If you need a portable car battery jump starter, each of the following will pay for itself the first time you use it… as you won’t be waiting around for a tow truck.
FYI, prices and ratings are accurate as of time of writing.
1. NOCO Boost HD - 12V 2000A (up to 8.0L Gas or 6.0L Diesel)
Highlight: Five pounds of full power cranking muscle.
Helpful review: I am looking for a way to wire a permanently fixed jump pack to each of our cars. I want to have a jump start built in so I don’t have to pack one around or hook it to the battery and deal with all of those issues.
My brother-in-law works as a mechanic at a lawn care business, so he has extensive experience jumping all types of machines, including diesel trucks, from half a ton to five tons. What I have found is a gold mine to test jump packs and find the best choice. He will not be doing the wire-it-in for life like I want to, but the jumpers will get a full-body workout by the end of the month.
The Boost HD can jump all of the machines, cars, and trucks all day, up to seven jumps a day, and he only charges it at the end of the day before he goes home. There have been times when the alternator was so dead, and the battery was weak that it would not move to the shop. With this little jumper, he can hook it up, start the engine, and leave it in place to drive the truck into the shop and begin the repairs.
The only hang-up we could find with this unit is the weight. Due to the full-power nature of this jump pack, I think it weighs about ten pounds. The physical size is bigger than my glove box, but not much bigger. This unit will work well in the trunk of a car; it will fit in the wheel of my spare tire and stay nice, secure, and handy for the just-in-case times.
The only hang-up with a jump pack is keeping it charged. I need to charge the heavy buggar I use now at least every month. So if I decide to wire this one in or any of them, to be honest, I will have to figure out a way to chart the times I need to unplug the battery trickle chargers and plug in the jump pack. With this in mind, putting it on the workbench in the garage and plugging it in would work better. The hang-up then is remembering to put it back in the car.
Get it from Amazon now: $249.95 & FREE Returns
2. NOCO Boost Plus - 12V 1000A (up to 6.0L Gas or 3.0L Diesel)
Highlight: Lithium technology high discharge safe operation.
Helpful review: This jump-start unit started a car with no battery juice left. When I said no juice, the electric locks on the doors would not unlock; this thing was dead. I took this out of the little cubby in the back of the car, hooked it to the battery, waited a few minutes, hit the key, and away we went.
If folks don’t know, a jump pack that has polarity safety built-in cannot jump a battery that is too dead. This is because the machine cannot sense which way the energy is moving, so it just stops out of safety. That is a very simplified version of what happens. This machine can have the polarity protection turned off, so the jump pack can still save a bad day.
Let's look at disabling the polarity thing a little deeper. The polarity thing is safety, so the owner's manual will never tell the owner how to turn off a safety; that would be legal nightmare material. Luckily for everyone in the civilized world, we have phones and YouTube, all we need to discover about everything. All I had to do was hold down the “!” button until the lights flashed, telling me that the safety was bypassed.
This machine came to me a little under the halfway mark, so I plugged it into the wall. It was fully charged in two and a half hours, and I put it in the back of the car. When I needed it drastically (dead battery at the airport), and after I looked up how to do the bypass, it fired up that car, and away we went, driving home after long air travel.
The car with the dead battery was a Lincoln Aviator with a 3.0-liter gas engine. This car also comes with twin turbos, so the compression is lower until the engine runs, making it easier to turn over. It may have been a different story if I had to do this on my diesel pick-up with the high compression.
Get it from Amazon now: $124.95 & FREE Returns
3. Clore Jump-N-Carry - 12 V 1700A (425 Cranking Amps)
Highlight: Long (46-inch) cables make reaching the battery in any size car easy.
Helpful review: This jump pack offers a return to the lead acid battery with a handle style. The main issue with this type of jumper is the weight, on top of the weight, they are large. The one I keep in the Navigator is this style, and it comes with a built-in air pump for tires and a handy light that can help when jumping the car or changing a tire.
When the makers build a significant body jumper, they can use large clamps for the battery. The smaller Lithium units are nice for fitting into storage, but the clips are barely big enough to reach across the battery terminal clamps.
The “plug” built into this machine is a fixed placement, and I have to use an extension cord and run it out two feet to plug it into the jumper. The factory will tell the owner that the entire charge needs to be charged before using this machine. Mine will take a full charge in about six hours from the half charge the unit came with. This does not give me a lot of faith; if I have to charge this for two days overnight, take it in the car, and let it sit in the cold, the mojo may not be there after a few cold nights.
