Review: Belkin 12-outlet Pivot Plug Surge Protector

There comes a point in a geek’s life where the number of gadget plugs vastly exceed the available outlets. That time was a very long time ago for this geek. And with lots of gadget plugs come lots of cable clutter. Between three separate surge protectors, the area under my computer desk was a bit…unwieldy.

To remedy the situation a bit, I purchased the Belkin 12-outlet Pivot Plug Surge Protector (retail price $34.99). This particular unit is rated for a maximum energy dissipation of 4320 Joules and comes with a Belkin lifetime warranty and a $300,000 connected equipment warranty.

Unlike the vast majority of surge protectors on the market, Belkin offers pivoting outlets to better accommodate the many power bricks and cables you’ll attach to it. While I didn’t exactly need the pivot-plug feature, thanks to my recent purchase of Etekcity’s extension cables, I was curious to know how well it would work.

In the box you’ll get an economically packaged surge protector, with 8 pivot plug ports, and 4 plugs arranged vertically along the center of the unit. The Belkin unit comes in three configurations: 6 ft cable, 8 ft cable and wall mount. I purchased the model with the 8 ft cable, and it’s just the right length to reach all my gadgets and gear behind my desk.

The plug ports on the side can pivot 90 degrees. These ports can be adjusted independently from one another. The adjustment of the pivot plugs requires a little effort to move – which I prefer. This means that once you’ve pivoted a plug port, it will stay in place.

The bottom of the unit has two cross holes which can be used if you plan to wall mount the unit.

The top of the Belkin surge protector features input and output coax ports in case an electronic spike travels across those lines. A fax and phone protector are also included (these are covered up by the sticker in the image below).

In terms of fit and finish, the Belkin Pivot Plug Surge Protector feels solid and has some nice weight to it. There are two lights on the unit, one indicates power status, while the other indicates that the unit is properly grounded. The unit I have also includes a detachable cord-management clip.

With the Belkin unit, I was able to easily plug every port with a power cable, consolidating the load that was previously handled by three separate surge protectors. If you have a Bluelounge Cable Box, the Belkin surge protector will fit right in, with room to spare for extra power bricks and such.

I’ve had the unit for about a week, and it works for what it does. There is no built-in resettable circuit breaker on this unit, which means once it fields an electric spike, your Belkin surge protector will probably be toast.

For better or worse (probably better, I’m thinking), I’ve never had to fill out a claim for damaged equipment as a result of a surge protector failing to do its job. With that being said, I have no idea how easy or difficult it would be to actually get any claims if my Belkin unit fails to protect the devices that are connected to it. Anecdotal reports from a few customers on Amazon seem to suggest that Belkin does not follow up with its claims should the worst happen. I would hope that the company would do the right thing in such cases, but at this point, it’s something I have to take on faith.

So, warranty claim questions aside, my initial impressions of the Belkin Pivot Port Surge Protector are favorable, in that it does minimize cable clutter and appears to have a solid build. As with all surge protectors, the only real test comes AFTER a surge spike occurs. And, between you and me, I hope that never happens.

The Belkin 12 outlet Pivot Port Surge Protector earns 4.5 out of 5 Bob Weiners.

-Krishna

Krishna January 25, 2016 Belkin, cable management, outlet, surge protector