Where to buy a good quality surge protector in Dalian?

[koreth]

I'm leaving for school in Dalian in just over two weeks. All the electrical equipment I'm bringing (laptop, shaver, etc.) is 110/240V capable, so I don't need a voltage converter. But I would like a surge protector. Unfortunately it's basically impossible to find a 240V surge protector in the US as far as I can tell (or maybe I'm not looking in the right place?) so I figure my best bet is to just buy one over there. With all the tech companies setting up shop in Dalian, there must be a decent electronics store or two in town. Naturally I can just walk into random shops until I find one, but I assume the risk of getting a poor quality product would be pretty high.

Which leads me to the question: which electronics store should I visit if I want a good quality surge protector rather than a cheap knockoff that will fry my computer at the first sign of trouble? An address would be great if someone knows a place (I have never been to Dalian before and will have to either navigate my way there by bus or, more likely, tell a taxi driver where to go) but just a store name would be good too.

Any particular brands I should stick with or avoid for that kind of equipment?

[Luobot]

Koreth, if you google "240v surge protection" you will find tons of online stores that will ship 240v capable surge protection devices of all sizes, shapes, capabilities, and prices. The lower quality, generally cheaper surge protectors also blow out from surges, so it's useful to know your replacement options in China, even if you bring one with you. If I were bringing an expensive laptop or otherwise didn't want to risk losing my data, etc., then I would bring over a device with a lifetime warranty from a company like Belkin or APC. The irony is that it may have been made in China, but you wouldn’t be able to buy it there.

[koreth]

When I Googled that last week, I found lots of hits for "laptop surge protectors" like this and this (the wrong plug types for my laptop, so useless to me, though I like the network/phone protection), a ton of rack-mountable and wall-mounted inline protectors that I would probably be interested in if I were buying a house, and several people selling the EuroSurge. That last is an option, but from what I can tell I need to plug it into a Schuko-to-3-prong grounding adapter, then plug that into a Chinese-to-European plug adapter. That all seemed like enough of a kludge that I figured I'd be better off just buying a native Chinese one, especially since bulkiness won't matter to me once I don't have to fit the thing into my suitcase.

But I guess I was overstating the case when I said it's impossible to buy 240V surge protection here, true enough.

Are you (or anyone else) aware of any Belkin or APC or other reputable protectors that are compact, do 240V, and have just a regular power receptacle rather than a laptop cord? I actually did look through both of those companies' web sites and didn't find anything suitable, but it's entirely possible I missed something. If I could find something like this that wasn't restricted to 120V, that'd be ideal.

And as you say, I'd still like to know where to go to get a surge protector in Dalian, even if I find an ideal one before I go.

[anonymoose]

There is a large elecronics market in Dalian, if I remember correctly called Electronic City (电子城) below Olympic Square (奥林匹克广场). They have everything related to electronics there, so if such a thing as what you're looking for exists in Dalian, then that's the place to look for it.

[Luobot]

The following looks decent, if it fits your notebook (3-prong and whatever position the prongs need to be in):

Model #: TRAVELERC6

120V / 240V compatible

1130 joule rating at 120V

820 joule rating at 240V

Two 3-prong (C6) connectors

1 in / 2 out tel/modem surge protection

$100,000 Ultimate Lifetime Insurance (USA, Puerto Rico & Canada only)

[xianu]

I actually picked up a cheap surge protector with multiple plug prongs, (though not China specific shaped) at the travel section in Walmart. It cost 10 bucks, though I don't know how good the surge protection was. I also found that all the hotels I stayed in had several shaped prong holes, anyway, including US shaped prongs, and I was able to configure the single surge-protector-multiple prong unit to fit all the outlets.However, I wasn't able to get the third prong in the outlet despite the choices I had for prong shapes, so I don't know how good the surge protection actually was, or if the connection was grounded.