Smart Strip LCG3 Energy Saving Surge Protector with Autoswitching Technology, 10-Outlet
by Smart Strip
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List Price: Our Price: $28.42 You Save: $23.30 (45%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $27.00 (click here) Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Smart Strip LCG3 Energy Saving Surge Protector with Autoswitching Technology, 10-Outlet
Customer Review: You not only save energy, but also your devices "lifetime"
Summary: 5 Stars
One thing that everybody seems to forget is that every single device made by man has a limited life time.
Engineers in the electronic industry call it "MTBF" or Mean Time Between Failures, what it means is that your electronic gadgets have a limited lifetime before they finally DIE, as a light bulbs, some will last longer, some will have shorter life, but eventually they all will die as a result of being used.
Consumer society manufacturers have a term called, "PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE" it means that the they try to limit the useful life of whatever they make, to force consumers to eventually BUY AGAIN.
Unfortunately for them, modern electronics are so reliable, that keeping them on all the time, is the only way to kill them.
That is why this device also saves, hours and hours of your electronic devices useful life are usually wasted (with the respective wasted power) just for the convenience of being on the standby mode, which keeps device power supplies on, with the added risk of being blown by power line spikes coming from lightning (reason for protectors) or by heavy power user devices switching on and off like Air conditioners or electric motors.
Customer Review: Works as stated
Summary: 4 Stars
I have a Monster Power Strip, and been using it for over 5 years. It still works great.
Decided to buy this one to avoid forgetting to turn off some of the devices and left those run over night since my daughter sometimes just turn off the TV by hand, and not turning off other devices.
After setup, I had to calibrate the thing a little bit. I think the trick there is to wait for the change to take effect after you move the dial. The documentation stated this.
I now can be sure that my sound sytem as well as the wii will turn off along w/ the TV. However, since I have my DirecTV box hooked up to the non-control outlet (to avoid satellite signal search when startup), I still need to remember to turn that off.
Two other things I noticed is that 1) since my TV has a fan, it continues to run for a little bit after the TV is turned off. This device won't turn other things off until the fan is off. Not a big deal. 2) It takes a few secs after I turned on the TV for other devices to have power, this is a little annoying.
Overall, the device works as expected.
Customer Review: A little too sensitive as to adjustments.
Summary: 3 Stars
This product is a little too sensitive as to operation. You definitely need to make the fine-tuned adjustments via the adjustment dial. It is even more sensitive when you use the Antec Green Power Supply in your PC. You need to fiddle with the adjustment dial ti be precise and I find myself having to make periodic adjustments. It is the only flaw I see in this product. I own several Energy Saving Surge Protectors (The APC Energy Saving SurgeArrest, the Philips Surge protector, and numerous SmartBits.
This surge surpresser does uses less than half as much power (.07 amps) in standby mode as the APC SurgeArrest (vs. 0.18 amps). However, the APC SurgeArrests needs no adjustments, it works flawlessly out of the box. In fact, the APC SurgeArrest has no such adjustments) to ensure the controlled outlets turn on when the master outlet turns on.
For maximum savings, I like the SmartBits when it does work without a hitch. For flawless operation, I like the APC unit better than the SmartBits because you do not need to fiddle with adjustments.
Customer Review: Works great but may not save as much $ as advertised
Summary: 5 Stars
We love this product and it works well.
My issue is with the description on the box of how much money using this device can save. By their figures, the device, when used with an "average" computer system, saves 113 KWH per month; at 15 cents/kwh (about what we pay in the Philadelphia area) that would be about $203/year.
We have a typical 3-year-old Dell Dimension desktop computer, LCD monitor, printer, sound system, and DSL modem that together consume about 14 watt hrs. in standby (I checked with a Kill-A-Watt meter). Using the LCG3 reduces the standby power draw to 1 watt hr. So, assuming 12 hrs. standby/day x 13 watts saved/hr. x 365 days x 15 cents/kwh gives an annual savings estimate of about $8.50/year (for 57 kwh/year saved), a much more realistic $ savings estimate for today's computers.
However, we bought this smart strip to help reduce electricity demand and greenhouse gases from power plants, so perhaps the most important benefits aren't strictly financial. And electricity prices have nowhere to go but up.
Customer Review: I love it.
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought another model like this for my computer first, then picked this one up to use for my home entertainment system. It is very straightforward--even my mom was able to figure out how to use it. The TV went into the blue outlet (the control outlet) and my older game consoles and the DVD player went into the white ones. My newer game consoles and cable box went into the "constant hot outlets" in red, which, as it implies, are always on whether or not the device in the control outlet is powered up. This sets it apart from other surge protectors and I find this feature very convenient.
It may not work at first. There is a place on the side of the unit where it can be adjusted (with e screwdriver) so the "switched" outlets will switch on and off with the control outlet if it doesn't do so right out of the box. I didn't have to adjust this one, but I did with the model that I bought for my computer system. It's very easy to do--just twist it until the "switched" outlets go off. So, if you encounter this problem, don't be alarmed. It isn't hard to fix.