The Alto Power Series AP1800 is an 1800VA line interactive UPS for a busier workstation, a small office network cabinet, or a PC with a couple of monitors and a printer. With a 0.6 output power factor it delivers about 1080 W, and its microprocessor-controlled buck and boost AVR evens out the brown-outs and surges common on South African mains without draining the battery. On mains the output is sine wave and on battery modified sine wave, which suits computers, servers, modems and PABXs. Alto quotes 10 to 15 minutes of backup depending on load, for a controlled shutdown or to ride out a short outage. The charger keeps working when the UPS is switched off, and you also get cold start, a self-test on start-up, MOV surge protection and a USB port for Alto's monitoring software. The black tower is 158 x 380 x 198 mm and weighs 12 kg. In the box: the UPS, a manual, the monitoring software and two IEC male-to-female cables. Warranty is 6 months.