Power on test	Source: PCStats

With an Intel PIII 800MHz computer and 19" Samsung 900IFT monitor connected to the UPS, we unplugged the UPS from the wall and watched it drain... The computer was left idling with all power saving features disabled.

Battery Life Test
	Computer	Time
1.	Home Office 500VA UPS	8 min 14 sec

Even though the test system was within specifications (Pentium III 800EB) we were breaking the rules a little by using a 19" monitor, and that is why the Home Office 500VA UPS came a little under the 13 minute mark. Still that's plenty of time for you to save your work and safely shut down the PC.

Conclusions on the 500VA UPS from Belkin:

Belkin has always produced high quality peripherals and their Home Office 500VA UPS is another prime example. It should be obvious that they believe in their products; they not only include a three year warranty, but also a $100,000 connected equipment guarantee!

For those of you who are interested in getting a UPS, please look very carefully at the specifications. Each type and size of UPS is made for a specific load, and while we can generalize and say that this UPS is best suited for computers running at less than 1.3GHz, the higher the VA rating, the longer the computer will keep running with the power cut.

For the computer we tested this UPS on in the PCStats labs, the Home Office 500VA is perfect. During testing with a 19" Samsung 900IFT monitor the UPS lasted a nice eight minutes which was enough time for me to save my work and shut down the system properly.

Belkin's bundled Bulldog Plus monitoring software is also a very handy tool. Not only does it allow you to monitor input/output voltages, battery levels and frequencies, you can also run the UPS through its paces and even configure it to e-mail in the event of a problem.

The Belkin Home Office 500VA UPS is sold directly from Belkin.com, and with a retail price of $108 CDN ($80 US) is quite affordable. A UPS is definitely an investment everyone should make, and power back up of this size is ideal for a PC (as per the load limitations we have already mentioned), or even a cable modem and network router. The Home Office series of UPS from Belkin is definitely a worth while investment!

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