At least not if you expect them to live up to their warranty. The night before Thanksgiving, I was at my laptop when there was a lightning strike right outside my house. My laptop immediately told me that it couldn't recognize the devices plugged into the USB ports. It also started running from the battery even though it was plugged in. My external hard drive got fried. Everything was plugged into the surge protector. Well, I was upset but I knew the surge protector had a $75,000 connected equipment warranty and a Data Recovery Warranty. So I filed a claim and mailed them the surge protector for inspection. In the meantime, my laptop was still under manufacturer's warranty and got that fixed for free. But my external hard drive was still fried. So I thought they'd replace it and pay for the data recovery. Nope. I got a letter today telling me that they tested the surge protector and couldn't find any evidence of there being a failure. I guess the lightning just jumped inside my house and struck my laptop directly. I mean, I was sitting right there, but I could have missed that. So I'm a little pissed right now. Most of the data I lost isn't irreplaceable. But it's going to be a b**** to get everything back the way it was. And now I have to foot the bill for a new hard drive (not TOO expensive, but still). Plus, they get to keep the "properly functioning" surge protector I so nicely mailed to them. **** YOU BELKIN!
Seriously, check the outlet in your home that the surge protector was plugged into. You'd be suprised to find out that almost every home has outlet(s) that don't have the ground wire attached to them. If that is the case, it basically renders a surge protector useless. This might explain why the surge protector was tested to be OK, but "failed" regardless.
Go buy an APC surge protector / Battery backup. I've been using mine for almost2 years now, and it still will allow my pc to run for 20 min. on batter. (and my rig is quite beastly. )
this happened to me before with a belkin! they suck. i got my laptop fixed for free though.. oh and their routers suck ass... at least for me.
I've lost 3 wireless routers due to surges from Belkin surge protectors. It took me a while to figure out it was actually the fault of the surge protector and not the router actually going bad.
I thought Belkin was good? So their surge protectors don't perform their MAIN FUNCTION?? Basically an extension cord huh?
i like cyber power surge protectors. they have good reviews/rating on newegg. how do i ground the outlet?
'Surge Protectors' are junk. Spend the $30-50 and get the battery-backup. I have one on every single piece of electronic equipment in my house and have never had any problems with them. They have built-in line conditioners that will give you an even stream of power- there are constant fluctuations without a line conditioner that will wear your electronics out over time.
