The whole world needs portable electricity, we all have high power draw electronics that constantly need to be recharged. So it was time to finally have a jump starter that not only can provide emergency power for my car and pump up my tires but can also provide 110 volts AC of constant pure electricity.
Now, 300-500 watts of power is not a huge amount, but its enough to power laptops, camping lights, small LCD TVs, or a stereo. Think of it this way, you could power 3x 100-watt incandescent light bulbs from these jump starters and more. Now that’s very cool.
I’m going to review two of the best jump starters with 120v outlets and an included air-compressor. What more do you need?
Table of Contents
- 1 Potek Vs Stanley Jump Starter with compressor and Inverter
- 2 POTEK Jump Starter with Portable Power Source Review.
- 3 What I like about this all in one jump starter.
- 4 Air-Compressor
- 5 Charging
- 6 Cons
- 7 Stanley Jump Starter, Air-Compressor, Power Inverter Review
- 8 How much power are my devices using?
- 9 Potek vs Stanley jump starter air compressor inverter.
- 10 Best jump starter with inverter conclusion
Potek Vs Stanley Jump Starter with compressor and Inverter
POTEK Jump Starter with Portable Power Source Review.
The Potek portable jump starter power source is the new age breed of jump starters that tries to do everything under the sun. It sure will get you out of a sticky situation. It actually does a pretty good job as I might add.
This jump starter with 120v outlet is stock standard and will start virtually any car or truck on the road with an 8 cylinder engine or less. This is due to the large 18Ah internal battery that can provide up to 1500 Peak or 750 Instant Amps to start any 12v vehicle.
What sets this emergency jump starter apart from the rest of the crowd is its powerful 150 psi tire inflator and the great power inverter that changes 12v DC into 110v AC power.
These 3 features are perfect for most emergency situations. There is also a couple of nice add-ons that make this the perfect jump starter for 2018 like a fast USB charging port, bright LED night light, side latching pockets for small accessories, and extra inflator nozzles.
Potek jump starter specs
- Model JS88-UL
- Inbuilt 1500 Peak amps and 750 Instant amps jump starter
- 2x 300 Watt output power rated at 110 volts
- 150 psi air-compressor that can fully inflate a 14-inch car tire in around 6 minutes.
- High-speed 2.4 amp USB charging port.
- Bright 3 LED light source for those darker nights.
- Side storage for accessories like the wall charger or air pump fittings.
- Internal battery indicator.
- Long thick high-quality jump-starting leads.
- Ability to charge the jump starter from the 12v car lighter outlet.
- 9.4 inches high, 12 inches long, and 8.6 inches deep.
- 9lbs in weight.
- 18-month warranty
What I like about this all in one jump starter.
In the past when we go camping or go on a long road trip I have to pack a whole heap of extra charging devices. We can’t have the kids without their electronic devices on a camping trip. Well, its a compromise to get them to camp with us.
I often would pack a spare car battery, a 300-watt power inverter, a power board, and a USB wall charger. This way the family can charge up their devices on the go. Now the Potek power inverter jump starter combines all of these and then some into one compact unit.
This jump starter power inverter can then be recharged from either the car 12v plug outlet or by using some 12v fold-out portable solar panels. That way you will never run out of power.
Its main feature is the powerful jump starter, 1500 peak amps are more than enough even for the larger V8 petrol engines. More importantly, its good to see that they are using the 750 instant amps rather than just the larger peak amp value. It gives a more true indication of the constant power it can deliver as a jump starter to another vehicle.
Air-Compressor
The air compressor is rated at 150 psi. Now this is a huge amount of pressure and it, is not something I would usually run up to. Most family car tires have a running pressure of around 32 psi.
Some large 4×4 trucks can have a higher tire pressure around 45 psi so it’s good to see that it can pump up to these higher pressures. Most family sedan tires will be pumped up to 30 psi in around 6 minutes. This is because it is a single-cylinder air compressor.
The more expensive stand-alone fast air compressor units will have dual cylinders. This will improve the fill time by around half the time. But this AIO jump starter is made to a price and it would be hard to fit a larger dual-cylinder compressor in the package. Let alone it would get really heavy.
You can check out our post on some in-vehicle mounted air compressors.
It’s not too heavy at 9 pounds of weight so my kids can carry it around no worries. In fact, they use it from time to time to pump up the air mattresses for the pool as well as using it for their bike tires and soccer balls. It comes with 3 air fittings which I store away in the side flip-down lid compartments.
I like that the front top of the jump starter has all of the info and connections you will ever need. Test buttons, on-off switches, USB, and battery level indications are in the front with the 120 volt AC power in the rear away from any sensitive electronics which is good.
Charging
There are 2 ways to charge up this jump starter inverter. You can use the included 110-volt wall charger which will take around 30h to fully recharge this unit back up. Or you can use the supplied 12v car outlet port.
It is much quicker to use the 12v outlet for charging which only takes me around 12h for a full charge once the unit is flat.
