Belkin Conserve Socket Energy-Saving Outlet with Timer,F7C009q

I bought this energy-saving outlet for one specific purpose - my flatiron. As you may guess, I did not do this because I was concerned so much with saving energy (though that's nice too), but rather was concerned with safety. Although I quite like my flatiron, it is not one of those that has a timed off setting, which means I can accidentally leave it on (and have done so twice). Even when I haven't left it on, sometimes I can't remember if I've turned it off, which means that I usually end up turning my car around and running up to my apartment to check, which is frustrating and is almost always a waste of time. This gadget has saved me that misery. I now have it constantly set to the 30 minute setting. Since I have long hair, it usually take me around 20 to 25 minutes to flatiron my hair, which means that even if I do happen to leave my flatiron on, within five to ten minutes of finishing my hair, this Belkin device will cut the power. Fabulous! This gives me peace of mind. Why don't I just get into the habit of unplugging my iron every time? No real answer, I just can't seem to get into the habit. This device is ridiculously easy. There is a switch on the side where you can set it to 30 minutes, 3 hours, or 6 hours, depending on how long you want whatever is plugged in to receive electricity. Then there is a button on the top that you press to activate the charging time and the button glows green to let you know it's on. Until you do this, whatever you've plugged in will not charge or power on. There are a couple minor downsides. This is pretty bulky, so expect it to take up the majority of your outlet. I have to unplug it to plug anything else in the other outlet. Annoying, but certainly not a deal-breaker; after all, you'd imagine that something like this would have to be somewhat bulky. Second, the green light on top is very faint and I usually have use my hand to shade the button to see whether it's on or off. This could be a good or bad thing depending on where you plan on using this. If you're using it someplace you plan on sleeping, you may like this feature. In the age of DVRs, computers, external hard drives, etc. that always seem to emit some sort of light, even when not being used, sometimes it's nice not to have another glowing object in the room. Overall, excellent product that works well and is priced fairly.

I've been using this Belkin timed switch for two years now, with faultless performance. I use it on an automatic coffee brewer to turn it off after 1/2 hour (my coffee maker otherwise would keep my coffee on permanent "warm", boiling off the oils). I also use it on a couple of appliances that lack internal timers: a hot pot and a turkey roaster. These are cheap but excellent appliances; however, each lacks an internal timer. On the Belkin timed-switch, you set a simple lever to 30 minutes, 3 hours, or 6 hours. You press a button. Juice flows for that amount of time. It has worked every time in almost daily use for two years. I also have timers with clocks inside (Stanley). While these work well, they take a lot more time to program than the simple Belkin that offers three timed settings. This simplicity helps a lot when you care more that the switch shuts off after a fixed amount of time (e.g. hot pot) than that it turns off or on at a specific time (e.g. night light in the living room). As a general issue, this timer allows you to buy cheaper products that lack internal timers. Where appliances have internal timers, in my experience, the timers often fail before the rest of the machine. This external Belkin timer addresses that problem well. If it fails, I need only replace the Belkin timer, not a whole appliance. I've reviewed some of the Amazon "1" ratings. There are many reports of failure by justifiably annoyed users. I can only say that the two that I bought have worked faultlessly for two years. Moreover, I'm using it with appliances that draw a reasonable amount of juice (coffee maker, hot pot, turkey roaster). Maybe Belkin has a quality control problem. I'd still recommend buying, but maybe worth doing an immediate time check on delivery to confirm that you got one of the good ones (For extreme accuracy, just plug an electric clock into the Belkin outlet, note the time, and read the clock after it stops).

I really can't stand having complete silence in the house, so I always leave the TV on when I go to bed. It helps lull me to sleep, and acts as a nice background when I wake up and get ready in the morning. Unfortunately, I'm really absentminded so I end up leaving the TV, lamp, and all other manner of things when I leave for work. So this outlet has been a LIFE-SAVER (for my wallet). I also like to sleep by the heater in the winter, so it's saved me some peace of mind about fires.... It's super lightweight (almost hollow feeling) but doesn't feel cheap. It's as stylish as an outlet can be. It has the easiest to open packaging too. CONS -The major con for me is that once you press that button up top to start your energy countdown, the only way to turn it off or change the timer is to pull the whole socket out of the wall. I wish you could just press the button again. -The size doesn't seem very bulky to me (I guess that's kudos to the designers) but once you plug it into an outlet, it doesn't leave room for anything else. (I guess that's another way to save energy) If you plug it in on the top notch, there's only enough room on the bottom if you're plugging in a slender two pronged plug. (Though, you can tell the bulk from the pictures.) TL;DR Lil bulky, but simple and awesome. Works as advertised, only really worth it if you tend to leave things on all the time.

Why is this discontinued? It seems a real shame. I am one of those weirdoes who does not want to overcharge electronic devices. I generally charge my phone before it hits 30-40%, and I stop charging before it his 100%. Actually, I usually stop it at 80%. This is all in my strange quest to preserve battery life. The main thing is that I don't like to drain the battery all the way (I do this once a month if I want to calibrate the meter, but that's it), and I don't like to have it keep charging once it's at 100%. Once a device is full, it "trickle charges" to avoid overcharging, meaning it is allowed to dissipate some charge, then refill, over and over. My phone used to do this all night long. Big deal? No, but I'd like to avoid it. Well, this device can help me avoid it. I generally just set it for 3 hours, plug in all my stuff that is at half or less battery, and leave it. After 3 hours, it shuts off, so nothing is trickle charging, at least not for two long. Unfortunately, unless my phone is totally empty, it doesn't really even take 3 hours to fully charge. So, I'd personally like more options. 30 minutes isn't long enough, but 3 hours is too long, in other words. Truthfully, you probably don't care about any of this. You probably just want to plug something in but not have it keep draining power after a certain amount of time. If 30 minutes, 3 hours or 6 hours will suit you, you should do fine with this. So, I love this. I think it's a brilliant idea that should continue to be sold. The caveats: How about a timer rather than only being able to choose from 3 settings? Bright LED might annoy you (it tells you whether it's on or off, but I put electrical tape of it, as it annoys me when trying to sleep) For what it does, it's sort of expensive (but I am no expert in this kind of stuff, so I don't know what it costs to make) It seems high-quality and works really well. I wish there were more variety in this type of product, but maybe my particular need is not a widespread enough one for anyone to care.

