Top positive review
12 people found this helpful
Convenient and Reliable Power Solution
By Chris Simms on Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2023
This is a lifesaver for anyone in need of multiple outlets. With its 8 outlets and 2 USB ports, this power strip offers plenty of space to charge all your devices at once. The flat plug design is a bonus, allowing you to easily plug it into tight spaces. One of the standout features of this power strip is its surge protection capability. With a rating of 2630 Joules, it provides peace of mind by safeguarding your valuable electronics against power spikes and surges. You can confidently plug in your devices without worrying about damaging them. Another great aspect is the build quality. The power strip feels sturdy and well-made, ensuring it can withstand regular use. The outlets have a nice grip, securely holding the plugs in place. While the power strip is overall impressive, there are a couple of minor downsides to consider. Depending on your plugs, the spacing between outlets can be a bit tight, which makes it challenging to plug in bulky adapters side by side. Also, the USB ports can slow down dramatically when charging multiple devices at the same time. Overall, the APC Power Strip with USB Charging Ports is a reliable and convenient solution for powering your devices. Its surge protection, solid construction, and flat plug design make it a worthwhile investment. Just be mindful of the outlet spacing and potential charging speed limitations when using the USB ports.
Top critical review
1,695 people found this helpful
Physically - good. Electrically - just okay.
By Robert C on Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2016
About a month ago I was offered a free APC P8U2 Surge Arrest for review and I accepted. I have been a computer geek for about 30 years. Many lessons were learned as far back as when I had my first Commodore 64 fail to when I used to sell and service the original IBM PC and Apple Macintosh computers - back when they were thousands of dollars. Computers are collections of delicate electronics and bad things can happen if the power supplied to them is not good and consistent. At bare minimum, everyone needs a good surge protector. Not a power strip. A surge protector. Preferably one with EMI/RFI filtering, a low response time, low clamping values and a high joules rating. I cannot tell you how many PCs I've seen over the years damaged or completely fried because people either didn't know about or just didn't buy a good surge protector. And there is a misconception that it is only good for dealing with extreme events like a lightning strike. That's simply not true. Every time your refrigerator cycles on or your air conditioner or a vacuum cleaner or a hair dryer, etc. - any high draw appliance - they draw a large current. This first causes a drop and then a spike on your home electrical circuits. If, for example, your computer or TV is on and unprotected, it will take a hit every time that happens. Eventually, those small hits can do damage. Your computer may start crashing seemingly out of nowhere and become unstable. Many people blame that on the computer and not their lack of simple electrical protection. Of course, many things can cause computer crashes, but having a good surge protector eliminates or greatly reduces at least one potential cause. If you live in an apartment building, your situation is compounded by the fact that you may be at the mercy of many high-draw electrical appliances that are completely out of your control. Physically, the APC P8U2 has an excellent design that incorporates many improvements over traditional surge protector strips. Like a rotating power plug, so you can more easily manage the cord. Four widely spaced outlets to accommodate direct plug in of power transformers. Sliding covers to keep dust and debris out of unused outlets. A recessed power switch that is more difficult to accidentially trip. And the P8U2 also includes two protected 5V USB power outlets with 2.5 Amps combined to directly charge your phone, tablet or any other USB powered device. The P8U2 also has a built in wiring fault indicator, which will test the electrical outlet you plug it into for proper wiring polarity and ground. But like a car, the physical looks and accommodations are not as important as what's inside... Electrically, I consider the APC P8U2 Surge Arrest to be just an okay surge protector. It has a surge response time of less than 1 nanosecond, which is good. It has a surge energy rating of 2630 Joules, which is good. But for clamping voltage, it has a line to neutral (L-N) rating of 400V, line to ground (L-G) rating of 500V and neutral to ground (N-G) rating of 500V. Those values are too high. Better surge protectors have lower L-N, L-G and N-G voltage ratings. The L-N 400V rating alone means that the surge protector won't kick in until a surge of 280VAC. You want your surge protector to kick in at a much lower voltage than 280VAC, which is over twice the nominal 120VAC. Ideally, look for surge protectors with an L-N rating of 300V or lower. Even though the clamping voltage values are key, they are not always listed in the specifications online. I looked at many models on the APC website and could not find any with clamping voltage values listed. They are, however, generally listed on the back of the physical surge protector - not much help if you're shopping online. For people looking for better protection than just a surge protector, I recommend a good uninterruptible power supply (UPS). I have had APC UPS units in the past but at this time I have two CyberPower 1500VA 900W CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS units. They work great, they offer excellent protection and they are reasonably priced (for a 900W 1500VA Sinewave UPS). I just replaced the batteries in one that I purchased back in 2011 and it still works great. Overall, I use a combination of UPS and surge protectors. I have multiple surge protectors plugged into the two UPS units for power distribution to my multiple computers (which are generally not active at the same time). If you're going to invest a lot of money into a computer, or big television, etc., you should also invest in a good surge protector to protect that investment and your data from everyday and extreme power fluctuations. It's just one layer of protection that everyone should have.
