Accessories

Does the job....
This works very easily and does its job. Haven't tried the tire pump yet. Hope not to have to use it. Just remember to recharge this every 60 days so it will still work.

Reliable jump starter
I got this for Christmas and keep it in my car at all times. As a female I like to be safe and know I can easily and independently jump my car if my battery dies any time- day or night. I have a bad habit of leaving my lights on when I park on rainy days. I have been stranded and needed to use this device several times so far and it came through every time. It even jumped my car several times without being recharged which was amazing! Needless to say I had to replace my car battery (which was overdue anyway). But the minute it takes to hook this up and put it back in the trunk sure beats the hour waiting for AAA. You do need an extension cord to recharge it though- a minor sacrifice. I also know I'll have this handy device for when the power goes out in my apartment so I can charge my cell phone or keep my food from spoiling.

Power Packed
I upgraded to the Black and Decker because I needed more CCA's to jumpstart my friends cars. The Mighty Mite at 250 CCA's was too small for a drained battery. But 2 weeks after I bought the Black & Decker unit I used it to jumpstart an 07 Maxima that had its lights left on all morning. No problem, the 450 CCA's got it started within 2-3 seconds! I like the easy to read attached instructions, good AC power at 400 watts sustained, and good CCA's. It's a lot of value for the money.

Life Saver
I brought the jump starter after I left a light on in my car during a huge snow storm. I went to work and after work I discovered that my car was completely dead. I finally got home and vowed to never be without a jump starter again. I immediately brought this jump starter and it has been a life saver. it is totally worth every penney. Plus it has additional features like a tire inflator, flashlight, and outlets for appliances. It does not take long to recharge and it is compact and can fit anywhere. It is a must have.

A lot of misconceptions regarding these products.
I just wanted to clear up some common misconceptions regarding these jump-start/inverter/inflator products. I personally own 3 different types from 400 watts to 1500 watts and have done tons of research on them. I guess you could call it an unusual hobby I have. I blame the manufacturers for over hyping these units or just choosing not to inform consumers of their limitations.

THESE UNITS ARE NOT AS POWERFUL AS YOU THINK! Most people seem to be very disappointed by the amount of "juice" these put out.

--FRESHLY CHARGED this item will probably run a small TV/DVD combo continuously for around 2.5 hours. That's it. Also, you can't run a coffee maker, hair drier, microwave, refrigerator or heavy duty power tool off this. It's just not designed for that kind of use. Buy this to run a small TV, fan or laptop for a few hours, or to charge your cell phone. That's all it's designed for.

--You probably won't be able to jump start an 8 cylinder engine with this especially if it's an older car or has a totally dead battery. These units are mostly for 4 and 6 cylinder engines. They just don't have large enough batteries in them to turn over a big V-8.

--The air compressor is little more than a toy. All of these units have tiny, noisy compressors in them that will take 20 to 30 minutes to inflate a single full size 16" tire that is totally flat. And you will completely kill the battery just doing one tire like that. Plus you may damage the compressor by running it that long continuously because they heat up so much during use. You're better off taking your tire to a gas station!

THE UNIT WILL SELF-DISCHARGE JUST BY SITTING IN YOUR CAR! It will lose about 10 - 20% of it's charge PER MONTH. The hotter it is outside the faster it will self-discharge. PLUS YOU WILL EVENTUALLY DESTROY THE INTERNAL BATTERY BY LEAVING IT IN A PROLONGED DISCHARGED STATE! You can easily kill this device permanently by a process known as sulfation, in as little as one year, if you don't keep it charged. (This is what happened to my first unit, a Xantrex Power-Plus 400. It cost me about 1/2 the original cost of the unit to replace the battery!)

- To prevent this you need to either bring it in the house and recharge it about once a month (who's going to remember to do this?), or keep it plugged into the cigarette lighter at all times. Some people claim this can overcharge the battery, but I disagree. Your cars built-in voltage regulator should keep the unit topped off without doing any damage to it. Plus you know you always have a freshly 100% charged unit ready to go.

-You should immediately recharge it after each use. If you use it for a jumpstart or even to recharge your cellphone you should recharge the unit within a day or two. This practice will prevent harmful sulfation and prolong the life of the unit.

-These don't last forever. Just like your car battery eventually needs to be replaced so will the battery in this device. Expect about 100 full charge/discharge uses or 5 - 7 years, whichever comes first, before the battery in this will need to be replaced. Some of these jump-starters/inverters don't have user replaceable batteries so you may have to replace the whole unit anyway. You can usually find a reasonably priced replacement battery on e-Bay if you're handy enough to disassemble the unit and find out what size battery is inside. Based on the weight and size I would say the VEC026BD has a 20 Amp Hr battery inside it, but that is only a guess on my part and should be verified by disassembly.

For the money I'm not super-impressed with this unit. I just bought the Xantrex PowerPack 600 on sale from Amazon for $100 delivered. The 600 has a more powerful battery and can run larger appliances longer than the B&D. It usually goes for $130 but even at that price it's worth the premium over the B&D.

I hope this guide has been helpful to you to maximize the usefulness and life of your jump-start inverter, and to give you an idea of what to expect when you purchase one.