APC Back-UPS Office 350 $49.99 @ CompUSA after MIR

[RossMAN]

$79.99 APC Back-UPS Office 350
-$30 mail-in rebate
==========================
$49.99

A good price on a decent UPS from the name brand APC. Its not as good as their Back-UPS 500 or 650 Pro though.

 

[RossMAN]

If you're not sure which UPS is for you, try APC's UPS Selector

 

[Topochicho]

using the link posted by RossMAN (thank you) I came up with a suggested 234Watts with a 30% reserve for expansion. So... this ups is only 225, but if we are figuring on 30% expansion... $50 doesn't sound bad and I have NO ups now. Any opinions?

 

[pugh]

HELP!!, i used that apc suggester and it qouted me a $455.00 ups..i dont wanna pay that much..which one should i get?I got a amd tbird 800 ,scanner,printer,power speakers,dsl modem,hub too,19" monitor...any ideas?thanks in advance.

 

[saimike]

i have a 300W ps, as do most ppl i suppose ... this ups is only good for less than that. may be for ur other electronic items -- if u really really want that battery backup ...

 

[silent tone]

pugh, if your printer is a laser printer, you can definitely remove that, they don't work on most personal UPS's AFAIK. You can also pull those speakers and scanner if you don't need to scan images or play music when for 5 minutes when the power is out. If the other systems connected to the hub don't have power, theres no reason to power that either.

 

[AndrewR]

I have this very unit powering my hub and router, and it's fine for that. It will work for smaller computers to help with power blips, which seems to be what we usually receive -- longest outage I've seen was about 30 seconds. On my main system, I have a TrippLite 700VA to power my system listed in the sig.

pugh: You only need to power your monitor, tower, hub, and router (assuming you want to keep your net connection during power failure) -- do you really need the printer, scanner and speakers? Plus, if your printer is a laser, you do NOT want to plug it in for battery backup as it will fry your UPS. You could get away with a 500VA UPS, and if you're on a budget, I'd recommend the PK Electronics Blackout Buster which has four battery backup outlets which can accomodate two "wall wart" transformer plugs that are common with hubs and routers (and 3 surge only, 7 total). They had a $50 rebate available not too long ago on a purchase price of $99. I used that one for awhile, and it worked well enough for me -- my brother is still using it without any trouble.

Otherwise, check out the 500VA BackUps Office model from APC (too late, or I could have sold you one for $90 ), or look at some of the ones offered by TrippLite. Some people say good things about Belkin, but I am leery of trusting my equipment to them (anyone know if they are manufactured by someone else?). I would avoid CyberPower -- there is a reason why they are budget priced. Two other good names are Best Power and Patriot, but they tend to be at least as expensive as APC.

One problem I can foresee, however, is that aside from the Blackout Buster, 4 battery backup outlets are difficult to find on one UPS. APC makes some, but they are generally high priced (SmartUPS model has them, for instance). My TrippLite only has three battery and three surge, which is why I ended up buying an additional UPS to supply the hub and router (and to serve as a plug extender/surge).

 

[ElKevbo]

Don't use a UPS with a laser printer. They draw *far* too much power. And unless your situation is very unusual, I doubt that a printer is essential for your computer/network.

 

[TAsunder]

Also remember that the main concern should be loss of power in the middle of something important. Even with a UPS, if your power is out for half an hour or more, it won't really help you much since you will need to shut down before then since the battery will run out. Unless you are a total Q3/UT nut, I can't imagine that you would really need to keep playing during a power outage... so speakers and other accessories might not be necessary.

 

[bladerunner8]

And, you will lose? An email?
Is your hard-drive employed on AC?
If it was a 8-outlet surge-protector strip with lights and whistles I could see it.
This isn't life-support equipment, ya know

 

[GQUnknown]

is the MIR valid only when the UPS is purchased throught compusa. and is the MIR valid only for the 350 model

 

[Conroy9]

the rebate form specifies compusa, and yes only for that specific model
there's also a $30 rebate on the same form for an 8-outlet power strip (which drops that to $10!)

you can also combine the 2 rebates

 

[AndrewR]

bladerunner: Flickering power or even just a sudden loss of power can easily damage sensitive electronic components such as computer equipment. When your 40GB hard drive dies from a power failure, you'll wish you had shelled out $75 for a UPS.

It's not happened to me, but who's to say that it wouldn't have occurred if my computer had not been protected for the last two years?

 

[rootaxs]

I'd just like to make a comment about how these UPS's here are. Back in my country we had locally made brands that would run for at least an hour on full load and costs just as much as the APC units available. It's funny how economics work... i know it's not American made but so what? It works just as fine and lasts many times more than the APC units.

Then again, it may also be due to need. When we did have power outages they usually last for an hour or so, could also be why APC's and other Internationally known brands were never popular in our country - 5 to 15 minutes of uptime on a *reasonably* priced APC just isn't enough.

