| P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor | 
 enlarge | List Price: $34.63
Buy New: $14.55
You Save: $20.08 (58%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 278 reviews)
Category: CE
Publisher: P3 International
Studio: P3 International
Brand: P3 International
Label: P3 International
Color: Ivory
Media: Electronics
Autographed: 0
Memorabilia: 0
Special Features: Array
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 11.8 x 3 x 7.3
MPN: P4400
Model: P4400
UPC: 840356945811
EAN: 0751549044009
ASIN: B00009MDBU
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Electricity usage monitor connects to appliances and assesses efficiency | | • | Large LCD display counts consumption by the kilowatt-hour | | • | Calculates electricity expenses by the day, week, month, or year | | • | Displays volts, amps, and wattage within 0.2 percent accuracy | | • | Compatible with inverters; designed for use with AC 115-volt appliances |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Connect your appliances into the Kill A Watt, and assess how efficient they are. A large LCD display counts consumption by the Kilowatt-hour just like utility companies. You can figure out your electrical expenses by the hour, day, week, month, even an entire year. Monitor the quality of your power by displaying Voltage, Line Frequency, and Power Factor
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| Customer Reviews: Read 273 more reviews...
 ..plan to run around testing all of your electronics... July 20, 2008
Figuring out how much electricity your gadgets ACTUALLY consume is a little addictive. Plan to spend a couple of hours trying this gadget out when you first get it. And while you're having fun doing that, you'll be figuring out which devices are driving up your electricity bills. Does that LCD really save enough power over the CRT to warrant the upgrade? (answer: probably yes)
The negatives: There is no memory, unplug the device and lose the accumulated usage data. C'mon, a capacitor to keep state for a minute would cost pennies. The design will cover at least two plugs in a standard outlet, so I often had to unplug other unrelated gear. The whole design begs for an upward slanted display or a swivel head. Most electrical outlets are installed within a couple of feet of the ground, so combined with no memory once unplugged, this means reading the display requires crouching or crawling, getting under the desk, etc. Ergonomically there's a lot left to desire. The ergonomics are addressed in the more expensive power-strip version of the KillAWatt (P3 P4320 KILL-A-WATT POWER STRIP WITH SURGE PROTECTION)but it would be nice to have in the basic version.
For the price, this is definitely 5 stars, and these guys deserve kudos for this handy, eco-consciousness inspiring tool. But the somewhat awkward design would lead me to give this a 4 star rating if it were any more expensive.
 Good tool. July 16, 2008
It is a easy to use monitor. Really knows what equipment are the most that impact your utility bill.
Excellent tool July 15, 2008
This tool is perfect for figuring out just how much energy is being consumed by all those devices you leave plugged in. A surprising amount of energy is wasted in stand by mode and this tool will help you find out just how much energy you are wasting. I highly recommend having one
Easily discover true electricity use July 15, 2008
The Kill A Watt meter is easy to use, just plug it in and then plug in the appliance to be tested for electric use. Findings: My 600 watt coffee maker actually draws 820 watts, a consideration when I have to use a back up generator after a hurricane. Good stuff: my new desktop computer only draws 1 watt on stand-by, compared to my older desktop which draws 20 watts. Really great news: my full size refrigerator only draws 120 watts with the door closed, so I will be easily able to run it on a generator. Also, the unit can be left for 24 hours to measure a day's worth of usage and figure the monthly cost. It shows volts, amps, watts, frequency, and kwh used. This meter will help find energy wasters. I recommend it.
Nice meter July 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've always been curious about the power draw on various items and since I have a Fluke DMM (digital multi-meter), I'd set up some special "extension cords" to be able to use with it for measuring the amps (which is the main thing that you can't easily check). Although that works for me, this unit is much simpler to use with no risks of possible "hot wires" with bare metal parts exposed that someone could get shocked on and this only costs $20 (versus over $100 for a good DMM). This also has the built in timer feature and instantly tells you your KW/hr bill from what's running & how long it's run, otherwise I'd have to time the item myself and multiply the wattage out to get the same numbers. For some items that you turn on & off yourself, doing the math is easy, but other items (like a fridge) that automatically turns on & off make this a lot better (so you don't need to stand over the item 24/7 to see when it turns on & off).
Once you've learned what you can from this, it does become a dust collector. As others have noted, it does block a second outlet if you have it in the wall, so chances are you'll remove it after a short term measurement. I've not found any major surprises in my power use with it, but we'll see as I play with it anywhere I can.
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