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The question really depends on what your requirements are for the inverter. Do you just want it for a quick cell phone charge while on a road trip? Do you want it in case of an emergency? There are a ton on the market that do just fine for a quick cell phone charge, but in case of a real emergency you'll need a better one. You never know when you'll need to power a tool, a TV, a lamp for light, or heater etc...
No power inverter will do you justice for bigger appliances going through your cigarette lighter in the car, you will need to plug it directly into your battery.
To power a TV you will need between 300-500W inverter. To power a device such as an PlayStation 3 (a sensitive computer) that needs clean power, you will need a SINE Wave inverter or you could fry the device.
I bought this Cobra inverter and the first one I was shipped was damaged and I sent it back and got a replacement very quickly. Their customer support is great. The second one worked like a charm. It does come with a cigarette plug adapter for quick use. But it also comes with some batter clamps and cords for using bigger devices that require more than 150W. I personally ran some extra wire from my battery, through the car's firewall and into the car and mounted the Cobra unit in my car permanently. It works perfectly.
Please note, when the device is powered off it draws no power so you can leave the unit always connected to your battery, but if you forget to power off the unit and do not have anything plugged into it, it still draws some power which could cause your battery to be fully drained if the unit is left on for an entire day.
This unit also has USB connecter for powering devices such as the iPhone. Couldn't be happier with it. Hope this review helps you decide.
✔ Highest voted answer
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I do not know what I I did without this adapter. 2 months ago I drove from Florida all the way to Texas. I had no issues with this device, it has a USB port and charges my laptop in about 45mins. I am now planning a camping trip and last weekend I tried blowing up an inflatable raft with this adapter to test if it would work, worked perfectly. I just read the reviews for the other suggestions given to you, and I had no problem with this device overheating. I guess I was lucky and found the perfect adapter on my first try. Also it does come with a 3 year warranty, so this should give you no issues, just 150 watts of continuous power for anything you can think of. I feel like a sales pitch man, but this adapter has not failed me yet.
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This is the smallest, most powerful inverter I have ever used. It's perfect for the car and for the airplane. It has both 3 prong AC and USB ports, it's very quiet and when you restart your ignition the power through the inverter stays on instead of resetting. I've had a few in the past and this is the one I'd buy over and over again.
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I bought this inverter originally because it has pretty much the highest wattage on the market, 400-Watts. I bought it to plug into my cigarette lighter to charge my laptop and other devices while on the road. It worked flawlessly, the fan was a bit loud but nothing too extreme.
In the winter we have power outages quite frequently here in Washington due to the extreme weather conditions. The cell phone towers usually stay up for a bit, but after a few hours usually go out too. I have been able to hook this inverter up to my car and hook up an extension cord and then our land line to it, and radio to listen for updates, worked great, and since then I have easily convinced my neighbors to do the same. I was so happy with myself that I had actually purchased an inverter with alligator clips,. I never even thought how useful this feature would turn out. I recommend this to everyone, great purchase.
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I tried the Cobra as well. I returned mine immediately and never got it working.
When I plugged it into the cigarette lighter, it popped a fuse in my car when I tried to use it. I replaced the fuse and tried again and boom! it blew the fuse again. If your first unit sucked and my first unit sucked, what does that say about their quality assurance? I have seen a ton of good reviews about it, but apparently you have to always send back your first unit before you get a good one...?
I will say they were nice and gave me a refund promptly.
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But, I must say after getting my second unit that works, I've had mine now for over a year installed in my car and it's awesome! Not sure, why cars don't actually have these pre-installed to begin with. It's almost like how it feels after using a car with GPS installed, you wonder how you could have ever lived without it before. Everywhere I go I use it, for either charging my iPhone, laptop, or even letting my kids watch movies on road trips. I've also used it when I went camping to power my sawzall for cutting some wood up real quick.
Might want to try it out again, but I understand your reluctance.