“They” say that you should unplug your electronics when you’re not using them, because many will pull electricity even while they’re turned off.  But that’s kind of a pain.  So some experts have recommended power strips — you can flip one switch and turn everything in the strip off at once.  There are a couple of problems with this:

1) (the biggie)some electronics need to stay on standby in order to function.  For instance, your DVR won’t record your shows if you have it turned off!

2) (less of an issue, but potentially still a nuisance) certain electronics “go with” others.  For example, you probably don’t need your printer if you’re not using the computer.  So it could be useful to turn both on together.  Except then what do you do with the other items in the strip?

Smart Strip

The Smart Strip from Bits Limited is a brilliant solution.  The strip is divided into three sections.  One outlet is the “control outlet.” When you plug a device into this outlet, it will activate the switched outlets.  Another set of outlets is constantly “hot” — these will not shut off when you shut off everything else, so you can plug your fax machine or DVR into these and not have to worry about them turning off even if/when you control everything else.  The third and final set of outlets is the switched outlets.  These can be turned on and off and are “connected to” the control outlet.

So you can plug your television into the control outlet, your DVR into a “constant hot” outlet, and DVD/Bluray player and Wii into switched outlets.

Or plug your computer into the control outlet, fax/printer/scanner into the “constant hot” outlet, and other peripherals into the switched outlets.

Just as a couple examples.

How it Works

The “constant hot” outlets are on or off, depending on whether you’ve turned the power strip’s switch on or off.  In other words, these outlets work like a standard power strip.  The other sets of outlets can be off even with the strip switched on, though.  When you turn off the device plugged into the control outlet, all of the switched outlets turn off.  To return to our television example, if you turn off the television, the DVD player and the Wii will be plugged into “dead” outlets and not drawing phantom power.  Turn the TV on, and these outlets turn hot.

Other Features

A couple other features I appreciate:

• The outlets are well marked.  The various types of outlet are color-coded, and wording is printed directly on the strip so you don’t forget which ones are what.
• In the model I have, one of the outlets is spaced a little bit away from the others, allowing room for one of those giant clunky plugs.
• Depending on the model you purchase, you have the option to have telephone jacks in the strip, as well.  (Mine does not have ‘phone jacks, but there are models that do.  You can also get models with coaxial jacks, for cable.)

This is one of those simple-but-brilliant inventions, in my opinion, that can really make a huge difference!

Disclosure: Bits Limited provided me with the power strip you see above to facilitate my review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.