Do you have a dusty old power strip under your desk? Isn’t it fun to stand on your head to plug and unplug your various gadget chargers when ever you need some juice? The Coalesse PowerPod is a power strip that you can display on top of your desk, instead of hiding it under your desk. It looks great, works great, but has one big fault. Read on to find out what the fault is.
The PowerPod is a great looking accessory that should blend in well to any office, or room. It’s made of a thick White plastic with a brushed aluminum base.
This “power strip” is comprised of 2 parts. The base has 6 15-amp power outlets and a 6 foot cord. The accessory tray sits on top of the base and provides 3 generously sized storage compartments.
The base has 6 grounded outlets that are arranged in a circle. In the center is a push button on/off switch. When powered on, the Coalesse brand name glows white.
Turn the unit over and you’ll find a non-slip rubber base. There’s also a reset switch for the power outlets.
The storage compartments can hold pens, pencils or anything you like. It works great on a desk and looks spiffier than a coffee cup full of pens (which is what I have been using for years).
When you need to plug in an AC adapter, just remove the accessory tray, plug in the adapter and press the center button to turn on the power.
The design of the Coalesse PowerPod looks nice. It’s contemporary, but can fit into any decor. This product is made very well and works equally well. I have no complaints with the design or performance of the PowerPod as a power strip. The only complaint that I have about the PowerPod is the price…. it’s $150.00, which is crazy expensive for a 6 outlet power strip. You can buy a traditional power strip at Walmart for less than $10. Of course, it won’t be nearly as pretty as the Coalesse PowerPod and won’t have storage for your pens and other items. Is the Coalesse PowerPod a really nice power strip that looks and works well? Yes, it is. Is it worth the $150 price tag? I don’t think so. What do you think?
Update: The Coalesse website shows a price of $150, but I’ve been told that the price will actually be $99. I still feel that’s much too expensive. I would consider $50 to be approaching a fair price…
Update 02/05/15
I still love this product and use it every day. I like that I don’t have to crawl under my desk to plug or unplug a gadget. It also looks nice and the price continues to come down. You can now get it for $84 at Coalesse’s online store.
Update 02/05/15
This non-powerstrip powerstrip is still being used every day on the desk at Gadgeteer HQ, but I have recently been considering replacing it with something that does not require any desk real estate. I find that I mainly use it with USB AC adapters to charge my Nexus 6P, Samsung Galaxy S Tab 10.5 and a plugin battery charger for my Canon 70D DSLR. I think I can come up with an alternative for the USB chargers so I can reclaim some extra desktop space.
Product Information
| Price: | $99.00 |
| Manufacturer: | Coalesse |
| Pros: |
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$150!!! At that price point, I would expect it to be a 1000VA UPS with a brand called the APC. It does look nice but think of having all 6 plugs filled. Won’t you end up having spaghetti cords all over your desk? I would image it quite useful for a conference table where everyone can plug in their laptops to. But $150 is too expensive just for a fancy power strip.
Is this thing like a one-off hand molded power strip!??!?! $150 is crazy expensive… I am willing to bet even if Apple were selling something like this it would at least go for $99…
@April The main coalesse website shows $150.00
Probably cost about $10 in components/materials to build this. I wouldn’t pay more than $30 for it.
@Julie
You need a media docking station for your Droid X! 🙂
@Mark You’re right! I need 2. One for work and one for home 🙂
@Julie
That what I have for my Droid. I got fed up with the silly bedside alarms that are always dying after a year or two…or power outages making me oversleep. So now I have a dock by my bed and a dock at work. 🙂
24.99!
I was ready to buy one for home and one for work… until I saw the price. FAIL!
What parallel universe is Coalesse living in that they think folks will pay $100 or more for a power strip? First, who has room on their desktop for another gizmo which can easily go on the floor? Second, if power bricks are fighting each other in a traditional linear power strip, gadgets like the Octopus solve the problem for much less money. EPIC fail! Is Charlie Sheen on the company’s board of directors, by any chance?
This is SWEET the $99 price is fair for well designed product like this IMO. Why buy an Apple laptop when you can get a Acer that does the same thing for les Because it’s a better experience
@John : An Apple Macbook is not 10x more expensive than an Acer. I also fail to see how plugging a plug into a circular power strip a better experience than plugging it into a long power strip. It looks better to some, but surely just looks alone is not worth an addition $89 for such a lowly device.
I can see myself paying twice as much as an ordinary powerstrip just to get the unique shape, but not 10x or even 5x. I’ll rather put that money into something more useful, like extra batteries for my Android phone or a bigger/faster harddisk.
On my fixed income, I couldn’t afford both an Apple laptop and this pricey power puck. One or the other, maybe…
You had me…and then you lost me. $150? Really? Not in this lifetime.
Just went to the store.coalesse.com, the price is $99.
@Tom True. I updated the review (bottom) to reflect that. Coalesse’s main site showed/shows $150. I didn’t know about the store site. Still too pricey.
Looks like these are on sale for $89 right now
@Andrew I still use mine 🙂
The price is ridiculous and makes it a no-can-do, but it’s a neat design and very nice looking, esp since you can hide it when not in use, but that in itself begs the question of the point of purchasing a six-outlet power port if you’re only occasionally going to use a single plug or even a few. Why would you get it?
That said, I see added functionality of it serving as a USB hub (or just charging hub) with a few ports along its base.
That, and a big price drop.
I bought a Mogics Power Doughnut to serve a similar purpose and now have ordered a second unit for my travel bag. Priced right and has an innovative approach to supporting both USB ports and grounded plugs. There is both a European and US model available. Worth a look: http://www.mogics.com/?page_id=3824
Very slick! Especially the Mogics Power Bagel.
I use one of these – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HPB7E9Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1. I believe that you reviewed at one point. It is under my desk but has 18 AC outlets and 4 USB ports and takes almost no floor space. Cost is only $42. A much better deal.