Watts Clever PC Standby Control Unit STC-UK1008 review

First-generation standby power-saving products like the OneClick Mains Panel only switched off peripherals; your PC was left connected to the mains, potentially sucking up a lot of power in standby mode.

The Watts Clever removes that problem by cutting power to everything when it senses your PC has been switched off. To bring it all back to life you need to press a wired-remote button on the end of a 1.3m cable, which you can mount somewhere near the PC itself. It works well if you can live with the utilitarian, bought-in-Woolworths look of the button – which has a self-adhesive pad - stuck to the side of your PC.

When everything’s switched off, according to the sticker on the underside, the device itself consumes 0.00025kW. An uncharitable person would say that’s a bit misleading – 0.00025kW is a quarter of a watt which isn’t totally negligible – but it’s still a whole lot less than leaving most PCs on sleep or standby. The only real downside is the fact it’s a four rather than six-way adaptor, but overall it’s a definite thumbs-up.

Author: David Fearon