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Hey guys, what's a good / cheap surge protector? I only have a crappy power strip / protector, and my power power went out and I thought my comp, speakers, sub just died. ( it didn't, but it got me thinking ). any suggestions? i don't need a backup power supply or anything, but something relatively cheap and efficient.
an unnecessary bump before i head off to barnes and noble to study :)
I just get the cheapest surge proector from CVS..
I got really good Belkin ones for like $6 each at OfficeMax. Doubt the special is still going on, but Belkins are good and cheaper than APC anyways.
At this low of an end for pricing you really aren't going to notice a difference. It takes a good deal of money to get some serious power protection going, and most of that protection comes in the form of a ups. Don't expect your computer to last for more than 1/2 a second or less during a power loss, it's the nature of the beast and has nothing to do with a surge protector.
A surge protector keeps the power from blasting through to a certain point so your components don't get fried, but it can't supply power and your computer can't work without power. So like I say, even what seems like a blip in the power where the lights flicker for a sec you can always expect that to bring down your computer.
Get a Belkin Surgemaster II, covers like 50 grand in attached equipment if something ****s up, and also has free data recovery! So dude, your covered, not bad for something that costs less then 50 bones!
i usually tend to spend at least $25 for a surge protector, by all means not the best available, but at the $25-30 range you can get some good protection from decently heavy surges, although the serious ones could still fry out my equipment, but those are exceptionally rare.
If you are just getting a surge protector, get the cheapest one, it really does not matter. Do you think any of them will stop a lightning strike - HELL NO. Plus, they are all no good after they experience one good surge, something they never tell you.
A better idea, not only for peace of mind, but also for a clean power source. A cheap UPS battery backup. You can get these for something like $30 - $50 now and they do many things for you. They are a backup in case of power outage, but who cares about that. Better yet, they condition your power, meaning that they send your components a constant level of power unlike a simple surge protector. Lastly, they are good after the first surge, in other words it takes a lot to blow the circuit on them.
Sounds like you are asking about a UPS, not a surge protector...?Quote:
Originally posted by PinchyCM
Hey guys, what's a good / cheap surge protector? I only have a crappy power strip / protector, and my power power went out and I thought my comp, speakers, sub just died. ( it didn't, but it got me thinking ). any suggestions? i don't need a backup power supply or anything, but something relatively cheap and efficient.
Alright...so, no backup power supply, no UPS. I personally like cyberpower (cyberpowersystems.com), it's not quite "cheap" (although it can be had in the $20-30 range depending on which model you want). Comes with a lightning protection guarantee though.