Why You Need A Battery Powered Jump Starter
The Tacklife T8 (and its imitators) can start you car and charge your phone
Last year, a golf ball smashed the back window of my minivan while it was parked in front of my old home. I got a rental car, which was a big hassle and required me to drive 20 minutes up the 680 freeway with pieces of the glass from my shattered rear window literally falling into the back of my car. When I finally got the rental car, drove it home and parked it in my garage, its battery promptly died. It refused to start or move again. It was that moment that I resolved to buy a battery powered jump starter.
Growing up, my family had a battery powered jump starter for a notoriously unreliable Jeep. The jump starter used a lead acid battery and was massive, weighing in at 20+ pounds. You had to lug it by hand to the front of the car and hook it up to the battery, which I did far too often. Today’s jump starters are far different. Building on advances in energy-dense lithium batteries, they’re a fraction of the size of older models. Yet they’re still able to jumpstart a car, truck, or even the large engine of a boat or RV.
I ended up going with a Tacklife T8 jump starter. The unit is tiny, weighing only a few pounds and measuring about the size of a small hardcover book. Yet it packs in a 17 amp-hour battery, which can crank out 800 amps of surge power; enough to turn over a 7 liter gasoline engine or a 5.5 liter diesel. Tacklife says that the unit can start an engine over 30 times on a single charge, and recharging it takes about 4.5 hours.
One thing I liked about the Tacklife T8 was the number of different ways you can charge the device and use the power it stores. The T8 comes with an AC adaptor so you can plug it in the wall to charge at home, as well as a 12 volt cigarette lighter adaptor so you can charge it in the car. It also comes with an adaptor which lets you plug cigarette-lighter-powered devices (like an emergency light) into the T8’s power pack, as well as two integrated USB ports, including one which is capable of fast-charging your phone or tablet.
I’ve found these ports extremely helpful. I expected to throw the T8 in my trunk and most forget about it until the next time I needed a jumpstart. In reality, I’ve found that the device works fantastically well as a super-beefy battery pack for my phone. I often do Zoom meetings outdoors, and an hour with video switched on quickly wears down my phone’s battery. I’ve taken to plugging it into the T8 during long calls, which buys me at least 10 hours of battery life.
The T8 also includes a compass, emergency flashlight, and a little readout which tells you the device’s charge level as a percentage. That precision in reporting charge levels is another advantage of using a lithium ion battery, as the batteries tend to charge and discharge in a predictable, easily measured way. It’s also helpful to check the screen periodically to make sure your unit is always charged up and ready to go, so it can jumpstart your car or run your phone in an emergency.
Tacklife says that the T8 can hold its charge for 12 months without use, but some customers have reported a much shorter hold time. I’d recommend checking its charge level periodically, or leaving it connected to a charger if you plan to use it around the house. When you’re ready to jumpstart a vehicle, the T8 comes with a beefy set of jumper cables which plug into a special port and then connect the device to a vehicle’s battery terminals.
Some reports indicate that the T8 might be updated with a newer model shortly, and I’ve seen intermittent stocking issues where the device sells out on major sites like Amazon. If you can’t find the T8, the good news is that multiple companies sell similar lithium-ion-based jump starters. Sunpow, Avapow and Hulkman all offer models with similar features and comparable capacity to the Tacklife T8. Most cost under $100.
Especially if you drive in remote areas where calling for a tow truck is a challenge, a jump starter is a relatively cheap piece of extra insurance against a dead battery. In my case, a rep from the rental car company ended up coming to my house with his personal jump starter. It worked perfectly to get the rental car running again and out of my garage. I’m glad he had a jump starter ready to go, and I’m glad to have a T8 — both for potential emergencies or roadside strandings, and for use as a basic power pack around the house.
Consider getting a jump starter for your own go-bag, or to keep in your vehicle’s trunk for the next time you have a breakdown.
Do you own a jump starter? Would you buy one? Hit Reply and tell me about it.
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