Review: Accell PowerSquid

Many of you may have areas around your computers which look similar to the picture above! Multiple surge protector/power strips… the whole 9. Part of the problem for me is that the strips get used up pretty quickly as a result of some of the grounded plugs I have to use. Yes, the “power bricks” as we call them. Walking around Staples one day, I saw a product that I thought was a great answer to the problem of all the powerbrick type AC adapters and that was the Power Squid. The only problem I had with it was that the squid itself didn’t offer any surge protection. Fast forward to today!

When I was at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas) a short time ago, I stopped by Accell’s booth to check out that PowerSquid and see what other goodies they had and was informed that they would be offering a surge protected version in the coming months and you know I had to ask to demo one! They weren’t available at that time but recently, I arrived home from work with a package waiting for me and it was the new Accell D080B-008K PowerSquid Surge Protection and Power Conditioner unit. Here are some specs on it:

1080 Joules Surge Protection

15 Amp circuit breaker

5 Transformer Friendly Outlets

Noise Reduction Filter

UL Listed

Power On Indicator: Green LED

Durable Impact Resistant Housing made of ABS plastic

They’ve really put a lot of quality into this product and made it so that it will fit into your setup! The master power button is recessed to prevent accidental switching, it comes with a 3ft. heavy duty grounded power cord and most importantly it will handle a maximum spike of up to 72,000 AMPS.

Now, if you’re an audio or videophile then you’ll appreciate the power conditioning side of the equation here. Now you can meet the demands of the powerbricks and filter line static. If you are a “phile” then you don’t need me to do a big work up on how important that is, but for the rest of us, what this means is simple. If you have any medium to high end audio or video equipment (home theater), some electricity flowing through your system and electromagnetic fields can cause your sound or picture to have static (for picture, we’ve commonly referred to that as “snow”) or crackling. What a power conditioner does is ensure that the electricity flowing through it is fed to your equipment nice, steady, giving you an optimal viewing and listening experience.

For me, the best use is going to be my family charging station. We don’t let the children sleep with their cellphones in their rooms at night so we have a common area where all phones and portable gaming devices are to be place, prior to going to bed, to be charged. Many of these portable devices have the dreaded brick-type plug so the PowerSquid will definitely help me keep the mess down by needing only one surge protector now. I will be picking up another one for our desktop computer and peripherals as well and I suggest you hit your local hardware or big box computer store and check out the ‘Squid for yourself and see if it is the right product for your de-cluttering needs!

You’ll be able to pick up one of these lovely Squids at  Amazon any day now!

Disclosure: While the folks at Canyon PR were awesome enough to send me this product to check out, as I’ve said before, it’ll take a few million to get me to drop a fixed review on you guys. And when I do, I’ll tell you I was paid very handsomely for that review so you’ll know that it’s shady in advance. Promise! Cross my heart…

About Tshaka Armstrong

Tshaka Armstrong is the husband to one awesome wife, dad to three awesome children. On any given day you may find him posting internet & tech family safety info here and on his personal blog www.digitalshepherds.com, or chatting with his tweeps when he's not dadvocating here. Join in the conversation, drop a line, share a joke and join him in encouraging each other to be awesome!