twister6
Android Expert
This is a review of Anker Car Jump Start Battery and a Portable Charger. http://www.ianker.com/product/A1501011 , available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T2GT9L4/
After reviewing so many different Anker batteries, I'm more used to writing about their products that can save your phone. Here is the first one for me - a product from Anker that can actually save your car and perhaps turn into a real Life Saver if you are stuck in the middle of nowhere! After so many snow storms, last few months have been rough here on East Coast. As I mentioned in my previous Astro E7 review, I usually prepare for the winter with extra bags of salt, a few canisters of gasoline for our portable generator, and making sure all my external Anker batteries are fully charged! But one thing I didn't account for was my 8 year old original car battery that gave me trouble early one morning when temperature dropped below zero. Thank God it was in our driveway next to my wife's car, so I had access to jump start it, but a thought crossed my mind if I would have been away at work, stuck in the empty parking lot. I ended up replacing my car battery about a month ago, and when found out that Anker is releasing a jump-start battery for the car - I requested a review sample to learn more about this fantastic product. I do have to admit that I didn't get a chance to use this battery to actually jump start the car because you do need a car with a dead battery for that test. But I wanted to review this battery based on what it's capable of. Just think of it as insurance, something you have to invest into once to protect you in the future.
Let me first start with a packaging, something everybody will appreciate since it's a sturdy hard plastic case with a molded handle and two locking latches – a case intended to be stored away in a trunk of your car for emergency use. Even before you open it up, you know right away this is a tool box, not a toy. Once opened, you will see a top cover with a foam lining and a plastic form-fitted tray at the bottom partitioned with sections for the battery, jump start cable, and charging cables. Such partitioning is very important because you don't want anything to rattle or slide inside of the case when you are driving. In addition to the battery itself, you have a variety of cable accessories including 15V/1A wall charger, 15V/0.8A car charger, usb to micro-usb charging cable, jumper cable attachment, and a very comprehensive Manual/Guide.
Unit itself is a 10,000 mAh battery. If you need to quickly charge it up, using slow 5V input charger will not be enough. Utilizing 15V input reassures that your Anker battery will be fully charged and ready in no time! Also while keeping it in the car, the battery will stay "fresh" for about 3 months in standby, but you have to be sure to periodically check and charge it up if necessary. As a matter of fact, convenience of both wall and car chargers will give you a flexibility to be able to charge this battery even when you are driving. Once fully charged, you can always check the capacity by pressing Power button and checking 4-led indicator on the side. Right next to this led indicator you have 2 usb charging ports, rated at 1A and 2.1A, to be used for emergency charging of your smartphone or tablet. Next to that you have 15V/1A input port, and 12V/200A jumper cable port covered by a rubber flap to keep contacts clean and dust-free.
The battery housing is made out of sturdy plastic with rubbery side grips all around it. The size of the housing is not exactly pocket friendly measuring about 7.3" x 3.3" x 1.7" and with a weight of about 385g, but as I mentioned before this battery is intended to be stored inside of the case in your car trunk. It's clear this battery was designed with durability being its higher priority. Another very useful element of the design is a front facing powerful LED light. It gets activated with a long press of a power button to start with a solid light, and switched to slow and fast blinking with a follow up short press of the power button; another long press turns it off. The light is very bright and can come handy in different emergency or even everyday use situations.
Even so this is very capable high capacity rugged battery with a wide angle super bright LED, a real star of this product is Jump Start cable! Operation is VERY simple. First you need to be sure you have at least one solid LED indicating 25% of charge still available. Attach Jumper Cable, easy to do since one of the tips is keyed so connector goes in only one way, connect clamps to the corresponding car battery terminal (also easy since cables are colored red and black), wait for booster cable green light indicator (sensor located in series with a ground cable), and start your engine! Upon start up, battery should be able to provide 200A of the current with an in-rush peak current of up to 400A for a short duration of 3 seconds. Make sure to disconnect jumper cable clamps after about 30seconds of operation so you don't drain the battery. This is a very easy and convenient way to jump-start your car without depending on another car with a jumper cable next to you!
Overall, I can't think of a single reason why you wouldn't want to get this jump start battery for every car in your family. It's true that car batteries don't fail as often, but for a piece of mind keeping this battery in your car is priceless! Besides jump starting your car, this is a fully capable 10,000 mAh external battery with dual 2.1A/1A outputs to charge your phone and/or your tablet, and also to provide an emergency light. And if you are or someone next to you in trouble with their car battery, using Anker Car Jump Start battery will be the easiest and the cleanest way to mitigate this problem! This one definitely gets my high recommendation!
