What Adapter?
 

For the electricity in Paris, Florence, and Rome. I did a search but, many of the return hits are/were 'buried' in 'over one hunmdred response posts, and have usually not helped at all! When I get really specific, like "electricity adapters", there are no return 'hits'! I went to Radio Shack where they had 'lots and lots' of adapters with one, two, or three prongs (etc.) but, the stores employee had not a clue which one to sell me and the package(s) were simply useless (for information). Please help, if you can. <BR> <BR>Thanks much, <BR>Mr. "C" <BR>

I have a Dilana 50/1600 Voltage Converter Kit. It contains four types of adaptor plugs. I used it last year in Europe to recharge my electric razor and my wife ran a hair dryer off of it. <BR>That is all we used it for, but the two appliances are at opposite ends of the voltage spectrum. I do not know how much it cost or where it came from because it was a present. But it worked for us. <BR>

I believe most of Europe uses the plug with two round pins. You will also need a voltage converter, as most of Europe is 220v, 50 Hz. Some folks in this forum have recommended purchasing inexpensive high-wattage appliances like hair dryers and curling irons in the country you're going to rather than risk blowing fuses in your hotel. Some things, like camcorder battery chargers, will convert voltage automatically. Read the manual. Get a travel guide for the countries you are going to and it will tell you what you need, or shop at a good luggage store.

Dave, What you need for Europe is a plug adaptor that changes the US flat prongs into two round prongs. This is for an item that can convert the electric to 220v by itself. (ie camcorder chargers are usually multi-voltage) You will see kits with convertor plugs for all of the world, which you do not need, you should be able to find the plug seperatly. If the item is not 220 compatible, you will need a power converter to change it to US standards. I hope that helped.

<BR>Dave, try www.harrisonluggage.com/convert.htm <BR> <BR>Also, I have a kit I got at a dept. store, has adapters for all countries (and explanations) and a converter. I just carry the one(s) I need for whatever country I'm going to.

Hi Crazy Dave! I got my set (includes converter and six types of adapters) from Brookstone store. It also has a map of the world in it showing what type of plugs countries NORMALLY need. They may have a web site or catalog. I wasn't thrilled with how the converter worked with my hairdryer, so I bought a small travel hairdryer that converts.

Dave, I bought a Travel Smart by Franzus "Dual Wattage International Converter/Adapter Set" at a luggage store. It was less than $40 and comes in a small travel case. The dual wattage (you can switch from low to high wattage for various appliances) is important so you don't "blow up" your low wattage items, like curling irons or shavers. The Travel Smart comes with decent instructions.

Dave, I bought a converter for my daughter at Radio Shack that seemed to be perfect. It had all the various types of plug arrangements that you could just pop out of the body of the converter as needed, depending which country you were in. You can't loose one, and if you need different ones for different countries, they're all there! Seemed good to me. It also converted the voltage. It was in the $20 range I believe.

I find www.kropla.com to be a useful reference.

I would go with one of the above mentioned kits with the multiple adapters. Last year, I went to France & Italy; I bought a cheap hair dryer in France, but it was useless in Italy because the plugs/prongs are different (voltage was the same). They were both a 2-prong configuration, but different sizes and shapes. <BR>