 

[toddryan]

rootaxs,

In most cases, it's not a matter of how long the uptime is on a UPS. It's more important for power conditioning and shutdown time. I have 15 servers all with APC UPS's on them. If the power goes out, I don't want the servers to keep running until the power comes back on. I want them to shut down gracefully and wait for the power to come back. APC has what I need:

* Software management that shuts the boxes down properly *AND* turns them back on when the batteries have charged back up.
* $25,000.00 guarantee against hardware damage.
* Line conditioning
* Protection against surges, spikes, brown-outs, black-outs, dips, sags, etc.
* replacable batteries
* slots for additional control modules
* sine-wave generation
* hot-swap batteries
* software failure indicator that alerts me for about 50 different kinds of failures

I literally can sit at my desk and know that my servers are shutting themselves down properly and will come back on when the power is back and stable AND the UPS batteries have charged themselves enough to run the them. I also know I will get paged if a UPS malfunctions and needs attention. I don't have to lift a finger or worry about them. I sleep better this way.

Basically, these are VERY reliable and are held to very precise specifications. There are very few brands I know of that can claim this. To me, a local, lesser-known brand is not worth saving a few hundred dollars when a $10,000 machine and priceless data are at stake.

--Todd.

 

[rootaxs]

todd, i won't go into a debate. but i'm well aware of your points and have taken that into consideration before i put out my earlier post

 

[RossMAN]

I think that TAsunder and toddryan nailed it. My main reason for getting a UPS was I wanted to protect my Dell Dimension 4100/866 and 19" FD Trinitron monitor from any power surges or whatever. The last thing you want is for your house to lose power while you're doing something processer/drive intensive on your computer, like defragging your hard drive, installing a new application, or whatever else.

I don't need 30 minutes of back up power. 10 minutes is the most I would need, 5 is the bare minimum. For me you only need to back up 3 things on the "battery" part, your CPU, monitor and net connection (DSL/cable/56k), that's it. You don't NEED your laser printer, web cam, speakers, and whatever else, only the bare essentials are needed.

This is of course assuming that I am near my PC which is 99% likely since it's on when I am home, and off when I am not home. I have been nothing but pleased with my APC Back-UPS 500 Pro which I was lucky enough to get for $68.95 from Staples after price matching against Buy.com and using a coupon. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the power to my house hasn't gone out since I hooked up the Back-UPS 500 Pro so I haven't been able to test how long the system will run.

A friend of mine unplugged his UPS from the wall socket after the battery had a full charge to test how long his PC/monitor/net connection would stay on for. I'm assuming this can be dangerous?

When it comes to UPS's and surge protectors I only trust APC and TrippLite.

 

[VenGog]

I just price matched Back UPS 500VA
with staples and got it for ~$75.00 after coupon before MIR($30.00)
staples SKU is353757
add clips and take 30 off 100 (code sounds like Beverly hills ... TV show)

I just want to know how many MIR's per Name/family/Household)
could some one who got the MIR for 500AV from OD or CC or BB, thanks

 

[RossMAN]

VenGog - Which web site did you price match Staples against?

 

[VenGog]

OfficeDepot.com
sku is 358-615 for 99.99

 

[Poochy]

I've always tested all of my UPSes by charging them up fully and unplugging them from the wall (and waiting until I hear the continuous beep indicating the battery is about to run out). This is the best way to load test your UPS and checking the battery as far as I can tell (I don't have any of the higher-end UPSes that may have a built-in load testing feature). Other than the fact that you don't have grounding when you unplug it from the wall, I don't see anything bad with this approach. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[silent tone]

As far as I can tell neither of the units mentioned have power conditioning. Correct me if I'm wrong but that feature isn't included until you step up to the Back-UPS pro series.

I'd also recommend against getting a cyberpower unit, mine has failed twice. It just doesn't inspire any confidence in me.

 

[her209]

I hate rolling power outages.

 

[Cessna172]

Just in case anyone is interested, there's a company auctioning off a bunch of refurbished APC Smart UPS 1000's on (you know which auction site). There are a couple of batches of these and most of them have been going for about $60 with a $35 shipping charge (they weigh a ton). So, for less than $100, you can get a very powerful UPS:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1207752014

One thing you might want to pay attention to, though, is battey cost. If you don't need a 1000, then don't get it. Because every 2 years or so when the batteries need replacing, you'll have to shell out another $150. So, I would recommend getting a UPS that meets your needs, not exceeds them, so you don't waste money on batteries.

 

[Cessna172]

Just in case anyone is interested, there's a company auctioning off a bunch of refurbished APC Smart UPS 1000's on (you know which auction site). There are a couple of batches of these and most of them have been going for about $60 with a $35 shipping charge (they weigh a ton). So, for less than $100, you can get a very powerful UPS:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1207752014

One thing you might want to pay attention to, though, is battey cost. If you don't need a 1000, then don't get it. Because every 2 years or so when the batteries need replacing, you'll have to shell out another $150. So, I would recommend getting a UPS that meets your needs, not exceeds them, so you don't waste money on batteries.