Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
------------------------------------------------------------
iGo Power Smart Wall 4-Outlet Surge Protector - 2 Pack
$9.99 + $5 Shipping
Condition: New

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

Unhappy reviews on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/iGo-PM00012-0001-Green-Power-Smart/product-reviews/B0039KFS2S/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar

Almost hit Buy until I checked.

Could it be??? TWO FOR TUESDAY IS BACK!?!?!?

Please tell me this has a good chance of catching on fire when I plug it in. My 6 fire extinguishers will be useless otherwise.

I always have to ask - 220v?

Awesome; in for one. Specially with a power switch. The earth pin snapped on a different brand I got from Costco 6 years ago!

reviews on amazon average 2 and a half stars : http://www.amazon.com/iGo-PM00012-0001-Green-Power-Smart/dp/B0039KFS2S

Product Website

Surge protection is a good thing...

Here is how it works...

Nifty, eh?

How many years would I need to use these before recovering the cost of purchase in energy savings?

I wish we had had more surge protectors earlier this summer. A bolt of lightning literally hit my house, and was powerful enough to fry the ground surge protector (I may have the name wrong, it was the one in the fuse box itself), along with multiple electronics - a TV, a Fax machine, 2 aquariums, and an intercom system (that was literally replaced the day before at a significant cost!) to name a few items. Thankfully items that were plugged into surge protectors (mostly PCs) survived the strike undamaged.

You can never have too many surge protectors as far as I'm concerned.

after reading what it actually does, i must say im intrigued...any reviews on this bad boy?

My iGo car/wall charger is incredibly efficient in the car. It draws 0 amps all the time with 100% efficiency. Plugged into the wall, I think a lot of energy goes into making that annoying buzzing noise.

Yeah...no, never again.

Purchased a pair. I have so many iDevices plugged in charging, should bring my electric bill down a bit.

Vampire power is overblown:
http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/vampire.html

I'm pretty sure MythBusters did something on transformer power usage too, and found it to be nearly nothing.

Always On Recommended Devices:
- Any device that could cause injury or damage (power saws, lawn mowers, etc.)

To optimize usage, you should definitely plug in at least two lawn mowers into each surge protector.

Jeus wrote:Could it be??? TWO FOR TUESDAY IS BACK!?!?!?

Not necessarily. We just had a two for Monday as well.

Based on some of the other products iGo makes, I thought for sure these would have USB ports built in. Bummer.

StarKnightGoku wrote:Unhappy reviews on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/iGo-PM00012-0001-Green-Power-Smart/product-reviews/B0039KFS2S/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar

Almost hit Buy until I checked.

Did you actually read the positive reviews too that were criticizing the booooos who slapped it with a 1 star? Or did you just jump on the bandwagon and assume that it was a bad product because Amazon reviews said so...

As a Michigan State Spartan fan, how can I possibly pass on something that says "Go Green?" :-)

http://www.igo.com/other-power/power-smart-wall-with-igo-greenr-technology/invt/pm000120004/

I suggest you purchase a whole house surge protector that can be wired into your fuse box. This protects everything!

http://www.amazon.com/Intermatic-IG1240RC3-Type-2-Protection-Device/dp/B003NVLWN2

According to Best Buy,

(http://www.bestbuy.com/site/iGo+-+Power+Smart+Wall-Mounted+4-Outlet+Surge+Protector+-+Black/9918205.p?id=1218245470575&skuId=9918205)

1080 joules of protection.

Hope that helps.

No idea why they wouldn't have all 4 plugs controlled with a single power switch instead of the 2-always-on/2-controlled. It seems like the antithesis to what this device is trying to bring attention.

Also, this won't completely eliminate vampire-power-loss. The only way to do that is to hit the circuit breakers.

abstevens wrote:How many years would I need to use these before recovering the cost of purchase in energy savings?

Considering the above, it would be hard to actually determine unless you personally spend the time to monitor and record your energy usage. For most people, I am guessing it takes longer than this product would last. After all, we are only talking 2 outlets. My house has at least 50 that are currently in use (get it? CURRENT-ly? no? ...whatever).

I suggest using them right beside your Leak Frogs for double protection.

abstevens wrote:How many years would I need to use these before recovering the cost of purchase in energy savings?

Y E A R S & Y E A R S.

This is a waste of money (bonus pts for gratuitous use of the buzzwords "SMART" and "GREEN")

thanks, now....as a college student....im pretty sure this is goood!

Silly consumers purchasing anything that is described as "green." You are the new marketing focus.

