I generally avoid going near the tangled mess of wires under my desk. Between my PC, Monitor, Wireless Router, DSL modem, VOIP adapter, Printer…. the list of devices in my room requiring electric power is endless. And as a result I’ve developed a seemingly endless mess of tangled power cords connected to a multitude of different surge protectors. It’s ugly down there, very ugly.
When I first saw Belkin’s Concealed Surge Protector, I practically drooled. (Yes, you can make fun of me for getting so excited about a surge protector.) It’s the first innovative surge protector design that I’ve seen in a long time. The simplistic design has an Apple’esque aura going for it. Anyway, a surge protector with a cover seems like such an obvious idea, so why did it take so long for someone to come up with it?
The most difficult part about setting up the Concealed Surge Protector for me was that the wires under my dusty desk was a tangled mess. And unfortunately, since most of my wires are coming from different directions (top, left and right) to where I decided to position the surge protector, that meant that the wires coming out of the protector don’t look as neat and tidy as they could be if they were all leaving in one direction like they are on the photos on the product’s page. Unfortunately because my equipment are in located in different parts of the room, there is just no avoiding that. Still, the area under my desk has been greatly improved thanks to the Concealed Surge Protector. Instead of using two surge protectors, I’m down to a single neat and tidy one. And power wise, so far so good as I haven’t experience any power problems with the surge protector even though I filled up all of its outlets to the max.
The Concealed Surge Protector organizes your cable and keeps them out of sight with its closing cover. Now only does that make things look prettier, it’s also a smart way to keep pets and children from playing with the outlets. In total, the Concealed Surge Protector has 11 outlets, 6 which are regularly sized, 4 block spaced for larger AC adapters, and 1 convenience for something like a cell phone. It also features 1-in/1-out (each) coaxial-cable, Ethernet protection and a $300,000 Connected Equipment Warranty. The Concealed Surge Protector retails for $49.99. The only flaw I can find with the the Concealed Surge Protector is that it’s white, and this is really a minor quibble. But in my opinion because it is white and designed to sit on the floor, it’s likely to get dirty and that dirt will be noticeable against the white. Because of that, if given the choice, I would prefer a black or gray version. Still we totally recommend Belkin’s Concealed Surge Protector as the surge protector of choice for slobs and neat-freaks a like.
The Good:
Great design with Practical Cover, Plenty of outlets
The Bad:
Only available in white