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Convenient and Reliable Power Solution
By Chris Simms - Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2023
Verified Amazon Purchase
This is a lifesaver for anyone in need of multiple outlets. With its 8 outlets and 2 USB ports, this power strip offers plenty of space to charge all your devices at once. The flat plug design is a bonus, allowing you to easily plug it into tight spaces. One of the standout features of this power strip is its surge protection capability. With a rating of 2630 Joules, it provides peace of mind by safeguarding your valuable electronics against power spikes and surges. You can confidently plug in your devices without worrying about damaging them. Another great aspect is the build quality. The power strip feels sturdy and well-made, ensuring it can withstand regular use. The outlets have a nice grip, securely holding the plugs in place. While the power strip is overall impressive, there are a couple of minor downsides to consider. Depending on your plugs, the spacing between outlets can be a bit tight, which makes it challenging to plug in bulky adapters side by side. Also, the USB ports can slow down dramatically when charging multiple devices at the same time. Overall, the APC Power Strip with USB Charging Ports is a reliable and convenient solution for powering your devices. Its surge protection, solid construction, and flat plug design make it a worthwhile investment. Just be mindful of the outlet spacing and potential charging speed limitations when using the USB ports.
Great solution - Just what I need
By Jyn - Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2019
Verified Amazon Purchase
This surge protector has pretty much everything I want and need. I was debating between this model P8U2 or PH8U2. I like PH8U2’s simplicity, size, and shape. Their specs are quite similar and their price as well. However, I decided P8U2 is a little better. Positives -Thick, sturdy, rotating cord - great flexibility for placement -Angled, flat-end plug -Two USB ports -Sliding covers for unused outlets. Keep dust out or children’s fingers -High lip/ridge around on/off switch to prevent accidental clicks -On/off switch doesn’t light up which would attract some children if it was -Great value for what it offers -Wall mountable -2630 joules (at this moment I don’t need this much joules. Good for my future plans) My bed is positioned like a daybed against the wall. My new mattress blocked the electrical outlet. I either have to pull out my mattress and cause a gap between my bed and wall in order to plug in the lamp or simply buy this surge protector with a flat-end plug to solve the problem. I obviously went with the latter. Surge protector sits below my bed and I’m able to use my lamp, charge my phone, and no gaps between mattress and wall! I have posted some images. One is a measurement of the flat plug just in case anyone was wondering how thick it is.
I'm still using it 4 years later.
By Ethan C. - Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2024
Verified Amazon Purchase
Item is sturdy and works like its supposed to. I have lots of expensive electronics hooked up to it, and I've never had any troubles with them, even during a thunder storm, or if the lights went out. It's nice that it has a connected devices warranty. I also like that it has a place for a phone charger.
