Customer Reviews

Belkin 8-Outlet Home/Office Surge Protector with Coaxial Protection

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

There are several Belkin surge protection power strips that are being sold as the same product, be very careful as you shop online. Some have Ethernet, others Telephone. Some have cable organizer clips, others do not. BUT THEY ALL ARE MISLEADING YOU ABOUT THE SURGE PROTECTION! 3390 Joules would be the mark of a superior product. However these Belkin strips all are designed with 835 Joules protection between neutral-ground, 835 Joules between hot-ground, and 1720 Joules between hot-neutral. So it really is a 835 Joule surge protection power strip. That's mediocre at best. (835+835+1720=3390, but that is not the correct way to rate the protection being provided!)

I purchased this surge protector because it claimed to have ethernet support. If you are looking for RJ-45 jacks, you will be disappointed. It has RJ-11 and coaxial jacks, but no support for today's most common ethernet interface (RJ-45).

Other than that, the build quality is good. Too bad you can't test the surge suppression until you get that lightning strike on your home.

I have recently noticed the trusted "Belkin" name brand is being used without much supervision. Several "belkin" products I have purchased over the last few years were Chinese Junk (burned out / poor quality). It seems the very obvious difference in quality of the packaging DOES in fact mean a lot about the name of "Belkin" being on a product.

As for this power strip, it was on flash sale and I needed one for ONE REASON ONLY - ALL THE RIDICULOUS POWER TRANSFORMERS THAT HOG ALL THE SPACE ON POWER STRIPS! (beyond a 'personal pet peeve".

Anyway, I think my next SOLUTION will be this option I saw on Amazon.

Ziotek ZT1212518 Power Strip Liberator Plus with Pass Through, 5-PackZiotek ZT1212518 Power Strip Liberator Plus with Pass Through, 5-Pack

Also, for some reason, it was not mentioned, but it is boxed and labeled at being "Super Slim" ... which in fact it is, but I don't see what difference it makes since the Big Power Transformers vary in size, shape and configuration (by product/brand etc...) that it gonna stick up - no matter if the 8 outlet is super thin, or an inch or two thicker.

ONLY ON MAJOR SALE PRICE would I recommend this.

I bought several of these to ensure that all my electrical equipment were protected. The previous ones I had shorted out when we lost power a few times. Hopefully the Belkin ones will last longer than the generic brand I got at the Shack. I like the fact that they have a green light that tells you that you are protected, and when the light goes out, you know it's time to get a new one. The generic ones didn't have this and the only way I found out I wasn't protected was when I saw some scorch marks on the plug itself, pretty dangerous in my opinion. Anyway, I love that this model has 6 outlets to plug things into, and they are spaced out nicely so those larger square like plugs fit just fine.

i bought this item for my desktop, and to surge protect my cable tv and internet connection, it works great, plenty of outlets, enough space between them is very comfortable,

As stated in a previous review, there is no ethernet protection. Returning this item was a pain, but Amazon stepped in and took care of it. The final cost was a few hours of time and the return shipping.

I am surprised that Amazon has not corrected the description, as they have been aware of it for at least 5 months. It was the basis for my return. It seems like a good price, even without the ethernet protection. It was just not what I ordered.

I'm very happy with the quality of this product! Mounts easily to wall and has plenty of room for even the largest charging plugs to sit next to each other.

The plastic safety covers tend to shift a lot if you plug and unplug devices. So if you move a laptop plug from room to room, plugging in the device, you may accidentally close the outlet. Otherwise it works ok so far.

Brief evaluation

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This surge protector allows for up to 8 devices, including 4 'wide' DC adapters to be plugged in. It will protect them against power surges and, in addition, it can protect one phone line (RJ-11) and one coax wire if they are connected to pass through the Belkin surge protector.

My personal experience does validate the claims the manufacturer makes for the features that I am using and I can verify at this time. So far, I am happy and, in my opinion and based on its meeting real needs, good design, features and low price I recommend it as (in my view) one of the better it its class.

