Travel Gear Review – Monster Cable, Outlets To Go Power Strip

I carry around a lot of electronics. Way more than most people who travel. For the first two and a half years of my trip I lugged around a big six-outlet power strip that I was using on my home computer. It was a generic model I picked up a Home Depot and was built for the garage. It was big, it was heavy and I was more than happy to get rid of it.

I honestly never gave much thought to my power strip. The power strip is probably the lowest item on the totem pole in your traveling pack of technology. Nonetheless, when I was contacted by the folks at Monster Cable back in December and asked if I wanted to try their 6 outlet travel power strip, I jumped at the chance.

There isn’t much to review in how the power strip functions. A power strip has a pretty simple function: electricity goes in one end and out the other. In this, it works just like any other power strip and will work at any voltage level you will find around the world.

The brilliance of this product comes in the design. The space for the outlets are staggered on either side of the power brick saving space. Rather than putting six outlets on one side like you would normally see, you have three on each. The cord is short but exactly long enough to wrap around and plug into itself for storage. The plug that goes into the wall is connected on the side to make it more flush when stored.

There has only been one problem I’ve had with it, and that isn’t really much of a problem. The plates over the outlets on the strip are dark grey plastic circles. I had one pop off while I was in Fiji. They appear to serve no purpose other than aesthetics, so it didn’t effect its functionality.

The one feature I would like to see in the future would be the addition of a USB port for charging an iPod/iPhone. (NOTE: It turns out there IS a model with a USB port. It is on a 4 port model and sells for about $40)

The Amazon.com reviews of the product have been as glowing as mine. 77/99 reviews have been 5 starts, with an additional 12 being 4 stars.

The 6 port power strip currently retails on Amazon.com for $15.12 and the 4 port power strip sells for $10.24. A 3 port model is available as well. They are available in both black and white.

GRADE: A

I’m not entirely certain how much you can improve on a travel power strip. This one is small and lightweight enough that it can get lost in my computer bag, yet it functions as a full-blown power strip. I’ve made this my pick of the week on an episode of This Week In Travel and I expect this to be a staple item in my bag for foreseeable future.

4 thoughts on “Travel Gear Review – Monster Cable, Outlets To Go Power Strip”

  1. Not as fancy, but much more compact: I’ve been using a 3 outlet power cube from Australia/NZ over Peru to India and Africa. Adapter on one end, the mini iPhone charger on the top and two bricks for AAs and the Canon battery on the either side.

  2. I carry a 4-port surge-protected one with a long flex wrapped round. This one seems far better but a) as someone mentioned, no surge protection and b) I need UK 3-pin sockets ;)

    I travel in SE Asia a lot so the surge protection is a *huge* bonus and the main reason I carry mine. If there’s a version that covers this and will accept my lovely huge-pinned plugs I’ll be up for buying it.

  3. Definitely worth getting over other power strips which are bulky and heavy, I need all the help I can get carrying bags! Just got back from my Turkey holidays and you definitely need a lot of spare bag space for all the things you want to bring back from there…

  4. I did a mini review of the 4-port model some time ago. I really like it, though my only drawback was the possible lack of surge protection.

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