★★★★★ 4
Better than the basic power strip
Color: White, Size: 2.5', Style: 2.5 ft
I needed to get a basic five or six outlet power strip and instead ended up with this
. Since the power strip that I was going to get was for basic protection, and would be plugged into a surge suppressor anyway, I really wasn't concerned about how much protection it offered. Just having the extra outlets for additional small-to-medium electrical devices was important.
While looking and comparing this with basic power strips, I decided to check the manufacturer's site to see what specs they offered, since the ones here seemed to be a bit inadequate. Here's what I found:
* 555 Joule energy rating provides maximum protection of all your sensitive electronic devices
* 6 Surge-protected outlets supply 2-line AC protection
* 2.5-foot power cord delivers optimal, safe AC power through a 14-gauge heavy-duty cord
* Filters EMI/RFI noise up to 43 dB reduction
* Maximum Spike Amperage of 36,000 Amps
* Lifetime Product Warranty
* $15,000 Connected Equipment Warranty
The pros on this unit include the price, the basic surge protection, a short but sturdy power cord, and good basic construction. It has a power/reset switch that's recessed at the top of the unit near the power cord to prevent accidental shutting down. On the negative side, like so many of these units, the outlets are too close together to put more than a couple transformer-type devices like cell phone chargers and such.
Just a couple of comments on the specifications listed above to those who may be interested: if you're going to plug high-end expensive electronics into one of these, don't do it. This is an adequate but very basic unit, and you want to consider getting a better grade surge suppressor for large screen televisions, good computer systems and such. No surge protector is 100% effective, but sure that the product is listed as a transient voltage surge suppressor, and that it meets the criteria for UL 1449, the absolute minimum performance standard for surge suppressors. I'm no electrical engineer or electronics technician, but if you're going to protect an expensive jogging machine, your new 52-inch television or Apple iMac 27-inch desktop system, you need better than an under $10 surge suppressor or power strip.
A friend who I will refer to as the 'cranky electronic tech' told me to look it up on the 'Net, but make sure that whatever I got for protection of "really good stuff" needed to be minimally have a UL1449 3rd Edition certification and be rated at 1400 joules of surge protection or higher, and the rest would fall into place. The
that I've used for years with my large electronics is rated at 3330 Joules, and meets those specs.
If you plan to use a basic surge suppressor to charge cell phones and the like with their transformer plugs, units with right-angle outlets are a better, though more costly choice. My personal choice for mid-range protection combined with outstanding quality is the
, a 5-star product that I own and have reviewed here. I run two notebook computers with this, along with a few chargers. There are others if you look.
If all that you're looking for is a basic surge protector with a reasonable amount of surge suppression, then this one from Belkin is a decent choice, and certainly better than the basic power strip. I actually came back recently and bought a second one this year. But if your needs call for more, then the above listed alternates may be worth a look.
4/25/2012
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Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2012
