P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor
by P3 INTERNATIONAL
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor
Customer Review: Nifty tool for controlling electricity costs!
Summary: 5 Stars
The kill-a -watt EZ is a nifty tool to control your electricity costs. It is far, far better that the original kill-a-watt in that it actually calculates the electrical cost on a daily, weekley, monthly and annual basis, just by pushing a button. The older kill-a-watt made you do the calculations(and offerd no advice on how to). The EZ still tells you the cumulative kilowatt-hours used along with Volts, current(amps), frequency and Power factor, all good for diagnosing you electrical system. The EZ will also save all your cumulative readings and costs if you unplug it. Just plug it in somewhere else and read the numbers. you can then write them down and clear the memory to test another appliance.
However, the EZ still has many of the same egregious failings of the original. You have to wonder if every one in P3(the company that makes the product)is brain dead. First, the plug configuration is wrong for 95% of the plugs in American houses, causing the kill-a-watt to plug in sideways(i.e., 90 degrees left than the picture you see in Amazon. If that wasn't bad enough, the display is an LCD with no backlight, meaning that at the low level of the standard plug, you can't see the display unless you get down on your knees, and then, as mentiond prior, crook your neck 90 degrees left. And, to add injury to insult, the kill-a-watt's plug is centered in the case, blocking use of the other plug in the recptical. Take my advice, buy a 3 to 6 foot extension cord of appropriate capacity for the item you're testing and plug the EZ into that so you can have it at convenient height to read.
Customer Review: Kill-A-Watt Does Just What It Claims
Summary: 5 Stars
I received my electric bill a couple of months ago and nearly fainted due to the fact that it had more than doubled! I had seen one of these gadgets somewhere before, but sloughed it off as something I didn't require. I was wrong! Since the power company increased the base price for killowatts lately as well, I decided to do an Internet search and find the Kill-A-Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor. As usual, I quickly found it at Amazon.com, with several choices of vendors and prices. I found the EZ model which is the most bang for the buck. Simply put, I was able to enter the exact amount my power company is charging per killowatt hour, and discover just which appliances in my home were the most cost efficent to run. I was also able to see which appliances were the energy sucking culprits that caused such an increase in my power bill! The unit displays the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly cost to run electric appliances. The device also takes into consideration the idle periods in which appliances are not being used. I used a power strip and attached many of my appliances to it. With the Kill-A-Watt installed before all of them, I was able to get a realistic idea as to the consumption of certain key appliances operating in unison on a monthly basis, factoring in their idle periods as well. All in all, this device is very efficent, and is a MUST in penny-pinching households such as mine. The price range for the same exact unit varies greatly, so be careful. For spending around $30.00 at Amazon.com, I will have saved hundreds of dollars of electricity costs in the year to come.Customer Review: A very handy device.
Summary: 5 Stars
I actually bought 2 of these, one was a gift. It works exactly as advertised so that is a plus right off the bat. I bought the EZ model which will make the Kilowatt hour/cost calculation for you; the less expensive model gives you the watt usage only and you have to do the math. For the EZ model you just put in the price per Kwh from your electric bill and it figures out the rest. I would recommend getting (2) 3-pronged extension cords, one to go from the plug on the back of the Kilowatt EZ into the wall socket and one to go from the appliance cord your testing into the front of the Kilowatt. This will eliminate having to get down onto the floor to read the thing. For instance my refrigerator plug is on the floor behind the fridge, not too convenient. If I didn't have an extension cord I would have to move the fridge all the way out and use a flashlight to read the screen. But once you overcome this rather obvious design limitation the product is a lot of fun to use. I was always concerned at how much my Christmas lights must be costing me so I tested it out. My big tree which has something like 700 lights costs $0.03/hr. Less than I expected. My outdoor lights cost about $0.10/hr. Not too bad either. My (2) tivo's use as much juice as my refrigerator which was a bit of a mind blower. Using this thing has made me more energy aware and I find myself shutting off things that aren't being used. I put power strips on certain "phantom" devices that suck power even when off like my TV and Stereo and DVD player. Get one, you'll see for yourself.
Customer Review: Good...but not Great!
Summary: 3 Stars
I got this monitor as advertised from Amazon within 5 busines days of ordering over the holidays...good job Amazon. As for the monitor...
The directions are straight forward and easy to read and follow. It performs as advertised. But it has two design flaws, one minor, and one I consider a "DOH!". The first is that in order to read the monitor it must be plugged in...no outlet I have in my house is greater than 2 feet off the floor. Kneeling down to read this is a pain in the butt. Plus, the screen is not backlit, so it is not always easy to read if you are not level with the screen. The second design flaw I consider major and something Homer Simpson would do. It used to be depicted in one of the user provided photos showing the monitor plugged in. The monitor, when plugged in to measure the usage of an item, covers, or makes it darn near impossible to use, the other plug-in on the outlet. So it pratically mandates the use of an extension cord if you still need to use the other plug-in on the outlet be used for the usage monitoring. A fairly easy work around, but then the monitor dangles from the wall outlet, when a proper design would avoid this altogether. All in all, it does what it is suppose to do...it could do it better with design corrections to earn 5 stars.
Customer Review: Works well but there are opportunities for improvement
Summary: 3 Stars
The seller sent the product quickly and it arrived prior to the projected delivery date. Really happy with the seller! There are some issues with the device:
1) accuracy: with nothing plugged into the device, the readings are not zero as one would expect. Plug the device into the wall, reset it, and view watts used. It will display ONE watt when nothing is plugged into it. Other settings also display values when they should read zero.
2) readability: The LCD characters are too small for many menu items. For example, to view watts you select the "volts" menu item. The print is so small I had to use reading glasses and could barely make it out.
3) viewing: If your wall socket is not easily accessible, you should use an extension cord so you can easily see the LCD screen. I would recommend using an extension cord anyway since it will make reading/setting the device much easier.
If it gave zero readings when nothing was attached, I would have given it a rating of four stars. And if the menu items were larger characters, it would have been five stars.
Despite the issues, I highly recommend the device. It does work, is fairly easy to use, is inexpensive, and provides quite acceptable results for home use.