APC BE750G 10-Outlet Power-Saving Uninterruptible Power Supply by APC
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Digital camera reviews of APC BE750G 10-Outlet Power-Saving Uninterruptible Power Supply
Digital camera Review: Has worked through numerous power outages
Summary: 5 Stars
This UPS has worked very well for me. I've had the unit for about 3 years. We average approaximately 8-10 power outages per year and the APC device has worked every time. I have a computer, a RAID array and a cable modem hooked up to the UPS. There is more than enough time to shut everything down gracefully. AFter shutting down the RAID array, I always seem to have time available to check the scope of the power outage via the internet (Roadrunner cable always seems to function through our power outages).
I will order another one of these units for another computer.
I do not use the PowerChute software, so I can't comment on its functionality. My RAID array notifies me on my cell phone if it goes on to battery power, so I always know when there is an outage.
Digital camera Review: A must have
Summary: 5 Stars
This product is essential if you have a home office. Unless you have all your power, cable and telephone coming to your computer on the same ground path you are asking for damage when the spike hits. Read:
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The BE650G has 2 fewer jacks, less battery capacity for about the same sale price as the BE750G which makes the latter a real bargain. The BE550G is smaller again and cost a little less but lacks the coax jacks to protect your cable modem.
This model is the best value for the money and essential if you are connected to the internet IMHO.
Pros:
- longest battery life in this form factor
- telephone jacks to protect your modem/ethernet interface
- coax jacks to protect your broadband connection
- reasonably priced replacement batteries
- TEN (count 'em - ten) spots to plug in
- 4 of them spaced for bulky transformers and plugs
- master/slave grouping to power down 3 slave devices for extra power savings
- Mac OS X Energy Saver recognized this unit automatically via included USB cable (no Powerchute req'd)
Cons:
- poor documentation in box (the box and docs are way out of date)
- battery charging slow
- annoying beep when power goes out
When the power is on, your equipment is powered directly from the wall. When there is a failure it will switch to the UPS in an instant. I don't quite understand all the electrical engineering intricacies of pure sine-wave power from this stepped approximation sine-wave but for the average computer system, I've used these reliable backup devices for years without issue. Pure wave UPS devices are very expensive.
I firmly believe that brown outs are very damaging to motherboards and hard drives and you can extend their life by having a UPS power them. Data corruption or even drive failure is unacceptable to me so my airport extreme, time machine drive and cable modem are UPS powered so when the power goes out my laptop doesn't blink an eye.
Got a PVR with external hard drive? You'll need a UPS for backup and why not protect the rest of your expensive TV equipment with the extra surge jacks?
I don't have whole house surge protection but I probably should have it installed because it's the best way to send spikes to ground. In the meantime I'll continue rely on this unit to protect my equipment but the UPS is the main reason I use these devices.
Digital camera Review: Great UPS
Summary: 5 Stars
I researched several brands and models before deciding on this one. The setup was straight forward and easy. I did not encounter any of the issues other reviewers mentioned. The battery connection was easy. I have had two power failures since purchasing this UPS and it performed flawlesssly. I highly recommend it.Digital camera Review: Very nice UPS
Summary: 5 Stars
I've been needing a UPS for quite some time now, but kept putting it off - it's certainly not one of the flashier computer upgrades, you won't notice any performance increase, and good quality models aren't exactly cheap. That ended about 3 weeks ago when a power spike fried several of the components in my computer system, and cost me several hundred dollars in replacement parts. I immediately began researching UPSes, and this one came up as a very appealing option.
One of the things that I was concerned with while researching and shopping was that I'd end up with a UPS that was inadequate for my fairly power-hungry machine. For the record, my computer specs are:
- Core2 Duo E6600 overclocked to 3.2GHz
- ATI Radeon 4870
- 2x 640GB 7200RPM HDDs
- 24" LCD
I wasn't exactly sure how much power my system would draw. The easy way to tell this is to buy (or borrow) a Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor which will tell you exactly how much power any given outlet is supplying. Having misplaced my Kill-A-Watt some time ago, I guessed and hoped my guess was accurate. According to the APC Power Chute software, my PC draws 156W (11 minutes estimated runtime) at idle, and 261W (6 minutes estimated runtime) at full load, so this UPS gives me plenty of headroom.
Another concern I had was that, since my home office is in my bedroom, the audible alarm could potentially go off in the middle of the night and wake me up. The APC Power Chute software has options to prevent this, in fact the default setting is no audible alarm between the hours of 8PM and 8AM, so this is not going to be a problem at all.
All in all, I am very pleased with my purchase, and I feel good knowing that my hardware is protected. Too bad I had to have a problem before I bought a UPS. If you're on the fence, don't wait until you're computer gets hosed! Whether you get this UPS or a different one, I can't over exaggerate how important a UPS is.
Digital camera Review: A must for every home-electronics setup
Summary: 4 Stars
The number of home electronics devices seems to be proliferating and every year there seems to be a new device that is added to your collection. Most of these devices are expensive and relatively sensitive, and it is important to keep them safe and protected from all eventualities. One of the most common accidents that affects home electronic devices is the damage that they withstand due to power surges. It is however very easy to protect your electronics from those, and a surge protector like APC BE750G is versatile enough to cover almost anyone's needs. The ten outlet setup provides enough plugs to cover most devices in a small home office or at a home entertainment center. The battery backup is big enough to supply electricity for up to three devices for limited time until the power comes back or until you are able to save all of your work on a computer and able to safely shut it down. In practice this would for instance mean that your computer, monitor and modem can keep functioning for a little while even when there is no outside power.
One problem that I have with this surge protector/ power supply is that t doesn't seem to be able to completely handle some more power-hungry devices at their peak power performance. For instance, when I print something on the laser printer the power supply starts to beep indicating that it's operating dangerously close to its maximum capacity.
Another problem that I've had was with the surge protection for my cable modem. After a while the modem stopped working, and I was forced to bypass the cable protection and connect the modem directly to the outside cable. The surge protection for cable is a good idea, but it doesn't seem to be working in practice.
APC comes with included software on a CD ROM that is intended to shut down your computer safely on its own in a case of power failure. This is a good idea, but I haven't really been eager to use it. When my home computer is on I am usually around so in the case of power failure I would be perfectly capable of shutting it down myself, and the additional software when running in the background would only slow down my computer during the regular use. On the other hand, I do have a Windows home server and it would be very useful to have this software running on it, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any easy way of installing it on the server. I hope APC comes up with something like that soon.
Overall, this is a very surge-protector/power supply and in the six months that I have been using it it has performed admirably well. I would recommend it for most everyday situations.