Has anyone used those portable pre-chargeable units to jump start anything? I'm trying to decide between one of those or a set of jumper cables to keep in my wife's van for emergencies. Any thoughts/opinions on usefullness, brands, etc. will be appreciated.

 

don't buy one, it's just a cheap motorcycle battery in a box with a milliamp charger. it might start your lawn mower but not your truck with a dead battery.

 

I don't agree. I have one (yellow Prestone brand I think) and have used it several times. I recently had to jump off my Screw when I let it sit for a week and a half with the rechargable flashlight plugged in. This little jumper fired my truck right up and it hadn't been re-charged in months! There are several types out there but the yellow ones seem to work very well. Look at Auto Zone or Pep Boys etc.

 

I got a cheap one I bought about six years ago I use for jumping dead cars at work. I think I paid about $70 for it and it works okay. It's an old school one too, one that's about the size of two phone books and weighs like a billion pounds. If I could find a nice smaller one, I'd keep one in my truck.

 

My dad got his at Sams Club I think. It is about 6 or 7 years old, kind of sounds like the one Quintin has.
They will start a lot more then a lawn mower, that is for sure.

The only question I would have is will it hold a charge long enough to jump a dead battery, when it just sits in the heat/cold cycles ?
I don't even have a SWAG on this myself, and that is the only concern I would have for using it a a jumper cable replacement. Think of it sitting for 3 years, and it needs to be used, if it did not have a charge cycle on it, will it still go ? Never seen one sit that long without being used myself.
Why not get both, even a good seat of jumper cables are cheap enough, as long as the boss does not have a problem hookng it up if she has a dead battery. It is not as if you are getting the Warn jumper cable set at $118.00 for the front mount alone

 

I just got one this Christmas that was bought at Sam's. It was only $50 and it is a jump starter, power supply (has cigarette lighter hole), emergency LED light, and an air compressor. So far I have helped out two people that needed jump starts and it fired both of them up with no problem. I have not recharged it since Christmas - the instructions say to recharge once a month or every other month, but I have checked the meter on it a few times and it is still showing a full charge. The only drawback I have found is that you can only recharge it in a vehicle for a max of 3 hours - home charger you can leave it for whatever.

P.S. Instructions state to use only on 12v systems, so you would not be able to use it on that lawn mower

 

Somebody needs to buy a bigger lawn mower, it's just a weedeater if it's not
12 volts.

Perhaps these chargers are better designed than the one I had expieriance with. Just my 2 cents, no go for me.

 

I have two. the SOLAR branded one that NAPA carries, and a "Jump-n-Carry" that I got from Snap-On. They are both great and will start a dead flat battery easily, and I have used the J&C as a battery in a vehicle that needed to be moved that had no battery. Neither has ever dissappointed. I have one in my truck at all time, as I travel a LOT, and tend to leave my inverter plugged in or sometimes the 12v cooler. Easy way to get out of that dead battery situation, and have helped out probably 20 others with dead batts in the three years i have owned one.

FYI they actually contain a pretty high tech AGM battery, not just a lead acid motorcycle battery. ( at least the two that I own, they were over $100 apiece, though...)