Discontinued years ago, this power strip has flown around the world with me several times over.

I believe I purchased my Monster Outlets To Go 4 in 2011. I was preparing to travel to my first tech trade show — CES in Las Vegas — and it seemed like the ideal portable power strip. With 4 AC outlets in an offset, mirrored configuration (front and back) and a very clever flat wraparound cord that plugs into the strip itself for convenient storage, there was and is nothing like it on the market. (Part of me suspects Monster holds a patent on this design because it’s bizarre no copycats exist. Monster Cable is notoriously litigious, so it seems a reasonable suspicion.)

The Outlets To Go came in 4 and 3-outlet configurations, with the latter featuring a USB-A port. In hindsight, the 4-outlet model is the more desirable iteration, given the transition to USB-C is now largely completed.

OK, but what is actually that special about this thing? It’s a power strip, for god’s sake. First, it really is small; I’ve never seen a 4-outlet design as compact. Second, the ingenious front-and-back layout means you can use all four outlets if needed; there is plenty of room. Third — and this one was not advertised by Monster — it works with international voltages (it has a built-in breaker to prevent overloads, so this did technically need to be designed in).

That last part is why my Outlet To Go has always found its way into my bag no matter where I’m going. I covet my Outlets To Go like it’s made of solid gold; the thought of losing it (or, one day, going kaput) brings me great sadness. I’m not an electrical engineer, but I suspect Monster never advertised the “OTG” as being international-friendly because it didn’t want to make a warrantable attestation regarding global compatibility (i.e., if it didn’t work somewhere in the world, Monster had no duty to the customer). But everywhere I’ve taken it — China, Japan, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy, Taiwan, and more — the OTG has performed without complaint. I simply plug it into a wall adapter (if necessary) to convert it to the correct prong layout.

My particular OTG is a bit worse for wear, but just a bit! The blue LED that once signaled it was receiving power has long since died, and the Monster-branded plastic disc that once sat over it came unglued at some point, likely deposited in some conference center hallway or hotel room years ago. But otherwise, it works as well as the day I bought it. That super smart self-stowing flat cord takes almost no wear and is inherently very resistant to kinking. The grounded outlets themselves still hold adapters just fine.

For a while, used Outlets To Go were readily available on eBay, but these days, they’re few and far between. That isn’t surprising given that the product is now over 15 years old — the OTG line was launched in 2008! (Or possibly earlier. The earliest reviews date to this period.) What puzzles me is why Monster never issued a real follow-up.

I’m in Germany right now, and my travel-weary OTG4 is as helpful as ever. I do now have a 4-port high-output USB-C power adapter that makes it redundant for my various screens (laptop, tablet, smartphone, smartwatch). However, I don’t always take that charger with me, as it’s quite bulky in its own right. The OTG is still a crucial companion for things like my electric shaver and toothbrush, and I generally just plug whatever charger I’m using into it anyway to keep additional outlets at the ready. It is the flexibility I don’t always need, but that I am always glad to have.

Perhaps my Outlets To Go is more about the feeling of security and familiarity it brings to me when I knowingly cram it into my messenger bag. It fits so perfectly into the interior side pockets. Like it was designed to nestle into place, my secret little stowaway. “Why not just toss it in?” There’s no harm, nothing lost. And when I comb Amazon for a potential replacement, as I do every few years, the results are comparable only in their incomparability to the OTG — truly, a gadget that time forgot.

As we transition into a USB-first world, I will admit that my beloved Outlets To Go is seeing less and less use. The Anker 737 battery is now first chair in my traveling gadget orchestra, juicing up everything from my Apple Watch to my MacBook with nary an outlet in sight. But the elegant simplicity and understated ingenuity of the Monster Outlets To Go is still unmatched in my book. Here’s to hoping it’s got another decade-plus of life to give.