Goldenmate UPS 1000va/800w UPS review — Flexible and lead-free

I live in Texas. If you didn’t know, there are three power grids in the United States – East, West, and then Texas. It’s not a joke, it truly is split this way, and unfortunately it’s the consumer that suffers. Every year we have “once in a lifetime” events, including ice storms, overheating grids that can’t handle the summer, capacity issues due to overselling to Bitcoin miners, and shady political nonsense. Why do I tell you this, and why would I kick off a review for a UPS unit this way? Simple – you as a consumer are ON YOUR OWN. The unstable and unreliable power grid means your electronics are at risk of damage, being unexpectedly powered down, or worse. In short, a UPS is a must-have piece of equipment. The challenge, then, is deciding which one to choose. Today we’ll take a look at the Goldenmate 1000va/800w UPS and see if it can differentiate itself from the endless list of other UPS units you’ll find on Amazon.

Unboxing the Goldenmate is a quick affair as there are only three items in the box – the manual, a cord, and the unit itself. We’re actually off to a great start as that cord is a standard 12V power cord you can buy just about anywhere, and it’s not hard wired to the unit – something I’ve never seen on a UPS. This means you can swap this cable out with a far longer one if you need, or a shorter one if that matches your desk layout. It seems like such a simple thing, but I cannot overstate how many times a UPS power cord has been just slightly too short for where it needed to reach.

The unit itself measures 13” from front to back, 5.84” tall, x 4.13” thick. It weighs just over 12 pounds, making it easily 20% lighter than its contemporaries, despite offering a full 1000va/800W of battery backup and protection. Unlike systems you might get from APC or Cyberpower, this unit can’t be opened. The case is white all the way around, with a black front and back. On the bottom of the front is a small LCD screen that offers input and output of both volts and watts simultaneously. It also gives a small five dot capacity battery symbol, though I’d prefer a percentage or a time remaining at current usage for a measurement.

Inside the case lies a LiFePO4 battery. If it’s been a minute since you took a chemistry course, that is short for Lithium Iron Phosphate – a battery that boasts over 5000 cycles and over 10 years of usage. Having just recently replaced a few batteries in just 3 or 4 years, I have a deep appreciation for the change in materials. It also means you don’t have a big battery filled with lead and acid to contend with. You see, when lead cores sit in acid, they degrade over time, sloughing off small bits of metal until they eventually make contact and short out. Moving a lead/acid battery can jostle the internals, hastening this process. In the case of a LiFePO4 battery like we see in the Goldenmate UPS, this doesn’t happen – it’s a great advancement.

There is one other reason to like LiFePO4: it doesn’t contain rare earth elements. As it doesn’t contain acid, it also can be mounted in any orientation. Not unlike a marine battery which is hardened against corrosion and has to withstand the rigors of life on a boat, this battery is sealed to not require maintenance, does not corrode, is non-toxic, and doesn’t off-vent any gasses as it doesn’t produce any. Think about the times when you might want a UPS in a non-traditional space, such as above a ceiling tile, tucked underneath a desk, sideways in a rack, or anywhere in between. It also has the added benefit of not using materials that come from conflict areas on the planet where obtaining those items are problematic.

On the back of the unit lies four NEMA 45 degree offset outlets, each with surge protection. Other manufacturers offer up eight outlets, albeit with only four of them being UPS-backed. This design forces you to make a decision on whether or not your intended use case works with just four ports with the Goldenmate. In the case of how I’m using this device, specifically protecting my arcade cabinet and my Elegoo Phecda laser engraver, four is plenty. That’s one for the engraver, one for the arcade PC, one for the monitor, and one for the speakers. Granted, you can extend this further with a power strip, though that means you’ll have to do a bit of math to ensure you aren’t exceeding the max per-port amperage amount. These are NEMA 5-15P, which breaks down to mean National Electrical Manufacturers Association, with the 5 meaning two-pole, three wire and rated for 125 volts, the 15 meaning 15 amps of current per port, and P standing for plug. Odds are, it’s probably fine, but it’s worth doing a quick sanity check first.

I do appreciate the 45 degree angles for the ports, as it allows me to alternate orientation of power bricks. I don’t have to use my power whip extensions for the same purpose as a result, keeping things tidy on the back of the UPS.

While the Goldenmate is certainly great for protecting electronics like the PlayStation 5 or your Nintendo Switch dock, there is one other use case that wasn’t immediately obvious. We touched on why you don’t want to jostle a lead-acid battery, as it can drastically shorten the lifespan, but that same problem doesn’t affect this UPS system. Combined with the rather svelte size and weight of the Goldenmate’s chassis, you suddenly have a protected battery system that can be taken on the go. You can power multiple devices while you are out camping, RV’ing, or hitting some picnic time. It’s nice to be able to bring a radio and a set of speakers for when you’re relaxing around the fire. Combine it with a foldable solar panel and suddenly you’ve got four full-powered plugs that’ll keep the kids entertained when the novelty of camping wears off.

Most of the time you’re using the UPS, the system is completely silent. When under load, there are fans that kick on in the back of the unit to cool things. These pop up to about 55 db by my sound measurement meter, putting it just above a whisper. I’ve reviewed more than a few UPS units that are downright loud, but the Goldenmate is remarkably quiet. When you do get to around 25% of battery left, it will begin to chirp on you to let you know, but that’s expected. Otherwise, this UPS runs all but silent whether it’s plugged in or not. I’m used to UPS units that scream holy terror the second they’re removed from commercial power, which makes them unsuitable for anything but wall-connected use. It’s clear that Goldenmate thought of the camping angle before I did.

While the battery’s composition does support over 5000 cycles, and purports 10 years of usage, Goldenmate only warranties the device for five years. It’s not unlike the solar battery system that’s connected to the panels on my roof. The batteries promise 20 years of usage, but the warranty only backs it for half that. Frustrating to be sure.

Speaking of frustration, there is a port on the back of the Goldenmate, but avert your eyes – that’s not for you. A canon plug in the back might make you believe that there’d be a way to execute graceful shutdown or monitoring with the Goldenmate, but sadly this is merely for Goldenmate to use for troubleshooting, should something unexpected happen. This feels like a missed opportunity for the manufacturer.

Obviously runtime for a UPS is a critical component of the purchase. It’s not easy to quantify without knowing precisely what you’ve plugged in, but it’s fair to say you’ll get roughly 30-40 minutes at a 400W load, and roughly 10 for 800W. For reference, my laptop with a 4080 pulls just over 130W while running Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader. A fully kitted out PC will double that with a mid-tier GPU. Newegg has a PC Power Supply estimator that’ll give you a good idea of what your combined equipment will soak up, so when in doubt, do some calculations ahead of time.

The last thing we always look at with hardware reviews is price. The Goldenmate UPS 1000va/800w UPS comes in at $179. This places it in line with other UPS devices with similar specifications. The differentiator then becomes the small perks. Extra ports and graceful shutdown software makes these other devices more broadly useful, but the sustainable nature and flexibility of the Goldenmate device offers, combined with the outrageous flexibility, lightweight nature, and build quality provide a balancing against those otherwise missing features. Whether those features matter to you or not is up to your use case. I’ll tell you one thing for certain – for this Texas resident, the Goldenmate is a must-have.

If you’d like to pick one up for yourself, we have a special offer.   Using our GAMING15 code you’ll take an additional 15% off the price.  You can pick it up right here.

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