I'm not quite ready to nominate it for MoMA's permanent collection, but the CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD does look a lot better than your average geekbox. In fact, it's the first UPS (uninterruptable power supply) I've ever owned that I can easily tolerate having on a corner of my desk, where it has now quietly buddied up with a stack of external LaCie drives (the drives and the UPS all have round blue power-on indicators).
The CyberPower features a three-inch front-panel readout, backlit in (what else?) blue, that, with each consecutive push of the oversized display button, tells you in big digits what the current load is, the voltage it receives from the wall outlet, the estimated run time, the total load capacity, the battery capacity, even how many minutes remain after a blackout occurs and the battery is running down. The display turns itself off after 20 or 30 seconds, so it's not too distracting (actually, the user should have the option of keeping the display on, but I suppose you can't have everything).
When a blackout strikes, the CyberPower unit intermittently beeps to signal that the battery has kicked in -- but unlike other UPS's I've used, you can switch off the annoying beep in acknowledgment.
I deduct points for the nine outlets being so closely spaced together that any device powered by a wallwart will take up two or even three spaces.
Cyberpower also shortchanges Mac users by not giving them full-featured power management software. You can control the behavior of the battery backup through the Energy Saver control panel in OSX, which recognizes the brand and model of the UPS and lets you decide how you want to safely power down the computer and the other plugged-in devices in case of a blackout. So far so good. But the native Mac software won't let you instruct other applications to autosave and quit. That means unsaved documents will prevent applications from shutting down unless you're there to manage the process; and when the Cyberpower's battery depletes itself, the result will be the same as if you had no UPS to begin with -- the computer eventually shuts off as if you'd literally pulled the plug, and unsaved changes will be lost.
Still, that's not a dealbreaker for me; long ago I've gotten into the habit of hitting command-S every couple of minutes when I'm working on a document.
FWIW, the estimated battery run time of my configuration -- a 24-inch iMac with a 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo chip, plus three external drives -- is about 16 minutes.
Oh yeah: the unit has a swappable battery and three-year warranty. Not too shabby. CyberPower CP1000AVRLCD 9-Outlet Intelligent LCD UPS (1000VA/600W)
I have several APC and Belkin UPS units in my house, so this isn't my first whack at buying a UPS. And after reading reviews here and other places, I thought the CyberPower model looked like a decent way for me to save a few bucks.
The first thing I noticed about it was how light it was for a UPS -- especially at 1000VA. For that capacity, I think this may be the lightest UPS I've used. I also liked the LCD display, but was a bit put off by the construction of the unit. The plastic is relatively flimsy (compared to other brands), but on the upside, there are a generous number of outlets.
After charging the unit overnight, I decided to give it a test run. The display showed I had about 18 minutes of runtime, so I pulled the plug. Instantly, 18 minutes became 8... then 6... then 2... then... darkness. Alas, there was no graceful shutdown on my computer (despite it recognizing that the UPS was connected), and it kept my setup alive for all of five minutes, at best.
For reference, the UPS had a last-gen MacPro, cable modem, router, and a 23" LCD connected. According to APC's configuration tool (which should be universal for any UPS), they recommended an APC Back-UPS RS 800VA @ 63% capacity and 13 minutes of runtime. At minimum, the CyberPower UPS should have been able to match that.
In a business environment where I had a generator that automatically kicked on, I wouldn't really care too much, as that's enough time to carry everything over to generator power. But at my house, I either want the computer to shut down when I'm not there, or I want the UPS to give me enough time to go turn on the generator. Unfortunately, neither are possible with this UPS.
When you consider how close in price this is to the 1375VA BackUPS from APC (which also has a similar LCD display), or even closer to the 1000VA Belkin UPS, the few dollars you save isn't worth the risk when your power actually does go out.
I'm sure this is fine if you're overbuying in terms of capacity, or if you're just looking for a voltage regulator and don't care about uptime. But as a UPS, there are several better options available.
I needed a new UPS for my computer because my old CyberPower finally quit working. It was just old! I considered other brands but decided to go back to CyberPower because the old one had worked very well for me for over 5 years. I wanted a little more power this time and a few more options. I researched the price and Amazon had the best price going for this model of the CyberPower. The item came pretty quick in the mail, and I was back in business! So far, I like this model of the CyberPower because its powerful and compact. It's not too bluky and I like the fact it stands upright. I have a 26" monitor and DELL Demension computer, to include the speakers plugged into the UPS. I've been told to keep the printer separately plugged from the UPS by my Systems person, so I'm not going to take any chances. Where I live we have quite a few storms (Louisiana) and have power fluxs from time to time. So far so good! For me this UPS offers a good source of power for the price. - Cyberpower Ups - Ups - Computer Power Backup - Uninterrupted Power Supplies'
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