This is the English edition of a review from my Japanese YouTube channel, iestaLife. I review gadgets from my home studio in Japan, so product links go to Amazon Japan.
Quick take
I run an extension cord from the wall outlet to my dining table and hide it under a floor cable cover. Switching from a stiff ELECOM raceway to a soft, oak-grain PVC cover that matches my floor made it almost disappear. The best tip: lay masking tape on the floor first, so the cover’s adhesive never touches the floorboards.
What I tested
- A soft PVC floor cable cover in oak wood grain, 3 m long and 3 cm wide (just under ¥2,000 at the time of recording)
- The ELECOM floor raceway I used before: 1 m long, 45 mm wide, hard PVC in a darker wood grain
- My Roomba crossing the cover
What I found
- Colour matters most. My old raceway looked darker in person than in the listing photos and stood out against the oak floor. Matching the grain to the flooring made the new one blend in.
- Both are about 1 cm tall. The narrower new cover makes the height a little more noticeable, but my Roomba still rolls over it without trouble.
- The hard ELECOM raceway splits into a top and bottom piece and fits several cables. The soft cover has a slit down the middle — fine for a single cord.
- The soft cover cuts easily with scissors. The hard one turned white at the cut edge when it bent while I was cutting it.
- The soft cover bends into gentle curves, but it wants to spring back, so tight bends can make it peel off.
- Masking tape underneath prevents adhesive residue. My tape was a bit too wide, leaving a faint dark line about as visible as a floorboard seam.
Soft cover vs hard raceway
| ELECOM floor raceway (old) | Soft oak-grain cover (new) | |
|---|---|---|
| How cables go in | Split top and bottom | Slit in the middle |
| Stiffness | Hard, barely bends | Very flexible |
| Width | 45 mm | 30 mm |
| Length | 1 m | 3 m |
| Height | About 1 cm | About 1 cm |
Who it’s for
If you want a power outlet at a table without installing a floor socket — useful when you may move the table later — a soft cover in your floor’s colour is the simplest fix. I’d keep the run to about 1–1.5 m from the wall; three metres of cover across a room will still be noticed. If you need to hide several cables, a wider, hard raceway holds more.
At the table end I use a power strip with about five outlets for laptop work and a hot plate at dinner. Check the rating of your strip and extension cord before running high-wattage appliances.
Watch the review
The video is in Japanese. Chapters: 01:01 hard vs soft covers, 02:51 the installed cover, 03:29 robot vacuum, 03:50 the masking-tape method, 04:26 cutting and bending.
Limitations
This is my own floor and one product of each type. Colours vary between listings and screens, so compare the grain name (oak and so on) with your flooring. The price is Amazon Japan’s at the time of recording.
Products
Soft PVC floor cable cover, wood grain, 3 m × 3 cm (I chose oak): on Amazon Japan
ELECOM floor raceway, grey, 1 m × 45 mm: on Amazon Japan
The Amazon Japan links above are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Check the listing for the exact model, current price and shipping availability in your region.
More reviews in English
All Home & Everyday (29) →Browse all English reviews →
This review is also available in Japanese.