 It's time to save - and this WILL do it for you painlessly |
| Review Date: December 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: HMMWV, santa clara, CA USA |
Update: 08-2010 It's been over a year and a half since this product first came through my laboratory for testing and certification. The three units we were left with are still in use and have saved their equivalent costs. I fully expected by now that the price would have dropped by 1/3 to 1/2, but it has not. I am tempted to subtract a star for being overpriced since I know what is inside it and how it works, but I'm going to leave the product for now at 5 stars simply because depending on your situation (TV, PC, entire lab workbench, etc) it can pay for itself in 1-3 years. If it did not save that much power, it would drop 1 to 2 stars for being overpriced given the internal simplicity. On the other hand, simple is excellent because simple designs are less likely to fail due to fewer parts. I still expect a price drop from amazon when I see CFL's selling for $1 ea at the hardware store, which used to be $8 ea.
Nearly every electrical device nowdays draws some small, meaningless amount of power - say 4 watts in "sleep" or off mode. Its waiting to hear from the remote to turn on usually, or perhaps waiting for a wake on lan signal that nobody uses. Not to mention those so called "wall warts" that plug into the wall outlet and look like, well, a wart. Well, technically a 7 watt wart.
The thought of this device (my lab was involved in early certification) is to ONLY turn on secondary devices when a "MAIN" device is operational, thus saiving the 6 devices x 5 watts = 30 watts x 24 hours x 365 = 262.8 KWH / year * 10c/kwh + tax = about $30/year, so the device pays back conservatively in 3 years, quicker if you have more addon devices.
Say your home stereo centers around the nice TV. CD player - 7 watts, Amplifier for THX audio? 16 watts, equalizer, 10 watts either on or off - doesnt care, CD changer - 4 watts off, all those devices are wasting electricity - called 24 hour loads, they load the electric grid 24 hours a day and do nothig with that power.
By installing this and selecting the TV as the master device, plug in your protected devices, then plug in all the devices you need to run your audio video system into the remainder of the plugs. When the TV is off, everything else will be off too. Turn on the TV and your whole audio video system is ready to go.
There is a 2nd advantage. With the storms comming all your precious devices will be disconnected when you are not using them - like running around unplugging stuff that is valuable before surges hit the power lines. Grounding protection is also built into the product.
You've heard it before and I'll say it again, if everyone saved 262 kwh per year, we would have less emissions from power plants maknig power that is wasted, we would have less ice melt, lower sea levels, and a healtheir planet. And people who know me would never call me a tree hugger or an environmentalist, I drive a humvee that gets 8 MPG although my commute is only 2 miles, but when whales are slaughtered and power is wasted, I feel like something must be done, because if I don't nobody will. I do secretly clap for the tree huggers who stand up for their principles, so I am standing up for mine. Wasting power is terrible, and everythig is made to do it these days.....
There you have it - 3 years it's paid for itself in the WORST case, 1 year with the typical home theater system. Works for computers too, turns off displays, printers, faxes, external drives, and all those wonderful chargers that plug in, plus routers if you do not have a wireless home net with more than one pc, and even the dsl modem. Another application of the same product.
I have 3 of these remaining after tests were completed, and I found it to be of superior quality. Today my TV, computer, and laboratory equipment is protected by the remainder that were leftover. And my electric bills shrank straight away. QED.
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Does exactly what it advertises!
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| Review Date: September 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: THATCH, OHIO |
I use this for my computer setup. Being that I have WAY too many devices that do not shut off when I shut the computer off like a USB hub, a Dymo Mark Writer, and more, I use this to shut off those small power leaches when I shut down the computer.
The device seems very well built and is very solid. It does emit some blue and green light from the power switch area so you'll want to plot on putting it some place where that light isn't a problem. I got mine in Amazon Frustration Free Packaging, which was awesome.
The only thing I wish were different is that I wish more of the outlets were "green" outlets that shut off when the main device shuts off. I am breaking the rules a bit and using a second power strip off of one of the green outlets so I can shut off a few more devices. I'm not overloading the device as they're all tiny power consumers, but still, not a recommended use but it does work if you question it to.
I couldn't be any more pleased with this device, other than the price. I've always used Monster on my home theater setup too, and may get another one for that location. |
Tested with Kill-a-watt.
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| Review Date: September 19, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Thinh Dang, Dallas, TX |
Very nicely made,.. Monster is the best for your money.
I tested with kill-lo-watt reader,..standby is 0 sometime 1 watt.
Will get more soon,.. my ancient similar size surge protector used about 30 watts standby.
This might pay for itself within 1 year. |
Green feature is excellent
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| Review Date: January 21, 2010 |
| Reviewer: J. Jerry, Central New Jersey United States |
| I bought this hoping the electric source was the problem with TV humming but it's the TV. The green feature of putting items on standby is fantastic but I wish it was more than just 4 that did that. Maybe the other sizes do. Took a day to arrange which was "master" controlled unit. Don't plug Tivo or DVR into it though as per Monster. Amazon prices was way better than local stores. I will be buying second one when I get new TV for family room. |
Works for TV too.
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| Review Date: February 3, 2010 |
| Reviewer: AK1234, |
| Works as stated. The bonus was we were able to hook it up to our TV to turn off all the media devices when the TV was off. |
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December 20th, 2009 | 
Author: 
No video reviews found for this product.
Posted in monster surge protector | 
Tags: amazon, frustrationfree, green, monster, packaging, power, powercenter, with