Hot! Belkin SurgeMaster Gold surge protector $2.04 @ OD B&M only (online order w/ in store pickup)

Devistater

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Sep 9, 2001
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The Belkin SurgeMaster Gold 9 outlet surge protector is $2.04 at OfficeDepot B&M only.
You can order and pay online for in store pickup. I suggest you DO NOT call your local store about this, if they have it and find out its $2, you wont be getting any. Follow instructions below to check stock of all your local stores.

Here's the link for online ordering:
http://www.officedepot.com/textSearch.d...iqueSearchFlag=true&Ntt=275935&x=0&y=0
Or you can pick order by item number and put in this SKU: 275935
It will show $30 online, but when you pick PICKUP IN STORE it will drop to $2.04
If the store is out of them, it will say out of stock and remove it from your cart. Just pick another store. Out of the 6 OD's in my area, the 2nd one I tried had some, I ordered 2. I'm going in at 8am to get them, I dont want employees running off with them.

So basically you can check stock online without calling your local store. I would start with quantity of 1, and the stores that come up having it, put the quantity you want and see how many it says they have.
You may need to clear cookies to pick another store (I didn't with FF, but I did with IE)

I belive this is being clearanced, thats why the low price.

Here's the product info page:
http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductP...rocess?Merchant_Id=&Product_Id=122678#
Has picture of product, picture of box, and some specs/features.
You can verify this by looking at the OD page, it says its a F9G930-10

Notable Features:
Unlimited $$$ "Connected Equipment and Data Recovery Warranties"
9 outlets (3 spaced out for AC adapters so they dont block other plugs)
modem/phone/dsl protection
Out of 9 outlets, two are not on the switch, so if you need some plugs to be always on and want the others to be turned off, this setup will let you do that.
2950 Joule energy rating
"Maximum Spike Amperage of 150,000 Amps"
Also has EMI/RFI filtering to filter noisy power.
360-degree rotating flat plug, nice for behind furnerature and if you need just a little extra cord length.
Each outlet has a sliding cover for dust as well.

Note: There are reports that some are able to pricematch from Staples Item# 481848 which is $57.49 to OD, and that the 110% staples price match garuntee will make you $3.50
This is a HUGE YMMV! But if you want to give it a try, let us know what happens

Personally I think that the $2 for a decent surge protector is the hot deal and I'm not going to bother screwing around with a YMMV PM to staples.
 

Devistater

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Sep 9, 2001
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Originally posted by: isekii
Wish I could get a couple of these.

Looks to be out of stock in my area :(

Did you try all of the stores in your area? The 2nd one I tried in my area had some.
 

TheTony

Golden Member
Jun 23, 2005
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These all sold out in my area when they were marked down to $8.04 a few weeks ago.

Definitely very YMMV if you are able to find one. That said, they are nice - I like mine :)
 

Devistater

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Sep 9, 2001
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I just got back from picking my 2 up. I think the key is (if you find a store with stock on them) is to go down there right away after you order it. Otherwise your order might go "missing"
 

Slickone

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Dec 31, 1999
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Not to thread crash, but there was a thread on AT in the recent past where someone who sounded knowledgable and had opened up many a surge protector said the Belkins always had some of the worst setup & components. If I knew the search worked correctly, I'd try to find it.
 

nole1fan

Senior member
Nov 2, 2005
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Friend of mine had Access Point from Belkin, and I was helping him to set up, and I agree with Slickone that it is not worth it.
 

Slickone

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 1999
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Well for $2 it's worth it if you plan to sell them. But, *if* what 1 or more people said in the thread about the quality is true, then it wouldn't be worth it to protect nice equipment.
 

Devistater

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Sep 9, 2001
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Originally posted by: RaGe420
this is dead

Nope, I picked up 2 a few hours ago. As I said in the OP, its limited quantity and some areas are out of stock.

Originally posted by: Slickone
Not to thread crash, but there was a thread on AT in the recent past where someone who sounded knowledgable and had opened up many a surge protector said the Belkins always had some of the worst setup & components. If I knew the search worked correctly, I'd try to find it.
It looks decent to me. But I haven't opened it. Its not made to be opened. But hey, for $2 you can buy one and crack it open and see for yourself :)
I would imagine that belkin has lower quality and higher quality protectors. This one has MOVs in it which are the most common type of components used to protect from surges. The problem with MOVs is that if you have a big surge it wipes out the MOVs to protect the equipment and then there's nothing left to protect it from a 2nd surge. (or a number of smaller surges over a period of time will also wipe them out) Its the good and bad thing about the MOVs. They sacrifice themselves to save your equipment.

Some info and examples of MOVs:
http://www.djsociety.org/Surge_1.htm
http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial...es/archive/r0608/12r08/12r08.asp&guid=

And there's almost never anything to tell you that the MOVs are dead.

So in actuality, for pure surge protection, you should replace them occasionally. And since 95% of surge protectors are the one time surge protection MOV's (rather than the very expensive alternatives) you are just as well going with a less expensive one with MOVs than a bit more expensive one with MOVs as well.

