UPS's: CyberPower vs. APC

[RamonGTP]

OK, I just got a CyberPower 1250AVR but before I bought it I was looking at the APC's... Just from the looks of it, it looked like the APC's were put together a little nicer, and of higher quality. When I went to the websites, the APC site was much nicer and had a lot more information on it as well... But then I look at their prices. A comprable APC unit costs roughly 2-3 times more than a smiliar CyberPower unit. One thing I did notice about the cyberpower UPS' is that the software that comes with it is pretty shady... For example, the battery indicator would say its at 100%... And the second I unplug the ups or do a self test it drops to 70%. I also hooked up a multimeter to the battrey outputs and noticed that adjusting the battery mode output didn't do anything. Regardless of weather I set it as low as 110volts or as high as 130 volts, the output voltage is only between 85-108 volts. Am I correct in assuming that with such a price hike on the APC units, that I would not have these sorts of problems? What other benifits does APC have to justify the cost? I've only had this UPS for less than a week so I can still return it if I want to.... One thing that did work really well on this UPS was the AVR feature. I plugged in a 1500 watt space heater and turned it on, causing the voltage to drop to 107, but the UPS kicked in its AVR feature and was outputting 121volts.

[Ammok]

Usually you are either paying for a name, or quality. Not to say you can't pick a good bargain with good quality from a newcomer trying to impress.

I try to find out as much as possible from people who have bought the itemss themselves and read the reviews. Unfortunately. its only when you got the device in your own hands can you really make your opinion.

sounds like a good unit to me, and I wouldn't worry about the software, power is all about current, charge and load, software don't really affect things as much as you plugging that heater in, for me it past the test with that.:)

[Doomer]

I've got an APC that's 10 years old and still going strong.

I had a Cyberpower that lasted about 3 years then blew up. I replaced it with another Cyberpower and it blew up right out of the box. I then replaced it with an APC. end of story.

When I buy another UPS it will be an APC.

[RamonGTP]

Well i had a CyberPower 900AVR before this one, but upgraded because I'm gonna use the 900 for a less power hungry system... My concern is how "clean" the power is when its running off the battries. I've been trying to find reviews, but UPS reviews seem hard to find.

[stix_kua]

My school uses APC for our servers and since 1999, the servers have not gone down..............hehehe....so I'd say APC...

and yes in that first two yrs, they did loose power around campus becuase ther was a huge building progress thing going on....

[leprechaun_40]

I have 4 APC's here, not a bit of trouble, never heard of Cyberpower. Sounds like a fly by night kinda outfit to me.:eek: :eek:

[G]

Try Powerware UPS

www.powerware.com

G

[AllGamer]

I've had them all they are all good

is just a name thing

APC, TrippLite, CyberPower these 3 are the ones i've and still using after .... hmm... lost track of how many years...

so well, see they are good :p, it lasted soooo long that i forgot

but somewhere around 5 to 8 years, or more already :) :t

[mireland]

I've always used apc and everywhere I worked used APC, Never had or heard of any problems at all :-@

[statiatech]

I had one APC voltage regulator catch on fire one night. Blew black stuff all over the large office. It looks like a capacitor blew.
I also had something like that happen with 2 APC UPS. We have some funny power spikes here. Not to mention our ave. voltage is around 125-145 volts. Thats what you get when you are on an island that all the power comes from a large generator.

Other than those funny issues I say the APC stuff is made very well. However to cut some costs we went with TrippLite. I feel they have good software and are made very well...and the cost is right.

[AllGamer]

Man your office seems to be SERIOUSLY OVER Killing that Poor APC

How much Load do you have on it?

and what's the SPEC capacity of that UPS?

best practice is to use 1 Per Computer

instead of 1 big Mother Big FaT Beast to run 5 to 6 PCs

that's usually the cause of those burn outs ;) :p

:t

[lptech]

APC makes a far superior unit than Cyberpower. I've had friends who swear at how badly constructed and high failure rate the Cyberpower units are! There is much to be said about the saying "you get what you pay for!" I guess that it is true that we live and we learn!:)

[stix_kua]

Originally posted by statiatech
I had one APC voltage regulator catch on fire one night. Blew black stuff all over the large office. It looks like a capacitor blew.
I also had something like that happen with 2 APC UPS. We have some funny power spikes here. Not to mention our ave. voltage is around 125-145 volts. Thats what you get when you are on an island that all the power comes from a large generator.



Why not get a voltage regulator...put it between the generator and he APC and hey, you fixed your problem.....

[operabound]

Go here for a recall on APC units: http://www.apc.com/rely/


I personally use and swear by APC. By using the software and cabling it does a autoshutdown after a predetermined amount of time after a power loss. :eek: :) :)

[statiatech]

Every UPS only has 1 system connected. They are not overloaded. We have high voltage power spikes often that can really stress everything. The v-regulators are used but have been blowen as well. Its just the nature of the island electricity.
I am trying out some really nice surge protectors that are rated for large spikes.

[chuckiechan]

I have Cyberpower and it just sleeps on the floor quietly, dumbly....Just like a cat!

It works like it is supposed to. I have had it for about 6 months...

[Someone Stupid]

I use APC (as I've just heard way too much bad stuff of the others even though APC left a bad taste in my mouth once), one computer just has the usual surge protector from them and the other is on a UPS. I've had one of their UPS' need to be replaced completely after a lightning bolt hit the transfer that's pissing distance away from my house and my line was the closest ground. So after seeing bloody light show and several huge spikes I see my computer go down (before I could yank the cord from the wall) as this happened all in about five seconds and I wasn't near my comp at the time. The two batteries were fried and leaking in fact. I sent the unit to APC and got another one, the computer bit the dust though - sent that to them after taking pictures of it. They eventually agreed to reimburse me for the cost of the computer, and all shipping - though only after a legal notice was delivered to them. The computer was blown to pieces. The PSU you could shake and it would rattle. The V regulators were toasted, capacitators blew, and it just wasn't pretty. Though considering the hit it took I'm not surprised it didn't last, just that they have a warranty with the product and they cover the computer due to surges, and it was a surge, if they can't protect it, don't warranty it then I won't be having to file a bloody lawsuit to get my money.

But APC seems to be the lesser of the evils from my what I've heard.

[Ammok]

Toasted PC huh? prefer cheese myself. i don't know where you live SS, but I hope it's nowhere near me.:)

[RamonGTP]

SS, you still got those pictures??? Post 'em if you do, i'd like to see what everything looked like after a lightening strike!

[J-Tech]

I have two CyberPower 1250AVR, Not a bit of trouble I
love them both I have one on the workbench in my repair
shop . And one in my home

[Someone Stupid]

I'm sure I still have them, just the question is, where. I have moved twice since then, and they are physical photos, thus I can't just whip out the floppy. I'll look for them tuesdays as I have a ****load of classes tomorrow (8 in the morn till 10 at night). If you saw the picture of the "computer users are stupid" or something like that in the community forum, the one with the exploding gnome that crept during the night, my case pretty much had quite a few of those marks on the inside as the board blew practically everything possible. It would have been most impressive had it not happened to me.

[Kerepla]

APC APC APC.... just because more nicer...:rolleyes: