Customer Reviews

Monster Cable MP HT 850 Home Theatre PowerCenter

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Some people think Monster articles are overpriced. Maybe at List price, but this is a good unit for what I paid for. This power center seems to work just fine. I like how it takes power adapters at the sides which normally take up 2 sockets. The overall dimensions are much smaller than the old power center it replaced. The increase in picture quality stated by some people is probably overrated. I had a good picture before and I have a good picture with this power center. But I feel better having a functional surge suppressor.
The LED light is bright blue, so this power center maybe not the best choice for a bedroom. Overall I am very happy with my purchase.

This is the first 'fancy' power strip I have ever bought as it seemed silly to spend much money on something like that. I no longer feel this way. When this arrived first thing I noticed is the quality of the construction which is excellent. In addition, there are design features that have proven to be very intuitive to certain needs, an example being the socket on one of end of the unit, whereas the rest are along the longer edge...the end one proved so useful because one of my plugs has a oddly shaped box on it which interferes with the plugs next to it when used in the series of plugs but with the solo plug at the end of the unit I am able to plug that in as well without losing access to any plugs next to it. The power button has a nice blue glow which is handy for me as I like to turn off the power to all my electronics when I go to bed and that blue light is an easy reminder I havent turned that one off yet. The electronic surge protection features are just excellent and with the prices on these types of units dropping so drastically I plan on upgrading all the ones I have.

Got this Powercenter to replace one that was lagging in the amount of items that could be plugged in. This one not only holds more, but also came with labels for the cords ... nice. Heavy duty base cord. We mounted ours on the wall for convenient access.

Price-wise, you can't beat this deal. In fact, I see it is an even better price now than when I bought it! I was at Beast Buy yesterday, and didn't see this model, so it is probably on its way out. I had to surf around to check whether it had any power conditioning features, because the product description just has a generic blurb about Monster Power. Yes, it does have their Stage 1 filter. For the wall mount, they cheaped out a bit. You must supply your own mollys. This is my 3rd Monster Power product, and I am happy with all of them. Recommended.

There are 2 inputs for those big black block transformer plugs that normally take up two spaces. Very handy ..they are on either end so they are away from the row of plugs. A constant blue light shines, which is ok with me, but it could bother you. It seems very sturdy and durable. I can only assume it is doing its job since I have not had any zaps. So far, so good.

item arrived quickly and was as described. I would order from them again with confidence in their promise. Package was intact.

I've been skating by with my fingers crossed using a cheap $11.00 no-name surge protector for my home theater system and laptop for a couple of years now. Nevertheless, if I'm home and a thunderstorm moves in, I disconnect my home theater system and computer from the AC outlet. Since getting this Monster Cable PowerCenter, though, I feel quite a bit more secure. Monster Cable is one of those massively overpriced "name brand recognition" companies, like Bose. Really, not that many people need what Monster Cable is selling, at their inflated prices. However, when I saw the 850 on sale for twenty bucks in an Amazon Lightning Deal here recently, I picked one up... really, I couldn't go wrong. I researched it before ordering it, and it has a good reputation on the internet from both users and (hopefully) objective electronics reviewers. So, I believe I got a good deal.

Of course, I haven't had a massive power surge to report a "stress test" with - which is really the only way to truly gauge the effectiveness of a surge protector in actual "real life" operation. However, its 2590 joule rating seems to be more than adequate from the research I have done on sites like CNET.

The one problem I have with this unit, and to me it's kind of hard to believe this was never noticed in testing, is that the power and other indicator lights add up to the luminosity of a small night light. Um, Monster guys, people sometimes watch TV in the dark, and this gets really distracting. Nothing a couple of pieces of strategically placed electrical tape can't handle, but this action shouldn't be necessary in the first place.

Monster Cable MP HT 850 Home Theatre PowerCenter has been very dependable.Easy to use and works wonderfully.My home theatre equipments are well protected,I don't have to worry abount power surge.

Nice unit, but wish it had one or two additional aux receptacles for low power LED lights behind my big screen, etc. I have been an Amazon customer for years but this transaction has me happier than ever. The initial unit I received was defective, but Amazon sent me another before I even returned the defective one. Amazon made it so easy to return the original (with a pre-paid mailing label, etc.), I was amazed. Thanks Amazon!

There is a reason why this item is so heavily discounted and it is so because this is not a well-thought, well-designed product.

Like most power strips these days, Monster's product offers some decent surge protection on both plugged in devices and on coax (you'll have that if you get cable or satellite TV). To differentiate it from the competition, the Monster designer have colored theirs a shade of purple and have labeled the 9 outlets with multi-colored, not very useful but harmless plastic tags such as VCR (really?), CD, Receiver, CATV and so forth. There is also a master on-off button that shines a blue light when on.

So far, so good but then there is an inexcusable design flaw. This works well for as long as you are using 2- or 3-prong plugs. Whether they are for the VCR, the CD or your CATV, they fit well on this unit's side. The trouble comes when you try to plug in just about any AD/DC adapter because this unit's design does not allow it or makes it extremely difficult and inconvenient. This is bad. In addition, the provided patch coax cable is short enough to make it useless - of course you can get something of a more useful length at the store but why bother to include one if it's only 3-4 ft. long?

To summarize: you get surge protection for up to 9 devices if they are all using 2- or 3-prong plugs and coax if a 3-ft. long patch cable is long enough. The labels are largely useless because they are somewhat obsolete (VCR, CD) but they don't hurt. The blue light emitted by the on button can serve as a night light.

I am okay with my purchase because I acquired mine as an Amazon's lightning deal deep discount but you can probably get 'better' from a more established power surge equipment vendor even at the currently advertised price.