Good layout and well made
By Amy - Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2020
Verified Amazon Purchase
This is an excellent surge protector. The added usb slots are a nice bonus for charging electronics. It fits nice and snug into the wall, and the power chord is at a slight angle, making it great for small spaces. The plugs all work well and all of my electronics fit nicely in them. I use it for my MacBook pro 16", lamp, phone chargers, and whatever else I need. I haven't used the USB ports yet, but I did test and make sure they worked. There is ample space between plugs, so no need to leave a plug empty, which is nice. You can also plug things in vertically. My opinion: the space and layout was well thought out. I'm very happy with it. I had a surge recently and all was well!
Great no frills unit!
By Todd - Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2017
Verified Amazon Purchase
This is a good unit, without a lot of frills, that's reasonably priced and by a respectable company in power protection. You can buy a lot fancier units and if you need/want HDMI/Phone/Internet cable protection as well this isn't the unit for you, but it does have two protected USB ports and a high Joules rating. The plugs are secure and the ability of the cord to rotate at the power strip makes for very flexible and clean cord options. It also disconnects your devices from power in case of a large surge, where others may continue to let power through after the surge with reduced protection. In addition it has a green LED that will show if over time or a surge that protection has been compromised in anyway, while I've read elsewhere these types of indicators should not be fully trusted it is another visual piece of mind. APC states that should that LED indicator the unit is not working it will be replaced under warranty. It also will indicate if there is a problem with the outlet wiring. About the only nitpick I could make is that it would be nice if the unit had more spacing between the plugs. Seems these days no two companies can decide how they want to do their plugs/powerboxes, some are long inline with the cord others are square, and other devices just have a normal prong cord. Another thing to remember with these is their protection is limited over time. Think of it as a bucket of water, one really big surger probably kills the unit and empties the bucket, but it may over years protect against hundreds of smaller power surges and each one of these spills a little water out of the bucket and after awhile they offer much less protection than they did when new.
Good buy, great surge protector...
By Robert G. - Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2020
Verified Amazon Purchase
Excellent build quality. I appreciate that the power cord is heavy guage, thicker than your average power strip but flexible and high quality. Overall, everything about this product inspires confidence, from the trusted brand to the impressive fit and finish and thoughtful utility. While it is much more expensive than some cheapo surge protectors, I feel it was a more than worthwhile expense to protect a valuable PC. The flexible cord and rotating attach point helped tidy up the under desk area to boot, and the dark/black color blends right in and matches the other cables. Thumbs up.
Protection
By Jawid Masumi - Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2024
Verified Amazon Purchase
Very high quality overall. Worth the price
Indestructible Protection!
By JCN1218 - Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2017
Verified Amazon Purchase
I have a small home studio in the basement of my house. It's fairly modest, but I've put a lot of money into it over the years. Currently I think I have at least $5000 of equipment running. I have a few failsafes, namely cascading power strips, but this surge protector is basically the central hub of power. My computer and hard drives are plugged directly into it. Well, yesterday my basement flooded. Luckily, all of my equipment was safely off the ground, but I hadn't had a chance to mount this surge protector on the wall yet, so it got almost completely submerged for about 3 hours. I am currently writing this review on my computer that was not harmed in any way, which is being powered by the original surge protector. Granted, i took the back off and scrubbed some corrosion off with a wire brush, but the fact that it still works after the flood is pretty impressive to me. Not to mention the included USB power ports. Would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to keep their electronics safe.
Physically - good. Electrically - just okay.
