The Energizer-branded All-In-One, about $138, is the best, by far, combo battery booster/jump starter, small air compressor, AC and DC power supply of its kind I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen several of them.
This handy accessory is, in my view, worthy of being resident in most homes across the country. Wherever there is the possibility of a power outage due to hurricane, earthquake or tornado, Energizer All-In-One will be appreciated. Whenever one may need a quick jump-start, it’s handy to have Energizer All-In-One. Whenever one may need to inflate an auto, motorcycle or bicycle tire, or a ball, or a piece of exercise equipment, a raft or inner tube for water fun, it’s Energizer All-In-One at the ready.
This tool is clearly the best, most intelligently designed of its type on the market. This is high praise, which I assure you is deserved.
I’ve tried other brands, many of which are similar in capability and basic functionality, but no other has the smarts found in this one. I’ll address this shortly.
Even if you have AAA or some other service that can be called to the rescue if your car battery is dead (at home), with this tool, why bother calling and waiting when you can so easily do it yourself?
Are your volleyballs, basketballs, footballs, beach balls and that giant exercise ball properly inflated? How about your car, motorcycle, truck, trailer, or spare tires monitored for proper inflation pressure? You don’t have to drive to find a gas station or other service facility to do this any more, once you have one of these handy gadgets. Notice the gauge in the “Air” section on the left front of the photo above. Notice, too, the separate switch to power on that section alone. Smart design! And the compressor and gauge are capable of delivering up to 250 PSI, surely more than any need dictates. It can full a typical auto tire in about 10 minutes.
When the power at home fails due to any reason, what do you do? Sure, you have flashlights, at least I hope you do. (My recommendation is to have several CC Trek lights strategically placed in easy reach at home, at the office and in each car’s glove box, but I digress.) I find it handy to have a device, a sterling performer like this Energizer All-In-One around for that peace of mind. There is a 200-watt DC/AC power inverter inside and an external plug, just like in the wall, to power small devices or a light, at home, on a camping trip, at the beach or in the yard. Add to this a flex-neck LED light to illuminate the area near the All-In-One for easy and safe hook-ups. Notice the flex-neck lamp across the top of the handle, sitting in its own recessed area and the switch just for the light at the base of the light, as shown in the photo below, just above the number 2.
There are TWO 12V outlets for your power accessories, too. Just like in your car, these outlets can be used to charge anything you would charge in the car, from phones to media players and anything else. A separate power switch energizes this section of the device. I like that! See it in the top photo above in the POWER area at the right front.
When it comes time to jump start a vehicle’s battery, nothing I’ve used does it better or more safely. What is necessary to jump start a vehicle. First, power. Inside this device is a sealed, lead acid, 18 Amp Hour battery, which is plenty for the task at hand in most cases. The safe way to do the job is to first clamp to the negative, “-“ terminal on the battery OR clamp to ground, a nearby chassis bolt, for example. Next, a clamp goes to the battery’s positive terminal. On this Energizer-branded product are a couple of safeguards that impress me.
NOTHING happens until the user turns the BOG knob to the Jump position, as shown in the picture at the top of the page. Notice it has a “3” next to it. This is to indicate that it is the third step. The first step is noted in the in that same area. See the number “1” there? It is a button to press that tells the user if the battery inside is charged and ready to go.
Step “2” is placing the clamps, which I already touched on. What also needs to be mentioned is another intelligent design element. Note the photo below of the unit’s back side.
Now, also look at the picture a notch higher in which you see the clamps more clearly on either end of the unit. Each clamp nests on these ends, clamped to a piece of plastic in place for this purpose. In this way, each clamp is stowed properly and ready for action, with each wrapped around the designated, color-coded guides, a pair for red and (positive) a pair for black (negative). It would be unlikely to make a mistake.
And since nothing happens until the switch is turned to the “Jump” position, this means there is no danger, either, no power flowing that is not intended. Another safety measure is in place. Should the user attempt to reverse the clamps, to place them red to negative and black to positive, there is an audio alarm that will sound to get the user’s attention so this can be remedied. The “+” and “-” guides at each end, appropriately above their respective Positive and Negative clamps also tells the user what to do. Here is where the flex-neck LED comes in handy, too.
If there is not enough light, switching on this lamp while placing the entire device at rest under the hood and immediately next to the battery can show the user exactly what is needed.
