Ultra Products' low-end Ultra UPS lineup
By Ryan Block 
posted Mar 16th 2007 11:17AM
posted Mar 16th 2007 11:17AM
posted Mar 16th 2007 11:17AM
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Yeah well we didn't asked them; nuff ced.
Not that I'm some APC fanboy, but their UPS's are pretty much the same price, and have been for quite some time. These are hardly ground breaking prices.
I don't mind there being more competitors in the low-end UPS market as it is likely to bring prices down further, but aren't these prices fairly comparable to the lineup APC already has?
I have had nothing but problems with a few Ultra products I got, luckily free after rebate.
Those include 2 power supplies (1 died after a few hours, the other whines) and a SD card which happily corrupted many images from my digital camera.
Why would you steer clear of UPSs?
A tiny millisecond of an interruption is enough to shut a PC down. A simple surge can do it.
Why would you avoid something that keeps your PC on through that? Belkin used to have 50% off coupons for their webstore, unfortunately they don't now and my primary UPS died during a surge three weeks ago. Our power grid isn't terribly reliable and my PC has been shut off twice already due to it. Pain in the ass.
Regarding the steer clear comment. I think they meant that they don't usually cover stories about UPS products. There's usually nothing revolutionary about UPS products, I don't think.
This is cool and all, but my experience with cheap UPSs has always been that you get what you pay for. It's not that they won't work -- they will probably be fine -- but most likely you'll be replacing it every 12-18 months. So if $50/year for power insurance seems reasonable to you, go for it :)
awhile back i had a hard drive randomly fail... i'm almost certain it was from power problems. since i bought a UPS last summer (mine was made by CyberPower, not Ultra, however), i've been amazed at how many times the "voltage regulation" function kicks in. i've had no component failures since then, and survived quite a few brownouts. now i consider a UPS an absolute must-have, especially for older places like mine where the electrical wiring is less than reliable.
My experience with Ultra products is in line with Devin's. I got that Hydra DAP after I saw it on Engadget. While it's a stylish, cheap player, the firmware pushing the music is the crapiest I've experienced, and that's no exaggeration. The shuffle feature doesn't even work properly.
Expect to get what you pay for. If you only need a cheap UPS, then this should be perfect. If you're safeguarding your business network, go bigger. For a home pc, this SHOULD be just fine.
I got a cheap Belkin UPS when they had a great sale a while back. It's in my basement with my cable modem, router, and VoIP modem connected to it. Of course since Time Warner seems to not have any backup system on their own equipment it doesn't really do me much good if the whole block loses power. But for an internal power loss it should help. Don't have any on actual PCs though.
A decent UPS is really a must-have if you value your hardware or what you do on it.
I modified one with ultra-huge (24ah) batteries and it'll keep my system going for quite a while!
Once we came home from picking up dinner to find the power was knocked out by a guy hitting a pole.
We walked up to my den, (where everything was still running) fired up my TV card and had dinner there!
Your results may vary, but it's still a worthwhile investment.
So called "cheap" pricing - : $50 for 300VA / 150W, $60 for 500VA / 250W, $80 for 700VA / 350W, and $90 for 850VA / 425W
Now, on BestBuy's website:
CyberPower - 550VA $62.99 You Save: $23.00 Sale: $39.99
APC - 350VA - Our Price: $40.99
CyberPower - 425VA - Our Price: $42.99
APC - 550VA - Our Price: $59.99
you know apc is the best just stick to em ;)
As far as Ultra products go, I've had a pretty good experience with them. I use their 500W power supply in my main workstation and it runs fine even for long periods. Ditto for their fans and cooling systems.
As far as UPSs and mp3 players go, they're using their name on some generic OEM hardware so I don't know . . .
To confirm once again.. The only story I've heard about an Ultra product was a power supply that did not work (purchased new) and Ultra made the guy jump through many hoops to return it (including paying for shipping).
And about UPS's, not only are APC and CyberPower similar in price, I have a 750VA TrippLite that cost less than the Ultra 700VA.. And that includes the amount I paid for shipping.
So stay way the hell away from the UPS's in this post.
With UPS's I would rather pay the extra few bucks to get a ups from a reputable company, than run the risk of having one crap out on me. My resoning behind this is that I was using some noname ups for my computer, and before I had a single power outage the thing just decides to shut and flash the 'return to dealer' ligh code.
I have a new source of cheep ups...
http://computers.search.ebay.com/ups_APC_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfromZR40QQsacatZ44963
Just be careful that it will probably need a new battery soon (even if they say it is a new one, it still usually needs to be replaced) which can be had on ebay or from http://www.refurbups.com/