As an everyday driver, your vehicle’s electrical power source will eventually fail. Whether it’s a drastically temperature change, the water level of the battery is low, or the battery just simply won’t hold charge like it used to… these things happen all the time. In order to be prepared, you need to have a jump starter box on you at all times. It’s one thing to have cables, but what happens when no one is willing to stop and help you out, then what?
We created a guide specifically about battery jumper boxes, portable jump starters (for example: SUAOKI JUMP STARTER ) and anything that you can take with you to give your vehicle’s battery the “extra” juice to get going. Now, before we dive into the top 10 list lets go over what the requirements USED to be.
Before the jump box, you had to carry with you a set of jumper cables to get another vehicle to give you some juice. This is still a common practice when no other power sources are present, but it’s quite an inconvenience. Then we have the jump boxes on wheels where you hook them directly to the wall and then directly to the car battery. This again requires a power source which is a wall outlet, even more inconvenient.
Today’s latest options are MUCH better in terms of providing power and portability. Some of today’s best jump starters weigh under 5 lbs in total and can give you over 15 jumps on a single charge (WOW!). Battery jumper boxes aren’t out of reach financially, your local automotive store and places like Amazon’s Automotive section will have a plethora of choices.
Jump-N-Carry JNC300XLC Ultra-portable 12V Jump Starter
First contestant we have in our #10 spot is the Jump-N-Carry JNC300XLC Portable 12-Volt jump starter. This little guy isn’t by any means the smallest package you can get for jump starters, but it’s 1/3 of the size a regular jumper box is. This one comes in weighing in at around 9l bs fully loaded, it includes two jumper wires and a convenience light (ideal for night time usage).
This one in particular has the “C” in the end of its name, meaning that its Oregon and California energy compliant. At peak power its pushing around 900 amps, and for cranking amps you’re looking at around 225. When hooking this unit up to a battery, each lead (negative and positive) provide around 27″ inches of reach. In addition, you’re also provided with a 12-volt socket (cigarette light style) for powering up and charging your electric accessories.
Overall it’s a VERY popular unit and has received great feedback from its users. If you don’t live in California or Oregon, you can save close to 30 dollars by looking into the JNC300XL (non-energy compliant unit). Same performance still.
Performance Tool W1665 Jump Starter and Inflator
There’s a comfortable rubber grip done on the top of the handle, making it easier to carry around. Weighing in at just over 14 lbs, it’s by no means the heaviest thing you’ll carry.. quite the opposite actually. Additional useful features that come built-in are: reverse polarity warning light allowing you to stay away from hooking up the battery in an incorrect fashion, three level LED lights indicate the life of the battery and when it’s time for you to charge, lastly there’s a 24″ inch inflator hose which can compress air up to 300 PSI.Here we have a jump starter that is very similar to the one mentioned above, but this one is taking a more traditional approach in terms of design. The Performance Tool W1665 is a full 900 peak amp and 400 cold cranking amp jumper box, featuring an additional tire inflator. What makes this unit great is the relatively easy portability aspect, along with a tire inflator making it a useful tool in two aspects.
In conclusion, this is a great package to place in your trunk and have in case of an emergency.
Nekteck Multifunction Car Jump Starter Portable Power Bank
Aside from its size, it boasts quite a few very useful features which you’ll most likely end up using more often than not. With the battery fully charged, you’ll be able to jump start up to 25 times before needing to recharge this portable battery (imagine how often you’ll need to jump-start a vehicle or vehicles, 25 times… this may take a while). On the unit itself it has 2 USB ports, along with multiple adapters for charging electronics.We’re now stepping into the most modern method of jumping a car or truck’s battery. Nakteck has created a portable power sourcethat has the capability of reaching 600 peak amps with 16,800 mAh of battery juice. Crank over a gasoline engine of up to 5.0L inside, or crank up a diesel engine that’s up to 3.0L in size. What else makes this really that great? The overall size and weight is 6.5″ inches long, 3.1 inches wide, 1.6″ inches high and weighing in at just over 2 lbs. Place it in your glove box, or place it in your trunk to be hidden away until it’s time to jump.
Overall, being able to jump a battery up to 25 times, weighing in at around 2 pounds, and spend half of what a conventional jump box would cost makes this unit WORTH IT.
