I haven't used any APS units, so I can't compare. Other than Powerware, I have a couple of old Best Fortress 1425VA units (one not in use) and a Best Axxium 1500VA. They're all similar; Best was bought by Invensys (Powerware) a while ago. Monitoring software works fine for me, runtime has been as stated. I was a fan of the Best Axxium units for space reasons (first 2U 1500VA, I believe) and now the Powerware ones for the same reason (the 5115's are very nice for a 1U solution). The last thing I need is a hulking box full of batteries in my basement. Ever try to move a 20kVA or bigger UPS? :-)
As for price... the 9125 1250VA is like $600 street price (ecost.com, which is where I usually buy UPS systems). I forget exactly what I paid for my 1500VA units, but it was under $700.
I don't really need them in the family room, but now that I think about it, I wouldn't want the fan noise. It's not tremendous, but I'm one of those people prone to going insane from background noise. :-) I just replaced the P4 1.8GHz PC in the family room with an EPIA M9000 based machine (no fans at all), in the interest of eliminating noise. Now the only thing left with annoying fan noise is the ReplayTV box. The day I tear that apart to do something about it probably isn't far away. I think it's actually louder than my 2U UPS fans. Go figure.
The other issue would be cosmetics. The best looking decent UPS is darn ugly compared to the Monster line conditioners. I have the same issue with the TrippLite stuff suggested here. Just a cosmetic icky to me, that's all. If it's in a rack behind glass doors, there's no issue. I don't have that luxury in the family room, we have a pair of Bell'O ATC-2052MC's for audio gear and they hide nothing but wires. In my office the UPS's are in Middle Atlantic MDV-R12's with rackmount drawers and ethernet switch, which works out well (the MDV-R12's are deep enough so that the UPS's don't stick out the back). The audio system in my office is off of the Axxium 1500VA UPS, and my S/N hasn't suffered from it (PC connected to Behringer DSP8024 to ART SLA-1 amp driving Axiom M22ti's with an EP350 subwoofer).
