Special Surge Protector for new LCD TV

[ds_chris88]

Yesterday I was in FS and got the 46" Samsung TV. The salesman was insistent on us purchasing some surge protector (Monster Home Theater Powerbar 1100), which was apparently down from $300 to $130. We bought it, but it's separate in the receipt so we can always return it. I was wondering how much of a difference it would make, as I already have a surge protector (not a $130 one mind you).

I did some searching and found that amazon.com is selling the same one for $100 on their website (http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Cable-Theatre-POWERBAR-Clean/dp/B00006OAJL)

[psyxix]

But I don't see what your question is? Do you want to know if your pB is good? If this is the case I can assure you that you can't go wrong with monster cable. I, myself, have a monster power Home theater HTS stage 3 and it gives a clean power. If you're building yourself a home theater ,on the other hand, you might consider buying this : http://www.monstercable.com/productdisplay.asp?pin=3329
It will help you get a clear image without some "snow" in your screen. You'll have the perfect HD experience!:cheesygri

[KorruptioN]

The salesman was insistent on us purchasing some surge protector (Monster Home Theater Powerbar 1100)

He was so insistent because he wanted to sell you a high margin item.

[radeonboy]

Good thing to buy, just not @ FS @ their big markup prices. You coulda purchased the same item somewhere else ala online for less $.

But its okay!

[matkun]

Monster products are genereally all around rip offs.. ie: Charge you $150 for an item that looks nice "ooh, pretty colours" that does the same job as a $50 dollar item.

If you want rock-solid protection by an APC BackUPS product. Otherwise, you are just as well off using a $1 surge protector from a dollarama as you are using a $50 Monster surge protector.

The one you bought is more unique because it includes a filter for your incoming cable/satellite connection, which is a good idea to have.

My reccomendation would be to return the Monster product and buy something like this:
http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&MSCSProfile=3C79F0C7EA3162B2AD2D24472DF6467F3A7461 8FBB46F71C9C14A90F28AD9ECC9CF2A45F21905071536C9FB0 172466B6FCF55FF46A16373BBB6E9F4480280E578F8FF16912 ABA9E05B2C0CE4A33660972C275A63FE4D65B2BE32EC067A05 B1EFB5960D343B5B1D466D78A8926A9CD17729E49F0E632DD7 8D&sku_id=0926INGFS10033669&catid=20195#

Much cheaper, does the same job. If your worried about dirty power, buy a APC BackUPS or a Belkin UPS to plug the powerbar into, so you get uninterrupted power.

psyxix, I'm sorry, but it really does not make any difference. If you actually care about image quality, you'd be using a digital signal anyways, in which case you get a perfect image or no image at all. Your expensive Monster product doesn't do anything to make it look better. Monster products are quite simply all-around ripoffs.

BTW... if they made you buy monster cables too.. check out www.monoprice.com . You can buy HDMI and such cables for 1/10th of the price of Monster cables, made in the same factory.

[nano]

surge protectors are useless any run of the mill surge protector would work..

[ynotme]

For my LCD, FS salesman suggests APC 11-Outlet Surge Protector - $45 @ FS
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10033669&catid=10446

you can get same protector $20 @ Costco

[KorruptioN]

surge protectors are useless

No they are not. A surge protector will sacrifice itself once when a surge (not a spike) comes down the line. After that, it becomes an ordinary power bar.

[radeonboy]

surge protectors are useless any run of the mill surge protector would work..

falsified statement. you obviously have no clue.

[Gee]

Cheap power bars will give little protection. Our power is generally decent. But if you get a big spike, don't expect your $5 surge protector to do anything.

Monster is a great marketing machine, lousy product. Anyone that knows anything, knows that the only safe way is to use a UPS that cleans the power. So you basically run on battery 100% of the time. We all know this is not feasible.

If you want a good surge protector, then buy a Panamax. They are the best in the business. But you pay the price.

What? Never heard of them? They are not a marketing machine like Monster. Those that know, buy them. Their product speaks for itself.

