FireCracker

Control any plug-based light or appliance via remote control.

Need a little more control over the appliances in your life? Then check out X10's $5.90 FireCracker, a wireless remote-control kit that lets you power up (and down) 16 devices from anywhere in your house. The FireCracker will turn any two-pronged electrical device on (or off), be it a light, a home stereo, or an electric fan.

The kit includes a wireless remote control, a wireless transceiver module (which plugs into a free outlet and transmits info to each of the electrical devices you have plugged into the wall), and a lamp module (which plugs into the appliance you want to control). The lamp module also lets you wirelessly power up or down any electronic device that uses a two-pronged plug. If the electronic device in question is grounded, meaning it uses a three-pronged plug, then you need to purchase an additional "appliance" module for $13.99. We can't argue this, with FireCracker's absurdly low entry price. Even better, the remote unit can actually support up to 16 electrical devices at one time. But, for every additional device you want to operate with the remote, you need to buy either another lamp module ($12.99 each) or another appliance module ($13.99). In the end, powering five items off your remote could cost you as much as $70.


The basic kit includes:

• A remote control (four AAA batteries required)
• One lamp module for powering up a two-pronged electronic device
• One wireless link module (which can control up to 16 modules)
• Computer software interface (which can be downloaded from the company's web site)
• Additional lamp module: $12.99
• Additional appliance module: $13.99