The 1200VA Universal UPS is like the 800VA version but with a much higher capacity. Its battery can support a power-hungry 670W PC, so it's ideal for a gaming PC with a huge power supply and high-end graphics. It has three standard three-pin UK sockets for battery backup and one for surge protection, so it's more convenient for home users than models that use IEC plug sockets. You can protect your phone line and network with the integrated
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RJ-11 and RJ-45 sockets, and your equipment is guaranteed against power surge damage for up to £200,000.
The 1200VA's battery life when powering an idle PC is superb: at 49 minutes and three seconds, it fell just short of the APC RS 800VA's 51 minutes. Its battery life under load was less impressive. At 22 minutes and 56 seconds, the unit failed sooner than the cheaper 800VA Belkin UPS.
The 1200VA comes with the same software as Belkin's 800VA. This has an unfriendly interface and is fairly tricky to set up, but it has more features than APC's PowerChute and can notify you by email when the UPS switches to battery power. It also shows you the UPS battery's current charge and load.
Belkin's 1200VA Universal UPS can support very powerful PCs and, although it performed fairly poorly under load, it enables you to shut down your gaming PC if a power cut occurs. It's a good choice for owners of powerful PCs. Unless you need more than 405W, though, the APC Back-UPS ES 700VA is cheaper and easier to use.
By Chris Finnamore
SPECIFICATIONS:
Three UPS sockets, one surge-only socket, Windows shutdown, Windows file save, modem protection, Ethernet protection
