I've been using such things for a long time. Not only can you reduce your utility bill by gaining a better understanding of the real power requirements of various items, there's a safety factor.

This device allows you to tell how much wattage is going through a power strip, for example. I once discovered that the strip - rated at 500W - was actually distributing five times that number when a connected heater was turned on.

Interestingly, you can also determine power dissipated by room heaters. All of them - from $15 to $150 - are equally effective at about 1500W, though one might look nicer or more complicated than another.

This is a nice tool for improving your understanding. Great price, too.

I understand that if a heater is rated as 1500W, it's a 1500W heater. I also understand that the things I have plugged in using power are doing so because I have chosen to plug them in.

This will not save any power, you too have the choice of what to plug in without knowing a number. Also, a $4 power strip is normally rated for about 10A-15A, 1100W or more, spend the $15 on a power strip.

Hey #2 where did #1 imply that this product will "save power"? Running too much power through a power strip can lead to overheating resulting in a fire.

Way to take it out of context, #2...

#2 This device helps me find out how much power my laptop is using, idle or with the LCD off. Plus how much power my desktop is using when I am during video conversion and idle.

I was surprise to find out there is almost no power saving when I turned off my DTV converter. It is always on, even when it is turned off. You cannot find out all this interesting energy sucker without this device. $15 is a very very good price.

A 1000W heater is a static load. Other things like my wife's credit card bills, are all dynamic.

I agree, #6, you have a very dynamic wife.

This is part of their 72-hour sale but sold out in less than 8 hours. It is only $2 off from previous sales so I suspect NewEgg didn't plan their stock level properly.

sold 0ut

#1, Thank you for sharing your experience with this product. That's a useful post.

#2, you missed the point of #1's post. The only way to save power is to use less power. Conserve and learn to live with less. This device helps you by giving you more accurate reading on how much energy a particular device uses, so you can decide if you can do without it or with less use of it.

I own one and don't find it necessary to decide if something doesn't need plugged in. If something is using a large amount of power wastefully it is already obvious (to me at least) and it can't accurately measure small amounts (single digit # of watts), especially not on anything that has a power factor which isn't close to 1.

All the major power consumers are obvious enough, lights, fridge, A/C, etc. Shaving 5W off your tv tuner box is only a drop in the bucket,a drop better ignored so you can spend the time focused on things that make a much bigger difference.

You all should read a guy's post on this deal in bacon. In summary, this device will only tell you whether the tested devices are consuming the expected amount of power. But, that is quite far away from actually saving money. If anything, to replace your appliances would cost far more in the short term, and the long-term effects will only be realized if you actually keep it that long. But, if the differences are low, then chances are, you probably wouldn't even go through the trouble of replacing your existing devices. But pretty much, the only way to actually save money is to unplug your devices when you're not using them, which is something you can do even without this tester. Not to mention that how accurate this thing is is also questionable. Not to mention that this tester is already sold out.

these are great if you want to know how much energy your cycling devices are using