APC BackUps Pro 1100va for $100 +tax

[wizbang]

Howdy,

OK, to explain and gather a few things together.

MEI Microcenter is both online and B&M.
As Souka stated;
Microstores in:
Atlanta, GA
Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland, OH
Columbus, OH
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Fairfax, VA
Houston, TX
Long Island, NY
Minneapolis, MN
Overland Park, KS
Philadelphia, PA
Santa Clara, CA
Tustin, CA
Westerville, OH
Westmont, IL
Is where Microcenter has physical stores. Yes, even the $149 price is good. The APC BackUps Pro 1100va is new. APC's website sucks. I am in Fairfax Virginia area and the Fairlakes CompUSA had about 12 of them. They pricematched without a problem. They have a sale themselves which after all there rebates, brings it down to $199 (after the $50 mail in rebate) MEI Microcenter has it onsale for $149 with no rebates, no nothing... straight out the door. Since the Microcenter is about 6 miles down the road, it was not a problem to show CompUSA the printout, and they pricematched it. Of course the kicker is the CompUSA ONLY $50 mail in rebate.

CompUSA might not have the rebate form. I have it linked in the first post. I have purchased 2 of the units and am very happy with them. I have had my Back Ups Pro 650 for approx 6 years now (replaced batts once) and has always worked the way it should.

The APC Back Ups Pro 1100va also comes with the software and special (proprietary) cable. There was a deal about 4 months ago for the APC 1000va unit which did not have the cable (APC sells it for $39 yeah right)

Later Mike

 

[Souka]

Yeah, tried to PM at two different CompUSA's in the Seattle area....no go.

At one of them, they rang it up, but before they processed my CC, the sales manager walked over and "fixed" the mistake.

Too bad Microcenter isn't nearby....hot deal if it were.

 

[JamesGang]

I got the Manager to PM. He specifically stated he had to call and personally verify price and stock. I thought sure it was a dead-deal. To my surprise... $149.99. The things a brick!

 

[irrigating]

Here's the link to the APC website 1100 PRO

Just remvove a zero and add a one

 

[JackBurton]

DAMN, that is a GREAT price. However, I'm a day too late for the rebate. Oh well, I usually don't send them in anyway. :| I'm not going to even mess with the pricematch. I think I'll just run over to Micro Center and pick one up. $149! DAMN!

 

[unique]

<< Here's the link to the APC website 1100 PRO

Just remvove a zero and add a one >>



... thanks that explains a lot: Includes Basic UPS signalling RS-232 cable , CD with software , User Manual

Um. No user manual though! But I can't figure out which cable I need to buy to get smart signalling (to get monitoring features).
As is, I can't even get the powerfailure = shutdown feature to work (on windows 2000, or XP).

APC's site isn't very helpful on the matter.

I'll have to give them a call on Monday.

 

[Devistater]

The basic cable will let you do monitoring I belive... its just that you won't be able to configure the UPS options. I think that's what the smart one does, allow you to send stuff TO the ups, not just FROM.

 

[erickotz]

Well, as to the fan comment, I have an Old APC Smart-UPS 1250RM (Rack Mount) and it has a variable fan in it.

As to the smart signaling cable, I don't think you do. I believe that smart signaling is reserved for Smart-UPS, and Back-UPS dont' support it.

 

[unique]

You should not need the smart signaling cable to get basic functionality -- I'm just remarking that I'm having a problem with it.
As for smart signaling, the UPS is a Pro version which is supposed to support subsmart, I believe.

 

[cloudchief]

I got in on this deal and am thankful to the original poster.
To get the thing to work in Win2000 I had to call APC twice.
It does not have smart signaling.

Set the serial port settings to :
Bits per second = 2400
Data bits = 8
Parity = none
Stop bits =1
Flow control = Xon/Xoff

In the advanced tab uncheck 'Use Fifo Buffers'

If you have the software auto-detect the unit it will not work.
When you manually detect, don't tell it it is the BackUPS Pro, just a BackUPS.

This worked for me. This is a really great deal. When I saw that Microcenter had it for $150 I was tempted, when the $50 CompUSA rebate was added I couldn't refuse. CompUSA tried to worm out of the pricematch but really couldn't.

 

[jlv]

I got in on this (on Saturday night when the rebate was still good). I'm lucky; there's a Microcenter in Cambridge MA so they are a local retailer. And, there are lots of CompUSA's around. I tried one in NH (to avoid sales tax), but the (older) manager on duty wouldn't allow the pricematch, claiming her cost was $218, so she couldn't/wouldn't sell it to me at a loss. I then tried the CompUSA near home, and the (youngest) manager said "uh... I don't know... $100 off... oh, ok".

I'm not using APC's software; my servers and gateways at home are all UNIX systems (2 FreeBSD, one Linux, one Solaris) and this will hold all those systems. The Windows boxes (my gaming rig and the kids gaming rig) will stay on the old surge suppressor. So, for software, I'm using NUT

 

[unique]

<snip>


<< I got in on this deal and am thankful to the original poster.
To get the thing to work in Win2000 I had to call APC twice.
It does not have smart signaling.

If you have the software auto-detect the unit it will not work.
When you manually detect, don't tell it it is the BackUPS Pro, just a BackUPS.
>>


<snip>

... exactly what I was about to add:

Just got off the phone with APC. Their "consumer line" -- i.e. the stuff that they sell through CompUSA, Staples, etc... does _NOT_ have Smart Signalling. This unit gets the "Pro" designation because of automatic testing, brownout protection, etc..., not because of signalling.

So, a smart cable will not improve things since it will still be talking to a dumb ups.

And they don't have info on their site for the Consumer SKUs (apart from that hidden 1100 page -- which refers to 1000VA in the text) -- said the techie.

So, the BackUPS Pro 1000VA unit, while 100VA less, is better in that it supports smart (or subsmart) signalling with the right cable.

But at $100 (if the CompUSA rebate comes through), you can't go wrong!

Thanks to the first poster.

 

[568overclocked]

so any comments on this unit....i'm thinking of purchasing one tomorrow though i missed out on the rebate deal

 

[HyTekJosh]

I got mine today and it is "prestige". Works flawlessly and has everything I expected. The unit is HUGE and HEAVY (weighs much more than my computer for sure).

 

[rimshaker]

I just got mine today too. This thing is thicker than my case!!... heavier for sure. Even the UPS guy didn't want to unload it from the truck until someone answered the door I'm a little confused why the wattage rating of 670W is exactly the same as for the 1000VA model. Also, looking at the most current specs, all recent Back-UPS Pro models use a stepped sine-wave while using the battery. Only the large units made few years ago utilized a trapezoidal waveform.

 

[568overclocked]

sounds good...i think i'll pick one up after work

 

[Wooster]

I just got one this afternoon. Nice deal even without CompUSA rebate. I just brought APC UPS 500 two weeks ago for around $150. Time to return that one and keep 1100va for the same price.

Thanks for the post.