APC BE750G Power Saving Battery Back-UPS
by APC
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List Price: Our Price: $88.15 You Save: $21.84 (20%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $75.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of APC BE750G Power Saving Battery Back-UPS
Customer Review: A good UPS, but a UPS needs to be great...
Summary: 4 Stars
Very brief review here, just to recap my experience on my new (late 2009) 27" iMac.
Set-up was very easy. Plug everything in, and connect the USB cable to the iMac to have the UPS options appear. I love not having to install UPS software on the Macs like you do with Windows, and all the functionality you'd need is available in the OS X control panel.
After the battery in the UPS was fully charged, I tested its usefulness by pulling the UPS power plug out of the wall outlet. Immediately there was a click and buzz from the UPS, and the battery kicked in. Yay! The APC BE750G had no trouble powering my iMac i7 27" and the attached 24" Apple Cinema Display, and several hard drives etc. I had set the computer to shut down after 1 minute of battery power, which it did with no issue.
So, what concerns me, and why the 4-star review? Well, I've only had the UPS a month, after, up to this point, not having had any power issues/surges/outages. In that month, the UPS has clicked on TWICE for about 10 seconds, and then clicked off. My Mac detected this and reported to me that it will shut down in 1 minute, which it didn't, of course, since the "power came back." This is interesting to me since I have other devices not hooked into the UPS in the same room that are still functioning with NO power loss, like my TV and receiver, which are plugged into a different UPS. That UPS reports no such power issues.
So, perhaps there's something funky with my particular UPS, but I can't wholeheartedly recommend it because of these oddities, which are perhaps firmware related. But, as stated, for when there's a power outage, you can be sure the APC WILL save the day.
4/5
Customer Review: "Master" is on Battery, "Controlled" is not
Summary: 4 Stars
Off the bat, no real problems with the unit. As for delivery, Amazon beat delivery estimate by a full day and got it to me super fast.
We installed the BE750G to replace and older unit in our wine bar to ensure that our Point of Sale computer would survive outages. Initially, I decided to put the PC on the "master" and all the peripherals on the "control" outlets. However, when I pulled power to test, the computer stayed on but all of the peripherals went off!
SO BEWARE: the control outlets are on a Surge-Protect only rail and do NOT have battery backup. This is fine, but poorly documented, so caveat emptor. For instance, do not connect your monitor to the control outlets if you plan to actually see your screen during an outage!
As an engineer, when I now look at the device, it makes sense as all the battery-backed outlets are on one side of the device and the "control" and surge-only outlets on the other. This is due to the internal design and where the power rails are located, but the documentation does not appear to set this expectation.
I would actually like the option of "control" outlets on the battery rail and, to be honest, it's what I was expecting. So now I don't get to save that phantom power that my printer, touchscreen and other critical peripherals draw after we shut the computer down.
Que sera! Life goes on.
Customer Review: BEWARE! Not suitable for many modern computers.
Summary: 5 Stars
You have to do your homework and read the fine print on these. For example, 750 sounds like a big number, but that's the volt/amps and not the wattage, which is the number quoted on power supplies. The real problem is the Active PFC (Power Factor Correction) power supplies which have been required since July 2007. You can read about this in the FAQs on the APC website. As I understand it, the Back-UPS and Smart-UPS SC, are not true, pure sine wave UPS, and are not suitable for any Active PFC computer power supply rated 500W or more. This would include many Core i7 and older serious gaming machines. These bigger modern power supplies require true, pure sine wave UPS's like the Smart-UPS, Smart-UPS XL and Smart-UPS RT, according to the informative but confusing (to me) PDF that I downloaded from APC, Application Note #147. Of course, you need to calculate the correct load of your equipment to determine which model is suitable for you.
I have several of these UPS's and they have served me well with my older smaller PCs, but they are not suitable for my new machines. They cut out and shut down my Dell XPS 435T with a 475W power supply. I should have done my homework and upgraded my UPS instead of using the one I already had.
I still rate it 5 stars, because it does what it is supposed to do very well, if you choose the correct model for your equipment.
Customer Review: UPS Has Bug That APC Has Not Fixed
Summary: 1 Stars
I purchased the APC BE750G four months ago, and upon installation immediately had "unable to communicate with APC battery back up" error messages and alert sounds. Numerous calls to APC tech support resulted in no fix. First APC sent me a new USB cable, then APC had me reload all the USB drivers, then (various other...). Finally APC admitted there is a known problem with this unit, and advised me to uninstall the PowerChute software and use the native Windows software. When using the native Windows software, the "unable to communicate..." error/alert sounds go away. However, I use APC products because of their robust PowerChute software which has many more options than the native Windows software. I again called tech support on 1/27 and was advised that a fix has still not been developed, and that replacing my unit with a new unit would not solve the problem. I told APC that I would give them another 30 days to fix the problem or I would return the unit and ask for full refund plus shipping. This unit does not work as advertised, and I would advise against purchasing it until/unless APC resolves the recurring "unable to communicate..." problems. This link to the APC forums (which I found by Google search) documents that many others are having the same problem that I am: http://forums.isxusergroups.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2213&start=60&tstart=0
Customer Review: UPS reliability and functions
Summary: 4 Stars
The UPS 750VA from APC was bought to replace the INTERNET 550VA Tripplite UPS that I used to buy. Those units would fail after 1.5 to 2 years and not because of the battery. I just bought 2 of these APC units so I have no reliability information on them yet. This company is used extensively where I work however, and the reliability of those models are great. I hope for the same results in my application. My application is to keep a VHS VCR and D/A box up during power outages even if the VCR is recording for 1/2 to 1 hour. These units have the added capability of removing the annoying recurring beep you normally get when a power outage occurs, that feature is not available on the Tripplite unit. The beep is not necessary and it wakes me up at night when most of the power outages seem to occur. These units are larger than the Tripplite units but the power outlets are on top rather than being behind the unit which makes it easier to identify the power plugs being protected by the unit. The Tripplite units worked fine until failure for their size which was about 1/2 the size of the APC unit. I'll have a better informed opinion in 2 years.