International electrical outlet adapters

I was in BestBuy and they had two different adapters. One was for heat-producing appliances like curling irons and the other was for lower usage stuff like MP3 players. I'm wondering; do I need both or can I use the higher strength one for all needs? How many of them should I bring? Can anyone recommend good adapters?

Where are you going? There are several different types of plugs. What do you need to plug in?

arturo7 said:

Where are you going? There are several different types of plugs. What do you need to plug in?

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Europe (specifically Greece, Germany, Austria) and we'll be plugging in blowdryer, razor, curling iron, laptop, phone chargers, iPod chargers, and other standard items...

The items that have a battery and you are plugging in a charger are easy. You just need an outlet adapter.

The other items with motors are more difficult because the voltage is different. Most of the non-US world runs 50hz, not 60. For these you will need a power adapter.

Most airports will have the outlet adapters available in a gift shop/newstand. The power adapters are not so easy.

Your best bet is to visit the travel shop in your local mall. They should be able to hook you up.

EDIT: Just re-read your OP. I'm not sure what the "higher strength" unit is. Does it offer different outlet adapters? It may be all you need, but maybe not.

Yeah, you will need an adaptor that reduces voltage to 110. Probably about $40!!!!

Seek one out well in advance of going to the airport, they will sting you. Better still, research where you will be staying in europe. You might not even have to take all that stuff overseas with you in the first place.

I bought a bunch of these when I moved to the UK to run all my US stuff on. I had one so big it ran my washer machine! I'm not sure about Greece, but Germany and Austria are the standard 2-pronged round plugs. Some of the power converters come with this already on it, so you may not need the adapter in addition to the converter. Most of the standard stuff will run at 50 hz, so I wouldn't worry about that. If you have time, I would definitely buy online. I have a few of the "travel" type that have a switch to go from 50 watts max to 1500 watts max. This is sort of a one-size fits all for travel as you can run an electric razor, mp3, etc. on the low watt setting and an iron or blow dryer on the 1500 watt setting. The high watt setting is only meant for short term use.

Try this one:
http://www.110220volts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?store_code=110220volts&screen=PROD&product_code=7-ss207

Thanks for the help guys...

This site might help also. http://www.dvdoverseas.com/store/index.html?loadfile=catalog6_0.html

When I went to Greece, I only used a format adapter because the laptop power already accepts from 110-220 as I believe most charging bricks do. Greece is on the two prong round also.

Bobby_M said:

When I went to Greece, I only used a format adapter because the laptop power already accepts from 110-220 as I believe most charging bricks do. Greece is on the two prong round also.

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This is a good point. Many electronics accept both 240V and 120V with the flick of a switch. If you think about it from a manufacturing standpoint, it's cheaper to produce electronics this way vs. making two different versions. In some older electronics, the switch can be made internally. I have a piece of studio rack equipment (Digitech GSP-2101) that has a board inside it with a row of holes for a resistor and labels with various voltages (115, 230, etc.). The resistor was in the 115 slot, so I "unsoldered" it and put it in the 230 slot and it worked great in the UK.