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Its not surprising that as we get more dependent on electronics the need for more electrical outlets are needed. The easiest way to add more outlets is getting a power strip. But not all power strips are not created equally. The cheap ones you find at the dollar store, the ones that only cost a few dollars at the box store, and the premium budget friendly power strips are cheap for reason. Many of them offer no surge protection or any type of protection other than those that that required to sell it. In other words you get what you pay for. When you need to protect your valuable electronics you need to look into the premium quality power strip that offer features such as surge protection, overload protection and more. Generally the name brand ones will offer these power strips but you are paying for the name as well. To get around paying for a name brand, Anker has released their latest power strip and its has all the features that you would find in a premium named branded power strip but at a fraction of the cost. This new power strip is the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets and I got my hands on one of these. Continue reading to learn more about the power strip.
Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets – Features
The new Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets is a powerful power strip that was designed so that all those bulky transformer plugs plug in without blocking other outlets. Not only does it do it go job allowing those big ugly outlets to connect to the strip it has built in dual surge protection, overload protection, grounded protection and a fire-resistant exterior. The features below were copied directly from the Amazon Sales Page.
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- The Anker Advantage: Join the 55 million+ powered by our leading technology.
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- Power Everything: Equipped with 12 AC outlets to power all of your household devices.
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- Dual Surge Protection: PowerExtend is equipped with not one but two 4000-joule surge protectors, ensuring continuous protection for your most sensitive devices during both small or large power surges.
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- All-Round Safety: In addition to offering surge protection, this power strip incorporates a range of other safety features including overload protection, grounded protection, and a fire-resistant exterior.
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- What You Get: PowerExtend 12 Strip, welcome guide, our worry-free 18-month warranty, lifetime* $300,000 connected equipment warranty, and friendly customer service.
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- *For the purpose of this connected equipment warranty, “lifetime” is defined as the lifetime of the product.
Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets – The Review
Anker sent me a sample of the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets for being one of the winners of the We Love Testing Contests. Part of the deal is that everyone that receives a sample for testing must provide a non-bias review within 2 weeks of receiving the sample. Below are my experiences with the new power strip.
First Impressions
The Anker Power Strip comes in the standard blue and white box that fits the power strip perfectly. On the inside the power strip comes in a plastic protective sleeve. The power strip does not bounce around. Once I got the power strip out of the box I found the power strip is sturdy and made to last. It comes in matte white plastic with a thick heavy duty 6 foot electrical cord with a right angle grounded plug. The toggle switch is a three way and made to last. The status lights are bright blue and will add a little blue light to a dark room.
Testing Process
Testing the power strip was difficult. By that I mean I couldn’t get enough electronics plugged in to flip the breaker and we only had one day with power outages, only quick power surge, and few rapid fire min power outages in a row.
Because of the contest rules I had a week and test the power strip and another week to write the review. With the limited time I designed several tests. The first one was how useful the power strip would be as a long term temporary power adapter for travel. Then I created a second test that would create a real world electrical cord rat nest scenario that you might find in a home office setup.
After the contest I plan to continue the test and work on a long term test program and will update this review once I can overload the power strip and fully test the surge protection.
3 Notebook Travel Test
When I travel for extended periods of time I travel with 3 notebook computers, gaming keyboard, external hard drives, mini keyboard and a wireless mouse for each computer. Sometimes I carry network repeater if I need to create a small network for the computers. In the past, I carried several power strips to get everything setup the way I needed it.
But for the test I was able to eliminate all power strips except for the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets. I was able to get all my gear on the power strip and still have room to charge my cellphone, camera batteries, or lighting gear. I didn’t pull out my camera gear for the test since it was packed up and ready to go for the next shoot. So I just used my Alienware m25 R2, 12 in Dell Work Computer, and my old Asus ROG 17 in gaming lap. I added the repeater to the strip to see if it would fit without blocking outlets. I found no issues with outlets being blocked or the strip heating up as the computers ran.
Real world Electrical Cord Rat Nest Scenario
For this test I unplugged my work station in my home office and grabbed various computer hardware that I might use over time and plugged it all into my station area and reconfigured my work area. I ended up with 3 monitors, 1 desktop media server, 3 laptops, 3 external hard drives, photo scanner, 3-in-1 printer, modem, router, and 3 desk lamps. I plugged everything into the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets, another heavy duty power strip, and my battery backup (it only has desktop media server plugged in but runs through one of the power strips).
PLEASE NOTE: I do not recommend doing this in your home office. If you have this many devices plugged in and running at the same time stop it. This could cause a fire hazard or damage your equipment and electrical system in your house. Unplug what you don’t need and only use what you need at that moment.
When I first created this mess, I had to use two power strips because they only had 6 spots but they were so close together 3 outlets were covered up. With Anker’s 12 outlets nicely spaced out I freed up one of the outlets and gave me 3 more useful outlets if I needed them.
I’ve had this setup for just over a week and haven’t noticed any issues. No heat build from the rat nest, the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets is running cool, no issues during a brown out and power surge. With all the power running the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets I haven’t thrown a breaker or any other issues.
Final Thoughts
I really like the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets. Its looks, its powerful, reliable, safe and designed to allow large wall transformer plugs and not block other outlets. If I didn’t need a battery backup. I run only this power strip. In a few weeks, I will be redesigning my work area and remove some equipment that I no longer need. Once I free up that space I will share more pictures using the new power strip.
This is the second Anker Power Strip that I own and I can’t really compare the two. My first one is a two outlet power strip with two USB ports. Its a great power strip for travel and doesn’t have surge protection. They both have their places in my gear bag.
If you are looking for a power strip strong enough handle your most power hungry devices and need the reliability that Anker stands by, then this is the power strip you need need to look at. I highly recommend taking a look at the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets before purchasing your next power strip. Learn more over at Amazon.
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