Monster Power 8-Outlet Home Surge Suppressor $74 at Rakuten.com Shopping

I've go one of these. I only bought it at the time as it was the only power strip with a long enough cord and outlets for all the crap in my entertainment center so I didn't have to string power strip to power strip. That was 5 years ago, I had a power spike that fried 6 out of 11 power strips in my house (and half the neighborhod) yesterday; this thing is still ticking (or buzzing, or humming or whatever human-inaudible sound it makes). Worth a whole $74? Probably not, but in my case, it protects a $2500 TV and $800 stereo; make your own decision.

What were the other 4 power strips you had that didn't get fried? Those are probably cheaper so I'd get those instead.

What a great deal! This must be right around cost.

http://consumerist.com/353938/monster-cables-monster-ripoff-80-markups

THe others were APC, the actual $20-$30 power strips. They served their purpose, fried so the stuff attached didn't have die (threw themselves on the grenade so to speak), but I still gotta shell out $200 replacing those fu[ks. I got the new belkins, at $20-$40 a pop. There were 2 totally cheap ones that fried that were in the $8 catagory, but to blazes wit 'em. The APCs are usually pretty good, but that was one heck of a surge, fried stuff for miles, traffic lights, street lights, the cable repeaters, telephone boxes, you name it.

The surge rating on this isn't all that good, not for $74 at least. Tripp Lite Isobars seem the better choice.

I'd prefer the cheaper APCs.

#3 Not to discredit you, but that article has some serious flaws.

Mark ups on Monster Cable so that companies can make a profit? For one, that's not Monster Cable's fault that their getting marked up that high. Audio speakers have a 50 to 80% mark up. So, does that make speakers ripoffs as well? How about a 6 cent cup of Coke getting sold for $1.39? That's a mark up for you. What's great about fast food is that they'll charge you extra for a large compared to a small...when they offer free refills. No wonder fast food is always trying to "super size".

"Here's the thing: digital cables, by definition, have no signal loss". Well, that's not exactly true. Digital coaxial cables can pick up noise...which of course could cause problems determining whether the bit is a 0 or a 1. Fiber optics are used over coax typically because "signals travel along them with less loss, and they are immune to electromagnetic interference" - Wikipedia. The keyword there is LESS loss. Also, there are grades in quality of fiber optics. Lower grade can limit the amount of light transfer...possible data loss.

"As long as its built to HDMI standards, the only difference between a "fancy" digital cable and a no-name one is the price." Not as familiar with what Monster does to improve on HDMI cables. I can talk about optical cables though. Take a cheap optical cable, fold it like you might fold excess speaker wire, and zip tie it. See if it still works. Try the same with Monster optical cables. They have a thicker casing so that you can bend it and zip tie the cables without fear of breaking the optics inside. Also, the TOSLINK makes a very loose connection when input into a component. If there is a lot of shaking (like a powerful subwoofer), the connection could be compromised. Test it by moving the cable around yourself. Monster provides a spring-loaded connector to limit this problem.

I knew I could find the Monster fanboy by throwing out the right bait.

It's probably a good surge suppressor, but $74 is really something... I mean, I can buy a decent upconverting DVD player or DVD writer for less than that, and the circuitry in these is infinitely more sophisticated. There is something wrong with the Monster Price.

Haha! Not a Monster fanboy but an AV fanboy. Only reason I have Monster at home is that I used to get it at cost. I just want better quality than the cheapies. I don't just buy. I spend the time demoing cables just like I demo speakers and other AV components. People can buy their $60 CD player and I'll buy my $300 CD player. CDs are digital, right? The players don't matter, just reads the ones and zeros!

#7 said, "I can talk about optical cables though. Take a cheap optical cable, fold it like you might fold excess speaker wire, and zip tie it. See if it still works. Try the same with Monster optical cables. They have a thicker casing so that you can bend it and zip tie the cables without fear of breaking the optics inside. Also, the TOSLINK makes a very loose connection when input into a component. If there is a lot of shaking (like a powerful subwoofer), the connection could be compromised. Test it by moving the cable around yourself. Monster provides a spring-loaded connector to limit this problem."

Ok, let's talk. I have both cheap toslink optical cables (got them in the box along with the DVD player and /or paid approx. $10 for each one) and more expensive toslink cables (not Monster) with thicker jackets, better shielding, etc. Both types are looped and twist tied (I am using 2 cheap ones and one better built one) and connected between their respective device and a receiver. News flash... they all work fine, none of them come loose when my subs fire up (I run 2 HSU VTF3-HO's that go down to 16 Hz), and I can't tell any difference between them in any way. My experience is (if you are careful not to bend them sharply) optical toslink cables work great and you should try the cheapest thing you can find unless you have some unusual circumstances. You will not (as a human being at least) ever hear or detect any form of degradation. This is of course, only my real world experience. And I'm not trying to brag here but my sound system costs the equivalent of a small car. I doubt most others will need or want anything I don't. Monster cables are overpriced and unnecessary.

Removed (see previous post)

Budman - can you repeat that - didn't get it the first 2 times

I was trying to edit my post using the edit button. Sorry but I am not certain why my response was posted twice.

Never meant to convey that the connections would actually come out, just that they are loose connections. If the connection is loose inside, it is possible that a signal loss could occur from movement. I've never actually experienced a loss of signal from components rattling but the potential is there. Is a spring loaded connector necessary? Probably not.

I didn't actually say there would be an audible sound difference between a cheap cable and a more expensive one. I was strictly speaking in terms of data transfer and potential data loss.

The point I was trying to make is that there IS a difference between cheap digital cables and more expensive cables. A digital fiber optic cable should cost more if the fiber optics inside is a higher quality. The article tried to say a digital cable is a digital cable, no signal loss and only a difference in price, and that's simply not true.

The average person won't notice differences in audio or video unless it is pointed out to them. I'd love to see someone try to distinguish a progressive scan DVD player from one that isn't progressive scan but not too many people would buy a DVD player that wasn't progressive scan.

The blanket statement made is that Monster cables are overpriced and unnecessary. I'm not arguing in favor of having the Monster cable brand but I do argue the value of having higher quality cables than the stuff included in the box or what you would pick up at Radio Shack. In that regards, they are not unnecessary. If I bought a $2000 B&W speaker, I'm going to bi-wire it. I'm not going to use the 5 cent a foot wire to connect it. There would be a HUGE sound difference. Overpriced? I think all premium cables are marked up similarly, so I think it's unfair to target Monster when all other manufacturers have similar markups.

Power surges? Pfft, I live in CA. We don't get power surges and spikes. We get brownouts...

I bought the last 4 of these at BJ's for $14. Nice profit on ebay, babes.

Sweet burp Jesus Christ, I've never seen a more ignorant so-called "A/V expert" posting on here than oxhammer. What a douchebag.

It's easy to slam someone as opposed to actually refuting their arguments. But, since you can't actually do that, I suppose you have to resort to something

I agree with you about poster #17 oxhammer. I also respect that you didn't just slam me and call me names (as I'm sure many others will now do because we didn't go "cutthroat" on each other). I can understand your view and agree with you... I might have used a couple of cheap toslink cables but I didn't just use 5 cent a foot speaker cables. Ok, I will admit it may be unfair to single out Monster here but that is the product being advertised. Again, I appreciate the civil discourse. Too bad there isn't more of it here.