Belkin Battery Backup with Surge Protection (550VA) - F6C550-AVR

This is a good lower end UPS and a decent value for the money. If you have a high end gaming computer with a 750W or above power supply don't buy this one it won't handle it. I actually bought this one for a lower end desktop that is used for buisness and it works great but I tried it first on my high end gaming computer and with the computer and the 22" monitor plugged in it was overloaded. With just the computer plugged in it was ok but when I unplugged this fully charged UPS it kept the computer running for about 25 seconds. Be careful when you buy a UPS, make sure it will handle what you are going to throw at it.
 
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This Ups seems to built with high quality standards. We lost power 2 times the first week we owned this UPS and it kept everything up and running with no problems. We also had 3 brown outs and it kicked right in without hesitation. The smell I am reading about appears to be that of new electronic equipment and not the battery charging, at least with my unit. I have no odor at all after a few days. The top outlets and small footprint for such a powerfull UPS is great. With the rebate, this is a very good deal. good luck!!
 
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I'm very pleased with this UPS. It works very well, provides full backup for my overstuffed Pentium 2.8 MHZ machine and monitor for about 12 minutes. I didn't notice the smell much beyond the first day, typical for most new electronic devices. I gave it a 4 for ease of use because I had to plug it in - it should've worked right out of the box!? And a 4 for overall satisfaction because it only has one internal battery -I was expecting two. My advice -buy it, you'll like it!...
 
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I bought this unit about 10 days ago. I tried to install the software power management, which came with it, but the CD could not even be read by the computer, like a blank disk. This is joke!! I tried download the software from its website and installed it, but again it does not work properly. Wasting my time! The support does not reply my message. Now I just use the unit as surge protector and battery back-up in the event of power failure. To be honest, I do not know how well the software will manage the unit and my computer. PS: The unit does have a small humming noise, just like HV transformer in the substation. I do not have experienced any funny smell. I think for this type of unit, the maximum load is 300Watt, so we need to calculate Volt x Amps plus whatever equipment we will use to prevent overload or equipment failure. It does not give you an extra safety factor on the max. load.
 
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I've purchased one of these units two years ago, and it works so well, when I had another need come up for a UPS, getting a second one was a no-brainer. Works great, no complaints!
 
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After a good charge I started using it. I had no idea that it would be tested so soon, a tree took out electric lines down the road that day. No problems at all. And no smell, which I had noticed others commented upon. I like Belkin products overall!!
 
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Stays on when power cuts out, as expected. But I plugged my printer into a backed-up outlet (as opposed to just a surge protected outlet) and when it kicked on it overloaded the unit and the whole thing shut off thus killing power to the RAID that I purchased this thing for. So don't overload it! Otherwise love Belkin products!
 
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This UPS works very well, I really don't have any complaint about the operation, but it sure does smell. I am going to give it a week or so to mellow out. If the smell doesn't go away, I will replace it with a APC. I would NOT recommend this to a friend....
 
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I have had this unit powered for over a week. From day one, it stunk. Whenever it is powered it smells. It works great. I have had several APC units and I have never had one that stinks so bad. I am going to tolerate this unit for the short term but may replace with an APC if odor continues. Would not recommend to a friend....
 
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It does what is suppose to do. I have computer, monitor and bunch of other accesories plugged in and had loss of power couple of times. Everything was safely powered up. I like Belkin products in general. Never had any problems.
 
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This product is working fine so far. Rather than loading the CD, I downloaded a newer version from belkin.com and never could get it to work right. Tried the CD and it did fine, so I didn't try to upgrade since it was working. Got an older 2.0 gHz desktop, 17" LCD, laser on the non-backup outlet, and it's running at about 25% load. Noticed that when I pulled the wall plug to test it, the load dropped to about 17%, so it's including the non-backup outlets in the load. Performed fine.
 
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This seems like a great unit, but so far we haven't had a chance to try it out, as my wife refuses to let it into her office because of the off-gassing plastic smell it emits when plugged in. I'm keeping it plugged in in a little-used portion of the house in hopes it will eventually get through its smelly phase.
 
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This is the forth Belkin UPS I've purchased and installed on different desktop computer systems over the past year or so. I've always been very satisfied with Belkin UPSs and this recent purchase was no different. The 550VA is not a hugh amount of back-up power, but enough to protect my system during the occassional brown-out in my area.
 
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It does everything as advertised. In addition this unit is smart enough to check the polarity and other quality aspects of the wiring it's plugged into. As a non-electrician who did all the wiring for the room I constructed in my home, it felt good that the Belkin approved of my work. If you are building a media center PC, as I did, you should buy this for this price ($50). Note that this is heavy because of the lead batteries. Also note that this is about the size of an Xbox 360 so heads-up if you're putting it in a real small place.
 
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I haven't lost power since I got this, so no "real world" results are available yet. The ordering process was very simple and the shipping was really quick! The box got here in perfect shape ... I will submit a further review if I have issues with the product! I SHOULDN'T since it's Belkin and I have had really good luck with their products!
 
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having all my computer items plugged into one. One would hope when there is a power outage, the UPS will keep all equipment on for a short while, in order for me to properly shut everything down.
 
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Probably a matter of taste, but as the owner of 5 other UPS units, I like having the outlets on top rather than in the back--don't care for crawling around on the floor with a flashlight to read the labels. Initial rundown test gave reasonable backup time (>15 minutes on a garden-variety P4 desktop and 19" LCD monitor) for a bargain-basement price unit. The weight suggests the battery is not as big as a comparable APC unit (but neither is the price.)
 
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Plugged it in, installed the software, and it's working great. I even setup the e-mail notification for some of the events and the next day I noticed that the power went of for 20 minutes at 2 in the morning. I have a server and all my network devices (cable modem, 2 wireless routers, 2 USB print servers) USB external HD, and my laptop power supply plugged in and it's only at 35% load. I've had 3 Belkin UPS's and never had a problem with them. This is my 4th and I don't think it will be my last. I did like the interface on Bulldog software that came with the earlier UPS's better than this Java version but it's usable. Good quality product for the price.
 
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I have bought several of these over the last couple of years. They just work. If you want to protect your equipment this is a great choice.
 
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I bought this for my Mac after researching a number of UPSes. I really like the upright configuration of the UPS. Unfortunately, that's the extent of what I like about it. I've never been disappointed with a Belkin product until now. OS X has the ability to monitor a UPS, but Belkin opted to use their own software instead. The software is Java based and is not only complicated, but it also isn't designed to run in the background on a Mac. I ended up using it with another computer (a Windows box) because the software worked marginally better on it. If software isn't a make it or break it feature, this is a great UPS - especially if you buy it on sale or with a rebate. If you want software to control shutting down your computer automatically during a power outage and other UPS configuration options, I would highly recommend spending the extra money on an APC UPS, for both PC and Mac users.
 
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Plug in and go. Lots of options for plugs/jacks. Did have an initial burn in electrical smell, gone within a week. KEEP THE INSTRUCTIONS HANDY UNTIL FAMILIAR WITH IT. Some reset functions are not intuitive, but still simple. Best feature for me is the power down protection. Blackouts in rural N. Calif. are not common, but brown outs come with every storm, and breaker provides no safety for that. Will buy more as we finish a second home office.
 
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