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Written by [t0rc]
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The Seasonic Power Angel gives you the unique ability to check up on
the power consumption of anything which connects to an outlet. Want to
find out how much that power supply is really sucking from your wall?
Perhaps you suspect a faulty appliance is making your electric bill sky
high or are suspicious of your power providers math proficiency. Then
again, perhaps you just want to settle a dispute over how much power
the TV clock consumes when it's powered off. Whether the prize is
bragging rights or a lower monthly bill, the Power Angel allows you to
check up on power and how much your household appliances are using.
| Product: | Seasonic Power Angel |  | | Manufacturer: | Seasonic | | MSRP: | $34.99 USD | | Warranty: | 6 months |
Upon receiving the Power Angel, I immediately noticed the highly
fashionable pink and sky blue buttons and the silver finished body.
While it doesn't look horrible, your not going to buy it for the visual
aspects. Then again, we've got to keep in mind we're judging for
functionality more so than looks.
An excerpt about the product from SeaSonic:
"Is
your utility company sending you the right bill? Seasonic is pleased to
announce the immediate availability of the new PowerAngel, the
indispensable 21st Century tool for intelligent consumers, IT
departments, hobbyists, and even business or factory managers. It can
help to assess energy efficiency, forecast your electric bill, evaluate
whether to change a new appliance, verify the quality of electrical
power provided by your utility company, test the working condition of
outlets and choose the best new appliance. Plug your appliances into
the PowerAngel and find the answer yourself!"
It goes on to state the following details:
- 8 power measurement functions.
- Pocket-sized, light and stylish design.
- Easy to use! Use it anywhere with any 120VAC appliance.
- High power capacity to use with devices up to 1875 watts.
- Help to forecast and manage your electric bill.
- Monitor AC power quality to protect sensitive instruments.
- Choose the correct Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) based on real VA needs of your equipment.
Allowing you to test and keep an eye on how much electricity your
appliances or any other item that plugs into a normal outlet, the Power
Angel gives you many different statistics/options to help you find
specifics about how the product in the hot seat consumes electricity.
While handling the product, I didn't really find it was pocket
friendly. After putting it in my pocket, it did fit, snugly, but it
fit. The only issue with this is really the prongs for the plug. They
jabbed into my thigh/leg.
I'm not sure how many appliances you have plugged in at your
home/apartment/humble abode, but I know that there are many at mine.
The average consumer will not use this to make sure their electricity
bill is correct solely because it would take a large amount of time;
not to mention daily persistence to keep an accurate KWH record for
each device. As for the computer user, technician, and modder, we could
use this to protect our equipment. Spending many hours of pay for your
prized skull rattling gaming rig, just to have a piece of hardware get
fried due to a bad outlet/over voltage isn't a great day of fragging.
Also, it allows us to test power supplies actual draw from the outlet,
along with monitors, speakers, printers, etc., etc.
Here's a table from the product insert that explains everything the power angel enables you to test for:
| Features | Item | Explanation | | V | AC Voltage | The actual voltage at the AC outlet. | | A | Amperes | The current drawn by the device measured. | | W | Watts | The power consumed. | | VA | VA | The volt-amperes consumed. | | Hz | Hertz | The frequency of the AC voltage. | | PF | Power Factor | A measure of the device's environmental friendliness. | | KWH | Kilowatt Hour | Power consumption over time as measured by your utility. | | Hr | Hour | The total expired time. |
As you can see, testing voltage is not the only thing the PowerAngel
allows you to test for. Being able to test for PF, VA, and all the rest
without having to be by it 24/7 is a great feature. I love the fact
that you can just plug in your power supply and get to work on your
computer for a while; Check it and it will have results for you. A
feature that would be really neat to add to the PowerAngel would be a
graph/chart generating program. You could hook the PowerAngel up to
your computer via USB/FireWire and you'd get a full read out and more
detailed information that was collected by the PowerAngel while it was
measuring the last device.
Overall, the PowerAngel is a nice product. Maybe not for the everyday
consumer to check their whole electric bill, but definitely useful for
individual devices. If anything, sometimes it's just neat to see how
much electricity something is using compared to what you think it is.
The product is very easy to use; The large LCD makes reading the data
easy and quick. The PowerAngel has definitive uses in the modding
world, for those who are very particular about having exact voltages
from your PSU and outlets that your components are connected to. The
first of it's kind, the PowerAngel allows consumers to find out for
themselves how much electricity certain items consume and help regulate
their bills and protect their investments. Nice work SeaSonic. I give
the PowerAngel a 93% and The Moditory Gold Award for excellence of the
overall product in all aspects except portability and visuals.
Thanks to SeaSonic and their representive for their patience and making this review possible.
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