[woof]

If your TV has a manufacturers warranty and perhaps an extended warranty from the dealer then why should you buy a surge protector? If the TV goes up in smoke then that's their problem isn't it? Shouldn't these people be giving you a free surge protector to minimize their risk of having to pay out for a repair? The fact that they don't indicates that perhaps they feel that that risk is so low they're not going to worry about it. Maybe you shouldn't either.

It's kind of like that credit card insurance that companies try to sell you to protect you if your cards get stolen. But really, if your cards are stolen and fraudulently used the card companies will eat the loss and fully reimburse you. The card companies themselves are the ones who need to buy insurance, not you.

It's a miracle of modern marketing that companies have persuaded us to spend extra money money to protect them.

[Gee]

I doubt the warranty covers "Acts of God" etc. The warranty covers defects only.

Hopefully, I am wrong, but if you do something stupid like spill pop on it etc. I doubt it will be covered.

[ds_chris88]

Well, to be more clear, my question was if the power bar was absolutely necessary. I am aware of Monster and their ridiculous premiums on their products that aren't much better then their cheaper counterparts. I'm not an expert when it comes to TVs and such, so I was just wondering if this whole "clean current" or whatever it was made a significant difference. And for the record I didn't purchase the extended warranty from FS, I used a credit card that extended the manufacturer warranty to 2 years.

I can always return this one no problem. I'll keep a look out for other surge protectors (I'll look into yours further matkun). We weren't going to get this anyways but the guy gave us an extra $50 off the TV so we took it.

[cwb27]

surge protectors are useless any run of the mill surge protector would work..

HA, are ya kidding me? You clearly don't know what's going on in terms of surge protector quality and effectiveness in suppressing a spike.


To the OP, buy APC, they are pretty much the best in the business. Someone else also mentioned Panamax, can't say I've ever heard of them before, but you definitely cannot go wrong with APC interms of what you get for your money. Stay away from Monster, they make good products just WAYYYYYYY over priced.

[Hybrid88]

You can keep an eye on these when they are on sale. They usually go on sale during Dell Deals for $60.

http://www.apcc.com/products/family/index.cfm?id=21

Does the job for my LCD and other electronics. Clean power is important I guess but having a power backup is more important. It gives me time to do a proper shut off if the power goes off.

[Aske001]

There are a wide range of surge protections products with a wide range of capabilities. Basically you already know the rules: you get what you pay for, and something is better than nothing. Monster makes good quality products, but they are certainly overpriced compared to the competition. If I were going to spend that kind of money, I would rather spend it to get a better category of protection product than spend it on a premium marketing image.

But maybe you should ask when was the last time you had an electronics product destroyed by a power surge? Or know anybody who did? Unless your house or power line is directly struck by lightning and has poor grounding, or there's an unusual accident to a power pole or power station, it's extremely rare. But never say never - it did happen around here a few years ago when a truck ran into a power pole and managed to short a high-voltage line to the regular power line and blew up a whole neighbourhood worth of electronic equipment. But the power company paid to replace it.

[matkun]

I'm not an expert when it comes to TVs and such, so I was just wondering if this whole "clean current" or whatever it was made a significant difference.

It's a myth pretty much. Audio/videophiles spend ridicolous amounts of money for products that provider 'cleaner/better/more quantum' power, but it is just a bunch of marketing ********.

There are really 3 options:
1) cheapo surge protector, which will protect you from weak spikes but not from big ones.

2) SPS (Stand-by power, true UPSes cost in the thousands of dollars) type products with transformers that can handle bigger surges and provide stand-by power for proper shutdown in case of black/brownout

3) power line conditioners, which can handle almost anything short of a lightning strike but cost thousands of dollars and are installed in a house basement..

[BB88]

there are cheaper power conditioner too which does phase 2/3 clean power, although I'm not sure how good they are.

http://www.factorydirect.ca/catalog/product_spec.php?pcode=BE1120
http://www.factorydirect.ca/catalog/product_spec.php?pcode=BE2111