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I love Dick.
He is practically giving away his 6-way surge board at the moment.
$29.97 down from $69.97 - and if you order online you get totally free delivery Australia wide.
These boards aren't bad….
Dick Smith 6-Way Surge Board - $29.97 Delivered
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You got a good deal then - sometimes Dick bundles these for free with Norton 360.
Dick has a bigger 8-way model but its $89 in black or $99 in white - I'm happy to take the cheaper, smaller black one….
All I read there was :
"Bigger 8-way, "in black, in white"
I'm happy to take the cheaper smaller black one."
that's what she said
You're right - I've seen this same product a few places for that price. Even Aldi have had it a few times.
What I don't like about these cheaper boards is how they promote the surge protection. You need to pay several times that RRP (not the discounted price) before it would do the job people buy it for. i.e. Protect anything of value. Because the SCR's used in such an inexpensive product simply cannot react fast enough to lightning strikes. They do trip, but by the time that happens, your computer, modem, DTV, etc. would have already been damaged.
(I'm an electronic technician BTW.)
But it doesn't surprise me they still promote that "feature". Since they also still sell those useless "sonic pest control" devices. They've been proven to do nothing (apart from increase your electricity bill albeit slightly) over the years by a few reliable sources. One I read several years ago was either Scientific American, or Popular Mechanics (I forget which one now).
Out of curiosity, could you list a couple of models that would do the job?
I'll take your word for it that this isnt the best surge protection, but it is surely better than nothing or just a standard power board?
These boards are solid - they cater for large plug packs by spacing 2 of the 6 plugs and have an on/off switch. They also have a decent length power cord.
I've got 3 or 4 of them and find them a lot better to use then the cheap ones you buy at Bunnings or Kmart…
Well, I remember the teacher having this discussion with the class when we did our Trade Cert. It was said the surge-arresting components can't "react" fast enough to real dangers. i.e. The boards DO trip, and so we think they're doing their job. But other spikes can get through, and fry sensitive circuitry. Manufacturers could easy build this same protection in for much less. But of course they don't want to add a few $ to their product for fear another company will beat their final price. (Ridiculous, isn't it? They'll spend millions on factories and designing new ICs with new features, but…)
I used the incorrect device name before too. Anyway, to answer both questions as best I can… It's not as easy as just recommending a particular product. There's an excellent (indepth) explanation on Wikipedia that explains why:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surge_protector
But basically it boils down to this. Sure, they do trip - so people (as you naturally would) think, "Whew, it saved my bacon." But they probably had dozens of those same spikes in the past that didn't harm their computer. It's just that before they bought the power board it didn't trip - so they didn't know about them. Some of those would have been seen by unexplained operating system or modem freezes, coming into the room to find the computer shut down, etc. Those spikes generally do no more than "interrupt" a computer's power supply for a moment - thus the computer freezes or goes off. So the power boards do kind of work, but only in that they will cause more shutdowns than you would have had without them.
It's the strikes they DON'T (or can't) catch that are the real threat. But the stuff they market to us consumers are just toys, unsuitable for the purpose we buy them for (and what retailers imply they do). (Heh - yeah - like, what's new?)
Hope I typed that in a way that makes sense.
So are they better than nothing? Well, that depends how you look at it. I can only share my own experience…
We have a lot of lightning activity where we live. I can tell when some brown-outs happen, because the room lights dim and the computer fan slows and speeds back up. Sometimes my computer then freezes. But most times, it's so quick that nothing else happens. If I had a surge protection power board plugged in however, it probably would have tripped and shut down my computer - and I would have lost whatever I was working on.
The other features you mentioned - sure, they're good reasons. I hate how two plugpacks don't fit into most power boards too. While I think of it, if anyone has a Stratco store nearby… they have a nice multi-socket power board that has individual switches for about $30 I think it was. I'm going to buy one of those, so I can easily switch off things I'm not using on the computer, like speakers, scanner…
Anyway, the guy eventually stated the ones worth buying (that really do react fast enough to protect from the real dangers), were too expensive to justify. Some are a whole-house option that require an electrician. He suggested a better solution was buying a UPS!
You guys probably know what a UPS is. But a simple explanation is, it plugs between your mains and computer (or whatever device you want to power/protect with it). They have an internal battery and circuitry that filters power brown-outs and voltage spikes. So the computer (etc.) draws it's power from a circuit powered from the battery, instead of directly from the mains. Thus brown-outs and spikes are removed. If the power goes off, a UPS gives you 10/20/etc. minutes (directly related to it's initial cost) to save documents and power down the computer. (Actually, I think they have software now, that can turn off the computer without your input.)
So… He was going to buy a UPS anyway, so he just added a couple of hundred $ more to the purchase, to buy one with more minutes (a longer shutdown time). Which meant he could run (and filter) more devices.
Hope that helps someone.
I think Harvey is a better guy..
I love Harvey… doesn't have the same effect, and he is a wanker anyway.
Are any of them good guys?
I love Big W, I remember him from way back when he wore short pants and was known as "Lil Dubya"
+1 for OP description - just the thing to get frustrated ozBargainers another reason to log in !!
Already picked one from local store last weekend, not bad at all for the price.
Great price thanks!
He is practically giving away his 6-way surge board at the moment.
$29.97 down from $69.97
It's more like he is practically ripping off everyone at all other times.
$69.97 up from $29.97
lol @ OP "I Love Dick"
lmao
DSE on the way out.
http://www.news.com.au/business/woolworths-divests-its-dick-…
Heres hoping to possile clearance sales :p
That is a pity - I find DSE, particularly online, regularly have good deals.
Woolworths management incompetent…
shame it doesnt have usb charging
"He is practically giving away his 6-way surge board at the moment. $29.97"
That's how much I paid for one a few years back.