By Robert C - Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2016
Verified Amazon Purchase
Vine Customer Review of Free Product
About a month ago I was offered a free APC P8U2 Surge Arrest for review and I accepted. I have been a computer geek for about 30 years. Many lessons were learned as far back as when I had my first Commodore 64 fail to when I used to sell and service the original IBM PC and Apple Macintosh computers - back when they were thousands of dollars. Computers are collections of delicate electronics and bad things can happen if the power supplied to them is not good and consistent. At bare minimum, everyone needs a good surge protector. Not a power strip. A surge protector. Preferably one with EMI/RFI filtering, a low response time, low clamping values and a high joules rating. I cannot tell you how many PCs I've seen over the years damaged or completely fried because people either didn't know about or just didn't buy a good surge protector. And there is a misconception that it is only good for dealing with extreme events like a lightning strike. That's simply not true. Every time your refrigerator cycles on or your air conditioner or a vacuum cleaner or a hair dryer, etc. - any high draw appliance - they draw a large current. This first causes a drop and then a spike on your home electrical circuits. If, for example, your computer or TV is on and unprotected, it will take a hit every time that happens. Eventually, those small hits can do damage. Your computer may start crashing seemingly out of nowhere and become unstable. Many people blame that on the computer and not their lack of simple electrical protection. Of course, many things can cause computer crashes, but having a good surge protector eliminates or greatly reduces at least one potential cause. If you live in an apartment building, your situation is compounded by the fact that you may be at the mercy of many high-draw electrical appliances that are completely out of your control. Physically, the APC P8U2 has an excellent design that incorporates many improvements over traditional surge protector strips. Like a rotating power plug, so you can more easily manage the cord. Four widely spaced outlets to accommodate direct plug in of power transformers. Sliding covers to keep dust and debris out of unused outlets. A recessed power switch that is more difficult to accidentially trip. And the P8U2 also includes two protected 5V USB power outlets with 2.5 Amps combined to directly charge your phone, tablet or any other USB powered device. The P8U2 also has a built in wiring fault indicator, which will test the electrical outlet you plug it into for proper wiring polarity and ground. But like a car, the physical looks and accommodations are not as important as what's inside... Electrically, I consider the APC P8U2 Surge Arrest to be just an okay surge protector. It has a surge response time of less than 1 nanosecond, which is good. It has a surge energy rating of 2630 Joules, which is good. But for clamping voltage, it has a line to neutral (L-N) rating of 400V, line to ground (L-G) rating of 500V and neutral to ground (N-G) rating of 500V. Those values are too high. Better surge protectors have lower L-N, L-G and N-G voltage ratings. The L-N 400V rating alone means that the surge protector won't kick in until a surge of 280VAC. You want your surge protector to kick in at a much lower voltage than 280VAC, which is over twice the nominal 120VAC. Ideally, look for surge protectors with an L-N rating of 300V or lower. Even though the clamping voltage values are key, they are not always listed in the specifications online. I looked at many models on the APC website and could not find any with clamping voltage values listed. They are, however, generally listed on the back of the physical surge protector - not much help if you're shopping online. For people looking for better protection than just a surge protector, I recommend a good uninterruptible power supply (UPS). I have had APC UPS units in the past but at this time I have two CyberPower 1500VA 900W CP1500PFCLCD PFC Sinewave UPS units. They work great, they offer excellent protection and they are reasonably priced (for a 900W 1500VA Sinewave UPS). I just replaced the batteries in one that I purchased back in 2011 and it still works great. Overall, I use a combination of UPS and surge protectors. I have multiple surge protectors plugged into the two UPS units for power distribution to my multiple computers (which are generally not active at the same time). If you're going to invest a lot of money into a computer, or big television, etc., you should also invest in a good surge protector to protect that investment and your data from everyday and extreme power fluctuations. It's just one layer of protection that everyone should have.
Just ordered two of these for my mom!
By Christopher Urbane - Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2024
Verified Amazon Purchase
I have one of these, or the older version of this one in every room in my house. Every desk has one. They are fantastic. Got two of them for my mom. She lives in Puerto Rico. The power infrastructure there sucks and the power goes on and off all the time. I have gotten her four fitbits in five years and they all keep dying. I am trying to tell her NOT to plug any of her phones or devices into the wall outlets and only use GOOD power strips. These are the ones!
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