P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor
|
List Price: Our Price: $22.41 You Save: $37.54 (63%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $22.19 (click here) Category: Tools See more product details |
|---|
Tools and Hardware Reviews of P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor
Customer Review: Does the job
Summary: 4 Stars
I was a bit disappointed after I received the item. Don't get me wrong it works as expected but I was thinking I could really find out ways to save some money by identifying electrical vampires. All of the electronics I tested used so little electricity when not on it seems kind of silly to be concerned. For example a 27" HDTV with a DVD player on the same circuit uses $4.53 a year when not being used. For some reason I thought it would cost more than it does.
But it is interesting to find out how much appliances cost to use if you ran them 24/7 for 365 days. The TV and DVD player runs around $98 a year.
My Wish list: I wish it had a back light; I'm 50 and can't see so well. I also wish it had a tilted screen; it's a pain to work with it while it's in the wall socket and catching the right angle to see.
Overall, it's a fine product.
Customer Review: Does what I needed
Summary: 5 Stars
I took the chance and bought a P4460 Electricity Usage Monitor, even though some of the reviewers recieved some bad units. Fortuneatly, mine works fine.
I think the interface is very easy to use, and it does what I'm looking for. Plug it in and an appliance into it, and right away it measures volts and watts and starts keeping track of time and kilowatts (as well as other items). Enter the cost per kilowatt from your electric bill, and it gives you a running tally of what you are paying to run it. The two values it adds over reading the manufactures tag on power consumption and doing the math is that the tags can be off by quite a bit and are usually geared to reporting the max the appliance uses. The other is that this captures how much you are actually using the appliance, especially one like an air conditioner that might use 100 watts when just the fan is running, but jumps to 1000 watts when the compressor kicks in.
Time will tell how durable it is, but the construction appears to be solid.
As far as accuracy goes, I did a few tests, but I did not have a reliable/calibrated known load to measure. I used a lamp and swapped in numerous bulbs of different wattage and a good quality electric heater with 700 watt & 800 watt heating elements. For everything I measured other than one bulb, the meter reported a lower reading than what the manufacturer claimed (e.g. 630 watts for the 700 watt heater setting), generally about 5 to 10% lower. I guess it's possible that the meter is correct. I compared it's voltage reading to a pretty good quality volt meter and they were about 1 volt apart. Even if it's off by 5-10%, it's fine for my purposes.
Customer Review: Does what it says
Summary: 5 Stars
Easy to use and does what it says. Only suggestion is I wish it came with a mini extension cord so you didn't have to bend over so low to get the readings.Customer Review: Does what it says
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor as a gift for my husband, and he has been using it all over the house. It is very easy to use and program, and with the addition of a short extension cord, the meter can be left anywhere handy to read, even if plugged in behind a refrigerator. If I had to fault the meter on any one thing, it would be that the dial has no light, and the lettering is small (numbers are fine). It took a flashlight to read the dial in many cases. The directions should also explain all the various electrical measurements. They list them all, but give no explanation of what they mean. They also don't mention overload protection, just maximum wattage for the meter. I got the feeling several times the temporary starting load of an appliance might cause the meter to fail. I would highly recommend this product to anyone, the results it gives are in some cases very surprising and revealing.Customer Review: Does what it says
Summary: 5 Stars
I tested it against a 100 watt bulb and got a 99 watt reading. Have been using it to get numbers on energy use at a clients and got a lot of surprises (i.e.; a computer running 8 hours a day using about twice as much as the big laser, that a UPS draws more than a LCD monitor, etc.). Lots of features, easy to use. You definately need an extension cord, as the other reviewers said, to make it truly useful.