The ceramic MOVs act as a "sacrificial" shunt across the AC line and either shorts out, blowing the fuse or, in worst cases such as lighting strike or a power line faults, the same MOV will evaporate and become an open circuit! MOVs protect in microseconds whereas fuses or circuit breakers work slower and the damage could be already done by time they blow open.

Both the Power-1 and Power-2 provide superior surge protect from US-made MOVs. At a glance, a green fault protector indicator LED means protection is active and if this LED goes out, you should unplug the strip immediately as a surge been detected, suppressed and there is no longer any surge protection.

The Radial Engineering Power-1 and 2 also have high-rejection interference filters to keep radio frequency energy such as AM broadcast or CB/Ham radio signals out of the incoming AC power line. This noise manifests as intermittent buzzing and/or mysterious "hash" that is hearable within in your audio.

Both units offer very handy "always on" utility front socket(s)--the Power-2 has a single socket while the Power-1 has three. Both models have eight rear sockets to plug in all your gear into. These sockets are rugged 3-terminal, grounded AC sockets; four of them spaced far enough apart to accommodate wall-wart power supplies. The Radial Power-1 has 3 front and 8 back outlets, while the Power-2 features 1 front and 8 back outlets as well as a sliding LED tray with multiple colors and a dim control. This tray slides out from the center of the Power-2 and will light up the entire rack below; it makes a nice shelf for my iPhone with only a short cable required to reach the built-in USB charging port! Awesome!

The Radial Power 1 sells for $109.99 while the Power-2 (as pictured above) sells for $199 MSRP.

radialeng.com.