Great Energy Saving Device
We were able to further reduce power consumption about 15% by putting fans, chargers, coffee maker and our TV entertainment center on count down timers like these. The half hour, 3 hour and 6 hour options are more useful for us than the Woods unit with 1,2,4,8. The outlet also pulls very little power– about 1/5 that of the Woods. We have not tried the outlet on higher wattage appliances as yet.
The on-off switch has a good feel to it, and I suspect it will prove to be reliable in the long run. This allows you to individually turn on and off items plugged into a power strip, something that is occasionally important.
I have been plagued with switches going bad long before electrical devices otherwise cease working. Some lamps, for example, have a ludicrously low-quality on/off switch, and in some cases, the switch is not reasonably replaceable, and when the switch fails, the lamp must be discarded – very frustrating. This switched outlet allows me to use the switch on the outlet and extend the life of what is plugged into it.
I was going to buy your product that automatically turns off the power after a period of time, but so many people who bought it reported that it quit working after only a short period of time that I decided not to do that. This is unfortunate, because that is a product that is potentially very useful. If you could make it more reliable, and then persuade me that it is reliable, I would certainly buy a few of them.
I use it for charging my phone because one of the reasons for early battery failure is over charging the battery. It does great for preventing over charging and I do not have to remember or even be awake to disconnect the charger from power.
I did run into an issue with one of the sockets. Because there is no wall socket near my night stand where I can reach it, I have a conserve socket plugged into an extension cord. One night I dropped my shoes and clothes on top of the socket and it kept the button on top pressed down. The light in the unit is brighter when the button is pressed down. Normally that is not an issue because the button is supposed to be a momentary contact button. You press it and release it in less than a second. My shoes and clothes kept the button pressed all night. The heat from the brighter light melted the plastic a little. I suppose the clothes kept the heat in too. The button would not work after that.
I consider the way that it failed to be due to a fairly unusual set of circumstances. I still recommend this device.