Its the MOV's that are the part that protect you from serious surges.

Aside from that, things like EMI and RFI filters can clean up the power a bit, this one has that.

This also has an unlimited equipment connected warranty, so if its valuable stuff you are connecting, and you want to deal with the hassle of the equipment connected warranty process you could get a refund.

If the equipment is very important to you and you can't risk anything happening to it, you need to be looking at a much higher priced product than $2. For instance, the APC Smart-Ups series is a very high quality UPS and power protector. Of course it aint cheap. Its about $700 for the 2200VA one I got last year. I think they go as low as $150 for the low end models of the smart ups line.

There was also a hot deal a while back on a monster surge that had higher quality components (and they usually are very overpriced pieces of crap), but if I recall right this one was decent. I'll try and look it up for anyone who is interested.

Another thing to look for is series protection circuits. They are generally considered better than the alternatives.

I think it had the TVS components in it (transient voltage suppression diode). This doesn't burn out like a MOV does, at least not without a massive massive spike, the kind that blows apart a surge protector.

Edit: I cant seem to find it sorry :(
 

Slickone

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 1999
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Originally posted by: Devistater
Originally posted by: RaGe420
this is dead

Nope, I picked up 2 a few hours ago. As I said in the OP, its limited quantity and some areas are out of stock.

Originally posted by: Slickone
Not to thread crash, but there was a thread on AT in the recent past where someone who sounded knowledgable and had opened up many a surge protector said the Belkins always had some of the worst setup & components. If I knew the search worked correctly, I'd try to find it.
It looks decent to me. But I haven't opened it. Its not made to be opened. But hey, for $2 you can buy one and crack it open and see for yourself :)
I would imagine that belkin has lower quality and higher quality protectors. This one has MOVs in it which are the most common type of components used to protect from surges. The problem with MOVs is that if you have a big surge it wipes out the MOVs to protect the equipment and then there's nothing left to protect it from a 2nd surge. (or a number of smaller surges over a period of time will also wipe them out) Its the good and bad thing about the MOVs. They sacrifice themselves to save your equipment.

Some info and examples of MOVs:
http://www.djsociety.org/Surge_1.htm
http://www.smartcomputing.com/editorial...es/archive/r0608/12r08/12r08.asp&guid=

And there's almost never anything to tell you that the MOVs are dead.

So in actuality, for pure surge protection, you should replace them occasionally. And since 95% of surge protectors are the one time surge protection MOV's (rather than the very expensive alternatives) you are just as well going with a less expensive one with MOVs than a bit more expensive one with MOVs as well.

Its the MOV's that are the part that protect you from serious surges.

Aside from that, things like EMI and RFI filters can clean up the power a bit, this one has that.

This also has an unlimited equipment connected warranty, so if its valuable stuff you are connecting, and you want to deal with the hassle of the equipment connected warranty process you could get a refund.

If the equipment is very important to you and you can't risk anything happening to it, you need to be looking at a much higher priced product than $2. For instance, the APC Smart-Ups series is a very high quality UPS and power protector. Of course it aint cheap. Its about $700 for the 2200VA one I got last year. I think they go as low as $150 for the low end models of the smart ups line.

There was also a hot deal a while back on a monster surge that had higher quality components (and they usually are very overpriced pieces of crap), but if I recall right this one was decent. I'll try and look it up for anyone who is interested.

Edit: I cant seem to find it sorry :(
That's what I remember was said in the thread. The person was complaining that once a surge hit it, it didn't take itself offline to protect from further surges. He acted like others do go offline. I believe they suggest APS UPS's, even the cheaper ones that are around the normal price of this Belkin ($50).
 

Devistater

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Sep 9, 2001
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Originally posted by: Slickone
That's what I remember was said in the thread. The person was complaining that once a surge hit it, it didn't take itself offline to protect from further surges. He acted like others do go offline. I believe they suggest APS UPS's, even the cheaper ones that are around the normal price of this Belkin ($50).
APC, not APS :)

Anyway, there are disadvantages to the cheaper UPS, even the cheaper APC UPS lines. For instance, many dont offer true sine wave power, but more of a square wave.

So if you care enough about your equipment to care about these kinda issues, you need to look at the upper end of the spectrum for stuff :)

But for most uses, a common surge protector with MOVs (which is about 95% of all surge protectors) that is replaced occasionally should be fine.

If you have a $5000 AMD FX-60 rig with 7900 SLI and a 1 KW PSU, I suggest you invest in a $150 or higher quality UPS system.

If you have a $500 computer rig, I can't see where it would be worth investing in a $200 UPS when you can probably get by with a $10 or less surge protector.

Of course it also depends on your power situation. Do you have very noisy power? Lots of blackouts, brownouts and surges?
 

Slickone

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 1999
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Originally posted by: Devistater
APC, not APS :)
Oops, I meant APC. Guess I've been talking about ABS lately.

