Legit Reviews

I know APC is pretty popular name brand UPS backup but they seem over priced. Does anyone recommend another brand that might work as well for a lower cost. Looking in the $200-$300 range.

Other than APC, Eaton is the other company here in the uk that I have seen a lot of. Not sure if you can find anything up your alley there but prices seem very similar.

https://www.eaton.com

smack323 wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 3:44 pm I know APC is pretty popular name brand UPS backup but they seem over priced. Does anyone recommend another brand that might work as well for a lower cost. Looking in the $200-$300 range.

IMHO, APC is worth the extra few Dollars!
I've had 2 CyberPower UPS, both failed around 2 yrs old!
I have 2 APC now, one is 7yrs old, replaced the battery around 5yrs old..
The 2nd is around 3yrs old and still working!
I will not buy anything but APC anymore!
In the $200-$300 range you can buy a pretty decent UPS!

Just my $.02

I use Cyberpower mostly now. I used to use APC but I kept having problems with replacement batteries not holding charge (they told me the board was bad inside) so I went cheaper and am mostly satisfied. For power blinking on and off they work just fine. Compared to brand new APC units with the same rating, I think the APC lasts longer but that was just from my unclinical testing I can source batteries cheaper for the Cyberpower also compared to APC BUT like camaroguy said, they do not seem to last as long as the APC units did but that was only 1 so far and, again, unclinical setting here.

I have UPS on my tvs, ps3/ps4, 3d printer, computers and even use one for a backup radio/phone charger/etc in case our power goes off for an extended amount of time but not long enough yet to crank up that little generator.

Why did I choose Cyberpower - they were cheap LOL Oh and I have ZERO units that are the sine wave things that you supposedly HAVE to have for all your electronic equipment and I have never had a problem! We live in a wooded area and have power outages a LOT (have gotten better the past few years though) and a ton of fluctuations and I have never had any equipment die because I did not have a sine wave unit. Just sayin

Between home and work I have and use Eaton/Powerware, Cyberpower, and APC. Until to get up to serious power draw they all use basically the same battery, either single or in groups.

First step is to figure out your power draw and get one that will fit the bill for how long you want something to keep running. Most will come with software that will shut a pc down when the power level hits a certain point and will even email you that there was a power issue.

Once you have the power requirement, now look at where you will be setting it up. These can get fairly large. Pick one that fits.

that being said.

I have one of these on my desk at work https://www.newegg.com/apc-bx1500m-5-x- ... 6842301561 gives me 40ish minutes of run time with my system mostly idle as I am monitoring stuff or shutting down servers.

For a some other desks I have these little guys https://www.newegg.com/apc-be670m1-2-x- ... 6842301701 they soak up the power flickers and gives the sales group time to finish taking an order.

at home I have an old 3kva Powerware (eaton) unit I picked up used and replaced the batteries. Its a bit chonky, 2U rack mount, and no smart features. But keeps my lab stack from getting killed by a power flicker and cable modem running for a couple days lol. Have a small cyberpower unit on my sons PC, its the one that tells me the power is off lol.

The Eaton unit I have on the stuff at work would be insane for home use lol.

oh, never hook up high spike power draw stuff like laser printers to a UPS unit.... it bad m'kay..

I haven't posted in a few years, I feel like I am at a high school reunion with all these old faces replying..

I am mostly looking for something to just avoid the insta shut downs when we have a power flicker or 30 second outage during a storm or something. The 2 very old APC units I have now seem like they need a new battery every year lately. thanks for the input everyone.

Always nice to have us old guys around. We help where we can. Stayed around for more from me soon. HINT: new build see in my sig

smack323 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 30, 2020 4:13 pm The 2 very old APC units I have now seem like they need a new battery every year lately.

Exactly what happened with all my APC units in the past. Tech support told me the controller board or something inside that tells it to charge, etc was bad and to replace it would cost almost the price of a new unit. Hellllloooooooo Cyberpower ;)

bubba wrote: ↑Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:31 pm oh, never hook up high spike power draw stuff like laser printers to a UPS unit.... it bad m'kay..

Or a plasma tv! Holy crap it lasted like 30 seconds and drained the whole ups lol

Tripp Lite- https://www.newegg.com/tripp-lite-smart ... 6842111052

CyberPower - https://www.newegg.com/cyberpower-cp150 ... 6842102048

APC - https://www.newegg.com/apc-br1500ms-4-x ... 6842301700

Here are the three I am looking at, If I go with the CyberPower I'll most likely get two to replace both older APC UPS I have now. I am not familiar with Tripp Lite brand.

These all look to be about the same unless I am completely missing something.

get 2 more surge ports on the Cyberpower, and slightly smaller than the APC.

APC is a newer design, slightly bigger than the Cyberpower.

The Trip Lite is a rack mount layout, charges little faster, least amount of surge and battery ports. Depending on how your desk is set up, this one could be annoying to have laying around since its meant to be in a rack.

I like this one that Bubba suggested!
It's making me flinch....
https://www.newegg.com/apc-bx1500m-5-x- ... 6842301561

If you can wait, watch Best Buy for the Cyberpower sales. I picked one up for $130 - for the 1500va - not a huge savings but again, I am cheap

I'm on my 2nd UPS, last one batteries leaked, so bought this one a few months back. Like it but don't like the loud "beep" when it's powered on / off. It can be disabled only be turning off all sound notifications.

https://www.newegg.com/cyberpower-cp150 ... 6842102048

Ok, I'm watching this again!
My APC UPS is acting up, it randomly sounded its alarm!
Guess the battery is probably going bad! I looked it up and its 4 1/2 yrs old!
Smack what did you decide on?

I ended up ordering 2 of these https://www.newegg.com/apc-bx1500m-5-x- ... 6842301561

smack323 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 07, 2021 9:47 am I ended up ordering 2 of these https://www.newegg.com/apc-bx1500m-5-x- ... 6842301561

APC BX1500M

There ya go - auto shortens links if you dont use the right url tag