2-Pack: Etekcity Surge Protector Power Strips (3-outlet or 6-outlet)
- One option has three outlets in each strip
- The other has six outlets
- Both have four USB ports
- Protect your stuff against the surge!
- Do they come in Georgia red: No, they are available exclusively in ‘we haven’t updated our design since 1992’ off-white
Protection
KNOW WHAT YOU’RE BUYING: the difference between ‘surge protection’ and ‘Serge protection’
There is nothing worse than purchasing a product under the presumption that it does one thing, only to find its actual use to be quite different. To avoid this, consumers must stay vigilant and educate themselves, as companies are all too willing to conflate one item with another and imply expanded usability in the hopes of swindling one out of their hard-earned money.
In no case is this more evident than in the marketing of products that provide surge protection versus those that provide Serge protection.
To put it simply, products that provide surge protection are items like the power strips we are offering today. Both feature four USB ports to go along with three outlets and six outlets respectively. Moreover, they provide protection for all devices plugged into them in the event of a power surge. Hence, they are surge protectors.
Products offering Serge protection are a bit more complicated, as ‘Serge protection’ is a phrase not unlike ‘biweekly,’ which can mean twice a week or every other week. Essentially a Serge protection device can be a product used to protect oneself from one or more dangerous Sergios, OR a device to protect Sergios from other dangerous forces.
Convoluting the issue further, certain Serge protection devices can be used to provide either definition of Serge protection. Brass knuckles, for example, can be wielded against a Sergio or to defend a Sergio (or by a Sergio in self-defense). Other products can only be put towards one side of Serge protection. Take the Sergio-proof fence: its use is limited to defending against a Sergio rather than defending a Sergio, except in cases–and this is where things get very complicated–wherein a Sergio is defending himself against another Sergio.
Neither of the power strips offers much in the way of Serge protection. And, in fact, while they might be swung around as a weapon, any Sergio who would be deterred by or defended with a power strip is a Sergio that requires no Serge protection.
We hope this has been helpful.
