Best Single Outlet Surge Protector: Top 6 of 2024 Reviewed

Thomas Hawkins September 3, 2020

Last updated on February 28th, 2024.

Tripp Lite 1 Outlet Portable Surge Protector Power...

There’s no point spending over $1000 on fancy devices just to have them implode after your first electrical surge.

A quality single outlet surge protector is an easy (and spacious) way to protect your electrical devices.

A good single outlet surge protector will have a long warranty, high joule rating, and meet or exceed all relevant safety certifications.

On the other hand, a faulty single outlet surge protector is a dangerous waste of money. It doesn’t make much sense to buy a surge protector that doesn’t actually protect your devices – it just gives you a false sense of security.

To help you separate the good from the defective – we reviewed the Best Single Outlet Surge Protector of 2024.

Buy with the confidence that you’re buying one of the top single-outlet surge protectors available.

Let’s dive into the reviews.

Top 6 Best Single Outlet Surge Protectors

Preview	Product	Key Features
Best Overall	Tripp Lite 1 Outlet Portable Surge Protector Power Strip, Direct Plug in, Timer, & $5,000...	ON THE GO PROTECTION! PROTECT ANY ELECTRONIC DEVICE FROM POWER SURGES & SPIKES: Surge suppressor with one outlet protects your laptops, electronic notepads, personal organizers and other portable electronic devices from dangerous power surges, spikes & line noise. SINGLE-OUTLET SURGE PROTECTOR WITH VARIABLE TIMER: Enjoy powerful surge protection to one standard AC outlet and a built-in timer selection switch that lets you provide AC power to a connected device for 1, 3 or 6 hours. This is the perfect energy-saving solution for personal electronics that depend on a charge from an AC wall outlet or only need to be powered for short time. SAFETY FIRST! 350 JOULE-RATING - CONFORMS TO UL 1449 SAFETY STANDARDS: A diagnostic LED confirms protection status at a glance, protected (green) & grounded (red). Conforms to current UL 1449 3rd Edition safety standards.	CHECK PRICE
Premium Choice	Belkin 1-Outlet SurgeCube Portable Wall Tap with Ground & Protected Light Indicators - For Home,...	The Belkin Difference: Pioneer in technology and innovation for over 35 years. Surge Protector Single Power Outlet: The compact and portable size makes this ideal to bring during business trips, vacations, and travels to keep your phone, tablet, camera, and other devices protected. It has a complete three-line AC protection with surge suppressor for a safe charging station anywhere. Portable Travel Wall Mount Outlet: The small and wall-mountable power bar converts any standard wall outlet into a surge-protected socket with no need for extra cords with its direct plug-in design.	CHECK PRICE
Excellent Value	CyberPower CSB100W Essential Surge Protector, 900J/125V, 1 Outlet, Wall Tap	VITAL SURGE PROTECTION: One NEMA 5-15R outlet provides 900 joules of surge protection for the home and office; WALL TAP PLUG: Enables the model to be plugged directly into a wall outlet without a power cord LED INDICATOR: Green LED indicator confirms electronics are protected EMI/RFI FILTERS: Filters against electromagnetic interference and radio frequency interference ensuring clean power for connected equipment	CHECK PRICE
	Tripp Lite TRAVELCUBE Direct Plug-In Notebook Surge Suppressor 1 Outlet 540 Joules Gray...	ON THE GO PROTECTION. PROTECT ANY ELECTRONIC DEVICE FROM POWER SURGES and SPIKES: Surge suppressor with one NEMA 5-15R outlet protects your laptops, electronic notepads, personal organizers and other portable electronic devices from dangerous power surges, spikes and line noise. COMPACT, SINGLE-OUTLET SURGE PROTECTION and TEL/DSL PROTECTION: Powerful AC line surge protection to one standard AC outlet and built-in tel/DSL (RJ11) jacks to prevent surges from damaging your modem/fax/phone equipment (6-ft. phone cord included). SAFETY FIRST. 1080 JOULE-RATING - CONFORMS TO UL 1449 SAFETY STANDARDS: Diagnostic LED displays protection status at a glance. 1080 joules mean maximum protection for your equipment. Conforms to current UL 1449 3rd Edition safety standards.	CHECK PRICE
	APC P1T 120V Portable Surge Protector,Black	1 outlet 540 Joules RJ11 modem/fax protection (2 wire single line)	CHECK PRICE
	Minuteman MMS110 Surge Protector Computer Surge Protector	Wall tap, 540 joules, LED Indicators, New MOV technology, Safety shutdown technology, High frequency capacitors Design that delivers high availability, scalability, and for maximum flexibility and price/performance Made in China	CHECK PRICE

What to Search for in a Single Outlet Surge Protector

There are a couple of things to watch on when looking for the best surge protector for your single outlet. We’ve summed up these crucial features listed below:

Joule Rating

The joule rating describes just how much energy your single outlet surge protector can soak up. A greater joule rating equates to better protection.