I see there are three-prong outlets on these. Does anyone know if I could plug in a surge-protected power strip to the "eco-plugs" that already has all of my AV equipment (recomended devices) pluged into it? Are there issues with it being a "double surge" situation?

I was looking for the surge protection rating and found it on the product page linked by UFCFireman. Woot-masters, your product info should read this:

Surge Protection Rating: 1080 joules

While having a Surge Protection Rating of "yes" is true, it's not quite as informative.

A sensible review on amazon:

"I recently came across this product in a Wal-Mart clearance section for $6 so I decided to do a little research before I ultimately ended up buying three of these power smart outlets.

I've seen multiple negative reviews of this product and aside from confusing information on the package the negative reviews are unwarranted; this product does what it claims to do.

What it's not: It is not a magic outlet that meets every unique need you can dish up.

What it is: A device that works wonders for electronics that can constantly demand electricity. I'll explain. It works for laptops and phone chargers but beyond that it is mediocre at best.

What do I mean by constantly demanding electricity. Electronics like phones, mp3 players, and laptops have charging cables that when an electronic is plugged in to it requires constant juice from the outlet. These type of devices work great with this product. However, electronics like televisions, desktop computers, dvd players, etc... will work mediocre with this product because they send a power on or off signal once when pushed not constantly like a phone charger. So unless you time it just right to the second to push the button at the moment this device checks if power is needed you're out of luck; you'll have to manually push the power button on the device to send power to the electronic item plugged into it. So you're creating the need to push two buttons to power up one item. But in theory you will still save power when the device is turned off.

IMPORTANT: This device will check if power is needed for the devices plugged into the outlet once every 30 MINUTES and this time is not adjustable. This is precisely why it is an ineffective product for items like televisions and dvd players due to the fact that when you try and power up these items they send a single signal and if the television has no juice it will not receive the signal.


Bottom Line: If you're using this for a laptop, cell phone charger, coffee maker, or electronic device that is rarely used then it is a great product assuming it uses less power than the vampire device. I do have to scratch my head and wonder how much power the device itself uses to operate; it constantly illuminated led lights and has to run the 30 minute checks. I'm really wondering if this thing is a scam in that sense but since I don't have any way to measure the watts this item uses in comparison to the vampire devices themselves I will have to assume they're telling the truth.

What do you think?


"HOW TO" HELP:
How to calibrate the outlet to the devices plugged into them:

1.) plug the smart outlet into a available dual port outlet and then proceed to plug in the devices you want the smart outlets to control; these devices will need to be plugged into the smart outlets on the right as the left outlets are regular outlets with surge protection.

2.) Make sure the devices are turned off, not plugged in (Example: phone charging cable plugged in but no phone connected), or in the case of laptops, have entered sleep mode or hibernation.

3.) After confirming step #2 (Critical), push the button on the device and hold it until the led light begins to blink and then let go. It will continue to blink for several seconds. Guessing here but the device is measuring the amount of electricity being demanding so it can set a trigger point to use when the device is actually powered up.

That's it. It should work very well for you as it has for me.


What to expect from this device when using a laptop:

Once properly configured you will see no difference while you're using you laptop. You will see a difference when you laptop is allowed to enter sleep or hibernation mode. The smart outlet will kill power to the device. Once you start using the laptop again you WILL be on battery power until one of the power cycles runs it course and realizes the outlet needs to send juice to the product. This cycle takes place every 30 minutes."

Bottom line: Pass!

rom wrote:I always have to ask - 220v?

It won't work with 220V as is with just an adapter. If you plug it into a step down transformer it may work as long as you don't go over the transformers max load.

Speaking from experience, a nice mini fireworks display may occur if you do try it.

Hah, apparently Woot gave me a quality post...along with a gender change! Woot!

Wait, should I be excited?

probob wrote:As a Michigan State Spartan fan, how can I possibly pass on something that says "Go Green?" :-)

By realizing combining the great suckage of the Green movement with the suckage of the Spartans could cause a suckage so great to create a black whole and wipe out our tiny galaxy.

ThunderThighs wrote:Didn't you realize that we're expanding into all sorts of new categories. GenderChange.woot.com!

Well, just as long as it's only $5 shipping I'm ok with that. Is it wrong to be in for 3?

Look closely at the picture of the side/back.

There's a little tab that must fit in the other plug of your outlet (or I guess you can poke a hole in your wall, or try and cut it off)

So stock, this 4-Outlet device eats up 2 Outlets in the wall. I'm also not sure if a wall-wort will fit on it.