipment you can use.
http://packetlife.net/lab/

"The Packet Life community lab provides free access to modern Cisco networking equipment for training purposes. Lab equipment and other costs are provided or sponsored by the site's owner, commercial sponsors, and voluntary contributions by gracious community members."