Once the vehicle is started, then it is easy to switch OFF the jump starter, rendering the cables without power flowing through them and, therefore, safe. Removing the clamps is easy as it is easy to place them back as appropriate in their nesting places. Intelligent design resulted in clamps on THIS product that are tight, but not too difficult for use by Mrs. Gadget. Others tested had clamps that are way too stiff for many females and, I am sure, for many men, as well. This includes being too stiff for me to comfortably use.
Here is another smart idea on this and not others purporting to do this job. It is taken for granted that the cables are an integral part of this product, that they are permanently affixed. On other, seemingly similar products, the cables are maintained NOT connected. The disadvantage is that they are kept separate, in their own plastic zippered bag and must be plugged in to the main “box” for every use. I can tell you from experience, this is a bad idea and all the more difficult for weaker users. I think of myself of at least average strength and even I have had difficulty plugging in the cables on those products requiring this step. Mrs. Gadget found it nearly impossible. And once connected, the cable end protrudes below the level of the bottom of the box, making it awkward to set it down. They got it right, way right, on THIS product! Score again for the Energizer All-In-One!
Now, as for the air compressor, this, too, is best-in-class design. Not shown well in any pictures above is the recessed area on the rear where the braided-cover hose stows. Take my word on this. The hose nests well in its appropriate place and the various nozzles, needle fillers and such fit neatly in a nest, ready to go, in the space on the rear of the unit between the cables. In the photo above, that area appears to be blank.
Charging the unit is smartly designed. Notice the picture nearest above this text what appears to be two prongs of the type one would find on the end of a plug? That’s it! To charge this product, all that is needed is a standard extension cord plugged onto those two prongs. Intelligent circuitry inside allows the unit to be plugged in all the time without fear of overcharging. OR, users may wish to plug it in and observe the green ready light on the front as indicative of it being fully charged and then unplug it. Plugging it in once overnight every three months is sufficient to keep it topped off. Were I you, I’d just leave it plugged in. The amount of current drawn to keep it charged is, I believe, negligible. ALL the other units in this category are difficult to charge. They rely on one of those brick-like charging adapters that must be connected under a hatch that is difficult to unlatch. This arrangement is clean, neat and easy as can be. Simply use your own appropriate length extension cord.
I’ve used this Energizer battery-in-a-box many, many times over the past six months and it has delighted me and other users without reservation. From experience, including enlisting the kind assistance of Mrs. Gadget, I can tell you even SHE has remarked on how much better and easier this product is to use than any of the others we have tested. We ran down one car’s battery regularly in order to test this and the other products in the category. I am happy we are no longer going to do that, that testing is concluded and the victor revealed.
We’ve pumped up bicycle tires and car tires, BIG exercise balls and sports balls for all the kids in the neighborhood. One factor stands out. Through all its use, we never depleted the battery inside. We were always able to jump-start five times before recharging. We never tried to jump start until the battery inside was depleted. We figured five jumps would be more than one might do before recharging. We filled TWO auto tires from nearly flat without the All-In-One pooping out. That was running nearly 25 minutes without letup. We powered a 60-watt equivalent CFL requiring 13-watts of AC electricity for more than 12 hours without the battery inside needing to be recharged. We charged iPods and phones and laptops and generally put this product to the test, never seeing its battery depleted to the point that we noticed it at minimal power.
As an emergency tool as well as a convenience tool, I am well satisfied with the performance on this product, as well as the ease-of-use and intelligent design.
I really do believe it is the best at what it does and highly recommend it to each of you. I won’t embarrass the others tested in this category by naming them. The best advice I can offer is to get this one, and only this one, clearly the best, most efficient and safest design among all competitors, and, as I found, also the best value. I found it at Amazon for only about $138, including FREE delivery and no tax (though where you live may insist on collecting tax).
Though the battery inside is a standard type and readily available, the product is not made to be user serviceable as far as I can determine. That is not to say that some enterprising person cannot do it. It is not something I would recommend attempting and when this one dies, I will simply purchase a replacement.
If earlier tests with this kind of product prove consistent, you can expect this one to perform admirably for at least five years, perhaps more. That has been my experience with others that use essentially the same battery type and capacity.
Yes, friends, peace of mind in a box is here.
