Customer Reviews

Belkin BZ108200-06 8 Outlets 3195 Joule Compact Surge Protector, 6Ft

5 star:		(418)
4 star:		(100)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(29)

 

 

I had a power surge in my house. The only thing items that got damaged were the ones on this surge protector. It made loud pops, smoked, and arced until I unplugged it. I called file a claim but the policy is such that

1) you only get reimbursed for the value you could resell your damaged products before the damage occurred
2) you have to go to a repair store (lugging your tv and electronics) and pay the repair store to give you a quote ($40 fee) just to have a chance at a refund
3) you have to pay to mail back your surge protector
4) Belkin may request you to mail your damaged devices for them to check at your own cost (seriously, mail my dead tv?!?)

After multiple phone calls with Belkin (whose customer service is polite), I've come to the following conclusions. This is a scam. The $5 surge protectors did their job. My laptops were fine. The expensive surge protector made a mess, let my equipment get toasted and resulted in a lot of hassle that didn't even help me get a replacement tv.

I wouldn't recommend this to an enemy!

There are a lot of reviews on this product, but I had to add mine. After lightning struck a tree next to our house, our neighbors suffered several appliance failures, including a blown TV. Ours, including our computer survived (plugged into one of these). More amazingly, the outlet this was plugged into blew out of the wall, frying the protector, the TV lost its color for 3 days, but then popped back in and we are still using it. Our electrician says, he's never seen anything like it, but he's recommending this surge protector now.

Good, clean design and layout. Flexible enough to accommodate up to 6 power bricks without blocking the other outlets (4 on the wide face, 2 more on the ends of the narrow face). A "Not Grounded" warning light is a great feature that provides additional peace of mind.

I mounted it on the underside of my desk to get all the wires off the floor. The thoughtful design extends to the keyhole for screw mounting which gives you the option of forward or sideways engagement. It works even better when upside down because the cables hang down instead of draping over.

On the quality side, the on/off switch feels flimsy, and 3 prong, grounded plugs take some effort to pull back out. Belkin probably figured these actions aren't frequent enough to warrant complaint, i.e. most people just plug in, switch on, and forget about it for the next three years, and cost reduced these components to keep the price down. It's a good compromise. I'm very pleased with the product and the price!

For this item, BE112234-10 (10ft/3m Cord), the box has these Technical Specifications:

Continuous Duty Electrical Rating:
125V/15A/60Hz/1875W

Maximum Energy Dissipation:
4156 Joules
H-N: 2052 Joules
H-G: 972 Joules
N-G: 972 Joules
Phone Line: 160J
Joule is a measurement o fenergy a surge protector component can absorb. A higher joule rating reflects higher-quality surge protection and longer product life.

Maximum Spike Current:
216,000A
H-N: 120,000A
H-G: 48,000A
N-G: 48,000A
Maximum spike current is measured by amperage. Higher amperage rating reflects greater absorption capacity against lightning or sudden dramatic power spikes.

UL Clamping Voltage (3-Line):
UL 1449 330V

Response Time: <1 Nanosecond
A rating of <1 nanosecond indicates a response time to prevent disturbances before harming equipment is less than 1 billionth of a second.

EMI/RFI Noise Filtration:
150kHz~100Mhz up to 75 dB Reduction
Electromagnetic interference/radio frequency interference causes AC-line contamination that leads to computer lockups, audio video interference, and data loss. The greater the decibel reduction across a wider frequency range, the greater the clean protection.

Product Features (on the back of the box):
-Includes Belkin Lifetime Product Warranty
-Features detachable clip to help you manage and hide multiple cables
-Offers secure wall-mount option for added convenience
-Protects electronics such as telephones and DSL/cable lines
-Provides 1-in, 1-out coaxial-cable protection for your home-theater equipment
-Features 1-in, 1-out RJ45 ports to protect your Ethernet connections

I had a lightning strike near my house which wiped out my router, network switch, and motherboard-based network adapter. I had a UPS so assumed I was safe but it looks like I got a voltage spike on my cable tv line which then spread from the router to my ethernet cable. Now, my cable, ethernet, and power connectors are all protected should such a thing ever happen again! Plus, the wide spacing of the outside outlets on this Belkin surge protector allow me to connect all my network gear, two computers and monitors, and my entertainment center. I did considerable research before selecting this surge supressor and am very satisfied.