What’s the right amount of joule protection for you? Think about what you’re protecting – a desktop computer, your entire home theater setup, or maybe just a single valuable appliance. This will guide you to the ideal joule rating for your needs, ensuring your electronics get the protection they deserve.

Here are some rough joule rating guidelines:

A system with approximately 1000 joules of surge protection is enough for small electronics.
A surge protector with 1000 to 2000 joules will supply adequate protection for office devices and power tools.
Consider the greatest joule rating (2000+) for expensive gaming consoles, house theater systems, and any computer system that saves crucial information. Anything that is extremely pricey or irreplaceable.

So consider this as a guideline when choosing your single outlet surge protector.

Warranty

A longer warranty doesn’t just give you peace of mind; it’s a sign of the manufacturer’s confidence in their product. A robust warranty means you’re covered, giving you one less thing to worry about.

Not just for the obvious reason that if something goes wrong, you’ll be able to make a claim, but for the signal that a long warranty suggests about the quality of the single outlet surge protector (or rather, the self-confidence the supplier has for the single outlet surge protector).

If suppliers offered kindly long warranties for single outlet surge protectors that went bust after 2 weeks, they would not be around for long.

So you wish to long for longer warranties and high insurance payments on your single outlet surge protector (from a business that has been around for more than 5 years).

Clamping Voltage

Clamping voltage is essentially the threshold at which a surge protector jumps into action, blocking or redirecting excess voltage to keep your devices safe. It’s like a goalie, making sure only the safe amount of voltage reaches your valuable electronics.

For example, a single outlet surge protector may limit a 6,000 V surge so that only 600V is ‘visible’ to the load. Hence here the clamping voltage for this single outlet surge protector is 600V.

If the clamping voltage is too high, then the surge protector will enable excessive voltage to pass to your single outlet (which will break it).

CHECK the optimum rated voltage of your single outlet before buying a surge protector, so ensure that the clamping voltage of your single outlet surge protection gadget is LOWER than the optimum operating voltage of your single outlet.

In general though, the clamping voltage should be LESS than 700V for a single outlet surge protector.

EMI/RFI Noise Filtering

EMI = Electromagnetic Interference, while RFI = Radio Frequency Interference. Although these terms are utilized interchangeably, they’re technically not the same thing. For the purposes of single outlet surge protection however, we can treat them alike.

Lots of filters – e.g. low pass filters, high pass filters, or band pass filters– only permit specific types of frequencies through, implying a set range of EMI/RFI emissions will be transmitted to the gadget being safeguarded.

This is because certain EMI/RFI emissions will not interfere with the performance frequencies of various electric and electronic devices.

EMI/RFI noise filtering works to clear out any unwanted electrical noise, ensuring your devices perform at their best without interference. It’s like giving your electronics a quiet room, free from the buzz and distractions of electrical clutter.

So look for single outlet surge protectors that have EMI/RFI emissions.

Diagnostic LEDs

It would be best if you had a method to verify that your single outlet surge protector is working– and that’s what diagnostic LEDs are for.

Look for single outlet surge protection that includes diagnostic LED lights that verify power, protection and line fault status at a glance.

Safety Rating

There are a bunch of various security standards by a bunch of various businesses and organizations– so which of these is applicable to single outlet surge protectors?. For the most part, you want to take a look at UL– previously Underwriters Laboratories.

UL is one of several businesses approved to perform safety screening by the U.S. federal firm Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA has a list of approved testing labs, which are acknowledged as Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories.

Even within UL though, there are a lot of security requirements that could use. For appropriate single outlet surge protection, you’re mainly want to be looking at the UL 1449 security requirement.

Ensure your surge protector meets the UL 1449 standard. It’s your assurance that the product has passed rigorous safety tests, giving you confidence in its ability to protect your electronics effectively.

UL 1449 is the Underwriters Laboratories Safety Standard for Surge Protective Devices (SPD) – i.e. perfect for single outlet surge protection.