Here are the pictures.
After reviewing so many different Anker batteries, I'm more used to writing about their products that can save your phone. Here is the first one for me - a product from Anker that can actually save your car and perhaps turn into a real Life Saver if you are stuck in the middle of nowhere! After so many snow storms, last few months have been rough here on East Coast. As I mentioned in my previous Astro E7 review, I usually prepare for the winter with extra bags of salt, a few canisters of gasoline for our portable generator, and making sure all my external Anker batteries are fully charged! But one thing I didn't account for was my 8 year old original car battery that gave me trouble early one morning when temperature dropped below zero. Thank God it was in our driveway next to my wife's car, so I had access to jump start it, but a thought crossed my mind if I would have been away at work, stuck in the empty parking lot. I ended up replacing my car battery about a month ago, and when found out that Anker is releasing a jump-start battery for the car - I requested a review sample to learn more about this fantastic product. I do have to admit that I didn't get a chance to use this battery to actually jump start the car because you do need a car with a dead battery for that test. But I wanted to review this battery based on what it's capable of. Just think of it as insurance, something you have to invest into once to protect you in the future.
Let me first start with a packaging, something everybody will appreciate since it's a sturdy hard plastic case with a molded handle and two locking latches – a case intended to be stored away in a trunk of your car for emergency use. Even before you open it up, you know right away this is a tool box, not a toy. Once opened, you will see a top cover with a foam lining and a plastic form-fitted tray at the bottom partitioned with sections for the battery, jump start cable, and charging cables. Such partitioning is very important because you don't want anything to rattle or slide inside of the case when you are driving. In addition to the battery itself, you have a variety of cable accessories including 15V/1A wall charger, 15V/0.8A car charger, usb to micro-usb charging cable, jumper cable attachment, and a very comprehensive Manual/Guide.
Unit itself is a 10,000 mAh battery. If you need to quickly charge it up, using slow 5V input charger will not be enough. Utilizing 15V input reassures that your Anker battery will be fully charged and ready in no time! Also while keeping it in the car, the battery will stay "fresh" for about 3 months in standby, but you have to be sure to periodically check and charge it up if necessary. As a matter of fact, convenience of both wall and car chargers will give you a flexibility to be able to charge this battery even when you are driving. Once fully charged, you can always check the capacity by pressing Power button and checking 4-led indicator on the side. Right next to this led indicator you have 2 usb charging ports, rated at 1A and 2.1A, to be used for emergency charging of your smartphone or tablet. Next to that you have 15V/1A input port, and 12V/200A jumper cable port covered by a rubber flap to keep contacts clean and dust-free.
The battery housing is made out of sturdy plastic with rubbery side grips all around it. The size of the housing is not exactly pocket friendly measuring about 7.3" x 3.3" x 1.7" and with a weight of about 385g, but as I mentioned before this battery is intended to be stored inside of the case in your car trunk. It's clear this battery was designed with durability being its higher priority. Another very useful element of the design is a front facing powerful LED light. It gets activated with a long press of a power button to start with a solid light, and switched to slow and fast blinking with a follow up short press of the power button; another long press turns it off. The light is very bright and can come handy in different emergency or even everyday use situations.
Even so this is very capable high capacity rugged battery with a wide angle super bright LED, a real star of this product is Jump Start cable! Operation is VERY simple. First you need to be sure you have at least one solid LED indicating 25% of charge still available. Attach Jumper Cable, easy to do since one of the tips is keyed so connector goes in only one way, connect clamps to the corresponding car battery terminal (also easy since cables are colored red and black), wait for booster cable green light indicator (sensor located in series with a ground cable), and start your engine! Upon start up, battery should be able to provide 200A of the current with an in-rush peak current of up to 400A for a short duration of 3 seconds. Make sure to disconnect jumper cable clamps after about 30seconds of operation so you don't drain the battery. This is a very easy and convenient way to jump-start your car without depending on another car with a jumper cable next to you!
Overall, I can't think of a single reason why you wouldn't want to get this jump start battery for every car in your family. It's true that car batteries don't fail as often, but for a piece of mind keeping this battery in your car is priceless! Besides jump starting your car, this is a fully capable 10,000 mAh external battery with dual 2.1A/1A outputs to charge your phone and/or your tablet, and also to provide an emergency light. And if you are or someone next to you in trouble with their car battery, using Anker Car Jump Start battery will be the easiest and the cleanest way to mitigate this problem! This one definitely gets my high recommendation!
Here are the pictures.