Bye Bye Standby BBSBUSA Energy Saving Kit with 1 Remote and 2 Sockets

I read about these and was interested in how they could help me cut my energy use and become a little more green. I was a little skeptical to spend $15 to save an unknown amount of money/energy on vampire power costs, but I like gadgets and figure they couldn't hurt. If nothing else, they make me feel better mentally. Plus, using them diligently, I'm sure the "value" builds up over time. The package comes with two outlets and a single remote. I purchased a single set to use in my bedroom and office. Included are two units that plug into any regular outlet, and a single remote that controls each. I've been using them daily (or as needed, depending on the electronics connected) for approximately 6 months.In the office, I plugged into the unit the power strip with my PC, monitor and printer. In my bedroom I did the same with the power strip controlling my TV, DVD player, cell phone charger and laptop cord. Side note: Keep in mind you don't want to plug your cable box/DVR into the supplied outlet because the box will need to reboot after every full shut down, and of course not record your shows if it has no power.At night, when I go to bed I simply turn off power to each strip remotely with the controller, and sleep better knowing they're not eating up energy for no reason. My office is approximately 30 feet from my bedroom, and I can use the remote to power off the unit in my office each night from my bed, without problems. It even makes an audible "click" so you know it has cut off power to my PC and related items. If I use any of the electronics in the morning, I just click them on, and again click them off before I leave for work.The units themselves seem well made, work as promised, and the price is affordable. I'm pleased with this product and would certainly recommend this product to anyone looking to cut vampires out of their energy consumption.

Before I had even purchased this item, I asked myself "how can it not use any power if it has an LED and has to monitor the RF frequency to turn on?" I also have the Kill-A-Watt product, and tested Bye Bye Standby to see that they do in fact use 3 watts on idle. So their claim about totally cutting all energy is false.That being said, I still use them since with Kill-A-Watt I was amazed that my HDTV uses 30 watts when it is turned off. So I added a Bye Bye Standby unit to it and also to my PC's speakers that do not even turn off and use about 10 watts. The fact that this product works and is really cheap it is worth a buy. If it were more expensive I would tell you guys to pass on it. I plan to buy another set so I can have two remotes, since my house is big and it sucks when I have to walk into another room to get the remote. I really like how they use separate "on" and "off" buttons instead of only one multi function button. That way you can press the on or off button as many times as you like without the worry of accidentally turning on/off your device.UPDATEWow, I am surprised they jacked up the price of these for $70. I bought these when they were dirt cheap. I wish I had bought a lot of them, I could be selling them for a large profit now.

You have to be within a foot or two of the receptacle for the remote to work. It seems to have to have line-of-site to work. Very inconvenient for a device that's supposed to promote its use. I'm going to send these back.

I had two sets of these sockets and remotes that worked great for years. Well I moved and one set got lost so I purchased this newer version. The picture I added with the slimmer remote is the one you want. The old style has a much smaller remote that can be set to work in any channel so one remote can control literally all of the sockets in the house. This new remote supposedly can but it just doesn't work. There's no difficult tech at work here but I've bought three sets of these and the socket will only turn on and off about half the time. Newer, yes, but progress it is not. I hope they bring back the old tooling. Look for Bye Bye Standby Type BBSBUSRC. Those are the ones that work.

I love this product. It works well and is great for lamps, christmas lights, and electronics. I do have two issues with it though:#1 There is a little red light that stays on all the time when it is plugged in. I hope it's an LED, but I wonder about the "ghost load" that comes with the little red light that stays on 24 hours a day 365 days a year.#2 The remote has three buttons on it, but they only provide two outlets. I read the instruction manual and they did this so that you could buy more of their "Energy Saving Kits" and put up to three outlets on one remote. I just look at my remote with one unusable button and feel annoyed.