"For about a month or so, I had been looking for what I thought would be a common device – a power strip with at least 4 outlets that could be mounted horizontally [outlets had to be upright (ground receptacle DOWN) when mounted horizontally] and which were spaced far enough apart that they would accept transformers in adjacent outlets. Tried Lowe's, Home Depot, local hardware and electric supply houses to no avail. A long search on the Web finally turned up X1UP.com in Ontario, CA, which had a 2', 6-outlet metal strip that appeared to fill the bill for $21.99 + 8.86 s/h. The X1UP.com site indicated the item was on back order, but I was desperate, so ordered it anyway.

Well, turns out their Web site is not updated often, because the item was apparently in stock and shipped shortly after I submitted the order. Shipping was fairly prompt (but not as prompt as, e.g., Amazon.com); took about a week, maybe a day or two more, as I recall.

Upon opening the box, I found that Fed-Ex had handled it pretty roughly. One of the plastic covers for the end mounting tabs was cracked and the tab was bent slightly. Didn't particularly matter, because I didn't need the plastic covers and easily straightened the tab with pliers. However, I noticed immediately that (a) the cord, which was advertised at 3', was actually about 10% short of that and (b) the orientation of the outlets was such that if mounted where I wanted it (near a workbench outlet), in order for the cord to reach the workbench outlet, all the strip outlets would have the ground part of the receptacle UP (not down). This orientation was no good for the transformers I had to plug into it, because they and their wires would protrude upward and above the workbench. If I turned the strip around 180o to put the ground receptacle DOWN, the cord would not reach the workbench receptacle (because it now had to traverse the entire length of the strip).

X1UP.com sent an e-mail confirming the order and their message included, "If you have comments or suggestions, email us at ****@****." So I e-mailed them to let them know that (a) one of the plastic cover tabs had been destroyed in shipping, but that was no problem since I didn't intend to used them, and (b) was there any way to open the strip and rotate the outlets 180o to accommodate the way I needed to use it? That was on 5/5/08. Today is 5/13/08 and I've had no response.

Final rating: Quality of product, very good except for exaggerated length of cord. Quality of customer service: Non-existent. This product is made in China (what isn't these days?) and the California company that distributes them is probably woefully understaffed and oriented to selling rather than servicing. So buyer beware; make sure what you're buying from them is EXACTLY what you need because you will not get customer service after the sale."