Suraielec Energy Watt Meter Review
Looking at a backlit power meter by Suraielec
We’ve been using P3 P4400 Kill A Watt electricity usage monitors on Legit Reviews for nearly two decades. The power meters have worked well, but after nearly 20 years is there anything better on the market? We took a look at Amazon and noticed some different brands that offered features like a backlit display and a battery to record data.
The Suraielec Watt Meter was released on October 25th, 2020 and is the number #1 new release on Amazon for power meters. It has the backlit display and internal battery for $16.99 shipped (Buy on Amazon), so we ordered one in.
The Suraielec Energy Watt Meter comes in decent looking packaging and includes the power meter and simple paper instructions.
When we looked at the packaging we noticed that the meter specifications did not exactly match what was shown on the Amazon listing. The listing said that it was capable of reading up to 3,680 Watts. The box and device itself shows that it tops out at 1950 Watts (110-130V at 15A). One thing that is missing from the specifications is the accuracy of the device. P3 International clearly states that the Kill A Watt P4400 is offers 0.2% accuracy. It is unknown what the accuracy is of the Suraielec Energy Watt Meter is.
Who needs UL certification?
The other thing that we noticed is that is has not been UL approved. It also hasn’t taken part in Interteks ETL certification program. Safety certification in North America is by no means required, but we’d say the vast majority of electronics sold on this continent do get tested by one or both of these organizations. A power meter is something that you may leave plugged in for long periods of time and on devices that you could be trouble shooting. Seeing ether logo gives peace of mind!
The CE marking on the back is an administrative marking. It indicates conformity with health, safety, and environmental protection standards within the European Economic Area (EEA). It is not a quality indicator or a certification mark and doesn’t mean much to those in North America.
Inside the Suraielec Watt Meter
Inside the Suraielec power meter we find printed circuit boards from a shop on 1688 over in China. This site is the largest go-to wholesale and sourcing website for Chinese domestic market. The model number for this unit appears to be PMB05-US with the power plug-in being for the US market. It appears to be listed for 38 or about $6 US dollars per unit when you buy them in bulk. This is of course before shipping and the minimum order is 10.
We tested the Suraielec Energy Watt Meter on all sorts of things ranging from 10 Watts up to 1500 Watts. It seemed to work fine and was within 1% of the reading on our P3 P4400 Kill A Watt power meter!
The viewing angle on the display used for the Suraielec Energy Watt Meter is garbage. There isn’t a nice way to say it. You need to be directly in front of the Watt meter to read the screen. The main reason we bought this meter was for it to be backlit and visible from a reasonable distance and angle.
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
At the end of the day the Suraielec Energy Watt Meter works and is fairly inexpensive at $16.99 shipped (buy on Amazon). It offers some features that more expensive name brand models don’t have and that was the reason that we purchased this model (this was not a free review sample). That said, the power meter could be easily improved.
The first thing that needs an upgrade is the display. The display needs to use another LCD panel that has better viewing angles. It would also have been nice if it was safety approved by a certification house in the United States. We’ve blown up plenty of electronics here at Legit Reviews over the years! We run over 1,000 Watts on some of the items that we test and to know that the safety of the device was looked at.
Legit Bottom Line: The Suraielec Energy Watt Meter works, but you get what you pay for.