Home > Consumer Reviews > Smart Strip SCG3 Energy Saving Power Strip with Autoswitching Technology

Worked straight out of the box on my new PC - It now powers down the PC monitor which used to flash a blue LED even when the PC was powered down ! In addition it allows the PC to "wake-up" from Windows Vista sleep state simply by tapping on of the keys on my PC i.e. it still maintains power to the master device.

My only disappointment is the price. It seems quite expensive, but there seems to be little competition for it at the moment

Overall - Happy to recommend this product

I just got it and set it up so probably too early to review but I have already encountered a frustrating issue. The Always on outlets do not have space for an adapter. I guess I should have noticed this when I selected this one but I did not and my modem/router which needs to be always on has a huge adapter that not only blocks the 2nd always on outlet but also one of the switched outlets! This leaves me with only 3 switched outlets and one always on outlet 8-(. I am going to get one of those little extender things but think this is not an uncommon scenario and wish they had planned it a bit better. The bigger one has space for it in the always on outlet but it would have been overkill or my needs.
Aside from that it was easy to set up, I turned it all the way down and turned on my computer then turned the dial until the other stuff came on and turned my computer off and the other stuff went off like it should. It has a flat plug for the wall and slots on the back i guess for mounting to the wall which i have not tried yet.
Overall I can't rate it low for something I should have noticed but it is annoying and thought I would mention this aspect of it... plan accordingly!

I saw this advertised by Oprah on her show and thought it would be a good way to help the energy bill and our environment. This is a great buy!

Note to Mac Mini users

Notice from the bitsltd website:

All Mac Mini and Dell 800 Series Laptop Owners!

Please order only 3rd Generation Smart Strip Models as Mac Mini and Dell 800 series laptops tend to have very irregular power consumption traits that are incompatible with our standard Smart Strips.

What can I use the Smart strip on?

The Smart strip can be used to save energy on Computers, TVs, & Home entertainment systems. they can automate lights & vacuums on your shop equipment. They do not save energy on phones, washers, dryers & Kitchen appliances.


I read a review elsewhere by R. Gressick who did use a laptop computer as the switching device by adjusting the knob on the side of the Smart Strip until the other devices switched off.

I have not bought or used the Smart Strip yet.

I have a flat-screen TV with four ancillary devices: a cable box, Blu-Ray DVD player, A/V unit and subwoofer. Plugged the TV in as the control unit, to turn off everything else when it is turned off, plugged the other units into the controlled sockets.

First thing I learned is that you shouldn't turn off the cable box, because it takes 10 minutes to reboot after being deactivated. So I plugged the cable box into an always-on socket and let the TV control the DVD player, A/V unit and subwoofer. It turns off the DVD player but not the A/V unit (and thus not the subwoofer, which is controlled by the A/V unit). Adjusted the sensitivity control to its limit and it still won't work. I suppose I could tweak things for half an hour, but this is supposed to be plug-and-play. Oh, and the TV unit actually _never_ turns completely off no matter what you do; there's always a blue ready-to-power-up light glowing.

It's going back to Amazon. I suppose if I used this thing for 30 years, I might break even on the tiny amount of power actually saved. Another example of eco-greenie marketing promoting something that in fact doesn't do much.

Stephan Wilkinson