Portable Jump Starter experience?

[jlee]

One word of advice: Do not get your insurance companies "roadside assistance or towing" .. Anytime they come out, those rats, while it may not directly affect your insurance premium, they will report it as a Claim to a company called ChoicePoint ... when you go shopping for new insurance a lot of companies get that from ChoicePoint .. I know Liberty Mutual and MetLife does. Not sure about Progressive or The Hartford (ChoicePoint says they keep claims for 7 years) .... I had 4 tows due to roadside breakdowns, with one going back to 2012 .. my initial quotes then jumped up by $15 per month, instead of that great, let's dump my State Farm rate. Better of with AAA membership or equivalent. And if you use roadside coverage on your cell phone, they usually limit you to 4 service calls per year, so keep that in mind.

I also noticed that the roadside coverage on my insurance only covered up to $50 or $75 per incident. At that point, it's really not saving much money anyway..

 

[fralexandr]

http://tools.woot.com/offers/red-fuel-power-8000mah-jump-starter?ref=w_gh_tg_4_s_txt
~$35+5 shipped for a generic 8000mah 400A jump starter/phone charger.

Edit: wow they've gotten cheaper since i last looked. Woot deals just don't seem to be that great unless you combine shipping :\, and even then they're just marginal. Amazon has a bunch of cheap generic ones.

It's too bad the clamps on most of these lithium ones are junk.

 

[shortylickens]

I got that one a few years back. The battery didnt last for many jumps, and the cords broke easily. And its impossible to replace the cords.
Hated it.

Got a Jump N Carry cuz thats what my AAA guy always uses.
Never been happier.

 

[desura]

I often end up having to trickle charge it for a few hours to get it to charge. Doesn't seem to do well outputting a peak charge.

Still, essential.