Smart Strip LCG3 Energy Saving Surge Protector with Autoswitching Technology, 10-Outlet
by Smart Strip
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List Price: Our Price: $31.20 You Save: $20.52 (40%) 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: Great money saving device
Summary: 5 Stars
Saves my PC from using 50watts all of the time. Purchased two of them, both work great.
UPDATE: After reading several negative reviews, I wanted to add a few things.
1. I now have 3 of these, the newest is 6 months old and they are all working great.
2. On calibration: The power usage in the on state for the control device needs to be significantly different than the off power usage for the control device to work properly. For example, a cable box that draws 40watts on and 35watts off will make a very poor control device. A computer that draw 12watts off and 100watts on will make a great control device. Consider that when choosing a control device. (Kill-a-watt is very helpful in determining this)
3. On failures: Power strips fail, often from surges. If your strip failed, contact the manufacture. It should last a year at minimum. However, it does contain a switch and and power reading circuit, so it may fail at some point.
4. Always on devices: The strip is designed for computers. You turn your computer off, the speakers and other items go off too. There are many other uses, but keep in mind that it does not work for power hungry always-on devices like a cable box, DVRs, Roku or DirecTV control box. Those devices are always on, they take several minutes to boot up when power is restored. Same goes for a large number of TVs. If your device is an always on device, you can't use it as a control device or hook it to one of the switched outlets without some frustration. That simply will not work well. Using a switched power strip on those types of devices will GREATLY increase time-to-on and in the case of a DVR, will result in missed recordings. This can be a big negative when you need to turn things on and let them boot up for 10 minutes before you watch TV.
Make sure that the way you plan to use the device is how the device is designed to be used. Get a Kill-A-Watt and look at power usage when you are planning to use a power strip like this. The Kill-A-Watt is a great tool and helps in other areas as well.
Customer Review: Nice, Easy Way to Save A Bit of Energy
Summary: 5 Stars
Hey, saving every bit of energy helps, right? The Smart Strip is one tool to help your household become more energy efficient! I purchased mine for my computer after reading about it in Money Magazine. Set up is easy, basically just plug your computer into the control plug and then plug any peripherals into the auto-switching plugs. Doing this allows you to use your computer to control power on/off of all devices. Very nice, simple and convenient. Cost is about $30 and, from what I've read in various media, it should pay for itself in a year. Not a bad investment to help save the environment.
I should mention that we thought the strip wasn't working when we first set it up. Do note that there is a sensitivity adjustment dial on the strip. You have to fiddle with that to ensure that all of the devices power on/off with your main device. Thing to do is just turn off the main device and then turn the dial until all other devices shut off.
Now, I will say that my boyfriend refuses to use one of these on his home theater system. It has to do with the memory functions on his receiver and the fact that he uses his Playstation 3 to add processing power to the cancer research effort (Folding @ Home). So, that may be something to think about. If you're going to lose all of your presets when you turn off your TV, using this device may not be worth the frustration.
Customer Review: Simple way to kill power to a problem TV set
Summary: 5 Stars
This device works wonderfully in my situation; a wonderful TV set that has a troubled standby mode. My television searches for updates to cable channels. Constantly. With a LOUD high pitched whine. As long as it is plugged into power. The issue is that I don't watch broadcast or cable TV of any kind, and as a result it isn't hooked up to an antenna or cable. As the TV cannot /find/ any signals, it remains in autopgramming standby as long as it is plugged in and not fully on. (This is an issue with this discontinued Phillips TV.)
This simple device, with the TV on one of the power dependent outlets, allows me to easily kill power to it when our home reciever isn't on. A far cheaper solution than ditching an otherwise wonderful movie/game room TV. I'm not convinced that it does much to reduce our power bills, but it is an effective solution for devices that don't handle standby mode well.
The unit worked right out of the box, but also has a potentiometer that can easily be adjusted to dial in the sensitivity on the controlling powerport. This might be necessary for a controlling device that doesn't draw a lot of power. Keep that in mind.
Easily a 4.5 purchase, with half a point deducted due to the garrish bright red and blue on some of the switches. I'm glad it is hidden behind a large mahoghany cabinet.
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 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.