Wow 12 outlets. It's very spacious. Easily accommodates 6 big adapters. Has cable, Telephone options too. The only thing I disliked is that it comes with Black wire when most of the walls and floors at homes and offices are white due to which wire doesn't blend in with the walls but that is not a big issue. I have two children at home. They used to keep touching the adapters and wires connected to different outlets because my previous surge protector couldn't accommodate everything because of narrow space b/w the outlets on it as I have a lot of things connected to the TV. Now I can keep everything in one place hidden behind the TV.
It comes with a 10 feet wire that is another advantage. Office Depot sells exacts same product for $76 + Tax with it's own brand name on it. What a rip off.

I wish I had discovered this power strip sooner. It's without question the best power strip on the market. The first thing you will notice is that it has 12 outlets. I don't know of any other power strip (besides the other Belkin one with the pivoting outlets) that has this many outlets. Although I don't own the pivot-plug one, I think this one (this one = power strip without pivoting outlets) is better. From now on I'll call the strip without pivoting outlets the flat one. The flat one has 3 outlets on each side that are designed to accomodate big power adapters. I believe they're called Blockspace outlets. The pivot-plug strip tries to substitute tilting outlets for the Blockspace outlets and it doesn't quite work. The pivoting outlets are still close together and tilting them only does so much. There is a review on the pivot-plug strip's page backing this up. And in my opinion, who needs tilting outlets anyway? Plus the flat one has a longer cord.

Anyway, about the power strip I'm actually reviewing. This is an amazing strip. Not only does it have the 12 outlets (6 down the middle, 3 Blockspace outlets on each side), but it can also protect coaxial lines, ethernet lines, and phone lines. It also has a cord management clip for organizing all the cords. The reason this power strip is so nice is because it's well designed. Things that are well designed are pretty rare these days since everything's sold in Walmart and other low price stores.

Pros:
-12 outlets
-has space for big adapters
-tells you not only whether or not your stuff is protected but also tells you if the outlet the strip is plugged into isn't grounded
-10 ft. cord
-cord is angled so that it's flat against the wall when plugged in
-has a cable management clip
-can protect coaxial, ethernet and phone lines

Cons:
-none that I can think of.

I always like it when I come across a product that pretty much wipes out all of its competition. This power strip is one of those products. I very highly recommend this power strip.

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 if 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.
+ 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 wire pass through for surge protection. I don't use this but I'm surprised that something this inexpensive has them.

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
--------
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. 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.

This compact power strip is as stylish as a power strip can be. The power cord is long and has a flat 90 degree plug which is convenient when you are using an outlet behind the a couch or furniture.

It's kind of hard to know a surge protector is working until it doesn't and then you have expensive toys to replace. Fortunately for me, as far as I know, my surge protector is working fine. No problems to report so far. This is my second Belkin surge protector (not to mention numerous smaller products), and I've had no problems with my 1st one in the last 2-3 years that I've had it so I decided to get another for my entertainment center.

The things I like about it are:

1) Price - it's a lot cheaper then some of the comparable models, but still from a name brand I trust.

2) Flat/slim plug - makes it easier to plug in behind my dvd rack.

3) Plug outlet layout - It can fit the plugs for all my peripherals easily.

4) Hasn't fried my TV - always an important consideration with a surge protector.

My only dislike would be its size. It takes up a lot of room, but that's a trade off for it's outlet layout which allows you to use all 12 outlets instead of blocking some of them like you would on many standard spaced outlet surge protector.