Yellow Jacket 5138N Metal Surge Protector Strip

82%

18%

Build Quality

Cord Length & Usability

Surge Protection

Outlet Configuration

Safety Features

Master Switch & Indicators

Cord Quality

Ease of Setup

Value for Money

Portability

Debris & Dust Resistance

Long-Term Reliability

Aesthetic & Form Factor

Overview

The Yellow Jacket 5138N Metal Surge Protector Strip is built for people who actually put their power strips through the wringer — contractors, woodworkers, and anyone who has watched a cheap plastic strip crack under job site conditions. The real story here is the steel housing, which sets it apart from virtually every budget-friendly option on the market. Add a bright 15-foot yellow cord that stays visible on a cluttered floor, a 1,050-joule surge rating, and UL1449 certification, and you have a no-nonsense workhorse. This is not a sleek desk accessory — it is a durable utility tool priced fairly for what it delivers.

Features & Benefits

Six grounded outlets do the heavy lifting here, including two spaced slots positioned to handle transformer-style plugs without blocking neighboring outlets — a small detail that makes a real difference when running a shop full of tools. The metal body shrugs off drops and bumps that would split a plastic housing. Sliding covers on every unused outlet block out sawdust and grit, which matters in a workshop environment. A lighted master switch lets you cut power to everything at once, and a green indicator confirms surge protection is active. The 14-gauge cord includes a built-in clip to keep it from dragging across the floor.

Best For

This workshop surge protector is an obvious fit for contractors and tradespeople who need power distribution that can take a beating. Woodworkers running a table saw, drill press, and dust collector simultaneously will appreciate both the outlet count and the cord length — 15 feet covers a lot of ground in a garage setup. It also suits home theater or studio equipment where steel-cased protection for expensive gear makes sense. That said, if your goal is a tidy strip for a home office desk, this is overkill. Its size, weight, and industrial look are assets in a workshop but drawbacks in a polished interior space.

User Feedback

Across a large pool of verified buyers, the pattern is consistent: people who pick up this metal power strip for workshop or job site use are overwhelmingly satisfied. Build quality earns repeated praise — reviewers note it feels substantially more solid than anything in the standard plastic-strip category. The long yellow cord gets called out often as a practical win for reaching outlets across a wide workbench. A fair number of buyers mention the sliding outlet covers are stiff at first, though most say they ease up with regular use. The one recurring wish is for more than two spaced adapter slots, which fill up fast with bulkier plugs.

#Surge Protectors

#Power Strips & Surge Protectors

#Accessories & Supplies

#Electronics

Pros

Steel housing holds up to drops, kicks, and rough job site conditions that destroy plastic strips within months.
The 15-foot cord reaches across large garage workbenches or job site layouts without needing an additional extension cord.
Sliding outlet covers on every port block out sawdust, metal shavings, and debris between uses.
Two generously spaced outlets accommodate bulky transformer plugs without blocking neighboring sockets.
The lighted master switch lets you cut power to all connected tools in one move — genuinely useful mid-project.
A green LED indicator gives instant visual confirmation that surge protection is active and functioning.
Overload protection shuts everything down automatically before damage occurs, protecting both tools and the strip itself.
UL1449 certification and a 1,050-joule surge rating provide credible, verifiable protection for expensive equipment.
Repeat purchases by existing owners suggest strong long-term reliability that justifies the mid-range price point.
The bright yellow 14-gauge cord stays visible on cluttered floors, reducing tripping hazards in busy work areas.

Cons

Only two of the six outlets are spaced for large adapter plugs, which fills up quickly in a tool-heavy setup.
No USB charging ports means you will need a separate solution for phones or tablets on the workbench.
The sliding outlet covers can be stiff and awkward to operate, especially with gloves on.
At over 15 inches long and built from steel, this metal power strip is not easy to reposition or store when not in use.
The industrial yellow-and-black design is purely functional and looks out of place in any polished interior setting.
No individual outlet switches mean you cannot control specific tools independently without unplugging them.
The cord, while long, is not retractable, so managing slack in a tidy workspace requires the included clip and some patience.
Heavier than plastic alternatives, which can be a minor inconvenience when repositioning frequently on a mobile job site.

Ratings

Our AI-generated scores for the Yellow Jacket 5138N Metal Surge Protector Strip were produced by analyzing verified global buyer reviews, with spam, incentivized feedback, and bot activity actively filtered out before scoring. The result is a transparent picture of where this workshop surge protector genuinely excels and where real buyers have run into friction. Both strengths and honest shortcomings are reflected in every category below.

