Tripp Lite SMART500RT1U Smart Pro 500 VA 300 Watts 1U Rackmount 7 Outlets Line Interactive UPS

Pros: This did provide power and automatic shutdown through some power outages over about two years.

Cons: It failed after a less than 1 minute outage, with only one server hooked up to it. The kicker is that even after failing, with no power coming out of any of the outlets, it continued to claim that it was doing great. The breaker was not thrown, and the unit was still "on". I plugged the server into the wall, left the serial cable connected and checked logs, etc. Everything A-OK, it said. Passing self-tests.

Other Thoughts: I would gladly replace the battery if it told me there was a problem. I suspect that *was* the problem. But the unit couldn't tell me that. If you cannot trust the unit's evaluation of its own battery, what can you trust?

Manufacturer Response:

Thank you for your review. Please call Tripp Lite’s Chicago-based Tech Support Team at 773-869-1234 as there could be several reasons why the unit didn’t hold the load during the power outage. Tripp Lite Tech Support would be glad to conduct troubleshooting on the unit and they can also determine if the PowerAlert software has the correct settings in place to provide correct status of the battery. Thank you.

Pros: It works. Simply put it held a load when tested. I haven't tested it with the generator running as another poster said that could be a problem. Next time we run our tests I'll post again if it fails to switch back.

It is about the cheapest rack mountable UPS on the market. If you expect to get what you pay for you will be satisfied.

Cons: Really not network manageable at all. It is great they include a switched outlet, but without any means of managing it the feature is worthless. The add-on card is extremely over priced. Just give me a basic ethernet connection so I can monitor the current status, load, and control the switched outlet - anyone who really needs the snmp and EPO will be buying a more expensive unit anyhow. It would be nice to have some sort of limited management for smaller network setups where we don't have to run a usb cable to the thing.

OSX support is limited to network management (no usb), so even if you do install the software and hook it up you are out of luck unless you run windows or feel comfortable running blobs on fedora or suse. I haven't hooked a pc in the switch room to even see if there is a means of using the switchable outlet without the add-on card, but wouldn't be surprised it there isn't; there is no reference to it in the manual anywhere.

Other Thoughts: A switchable outlet is worthless with no means to control it...

Pros: Great price on 300 Watt 1 RU unit. I have 6, all work well.

Cons: Not really a con but it's only 300 watts. It can be overloaded but then again, it works within its design parameters perfectly.

Pros: Great rack mountable UPS. Easy to install and maintain. Tested with 10% load and it lasted just over 3 hours.

Cons: I wish it included the web card. Webcard is way overpriced for not having any advanced features

Other Thoughts: Would purchase another

Pros: Mounts easily in short-depth racks, making it fit in nicely with network switches or audio gear. Cheap.

Cons: No network support. Unless there is a PC nearby, forget about monitoring this UPS.

Other Thoughts: At writing, have had one of these mounted on a wall, 20 feet off the floor of a plastics factory for about 2 years, powering some small network hardware.

It continues to work fine,

Pros: Low cost

Cons: For those who have a backup generator this UPS does not have any kind of sensitivity setting at all. Which means it will NOT cycle onto generator power unless it's perfect.

Other Thoughts: I bought this to power my switches, bad idea. They crashed after this UPS would not kick over to the generator power.