Electricity Usage Monitor by Spartan Power Energy Watt Meter with 15A Outlet, 1800 Watt Maximum SP-PM120

This is a very nice device, great design, feels solid, display is very detailed and easy to read. But a couple things to keep in mind:1) I was looking for a Killawatt type of device I could use itinerantly on various device to check out power use, including solar power invertors, etc. But this unit is designed to stay in one place, feeding one single device, and report on its power use over time, including detailed history, costs etc. So it's not ideal for my purpose (but keeping because I like it).2) The button cell batteries are designed to be used only in the event of a power failure. I left the device unplugged between uses, and the batteries ran down in a few days.

Nice back lighting and easy to read display (not sure what others are complaining about). Good features. Appears well made. Superior power rating to others I've seen. Great manual. If you plug it into the upper wall outlet, there's room enough to still use the lower outlet. Quick delivery and a great price. I can't believe I'm saying this about any contemporary consumer electronics product purchased in the last 10 years, but I'm happy with this one after a week of use. Can't say long term, of course.I bought this Spartan Power Energy Watt Meter after owning a Kill-o-Watt meter for many years that I was never very impressed with. The Kill-o-Watt ground prong broke off with just a moderate amount of resistance while plugging it into an extension cord. It's been designated for a single use and I wanted another meter I could move around the house.I'm not sure why, but I found it difficult to locate this meter on Amazon. The Kill-o-Watt meter kept dominating my searches, but I dug deep and eventually found the Spartan Meter on one of the similar item scroll areas. It got many good reviews, but fewer than the Kill-o-Watt meter, which makes me a bit nervous of review manipulation, but this Spartan meter is legit. I was particularly impressed with the seller responses to complaints contained in a minority of the reviews. I'd recommend over the Kill-o-Watt meter, without hesitation. I'm not sure if the Spartan product is new, or perhaps has only recently begun selling on Amazon, as suggested by the low number of reviews.Mine came with alkaline batteries, but probably won't install them since I know I'll forget them and they will eventually leak. If I find a need for batteries (it works without them for the functions I'm using right now) I'll get some lithium type.Don't be held hostage to the Kill-o-Watt meter if you suspect there is something better. I believe I've found it. And for the price, this thing is worth taking a chance on. Designed in America. Manufactured in China, as most affordable things are these days.

I thought it would be better.Pros:- Measures voltage, watts, and amps.- Has a backlight- Under $20- Calculates costs (but limited)- Comes with button batteriesCons:- Setup is not easy, and buttons are not intuitive. Will need to go through process several times to configure correctly.- Button batteries are not secured well. This causes the unit to reset itself, losing all data and configurations before you can read the measurements.- Cost doesn't work for my Power company. I'm charged one rate for the first 1,000 watts, and another rate above that. This only calculates based on time: one rate during the day, one at night. Good for some people, but not me.- To prolong the battery life, the backlight turns off after a couple of seconds. There's no way to keep it on, even if it's plugged into the wall.- Display is hard to read without the backlight.- I think the measurement is off. The math for the reported values don't calculate correctly. Additionally, the meter has an alarm that is set for either Watts or Amps. I have a 15Amp circuit breaker on the tested line. I ran a portable AC unit with this to see what the power draw is. The meter measured 16Amps and started beeping. However, the circuit breaker didn't flip. I tried testing, and the circuit breaker flips at 15Amps.- Some measurements are not recorded and disappear when unplugging the meter from the outlet. Can't remember now, but was disappointed as I was recording everything.Will be returning, if I can.

I love this device and knowing how many watts many devices around the house are using. No complaints, this thing has more features than I even need it for! But for the price, I had to snatch it up!

Works as expected. I have not utilized all of the functionality of the device in terms of total cost of use over time etc, but I have been able to plug in various devices and get a real time read of watts being used. This has helped me to see which devices were pulling big passive and active draw and to be more conservative about using and shutting down those items.NOTE: I was going to return this as the batteries that were supposed to be included did not come with it. But I was able to pick up the correct batteries at the dollar store and decided to keep the device.