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TIL spending $40 on a decent surge protector was worth it | Freelance Workspaces - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals

sandra_moore30•3mo ago

TIL spending $40 on a decent surge protector was worth it

I used to think any old power strip was fine. Last week my cheap one gave out during a storm and fried my router. I lost a whole day of work waiting for a replacement. Picked up a proper surge protector with a $20,000 warranty for about $40 at Home Depot. It has enough outlets for my monitor, laptop, and printer. Now I don't worry every time the weather gets bad. Has anyone else had gear die from a power surge?

3 comments

3 Comments

jamesc793mo ago

Honestly wyatt's got a point, that "$20,000 warranty" is basically a marketing gimmick cause you gotta mail in receipts and prove the exact failure. Most cheap strips work fine for years unless you're in a lightning storm capital. Spending $40 just makes you feel better, not actually safer.

wyattramirez3mo ago

You're making a lot of assumptions about what's actually going to happen to your gear. Those cheap power strips from the dollar store have been around for decades and honestly most of them work just fine for basic electronics. The odds of a surge actually taking out your router are pretty low unless you live in an area with constant storms. I've been using a $7 strip for ten years and never lost a thing. Plus that $20,000 warranty they advertise is almost impossible to actually claim unless you jump through hoops to prove the surge protector failed.

rivera.hannah3mo ago

My parents had this old power strip from the 80s that was beige and had one of those big red switches on the side. They used it for their Christmas lights every year for like twenty years until one day it just started smoking and melted the plug right into the wall socket. Lucky we caught it before anything caught fire. That cheap strip from the dollar store might not fry your gear in a surge, but it might decide to become a space heater after a few years of use. I'm not saying spend big money on a fancy one, but maybe avoid the absolute bottom of the barrel when it comes to anything that carries electricity into your house.