With all that said, when I turned the key, the truck started with authority. The starter did not drag or need a few minutes of turning over. The power this delivers is right on the money and does not get hot like some others. It has a 12-volt lead that can plug into the lighter socket. The manual says not to leave it plugged in after the meter says it is full or charged. I feel that taking this back to a full charge with the 12-volt lead will take about a month to get there. I feel that the wall plug is the only way to do it, and it will be much quicker.
Get it from Amazon now: $129.99 & FREE Returns
4. NOCO Boost Pro - 12V 3000A (up to 9.0L Gas or 7.0L Diesel)
Highlight: Jump starts the most significant engines in passenger pick-up trucks.
Helpful review: If I can find a place, this jumper will fit as an installed forever unit. It will be in my pickup this weekend. I use a trickle charger to keep my batteries up to speed on my 6.4 Ford, and I work against the battery saver, which kills batteries in a couple of days.
I also have a 12K winch on the front and back of this truck because I don’t do anything small. I want to be able to jump myself if needed, wherever I am. If I am way in the woods or out in the desert waiting for AAA to get there to jump me, I will have to be dropped in by helicopter.
I have a winch on everything around here except the Lincolns, mostly because they don’t make a winch mount for them, and I am sure the wife will not be pleasantly surprised with a big ass metal bumper on the Navigator. How awesome would that be to have the only Navigator alive with an offroad bumper and all the noise that comes with the freeway?
This unit is rated to jump a 9.0l gas motor or a 7.0l diesel engine. That is about as big as they come, mainly in industrial trucks. Since it is the big dog on the market, I need at least one for the Ford truck. When I hooked this up to the car after it sat a whopping four days without being started, even at 34 degrees outside, the motor fired right up after the glow plugs and injectors were primed. I had my favorite jump pack when I hit that key and the Ford came alive.
The machine cannot be mounted to my truck outside the cab like I was thinking due to the USB outlets and such, so the water will kill it. If I get the jump box wired, all I need to do is figure out how to connect the extension cord to the unit to charge it.
Get it from Amazon now: $374.95 & FREE Returns
5. DeWalt - 12V 2000A (25W USBc Port + 15W USBa Port)
Highlight: Alternator check function.
Helpful review: This is a truck owner's jump pack. I used this machine to pump up air mattresses and other grandpa stuff and charge cell phones in my hotel room in Yellowstone because the charger cord was in the suitcase, but the power block stayed at home.
The rubber coating is very tough and has been challenged for all its worth. To this day, all it has suffered is some black marks that rubbed off of something in the truck's bed. The battery terminal clamps are big and heavy duty. The clamps fit inside a protective cover, more to keep the jumper contained than to keep the machine from getting damaged.
The air pump is a lifesaver. Maybe not a lifesaver, but it sure is a lot nicer than driving to the gas station to pump up a mattress. I take this to the backyard to pump up the kiddie pool in the summer and soccer balls later that same day.
The only downsides to this machine are its size and weight. It weighs about half as much as a car battery, and its outer dimensions are just about the same size as a car battery. However, the amount of energy this can store is amazing. I can plug this in, charge it to the max, and use it all week long, and it only loses one-third of its power.
If anyone needs a workhorse or a jump pack, this is the answer, but make sure there is room to store it when loaded into the car. Not only is it big and heavy to carry, but it is also heavy when it rolls across the truck or back of the Navigator and will smash certain items. I have never seen the amount of damage this can do to a loaf of bread on the way home from the store, which does not go well with the Mrs.
Get it from Amazon now: $199.00 & FREE Returns
6. NEXPOW - 12V 2500A (up to 8.0L Gas or 8.0L Diesel)
Highlight: Once charged, the device can be charged for three months.
Helpful review: This unit reminds me of the USB power pack I take to keep my tablet powered when I fly. It is about the same size and a bit thicker, to be honest. The comparison to the USB pack is closer than I thought when I tried to use it.
The jumper will turn over a full-size engine, but it will shut off the power after I hook it up. If I have someone to turn the key or push the button right after I clamp it to the battery terminals, it works; if I have to camp and then sprint to the key, the power may be off.
The machine is made to fit in the glove box. The leads to hook to the battery are small because it is made to store more than to work. The leads will plug into the end of the unit and be removed for storage again. The unit is charged via a USB power block, like my cell phone. The power brick better be ready to work, as a 5W will not do anything. I have one 18W charger that charges the unit with no problem.
The machine has an on-and-off switch on the side. Push the triangle button on top to send power to the battery. It is a great idea, as my pistol cannot turn off the power when it slides against the jump starter in the glove box. The whole thing comes in a small padded kit, so it looks great and stores great, and it is very much better than nothing; it is a challenge to make it work when running it solo.
Get it from Amazon now: $99.99 & FREE Returns