Probably the Best Option Right Now
The Kill-a-watt type meters are bulky, and plug into an outlet where they’re really hard to read.
This unit solves both problems: The bulk at the outlet is reduced, although it can still be improved; there’s no reason the bulk needs to be at the outlet at all.
And the display is not only nice and large, easy to read; it is also connected with a wire that allows you certain freedom in where you put the meter. The cable could be longer, but, you know, this is still a fantastic unit, and reasonably priced.
I bought this primarily for my bathroom so I could turn on my speakers and if I forgot to turn them back off, the timer would do that on my behalf. However, I do like to shut it off manually to save energy before the 3 hour wait is done (30 minutes is too short for morning rituals) and it just plain doesn’t work. I can turn it on, but turning it off requires pulling it from the wall. Probably a fluke, but there should be some product consistency.
I originally was going to buy the P3 Kill-A-Watt but thisdevice allows you to plug it into the wall and look at the monitor at a distance with the lengthy wired lead. There are adaptor leads for the P3 but this made more sense.
I would suggest this device for anyone wanting to know how much energy your various devices use.
I think the concept here is spot on. However, I have used routinely “light strips” (power strips) that do the same thing, some of these even with lighted switches, most of these available at various places including hardware stores for comparable prices but having up to 6 outlets which can be handy if there might be some additional item that you need to plug in to the same circuit without of course overloading the circuit. True, even the 3′ corded power strips can be a tad bulky compared to a single switch item like this, so you really have to decide what would work best for you.
One thing I mentioned to Amazon in their “Tell us what we missed” section regarding the description is that I can’t see any mention of the maximum amperage or wattage rating (someone please correct me if I’ve overlooked that piece of information). Given that they describe how this can be used with appliances that are typically high wattage (coffee pots, etc.) I would ASSUME that the amperage is at least 15A, but ideally this should be specified in the information for the product.