APC Essential PM5U-UK Surge Arrest with 5 Outlets and 2 USB Charging Ports

Firstly, I won’t take risk for my family and I have to get very high quality brand power extensions, as so many accidents over the world were related to bad quality and misuse of power extensions. This is not related to how many people used it and reviewed it. It’s all about it’s build quality, usability and durability, all contributing to its stability and hence safety. Therefore there are already not many brands I can trust in this aspect.Secondly even APC is now owned by Schneider, not all Schneider sub-brand extensions are good, and some with significant usability issues for me. However APC is just exceptionally wonderful quality.The body is sturdy, cable can run out on either side, plugging is smooth and feeling quite sleek! It’s like the different feeling of plugging a cheap or original Apple cable into a Mac or iPad, with that satisfying confirming yet smooth and crisp click.The switch is also very sleek and certainly bouncy sturdy.However I hope APC can release models with longer cables and make the body a bit thinner. Before that exist, this one is still the only one I’ll keep sticking and buying, also to replace the others in my home and workplaces.

I know the brand very well, I've been using UPS from APC for ages, and the one i've bought 10 years ago still works perfectly. So I do hope that the new one will be as reliable as usual.Looks good, sturdy and well made.

After using APC UPS units, i thought i would try their Surge Protector products too. I have always used Belkin surge protectors, almost religiously. After seeing this surge protector advertised i cancelled my order for a Belkin unit and bought this instead. I am glad I did. The newer Belkin units have lost their magic, they no longer have rotating plugs for compatibility with bulky power supplies.So, onto this APC unit PM8-UK, it's a surge protector extension strip. It has a built in switch, an overload indicator LED, a Surge Protection LED and an Earth connected LED. Assuming it is the same as other APC units the Overload LED should be RED and should not be illuminated in normal use. The other two should be always illuminated green. If they are not then there is a fault that should be checked.It has 4 screw slots on the back to allow mounting in various orientations. I really like the design with 4 sockets on the front face and another 4 on the side at a slight angle. This means there is plenty of room when mounted, or on the floor/desk, for normal BS plugs on the side sockets and various bulky power supplies on the front sockets.It has a cable routing on the back side that allows for the supply cable to be neatly routed either side of the unit. The supply cable is 1.25mm^2 which is adequate and is the same as Belkin units. The plug is a high quality rewirable type with an ASTA marking and a moulded strain relief that looks identical to the Belkin Essentials series.As for the surge protection, this product is amazing. Assuming the protection ratings are comparable between manufacturers you are looking at 2754 Joules of protection for this APC unit. For comparison the Belkin Premium BSV804af2M 8 socket is only 900 Joules. The Belkin Essentials F9E600uk1M 6 Socket is only 476 Joules. The Masterplug range of basic surge protectors are only 370 Joules.It is worth noting the connected equipment warranty is full of terms, conditions, and requirements and must be registered as soon as you purchase the product to be valid. But this is par for the course for any of these surge protectors and you would always struggle making a successful claim.This product appears to be very high quality and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a premium surge protector. Always check your surge protector LEDs regularly, whether APC or any other brand, MOV based surge protectors do eventually die and lose their protection.

Feels well made, with plenty of space between each socket to allow for wider plugs. It's a brand I can trust to keep the connected devices safe.Found it difficult to mount with double sided tape, but maybe that's not it's intended mounting method.

Not much to say, unless there is a surge then no idea if it does what it is supposed to or not. I use it for a 16way network switch to hope knock out surges before they get to any computer devices via network cables.

When researching surge protectors, one thing I found out is the Joules rating seems to be an important factor to consider, the higher the rating the better. This rating tells you how much energy the surge protector can absorb before it fails. After looking at numerous ones on Amazon the bulk of them seem to be very low, i.e. 300 - 500 Joules, this beast however has 2754.The protector itself seems very well made, it's very solid, and the extension cable is very thick and chunky.I consider this a very good price for a very good product, I have since purchased a few more of them.This one is also very good if you have large transformer plugs, I was only able to use half the sockets on my previous plug as the transformers were large enough they blocked other sockets from being used, this is very well laid out I can use all available sockets.It was nice to find a branded surge protector, as Amazon seems to be full of cheap and nasty surge protectors, where multiple sellers seems to purchase the same one and just re-brand it, I'm not convinced the quality of parts inside these cheap ones will be up to the job. If you tot up how much equipment is connected it is not worth scrimping on the extension lead. I've had these cheap ones before and the difference in quality and feel between them and this is night and day.

good quality, using for a year, no complains

The quality is very good and provides stable power to my monitor and 1000w pc. It never gets hot when it is used and the build is sturdy. It is very reliant and on the back it has several mounting holes for you to mount it to a wall or under a table. Very good.