APC Back-UPS ES 8 Outlet 650VA 120V
by APC
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Our Price: $111.64 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $19.98 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of APC Back-UPS ES 8 Outlet 650VA 120V
Customer Review: Considerations for buying this UPS
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm overall pleased with the APC BE650R 650 VA UPS.
I had two RMA's, Returned Merchandise Authorizations, with it. The first UPS arrived with the battery cover which is on the bottom not properly in its slots and the finger catch which holds it in place broken off. APC had three e-mail dialogs with me and did an RMA. I was quite pleased with APC's service and ovenight shipping.
I mentioned the APC RMA to Amazon and they too sent me a replacement overnight with no RMA materials but want me to ship one of the UPS' back to them now. To my mind, both of the ones I have now are both good ones; but, I did not intend to purchase a second one and now have one to ship back to Amazon. Not as pleased with Amazon for me to have to take care of shipping one back. The basic problem would seem to be the tech at Amazon did not read the e-mail part where it said APC had done an RMA.
I like the fact the outlets are on top, and that there is cable protection in/out connections.
The RJ-45 network connection has little use for me though since the computer to monitor the UPS has to be within about six feet of the device and wired. I'd a lot rather it hooked up to a wired port on my router so it could be monitored through my network by my wireless laptop as with Powerchute software. Having to connect my laptop to a wire to the UPS is counter productive to my laptop being wireless.
It was noticeable that my older APC products were not all plastic, and had the plugs in the back which made the older ones heavier and more difficult to move around or to plug in connections to them.
Like I started out saying, overall I'm pleased with another fine APC product. As an IT manager for a major electronics firm in the 1990's I found APC to be an excellent product for protecting our server farm in a rural setting where the power frequently was off for an hour at a time. The Powerchute software was ideal for myself and our network administrators to monitor the UPS , Battery and power through the network in our buildings. I'd buy from APC again to protect my own home computer systems. Local power outages in the Portland Or area this winter convinced me to make the same move to APC for my home.
Amazon and APC had a worthwhile recommendation for the larger UPS than I originally planned to buy, at about the same price. I of course liked the idea of the larger VA capability for the longer and higher load protection.
Customer Review: Works well
Summary: 5 Stars
I have several comments in various categories:
1) Other reviews: If you want more than four backup outlets, for heaven's sake, use a power strip plugged into the UPS. No big deal!
As to the surge protection; the unit certainly CLAIMS to offer surge protection on all 8 outlets (no battery on 4 of them). I have had no experience one way or the other.
I had no problem connecting the battery wire. Maybe they fixed the problem.
2) Software: Be aware that the PC version of PowerChute is considerably more full-featured than the Mac version, and that for an Intel Mac you must download a new version (and make an account with APS to get it, though it is free). I could not get PowerChute to do anything useful on my Mac Mini. However, both Windows XP and OS X 10.4 supports this UPS out of the box.
3) Mac OS X support. The native support should be nice, but it did not work well for me. You can tell it to shutdown after n minutes on battery (or when there are n minutes of power left or when there is n% power left) and you can also tell it to power back on when AC is restored. It did not do this for me. It shut down into some indeterminite state (unusable but drawing power) at the specified time and did not come back on power up. I think this is an OS X problem or maybe my own config problem, nothing against the UPS.
4) By default, the UPS can drive you nuts during a power failure. While it is supplying power it beeps every 30 seconds. And it beeps repeatedly when the battery reaches full discharge. My computer room is near the bedroom. Need I say more? We had a power failure at night within a few days of the time I installed it. Luckily, if you install PowerChute on a PC, you can program the UPS not to beep. It took me a while to determine this, but there are quite a few options (unclear which are UPS settings and which are software settings) on the PC version.
5) My speakers came with my HP LCD monitor and are powered by it. If I have the LCD on battery, the speakers make a buzzing noise. Not surprising that the UPS does not put out as pure a sine-wave as the power company, I suppose. It does not bother me, but you should know about it if you want to use the unit for audio applications.
Hope this helps...
Burns
Customer Review: Not reliable enough for me.
Summary: 2 Stars
If your power goes out often, it might be worth buying this unit, as that part of it does work. However, in my use I found that it caused far more system crashes, than it protected me from. Details below:
I installed this system (Model BE650R) new around February 2006. It worked well for about 8 months, through a couple of power outages. In October 2006 though it started momentarily switching off the power, so that my systems would crash. After about 5 system crashes this way, I realized it was the APC supply that was doing this. I called customer support and after a couple of interactions, a technician walked me though a lot of settings that control when the unit's power supply switches in. The firmware that resides in the unit is quite complex, so in reality it's a separate computer monitoring the power line supply and battery levels.
Anyway, it worked ok until March 2007, when it would simply shut off and not work causing several more system crashes. I took it out of the system for a couple months, then decided to give it another try. APC sent me a new backup unit on 6/10 which I installed. The first day I happened to have a power outage, so was very pleased I had followed through. However, the 2nd day, the APC started beeping, indicating power was off. However, it wasn't! Even though there was power to every other appliance, it acted like it was getting no power, and eventually shut down.
So, for my purposes the trouble using it just isn't worth the hassle. Each interaction with customer support is a major time hassle plus there are significant costs sending units back since it's so heavy.
Customer support was excellent and they do stand behing their product.
Customer Review: Unacceptable behavior from an "Uninterruptible" Power Supply
Summary: 1 Stars
The battery backup for the longest time seemed to work well. It has had to kick in several times since I bought it and had always kept my computer up and running. I tend to shut down quickly after an outage, so I have not really tested how long the battery will last. However, its latest behavior caused me to downgrade its rating to one star.
After two years of reasonable service, it has begun to behave erratically and unacceptably. Twice, it has simply shut off while I was using my computer. This is exactly the opposite of what a UPS is designed for! It is supposed to keep your computer running, not shut it off unexpectedly.
I have a major issue with the power switch. It is a rather cheap toggle button rather than a rocker switch like most have. Because of this, the switch tends to stick a lot. By this I mean it goes down and then doesn't spring back up, and the unit will not turn on or off until it springs back. I sometimes have to kick it to get the switch back up.
The software is good, not great. It keeps track of how many times the unit has intervened, but you cannot get details on individual interventions except for the last one. And you can view the number of interventions in the past 1, 4, 12, or 24 weeks, but you cannot pick any other intervals. You do get fairly nice customization of when and how it intervenes.
All in all, this backup seemed promising to start out, but unexpected shutdowns from an "uninterruptible" power supply are simply inexcusable. Better luck next time, APC.
Customer Review: Does What It's Suppsed to Do
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the BE650R for two purposes: The first is to provide battery backup power for my home computer system on a daily basis. The second is to use with my portable generator to provide "clean power" to all of my electronics when the power goes out and I'm forced to use it. The BE650R handles both situations very well.
The provided PowerChute software installed without a problem and managed the computer system perfectly when the power went out, completing a graceful shutdown when the battery got low. APC only provides the most basic version of their software (you have the option of buying an upgraded one). It doesn't have any reporting or testing features, but given the size of the BE650R I don't see why you would care. This is a UPS for workstations and small electronics, not servers, so I don't see the need for robust UPS software.
The UPS hooks up via a provided USB cable and the setup was very easy. The BE650R provide about 11 minutes of run time for my system, which is comprised of a 350-watt computer, 19-in lcd monitor, wireless router and dsl modem.
As for using the UPS with the generator, I haven't had any problems so far. The generator maufacturer recommmends using at least a surge supressor with their product, but I figured a UPS would be one step better.
I would definitely recommend this unit.