Build Quality

94%

The steel housing is the single most praised aspect across the entire review base. Buyers who have gone through two or three plastic strips in a single season consistently describe this metal power strip as feeling like it belongs in a professional environment — something you can kick across a concrete floor and not worry about.

A small number of buyers note that the paint finish on the housing can chip at impact points over time, and the end caps where the cord exits the body can feel slightly less robust than the main shell. These are minor issues that do not affect function but are worth noting for cosmetic-conscious buyers.

Cord Length & Usability

91%

Fifteen feet is genuinely useful in a workshop setting, and buyers make this point repeatedly. Whether reaching from a wall outlet to the far end of a workbench or spanning across a job site room, the cord length removes the need for an extension cord in most practical setups.

The cord is not retractable and produces noticeable slack in smaller spaces, which requires active cable management. The integrated clip helps, but buyers with compact setups say the excess cord becomes a minor organizational headache when the full length is not needed.

Surge Protection

83%

The 1,050-joule rating and UL1449 certification give buyers in the workshop and trades segment real confidence that connected tools are covered against voltage spikes. Buyers running sensitive equipment like laser printers or home theater systems alongside power tools find this level of protection appropriate and well-documented.

For buyers protecting high-value sensitive electronics in a studio or professional AV environment, 1,050 joules sits at the lower end of what premium surge protectors offer. The protection is adequate for the intended use case but not exceptional by the standards of dedicated electronics protection strips.

Outlet Configuration

74%

26%

Six grounded outlets cover most workshop power needs comfortably, and the two spaced slots are a practical detail that prevents bulky transformer plugs from monopolizing adjacent sockets. Buyers running a drill press, dust collector, and task lighting simultaneously find the count sufficient for a typical single-station setup.

The frustration point that surfaces most consistently is that only two outlets are spaced wide enough for large adapter plugs, and those two fill up immediately in a tool-heavy setup. Buyers with three or more wall-adapter-style plugs are forced to leave outlets unused or purchase a separate adapter block.

Safety Features

88%

The sliding outlet covers earn consistent praise from buyers who work in dusty environments — woodworkers and metalworkers particularly appreciate that unused outlets stay protected from sawdust and debris without any extra effort. The overload auto-shutoff has also been credited by multiple buyers with preventing damage during accidental overloads.

The sliding covers are noticeably stiff when the unit is new, and buyers who wear work gloves find them awkward to open one-handed. The stiffness does ease with regular use, but it is a genuine usability friction point in the early weeks of ownership.

Master Switch & Indicators

86%

The lighted master switch is consistently called out as a practical feature — being able to cut power to an entire workstation with one flick at the end of a session is genuinely useful, and the backlit switch makes it easy to find in a dim garage. The green LED surge indicator gives buyers immediate reassurance that the protection circuitry is active.

There are no individual outlet switches, which means you cannot isolate a single tool without physically unplugging it. For buyers who want granular control over which outlets are live at any given time, this single-switch design is a real limitation rather than just a trade-off.

Cord Quality

89%

The 14-gauge cord handles the current demands of a multi-tool setup without getting warm, which buyers with electrical experience specifically call out as a sign of quality. The high-visibility yellow finish is also credited with preventing accidental cuts and trip hazards in busy work areas.

The cord is somewhat stiff and does not coil neatly for storage, which makes transport and compact storage a little awkward. A few buyers also note that the outer jacket shows scuff marks from floor contact fairly quickly, though the electrical integrity is not affected.

Ease of Setup

92%

There is no setup in the traditional sense — buyers plug it in and it works immediately. The green indicator light confirms in seconds that surge protection is active, and the lighted switch orientation is self-explanatory. Nearly every buyer comment on this topic reflects a frustration-free first experience.

The unit has no mounting hardware or keyhole slots, so buyers who want it secured to a wall or the underside of a workbench have to source their own mounting solution. This is not a complicated problem to solve, but it does require a small additional step for buyers with specific installation goals.

Value for Money

81%

19%

Buyers who compare this metal power strip to the plastic strips they previously owned consistently feel the price difference is justified by the durability improvement alone. The combination of steel housing, a long heavy-gauge cord, and UL-certified surge protection at a mid-range price point is seen as fair across the majority of the review base.

