I received the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets from the We Love Testing Contest. Thanks @AnkerOfficial for another great contest!
The full review is was posted to my personal site late last night and this is shortened version of the review. I tried to shorten the review as much as possible but shortening any more would be cutting back on the actual review. Check out the full review with more pictures if you get the chance.
Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets is one of my favorite new releases from Anker. Now that the review is over I will be doing my office setup and plan on sharing the update in a few weeks.
Testing Process
Testing the power strip was difficult. By that I mean I couldn’t get enough electronics plugged in to flip the breaker and we only had one day with power outages, only one power surge, and few rapid fire mini
power outages in a row.
With the limited time I had for testing I designed several tests. The first one was how useful the power strip would be as a long term temporary power adapter for travel. Then I created a second test that would create a real world electrical cord rat nest scenario that you might find in a home office setup.
3 Notebook Travel Test
When I travel for extended periods of time I travel with 3 notebook computers, gaming keyboard, external hard drives, mini keyboard and a wireless mouse for each computer. Sometimes I carry network repeater if I need to create a small network for the computers. In the past, I carried several power strips to get everything setup the way I needed it.
For the test I was able to eliminate a power strip and only use the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets. The new power strip aloud me to get all my gear on the power strip and still have room to charge my cellphone, camera batteries.
Because of the limited time I had I didn’t pull out my camera gear for the test. It was packed up and ready to go for the next shoot. So I just used my Alienware m25 R2, 12 in Dell Work Computer, and my old Asus ROG 17 in gaming lap. I added the repeater to the strip to see if it would fit without blocking outlets. I found no issues with outlets being blocked or the strip heating up as the computers ran. The power cord length is long enough to stretch out and work in most hotel room or bed rooms.
Real world Electrical Cord Rat Nest Scenario
PLEASE NOTE: Don’t do this for an everyday practice. It could cause a fire or at least damage your gear.
For this test, I unplugged my work station in my home office and grabbed various computer hardware that I might use over time and plugged it all into my station area and reconfigured my work area. I ended up with 3 monitors, 1 desktop media server, 3 laptops, 3 external hard drives, photo scanner, 3-in-1 printer, modem, router, and 3 desk lamps. I plugged everything into the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets, another heavy duty power strip, and my battery backup (it only has desktop media server plugged in but runs through one of the power strips).
When I first created this mess, I had to use two power strips because they only had 6 spots but they were so close together 3 outlets were covered up. With Anker’s 12 outlets nicely spaced out I freed up one of the power strips and the Anker Power Strip gave me 3 more useful outlets if I needed them.
I’ve had this setup for just over a week and haven’t noticed any issues. No heat build from the rat nest, the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets is running cool, no issues during a brown out and power surge. With all the power running the Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets I haven’t thrown a breaker or any other issues.
Final Thoughts
The Anker PowerExtend Strip 12 Outlets is my second power strip from Anker and its by far the most useful for my office needs. I can’t really compare my other one. Its a 2 outlet power strip with 2 USB ports for charging. Its great for traveling with minimal gear but not useful for long term setups.
I like this power strip so much that I plan on purchasing a couple more to replace older power strips and use them when I need a more reliable power strip than the cheaper ones I normally use around the house.
What I found useful was the right angle plug. Its a great space safer. There isn’t much room behind my desk and with the right angle plug I will be able to push my desk closer to the wall.
If I were to change one thing, I would add a couple of USB ports and USB-C ports to charge mobile devices.
This is a product I would recommend to friends, family, and clients needed a reliable and safe power strip for their electronic goodies.
great job!!!