Soon after purchasing this unit I learned that for very little extra I could get and, in fact, I purchased the Belkin 12-Outlet Home/Office Surge Protector with Phone/Ethernet/Coaxial Protection and Extended Cord which has 4 extra outlets and comes with a true RJ-45 Ethernet support.

More details

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The following are noteworthy, in my view.

Positives:

+ TRUE 8-outlet capacity. Unlike the traditional surge-protected power strips where one beefy AC adapter would cover 2 slots, Belkin's device truly accommodates 4 AC adapters and allows for 4 more plugs to fit in.

+ 'Protected' green light (must be on) provides assurance that the surge protector is operational. When the green light stays off it usually means that the surge protector 'expired' while protecting your device from a power surge and it must be replaced ASAP. [The Belkin warranty promises a free replacement under its warranty terms if you meet the requirements and, it seems, you pay for shipping the damaged unit to Belkin and, possibly, the new unit to you. That's likely to add up to the price of buying a new unit from Amazon and, if you factor in the hassle, probably not worth it.]

+ 'Not grounded' red light (must be off) will warn you when there's something wrong. Belkin's warranty won't apply if the light was on when your devices got fried. I don't know if for a fact but I assume they have a way of telling if that was the case.

+ 10 ft. long chord. This is very important to me and it was one of the criteria that had to be met when I ordered this item.

+ 90 degree plug allows you to easily plug it into a busy 4-plugs wall outlet.

+ Clip for cable management. I find it useful.

+ Thin (one inch) and flat shape. Stands well on a table or on the floor.

+ Telephone and coax cable pass through for surge protection. I don't use these but I'm surprised that something this inexpensive has them.

[NOTE: The 'phone' jacks are RJ-11 (phone), not RJ-45 (Ethernet). I heard of installations where RJ-11 connectors are used for Ethernet but that is not the norm.]

Negatives:

- Other than encouraging the unrealistic expectation that Belkin would pay you big $$$ on connected equipment warranty, I can't think of anything bad.

Warranty

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On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is a worthless warranty and 10 is one that's unbelievably generous, Belkin's should be somewhere around 2 or 3 - 95% of all warranties on devices this cheap are likely to be a 1.

They do promise to replace the item if it sacrifices itself while protecting your devices for as long as you can prove that you didn't do anything stupid, you have a purchase receipt and you ship the damaged item to Belkin at your own expense. It's not clear if they will charge you for shipping you back a new item. This may or may not be something worth pursuing. My impression is that you are not going to save a lot of money to get a 'free' replacement from Belkin and you are likely to waste a lot of time in the process. I'd probably buy myself a new one if the one I have now stopped working but it's good to know that they do have a 'lifetime' warranty. By 'lifetime' they mean the natural life of the product but 'natural life' is not precisely defined.

As far as being reimbursed for damage to devices that this surge protector was expected to protect, my impression is that you are not likely to get much if anything unless you can afford a lawyer and you are willing to sue. You have to meet a long series of requirements that are expressed in several paragraphs of techno-legalese.

Rating

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I will have to repeat myself stating that, in my view, this is one of the better surge protectors in its class. It loses one star for the 'Ethernet' confusion. I could have and maybe I should have removed one more star from the over-hyped warranty statement printed on the box but... as sad as it is, everybody does it and Belkin's warranty is better than most so, I am awarding 4 stars on an item that inexpensively addressed real issues I had with protecting several devices clustered in a corner of my basement.

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Disclaimer:

I would call myself the opposite of a Belkin shill. After reading the news stories concerning some Belkin employees' attempts at promoting their wares at this site via employee-written reviews and other unethical practices I tended to stay away from the Belkin brand. In this instance, the price and the promised features were hard to resist and, to my surprise, I am very happy with my purchase.

I currently use this to power a quadcore PC (500w), 37" LCD HDtv, PS3 (the 2nd generation), DVD-recorder, laptop, and a small refrigerator - all of them powered up comes out to be about 450w output (5 amps, 554 VA, 60 Hz).

It seems very safe, and it has more than enough plugs for me to add more on top of the listed gadgets above.

Absolutely recommended