VA and watts are two ratings, and the smaller one is the real one · review

APC Back-UPS BE850G2, 850 VA, eight Schuko outlets review

An 850 VA Back-UPS with eight Schuko outlets, surge protection and USB-C and USB-A charging ports, described in a single bullet.

By Jean-Benoit Buisson

The bottom line The most outlets in this family, from the best-known maker, described in a single bullet. Seven of nine lines are blank, including the watt rating and whether all eight outlets are actually battery-backed.

An 850 VA UPS with eight sockets and one line of description.

What the listing says

“APC Back-UPS 850VA 230V USB Type-C and A charging ports.” That is the bullet, in English, on a German listing.

What the title adds

Eight Schuko outlets and surge protection.

The question that leaves open

Whether all eight are battery-backed or whether some are surge-only. Splitting outlets between the two is standard practice — the Eaton in this family publishes three battery-backed and one surge-only — and this listing does not address it. Plugging a computer into a surge-only socket on a UPS is a mistake that is discovered during the first cut.

And the watt rating

850 VA, no watts. For a computer the two differ, and the watt figure is the one a load list uses.

Where the information is

APC publishes full datasheets for this model. None of it is here.

Availability

German, French, Italian and Spanish Amazon stores quoted 110 € to 163 € when this page was compiled.

British Amazon store carries it too, priced in its own currency, which the euro range above deliberately omits.

American Amazon store returned nothing at all, so the buy button there runs a search instead of landing on an empty page.

These figures are what Keepa reported on the day this page was last updated. Availability and pricing move without notice.

Prices quoted in this text were read on 16 September 2026. The live price is at the top of the page.

What it gets right, and what it leaves out

Strengths

Eight outlets, the most in this family, with surge protection named
USB-C and USB-A charging ports built into the unit
An established maker whose datasheets are published separately and are easy to find

Compromises

The entire listing is one bullet, which restates part of the title
No watt rating, so what the 850 VA will actually run is unknown
Seven of the nine specification lines are absent

Specifications

VA	850 VA, from the title
Watt ratings	Nowhere in the listing — only the VA figure is published
Topology	Nowhere in the listing
Waveform	Nowhere in the listing
Transfer time	Nowhere in the listing
Runtime	Nowhere in the listing
Outlets	8 Schuko with surge protection, from the title — the most outlets in this family
Software	Nowhere in the listing
Battery replaceability	Nowhere in the listing; USB Type-C and Type-A charging ports are named in the single bullet
Amazon reference	B081TKN3MZ (same reference on 5 Amazon marketplaces)
EAN	0731304347286

Questions owners ask about this one

Why is a watt rating needed alongside the VA?

Because volt-amperes describe what the unit must supply and watts describe what a resistive load consumes. For a computer with a switch-mode supply the two differ, and the watt figure is what a load list is compared against. This listing publishes only the first.

Does surge protection on all eight outlets mean battery backup on all eight?

Not necessarily. Many units split their outlets between battery-backed and surge-only, and this listing does not say. The Eaton in this family publishes exactly that split; this one does not.