LiteFuzeLiteFuze 500 Watt Step Up/Step Down Travel Voltage Converter, 220/110v to 110/220v Converter with Type G Plug – Compatible with Hair Straightener, Camera, Laptop & More

I never used any transformers in the USA. This is my first time and its working. I need it for Ritter bread slicer which just came from Amazon Germany. The machine is using only 65W but I need something stronger if in the future I will order some other small appliances made in the Europe. I order with US plug because I will use this one only in the USA and the other outlet is universal what is perfect. For me it is great product. It is not light but also not to heavy.

Order in good condition

I bought 2 of these to use with my musical equipment in Europe. After a lot of research these were supposed to be the best for what I needed. When I first plugged them in there was a hum and they began to smoke. I was so disappointed with this product. I am in Europe for another month and cannot find anywhere on Amazon how to return them from here. I went to the Amazon Netherlands site as was described to do. It recognized my account but showed that I had no orders…ever.

It’s great

After trying and returning other voltage CONVERTERS, I bought this one because it is an actual TRANSFORMER. For travel it is a bit heavy and large compared to the others but still not bad. That's probably because it has an actual transformer inside it, not electronic circuitry to do the conversion. I rated it a 4 instead of a 5 only because I haven't actually tried it overseas yet, but if it actually works like it appears it will work, it will deserve a 5+. I'll update this review after my upcoming trip in the fall.The instructions and description that come with it are a bit terse and unclear, so being a technical type myself I checked it out here in the US with a continuity tester and a volt meter. Here is what I found. It will up and down convert from 110 V to 220 V and from 220 V to 110 V. It does NOT do straight through 1:1 conversion, which is something the literature and markings leave in question. There is a switch on the bottom which you set to the input voltage (the plug) at your location and it does either a 2:1 step up in voltage or a 2:1 step down depending on how the switch is set. To check it I plugged it into a 110V US source and with the switch set to 110 and got 220 V at the output on the unit. With the switch set to 220 (but still plugged into a 110 V source) I measured 55 V at the output indicating a 2:1 step down. Presumably when the source is actually 220V the output will be stepped down to 110V.I've seen comments questioning the grounding. I checked continuity from the ground input on the plug to the ground socket at the output and found that there is grounding continuity between the two, and it is isolated from the other connector pin and socket connections as it should be. A continuity check between the pins and sockets connections for input and output power indicates that there is continuity between the input and output. This would indicate that the transformer inside it may be an autotransformer (single winding with a center tap on the core), not an isolation transformer (two separate windings on the core). There's nothing wrong with that, it's just nice to know what you actually have.There is an on/off power switch on the side of the unit and a fuse holder on the bottom. The switch has a pilot light in it to indicate when the unit is on, which is a nice touch. The instructions indicate that the unit should not be used for more that 150W in continuous use even though it's rated at 300 watts. I'm assuming this is to prevent overheating. There is also a warning that devices plugged into it can often "spike" when first turned on and momentarily draw as much as 3 times their rated steady state power. Although it's not so stated, this is presumably an implicit warning that the current spike could blow the fuse in the unit when a device plugged into it is first turned on. My recommendation: Take some extra fuses and a small screwdriver with you on that trip just in case you encounter this problem. The instructions fail to mention what fuse is required, but the markings on it indicate it's a 5GFU rated at 3 A and 250 V.All in all, I really like what I see so far and don't anticipate problems on the trip to Italy that I bought it for. It appears to be a well made, quality product.

Excellent product. I bought several of these and I actually use one as an everyday step-down converter for a TV and home theater I bought from USA where the voltage and my products are rated at 110-120V (in my country the national grid is 240V). There is a small switch which you set to your mains voltage - [An aside here: the values on this switch are 115V and 230V, but almost all appliances will work fine within a certain range, ie 110-120V and 220 to 240V]. The converter upconverts the incoming 110-120V to 220-240V output, or downconverts 220-240V to 110-120V by doing a simple 2-to-1 or 1-to-2. There is no conversion for the current (amps), only for the voltage.I sometimes hear a low buzzing noise from the converter when it has been running for several hours. I initially thought it was that particular unit, so i switched it, but the new one also had the same issue. But anyway even after a few months of this there doesn't seem to be any bad effects from the buzzing noise, and there's no overheating at all, so it's still 5 stars. And that acts as an alert that I've been watching TV too long! Some have complained that they received busted units, but all the 3 500W units I ordered in Oct.2014 were perfectly fine and intact.Others have said, and Litefuze themselves also advise this, but it bears repeating. If you plan on using it for more than an hour or so at a time, buy a converter that's at least double the wattage of the combined gadgets you'll be connecting to the converter. So in my case the stuff I'm connecting to the converter are: a TV rated at 142W, a Vizio soundbar rated about 10W, and my home theater at 12W. The math comes to 142+10+12=164W, so I needed one that's at least 164 x 2 = 328W. The closest to this is the 500W converter- it doesn't hurt to have the extra capacity.A few niggles:- I dont like the buzzing sound after several hours of use, but it's not loud and doesnt seem to have any more ill effects.- More serious, I wish the small switch to change the voltage was better hidden or more difficult to access. I have it set to '230V', so it converts my 240V to 120V. But if a bumbling someone were to accidentally change it to the '115V' setting (which is easy to do with the easily accessible switch), then I think what would happen is the 1-to-2 upconversion. So my actual 240V would be output as 480V, frying my electronics almost instantly! [Again, this is just my opinion based on my understanding of how the thing works and I'm no electrician. If this is wrong someone please comment on this post and correct me - I'll alter it immediately].- The unit itself is quite heavy, about 300-500grams (half a kg). So take that into consideration if you are planning to use it for travel. I dont, so the weight isn't an issue for me.Overall though, these negatives are still minor enough for it to earn a full 5 stars. Excellent product!

Good.