Furman used an expired ZeroSurge patent from the 90's and modified the design (pretty bold on their part). They initially called their product Series Mode Protection and had to change the name due to trademark infringement (settled in a lawsuit they lost), so SMP now stand for Series Multistage Protection. Since it's not true Series Mode, they added an MOV at the end of their chain to deal with the residual surges. I agree it doesn't compare to ZeroSurge or SurgeX SM/ASM products (not all SurgeX branded products are Series Mode)
I too have talked to Jim a number of times over the years and he has been very helpful. He is easy to talk to and makes time (which also surprised me). I thought his reply was spot on and not negative but to a reader it would depend on where you stand on certain technologies. To reach SurgeX try contacting them on Facebook.
I suspected that. In my research, Ive found shills from Furman posting negative reviews on both Zerosurge and SurgeX products on Amazon, literally copied and pasted and recommending the Furman pst-8.
They literally copy paste the review and change zero surge for surgex. Thats pretty low that Furman resorts to this. It should tell you how much better surgex and zerosurge products are in comparison if they feel the need to do this.
I play guitar and Furman racks are “holy grail” and overhyped and over recommended by musicians. They’re not cheap either.
In fact, many popular bands use them too like Metallica and the fans follow suit. They big on advertisement that way.
Even so you said the advanced serie mode patent expires in 2025. That may change the game, because Furman, and possibly Triplite and other companies may enter that territory, thus potentially making zerosurge and surgex reconsider their pricing model especially surgex
Their products are great but the prices new are high. Only three top dogs have been dominating that territory surgex, zerosurge and brickwall hence their prices, if the patent expires and the underdogs enter the business, prices may change to compete
The patent expiring is the best for the consumer tbh