Try not to charge this unit up in a very hot car with the windows wound up. It’s not good for the battery.
Cons
There is not a whole lot I don’t like about this all-in-one air compressor jump starter. The one small negative is I would like to see a high-volume air pump included. Even though there is an air compressor inbuilt, it is a high-pressure low volume pump.
So if you want to pump up a larger air bed, for instance, it will take a very long time. It would be nice if there was an auto cut out setting for the air compressor like the Stanley unit reviewed here. Say set your pressure for 32psi and come back once it’s stopped. This compressor is manual on-off only. At least the gage is easy to read.
The only other thing is there is only one USB outlet port. I would have loved for there to be 2 ports or more. Least it is a fast 2.4 amp USB for quick charging of your phones or tablets.
These in no way make the product substandard it is just me nitpicking. It’s hard to make a perfect product but Potek has come close.
Who is Potek Inc?
Potek Inc, is a manufacturer of high-quality power inverters for cars, DC to AC inverters, portable car jump starters, and a whole heap of other charging solutions like solar chargers. They are based in the USA – Los Angeles and have a great reputation.
Stanley Jump Starter, Air-Compressor, Power Inverter Review
The Stanley 1000 Peak amps power station with air-compressor is made tough and comes in a bright safety yellow. This is consistent with their work tools range so it is more suited as a portable workstation power bank.
I like that it has a digital compressor gauge that can set a cut of pressure for say bike tires or footballs. Too often it’s easy to rupture a small bicycle tire will excess pressure.
All of the power outlets are accessible from the front of the jump starter with each outlet selectable with an on-off button so you don’t waste power. There is only one 12v and one USB outlet. I would have liked for there to be at least two.
The air-compressor lead is nicely tucked away in a compartment on the top with a few air nozzles for different applications. This is a low volume high-pressure compressor so if you want to pump up a large air mattress it’s going to take a while. It is best to use a high volume low-pressure compressor for air beds.
Stanley Fatmax 100A Video
Pros
Being able to charge the Stanley power inverter jump starter with only a power lead is great. No longer do you have to look for the correct wall charger. I literally have 2 boxes full of wall power adapters for various products and now I just write the time name on it with a bit of white tape and a permanent marker pen.
An extra 200w of power compared to the Potek unit means I can run more power-hungry items at the same time up to 500 watts.
Cons
The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that it is quite tall and must be laid flat to use as shown in the picture above. This is a more personal choice as my storage space is limited with taller items.
How much power are my devices using?
A great little device to work out the power draw of your electronics is called the P3 Kill A Watt usage monitor.
Its designed to plug into your wall or portable power inverter to monitor the power draw of a single device. With a whole range of buttons to select Volts, Amps, Watts, Hz, and Volt-Amps.
- Calculates Electrical Expenses By The Day, Week, Month Or Year
- Checks The Quality Of Power By Monitoring Voltage, Line Frequency & Power Factor
This way you can check your maximum power draw to see what size inverter will you need. I always recommend going for the larger wattage inverter if your budget allows. The maximum current or amps that this wall electrical monitor can measure is 15 amps.
Potek vs Stanley jump starter air compressor inverter.
At the end of the day, I ended up going with the Potek jump starter air-compressor inverter. I liked the smaller form factor and ease of use. The Stanley while on paper has better specifications it was slightly more expensive and was larger in size.
Being able to tuck away the Potek jump starter in the back of the 4×4 is easy. At this stage, I also don’t need more than 300-watts of power. If I was running power tools I would go with the more high power inverter from Stanley.
The Stanley power inverter is much like a briefcase that must be laid flat to stop it from tipping over. One of the functions I like on the Stanley is that you can charge it up with an extension lead. There is no need for another wall 12v charger which I often lose.
Best jump starter with inverter conclusion
If you are like me and just want to get rid of about 4 different emergency devices for your car then the Potek jump starter with the 300w inverter is the way to go. They also have a cheaper model but it only has the tire pump, not the 120-volt power inverter.
With the Potek car battery jump starter compressor inverter power pack, I am now able to only take one jumpstarter out on camping and fishing trips. This means I have 120-volt AC power ready to go. Now you have to be mindful to stay under 300 watts of electrical power but this is easy.
Notebooks and small Tent LED light globes are well under this maximum demand. Its great to be able to take a small TV or LCD outdoor projector camping and have my own ready to go power.
So if you want to save money and only buy one Booster pack that has the Inverter and an air compressor then the Potek is the way to go. At this low price, it is a modified sine wave internal inverter but this is fine for most low power electronics.
I am a qualified Industrial Electrician for the past 20 years and I love to share my knowledge on home repair and maintenance jobs.
I love fast toys like Motorcycles, Cars, Jetskis, Boats, and Computers so writing about them is easy. Working on them is fun.
To keeps costs down I do all my own mods, repairs, and servicing. These skills I want to share with everyone. DIY is a skill everyone can learn.
Good review! I tired to reach you via FB with no luck. What is the way to get in touch with you?