Heavy Duty, no frills booster pack (this is exactly what you want).
Pro's:
- Longer than average cables
- Arrived fully charged
- Utility lighter
- Status lights
- Heavy Duty Quality (from the clips, to the cables, to the plastic packaging, it all feels like good quality)
- Protected Jumpers to prevent accidental sparking
Con's:
- Cost
Now don't get me wrong, this booster pack is worth every penny from what I've seen so far. But it would be nice if it were a tad less expensive. Even just breaking it down to $99 so it's under the $100 mark would feel a bit better.
This booster is exactly what you want if you are looking for a booster pack for your car. It has very good power, is portable, and holds a charge well as can be seen by the fact that it arrives at your house fully charged. Some might mention the lack of frills like lights, compressors, etc.. as a negative, but this is really a positive thing. When you add all sorts of gadgets and electronics you get a constant steady drain on the battery. Even though this drain may be minimal, over a period of days/weeks it can easily drain a battery. And a dead booster pack is worthless.
If you need to power a gadget or two, the booster pack does offer a Utility Lighter (this is the same thing as a cigarette lighter in a car, but allows more power to flow through). This is a nice addition as it does allow flexibility without the addition of any electronics, so no additional power drain is added to the battery.
It always drives me nuts when I see a booster pack that uses LED lights to constantly display the status of the battery. Yes LED lights are very efficient, but if you always leave them on, they are still a drain on the battery. This uses several lower power LED lights, but the circuit is not completed until you push and hold a button. This means that there should be no additional drain on the battery due to these lights unless you have an abnormal habit of checking the battery status on a daily basis :).
My first experience with a booster pack was with a Walmart special. I paid maybe $20-$30 for it. It came totally dead requiring me to charge it before being able to use it. Even brand new it wouldn't hold a charge for more than a week, and basically it was a total waste of money. I used once or twice when I first purchased the booster pack, then put it into the trunk of my car. A week or so later when I ran across someone needing a jump start I thought it would be a great opportunity to pull out my booster pack and save the day. Needless to say the battery was already dead, and the driver had to make other arrangements for a jump start.
This new Booster Pac arrived, fully charged, quickly and easily started my car without any hassles despite the battery being totally dead. And while I can't confirm the longevity of the charge just yet, there are many others here reporting that it will easily hold the charge for a year or more. while it would have been nice to be able to pick up a booster pack for less than the $120 cost of this one. I would much rather spend the $120 and have a booster pack that will work when I need it, than to spend another $30 on a cheap booster pack that can't hold a charge for more than a week.
It should also be noted that this booster pack has slightly longer cables than my previous one. For most people this probably won't really make a difference as the booster pack sits on the engine either way. But for those that have hard to reach batteries this could be important.
**Update**
It's now a week or two later. I think my car battery is dead as I have had to jump it every time I needed to go somewhere. I have used the booster pack now many times, the car starts up like a champ every time, the booster pack has no problem holding a charge, and is still showing Full power despite the obviously more than normal use I have been putting it through. So far I have to say this booster pack has been a great investment, and the high reviews for this item are right on the money. I still need to pick up a new car battery, but the booster pack has been working flawlessly.
| Manufacturer | Clore Automotive |
|---|---|
| Brand | Clore Automotive |
| Model | ES5000 |
| Item Weight | 18 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 18.3 x 11.4 x 4.4 inches |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Item model number | ES5000 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Manufacturer Part Number | ES5000 |
| Amperage | 1500 Amps |
| National Stock Number | 6130-01-569-4022 |