Buyers coming from budget plastic strips sometimes experience initial sticker surprise, and a subset of reviewers feel the feature set — particularly the lack of USB ports and individual outlet switches — does not fully justify the premium over entry-level options when used in a standard home context rather than a demanding workshop.

Portability

67%

33%

At roughly one pound, the Yellow Jacket surge strip is light enough to move between workstations or toss in a tool bag without much thought. Contractors who bring it from job site to job site report that the steel body travels well without the cracking and breakage that plagues plastic alternatives in transit.

The combination of a long non-retractable cord and a rigid steel body makes this workshop surge protector bulkier to transport than its weight alone suggests. It does not coil compactly, and there is no cord wrap or storage pouch included, which means loose cord management becomes the user's responsibility on the move.

Debris & Dust Resistance

82%

18%

The sliding outlet covers on all six outlets are a genuine differentiator from most competing strips, which leave unused outlets exposed. Woodworkers who run sanding and routing operations nearby describe the covers as a meaningful protection against the fine dust that accumulates rapidly in a shop environment.

The covers protect the outlet openings but the body itself has ventilation gaps and seams where fine dust can accumulate over time. The unit is not sealed or rated for any level of dust ingress protection, so buyers in extremely dusty environments should expect to periodically clean around the switch and indicator areas.

Long-Term Reliability

91%

The pattern of repeat purchases among existing owners is one of the strongest signals in the review data. Buyers who have owned this metal power strip for two or more years describe it as showing no functional degradation, with the surge indicator still active and all outlets performing normally through extended daily use.

Because the surge protection circuitry does degrade over time as it absorbs voltage events, there is no built-in alert to notify the user when protection capacity has been exhausted — only the green LED going dark. Buyers who are unaware of this dynamic may continue using the strip for power distribution after the surge protection has been depleted.

Aesthetic & Form Factor

53%

47%

For its intended environment — a garage, workshop, or job site — the industrial yellow-and-black color scheme is appropriate and the visible cord improves safety. Buyers who purchase specifically for workshop use rarely mention aesthetics as a concern, which aligns with the product's clearly utilitarian design brief.

In any context outside a workshop or utility space, the form factor is genuinely unattractive and out of place. Buyers who purchase without reading the product description carefully and then try to use it in a living room, bedroom, or modern home office are consistently disappointed by how visually dominant and industrial it looks.

Suitable for:

The Yellow Jacket 5138N Metal Surge Protector Strip was clearly designed with a specific type of buyer in mind: someone who works in a demanding environment where a standard plastic power strip simply would not survive the week. Contractors running power tools across a job site, woodworkers juggling a dust collector, bandsaw, and shop vac from a single station, and garage hobbyists who need reliable surge protection without babying their equipment will all find this metal power strip a strong fit. The 15-foot cord is long enough to reach across a wide workbench or stretch to a wall outlet without an extension cord, which removes a common frustration in larger workspaces. Home theater enthusiasts or studio owners with high-value equipment also benefit from the steel-cased protection and 1,050-joule surge rating. Anyone who has already burned through one or two cheap plastic strips and wants to stop replacing them every year will likely find this workshop surge protector to be a worthwhile upgrade.

Not suitable for:

The Yellow Jacket 5138N Metal Surge Protector Strip is not the right pick for every buyer, and being honest about that matters. If you are furnishing a clean home office, a bedroom nightstand, or a living room entertainment center where aesthetics count, the industrial yellow cord and boxy steel housing will feel out of place. The form factor is bulky by design — it prioritizes toughness over compactness, so buyers who need something to tuck behind a desk or mount discreetly will be disappointed. With only two spaced outlets among the six, users who regularly plug in multiple wall-adapter-style chargers may find themselves fighting for space. This metal power strip also does not offer USB charging ports, which are now standard on many competing strips aimed at modern home or office use. If your primary concern is cable management aesthetics or charging convenience rather than raw durability, a different product category will serve you better.