a very well designed product that has worked flawlessly all the years

I bought this "Conserve Socket / Timed Outlet" primarily to prevent trickle/overcharging my cell phone. This isn't a HUGE deal with batteries being the way they are these days, but typically it is not a great idea to just leave your phone charging and charging and charging after it is already fully charged. It is a less efficient way to charge your battery and get the most life cycles out of it. This device allows you to set a timer that will automatically turn off power to that device/charger after 30mins, 3hrs or 6hrs. Ideally you should unplug your phone once it is fully charge and try not to charge it again until it is between 40-80% full. However, many of us are in the habit of leaving our phones plugged in when we go to bed. So they get charged to 100% and the power stays on. Then the battery loses JUST a little bit of its juice before the charger kicks in again. This happens all through the night and has the drawback of 1) wasting your electricity and 2) reducing the total number of recharge cycles your battery will likely handle. This won't necessarily have an immediate impact of how much of a charge your battery will hold over time (referred to as memory), but it will mean that you will need to replace your battery sooner because it just won't charge very well after a while. With this adapter, you basically: - Plug your device/charge into this outlet - Set how long you want it to charge for (30mins, 3hrs, 6hrs) - IMPORTANT: Press the "Start" button to start the timer and allow current to get to your device/charger - After the specified time runs out, the outlet kills power to that device/charger. It is very simple to use and is very affordable. Surely it will save you its cost in power savings before you know it. Things to be aware of: - It IS NOT a surge protector, but can be used with one - You need to press the 'Start" button to initiate charging, so the Conserve Socket needs to be somewhat accessible - not behind a bed or something. Here is a link to a much more in-depth article about batteries and how they relate to charging your devices: [...]

I have owned a Belkin Conserve Socket (not Kill-A-Watt, which for some reason is also reviewed here) for a couple of years now. I don't use it every day, but for specific applications. I bought it originally for use with a small AA battery charger. I used the 6 hour setting so that the batteries would charge up but not get into an overcharge situation. Very handy, as I usually put the batteries in to charge when I am not at home. I have recently been using this for a small Christmas tree in my daughter's bedroom. I set it on the 30 minute setting then push the button. My daughter falls asleep to colorful Christmas tree lights, then the tree is shut off so we don't have to sneak in there and risk waking her up or worry too much about the risk of fire during the night. I have just ordered a second unit to be used for a personal size space heater to heat our chilly bathroom in the winter. Since I'll only be using the heater when bathing I plan to use the 1/2 hour setting. This will give me additional peace of mind in the event that I forget to turn off the heater after my shower. (My plan is to wall-mount the small heater so as to keep it away from water sources.) I am very happy with the unit as is, but if I could make any improvements I would want it to be just a bit slimmer so as to protrude less from the wall and would add a one hour setting. All in all, this has been a useful, reliable, and reasonably-priced unit and I am buying again.

I purchased my 1st Belkin Conserve Socket as a little gift for my brother who has occasionally left home with the coffeemaker still turned on. I figured if he used one of these, the coffeemaker would be turned off automatically after 0.5, 3.0 or 6.0 hours, depending on the setting he selected. But his wife said this device did not work, i.e. did not shut off the coffeemaker. My brother investigated a little bit and reported it worked fine with a timer but not with the coffeemaker. Intrigued, I poured more money into Belkin's coffers and purchased a 2nd Conserve Socket for myself. After all, the Amazon description specifically said it would work with a coffeemaker. I figured my brother had just received a defective unit. Lo and behold, the 2nd device did not work with my coffeemaker. It worked fine controlling a 24 hour ON/OFF timer but not with my coffeemaker. I have a very simple Mr Coffee coffeemaker, only has one ON/OFF switch. I connected a Kill A Watt monitor to the wall outlet and plugged the Conserve Socket into the Kill A Watt meter and the coffeemaker into the Conserve Socket. Turned everything ON and selected the AMPs display on the meter. Initially the coffeemaker was drawing ~ 7.5 AMPs. A few minute later, it was still drawing ~ 7.5 AMPs However, after the brewing phase of the process had completed, the current draw dropped to 0.01 AMPs. A major difference!!! I continued to monitor the AMPs being consumed. After a period of 1 to 3 minutes, it varied, the current would jump up from 0.01 to ~7.5 AMPs. It would stay at the higher value for ~ 8 seconds and then drop back down to 0.01 AMPs. This is exactly the behavior I would desire in a coffeemaker - keep the coffee warms but don't "burn" it. But these drops to very low current seems to create a major problem for the Belkin Conserve Socket. Instead of being a simple electronically controlled ON/OFF device, it seems to be sensitive to the current flowing though it. Seems to me the Belkin Engineers added more complexity than was required with all the unintended consequences. Bottomline, I do not recommend this unit for coffeemakers or any other device which cycles its power usage.