Anyway, there are disadvantages to the cheaper UPS, even the cheaper APC UPS lines. For instance, many dont offer true sine wave power, but more of a square wave.
And you don't get that until $150+?

If you have a $5000 AMD FX-60 rig with 7900 SLI and a 1 KW PSU, I suggest you invest in a $150 or higher quality UPS system.
Yep, for my PC, I have the ~$150 Back UPS XS 1500. :)
 

GameManK

Senior member
Aug 7, 2005
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"THIS ITEM HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED" for my local store. Next one is 20 miles away and says that as well. Too bad, I seem to have lost my surge protector lol so I need a new one.
 

Devistater

Diamond Member
Sep 9, 2001
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Originally posted by: Slickone
Anyway, there are disadvantages to the cheaper UPS, even the cheaper APC UPS lines. For instance, many dont offer true sine wave power, but more of a square wave.
And you don't get that until $150+?

If you have a $5000 AMD FX-60 rig with 7900 SLI and a 1 KW PSU, I suggest you invest in a $150 or higher quality UPS system.
Yep, for my PC, I have the ~$150 Back UPS XS 1500. :)
[/quote]

Well for example if you check APC's product pages on the back-ups line (the pic looks like the one you have):
http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=BR1500
Nowhere on that page does it say anything about sine wave power.

If you check the same product page on the smart-ups line:
http://www.apc.com/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=SUA750
It has sine wave power.

If you search froogle for the lowest VA model of the smartups line, the SUA750, you can see that they start around $200-$250 retail new.
If you check on ebay, you can probably get it cheaper. In fact, since APC recently released a new revision of the smart ups in a squarish black design (check the product page), odds are you could get the year before smartups revision for much cheaper.
SU700 I think was the previous lowest VA model in smart-ups line.
I see several listings of those with brand new batteries for around $70 including shipping.

There are several other things I like about the smart-ups line. One of which is that it has a load display on the front (and if you connect the communications cable to your computer it can communicate the exact load). Its handy to know the exact wattage that your computer is drawing, for several reasons. One would be the cost it takes to run the computer, another would be to know if your PSU is adequete :) If the UPS says your computer (without monitor) is taking 500 watts and your PSU is only 350 watts, you may have a problem :)

Normally though modern computers take far less power than people realize. I've seen a low end dell P4 server only consume 85 watts and thats with monitor. My computer takes about 150 watts I think (its been a while since I checked).

Anyway, making sure your UPS is outputting true sine wave power is probably overkill (since most of the time you aren't running on a battery). A modern PSU is very adaptable to power variations. Although incidentally this one reason is why you shouldn't run motors or printers or similar systems on normal UPS, sometimes they cant tolerate the square wave power very well.
But if you really are interested in giving the best power & protection to your computer, thats one way to go.
 

Slickone

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Dec 31, 1999
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I had someone stop by yesterday to pick up some for me and them, but they rang up regular price. Do they have to be ordered online to get the discount price?
Also online showed 11 in stock but the store only had 2 on the shelf a couple hours later.
 

Devistater

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Sep 9, 2001
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Originally posted by: Rapier
Dead for me at 42071 $29.99
As mentioned in the OP, it doesn't change until you pick in store pickup. But I'll bold that part so its easier to notice :)

Originally posted by: Slickone
I had someone stop by yesterday to pick up some for me and them, but they rang up regular price. Do they have to be ordered online to get the discount price?
Also online showed 11 in stock but the store only had 2 on the shelf a couple hours later.
I'm not sure, but thats the way you can ensure you get the correct price. Thats what I did, online order with store pickup.

Also note that the model number needs to be exact. I went to one store and found a similar model number that was NOT discounted, it was something like F9G934-10 (with a ethernet surge plug) rather than the one thats on sale, the F9G930-10.

And yeah, the store inventory system is not always exact. Thats why stores have to re-do the entire inventory once every year or so, and even immediatly after, it gets out of whack.
Make sure you didn't let the store know about this price when your friend tried before, otherwise the employees probably will grab them if there are any left.
 

Slickone

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Dec 31, 1999
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No, they didn't mention the price to the casher, just said wanted to check the price before paying. Said it was the same model #. Cashier may have just lied about the price and kept them for herself.
Online is now showing 0 there now.
 

GTFan

Senior member
Jan 11, 2001
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Got 5 from my local OD west of the ATL for $11 total. These are nice strips for the price if nothing else, can't beat 9 outlets and a 10' cord.
 

GauteHauk

Junior Member
Apr 7, 2006
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Worked for me, just gotta go pick it up tomorrow. I already have one of this same surge protector and mostly want it for the extra outlet plugs. :>
 

dabuddha

Lifer
Apr 10, 2000
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Screw office depot. Drove almost 20 miles to get there and the asshat manager tells me they don't have any. I asked him wtf did the website say they have it in stock and he said he doesn't know. Ended up yelling at him and storming out.
This is the second time office depot has screwed me over. First time was that chair + coupon code fiasco.