Specifications

Brand: Manufactured by Coleman Cable under the Yellow Jacket brand, a name associated with heavy-duty electrical accessories for professional and workshop use.
Model Number: The unit carries model designation 5138N, which identifies this specific configuration within the Yellow Jacket surge protector lineup.
Housing Material: The body is constructed from impact-resistant steel, making it substantially more durable than the polycarbonate or ABS plastic used in standard consumer power strips.
Total Outlets: Six three-prong grounded outlets are provided, two of which are spaced wider apart to accommodate large wall-adapter-style plugs without blocking adjacent sockets.
Cord Length: The power cord extends 15 feet from the unit, giving users significant reach across workbenches, garage floors, or job site layouts.
Cord Gauge: The cord is rated at 14 AWG, which supports higher current loads safely and is appropriate for powering multiple power tools simultaneously.
Cord Color: The cord is finished in high-visibility yellow, making it easier to spot on cluttered floors and reducing the risk of accidental tripping or cutting.
Surge Rating: The unit provides up to 1,050 joules of surge protection, offering a meaningful buffer against voltage spikes for connected tools and equipment.
Voltage Rating: Surge clamping voltage is rated at 330V, meeting the UL1449 standard for surge protective devices sold in North America.
Certification: The Yellow Jacket 5138N Metal Surge Protector Strip is UL1449 listed, confirming it has been independently tested and meets established safety requirements for surge protectors.
Master Switch: A lighted on/off master switch allows the user to cut power to all six outlets simultaneously, with a built-in light confirming the switch is in the active position.
LED Indicator: A green LED light remains illuminated while surge protection circuitry is functioning normally, providing a quick visual check without requiring any tools or testing equipment.
Outlet Covers: Every outlet on the strip is fitted with a sliding safety cover that blocks dust, sawdust, and debris from entering unused sockets.
Overload Protection: An automatic overload shutoff cuts power to all outlets if the connected load exceeds the unit's rated capacity, protecting both the strip and attached equipment.
Cord Clip: An integrated cord clip is included on the housing to help route and secure the cable, reducing drag and keeping the workspace tidier.
Dimensions: The unit measures 15.25 x 1.75 x 5.63 inches, reflecting its industrial footprint designed for flat placement on a workbench or floor rather than desk mounting.
Weight: The steel-bodied strip weighs approximately 1 pound, heavier than plastic alternatives but light enough to reposition without difficulty.
Manufacturer: Coleman Cable Inc. produces this product; the Woods brand referenced in some documentation is a registered trademark also operated under Coleman Cable.

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FAQ

Yes, that is exactly what it is built for. The 14-gauge cord and six grounded outlets are well-suited to a shop environment where you might have a drill press, belt sander, and shop vac all running from the same station. Just be mindful of the total amperage draw — if you trip the overload protection, simply reduce the load and reset.

This metal power strip is designed for rugged indoor workspaces like workshops and job sites, not for outdoor or wet locations. The sliding outlet covers help keep out dust and debris, but the unit is not rated for outdoor or wet-location use. Keep it away from standing water and direct exposure to rain.

For a workshop setting with power tools, 1,050 joules is a reasonable level of protection against typical voltage spikes caused by motors cycling on and off or utility fluctuations. It is not the highest rating on the market, but it is adequate for the intended use case. If you are protecting very expensive sensitive electronics, you may want to compare against higher-joule options.

A fair number of users mention that the sliding covers are stiff when the unit is brand new. They do tend to loosen with regular use, but with thick gloves on it can be a bit fiddly at first. It is a minor trade-off for the debris protection they provide in a dusty shop environment.

Coleman Cable products typically carry a limited warranty, but the specific terms can vary. It is worth checking the packaging or contacting Coleman Cable directly to confirm current warranty coverage for your purchase.

The unit is designed to sit flat on a surface rather than mount vertically. There are no built-in mounting keyholes or brackets on the housing, so standard wall-mounting is not straightforward without a separate bracket solution. Most users place it on the workbench surface or on the floor near their primary outlet.

Fifteen feet gives you a solid reach in most garage setups — enough to get from a wall outlet to the middle of a workbench without needing an extension cord. For a very large space where your outlet is in one corner and your work area is across the room, you may still need an appropriately rated extension cord.

No, there is only a single master switch that controls all six outlets at once. If you need to cut power to one specific tool without unplugging it, that is not possible with this strip. It is a simple, deliberate design choice that keeps the unit straightforward and reliable.

The biggest practical difference is the housing. A steel body holds up to drops, kicks, and rough handling that would crack or break a plastic unit within a few months of workshop use. You also get the sliding outlet covers and a heavier-gauge cord, which are worth the price difference if you are working in a demanding environment.

No, this workshop surge protector does not include any USB charging ports. It is purely focused on providing grounded AC outlets for tools and equipment. If you need USB charging at your workbench, you would need a separate USB charger or a different power strip that includes those ports.