Home > Consumer Reviews > Belkin F8E449 Universal AC Travel Adapter
Belkin F8E449 Universal AC Travel Adapter
See it at Amazon.com for $24.99Average Customer Rating
(3.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
Does not work in all UK outlets
(3 out of 5) by Jeffrey Heaton on Jul 6, 2007 (St. Louis, MO)UK seems to use several different outlet types. Sometimes the fork would unlock it, but not always.
The europlug side of this device worked just fine.
Also BE CAREFUL. This is an adapter ONLY, not a converter. Make sure the device you plug in supports either 120 or 240, or you may fry something. Electronics are USUALLY safe, but read on the adapter. Hair dryer would be a very bad idea!
The europlug side of this device worked just fine.
Also BE CAREFUL. This is an adapter ONLY, not a converter. Make sure the device you plug in supports either 120 or 240, or you may fry something. Electronics are USUALLY safe, but read on the adapter. Hair dryer would be a very bad idea!
42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
Works perfectly in Europe/Asia
(5 out of 5) by Johnson on Mar 8, 2008 (Seattle, WA)I was hesitant to purchase after reading the reviews however after doing some research on what I needed this became the obvious choice of other adpaters I was looking at. First off you have to check whatever item you want to plug into it. If the product you want to plug into it has an input of 100-240v or anything inbetween (110-240v for example) than this product works without any additional converters. If your product does not have the before mentioned voltage inputs and is only rated 110 or 240 you will need a voltage converter taking the voltage up or down depending on your input necessary to power your device. To check your device: if it has a transformer (box in between the plug and the adapter to your device) it will have the necessary information. If your product does not have an adapter (like a cell phone charger) it will be located on the plug area.
53 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
Intentionally misleading product description
(2 out of 5) by NLee the Engineer on Mar 26, 2008 (Nashua, NH)As an electrical engineer, I feel that the product description for this item (Belkin F8E449 Universal AC Travel Adapter) is intentionally misleading.
For example, it says:
"Rated to handle both 110- and 220-240-volt standards... allows you to connect to international power outlets without a complicated power conversion"
The statement above suggests that this 'AC Travel Adapter' is able to provide POWER conversion, so a potential customer may expect it to perform VOLTAGE conversion between 110/220V. But this is completely false, becasue this plug adapter is just a physical connection. It does not convert the VOLTAGE. It does not convert the CURRENT. In short, it does not perform ANY conversion at all.
In the 'Technical Details' section it further says:
"Allows you to charge your laptop, PDA, and cell phone internationally"
A potential customer may be led to believe that: this product allows you to use 110V-only appliance in other countries. The truth is, if you plug in an 110V-only appliance to a 220V socket through this 'adapter', your appliance wil blow up immediately.
Power supplies for most portable electronics (laptop, camcorder, cell-phone, electric shavers, etc.) are already designed for universal voltage of 100-240V AC. Similarly, your travel iron or hair dryer could be ready for dual-voltage operation. Make sure to check your appliance's user manual, as it may require you to manually flip a voltage-selection switch before leaving for the trip.
Of course, you still need a set of universal plug adapters for foreign countries - which is exactly what this product is meant to be.
For example, it says:
"Rated to handle both 110- and 220-240-volt standards... allows you to connect to international power outlets without a complicated power conversion"
The statement above suggests that this 'AC Travel Adapter' is able to provide POWER conversion, so a potential customer may expect it to perform VOLTAGE conversion between 110/220V. But this is completely false, becasue this plug adapter is just a physical connection. It does not convert the VOLTAGE. It does not convert the CURRENT. In short, it does not perform ANY conversion at all.
In the 'Technical Details' section it further says:
"Allows you to charge your laptop, PDA, and cell phone internationally"
A potential customer may be led to believe that: this product allows you to use 110V-only appliance in other countries. The truth is, if you plug in an 110V-only appliance to a 220V socket through this 'adapter', your appliance wil blow up immediately.
Power supplies for most portable electronics (laptop, camcorder, cell-phone, electric shavers, etc.) are already designed for universal voltage of 100-240V AC. Similarly, your travel iron or hair dryer could be ready for dual-voltage operation. Make sure to check your appliance's user manual, as it may require you to manually flip a voltage-selection switch before leaving for the trip.
Of course, you still need a set of universal plug adapters for foreign countries - which is exactly what this product is meant to be.
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
Description did not match reality
(1 out of 5) by Darrit Cho on Dec 7, 2007I bought this adaptor specifically for my vacation to China. The product description says it works in China. This is false! The plug configuration is different in China (triangle shape). So this adaptor was useless to me!
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
It does work in the UK
(5 out of 5) by Dennis Cress on Jun 20, 2007 (Berkeley, CA)We've used this adapter in Scotland, England and France. Some of the UK outlets require you to first insert the flat plastic fork you see in the illustration photo in a vertical slot just below the two round holes before plugging in the adapter. Even so, there were some stubborn outlets we couldn't make it work in, but always at least one in which it would work.