I'm writing this review mainly becasue I feel like the rating is skewed. One reviewer claimed he blew all the fuses in his 2012 Silverado because of this inverter, and gave it 1 star. He said none of the fuses were blown in the unit, so obviously the unit was at fault. However, the unit is rated for higher wattage than his cigarette adapter socket is. If you are using the cigarette adapter, you should not attempt to pull more than 150w off of ANY inverter. This has nothing to do with your inverter, and everything to do with the wiring in your car, which is not designed to handle the same load this inverter can. It is most likely that the reviewer was not aware of this limitation, and threw out a perfectly good inverter.
Another reviewer gave the unit 2 stars, after admitting that he had a bad alternator in an older vehicle (and it worked fine until his alternator went out).
Yet another gave 1 star because the minimum operating voltage is stated in the manual as 11v +/0.5 volts, which could mean the device might not run on 11.5 volts (or maybe 10.5). Well, your alternator should be putting out more than 14 volts when your car is running, and your battery, when charged, should be over 13. If your battery voltage drops below 11.5 volts at idle, you have bigger problems. I once went into a meeting and left my inverter plugged into my cigarette lighter (with the car off, of course) to power a laptop and a Sony FX1 HDV camera while capturing an hour or so of footage with no problems whatsoever.
I have had such success with the 400w unit, that I just bought a 1200w unit prior to hurricane Sandy (I'm on the east coast). I haven't been able to test that one yet (and thankfully didn't need to), but it just goes to show you I trust the product and the company. At this price, even if my 400 started on fire I'd buy another one, especially considering the years of use I've gotten out of it.so far i have only charged my laptop from it, which was my main reason for purchase. the only bad thing so far is the first couple times i turned it on, it smelled very chemically strong, the smell went away by the 3-4 time used, but it can easily charge my laptop. it seems that it makes my audio system in my truck to stay on even when vehicle is off when ever it is plugged in, only happens when this is plugged in, but if i unplug the inverter everything goes back to normal. the blue fits my trucks scheme, comes with 2 ways to connect, either via direct connect to terminals of a battery or to a 12v plug inside vehicle.
Buy Whistler Pro-400W 400 Watt Power Inverter Now
This device is exactly what I'd hoped it'd be. It allows me to have AC power for a multitude of devices including laptops, etc while on the go in the car. Be aware that when you first power it up, you'll get that electrical smell of burning transistors but it begins to fade with time. I'm well pleased with this devices output and performance. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking to supply AC power in their vehicle. The USB is a slow trickle USB charge designed to not overcharge or burn out a device so it may not provide enough power for some items.Read Best Reviews of Whistler Pro-400W 400 Watt Power Inverter Here
I used this product less than three days and it failed. I am unable to restart the unit and it just quit. I would never recomment this product.I have an older house (built 1924) and still have the steam heat. When we lost electric power after Sandy hit the area, I borrowed a 200 Watt harbor freight inverter and was able to keep the heat, the stove and a couple of florescent bulbs running off the car battery. 200 watts transported us from the dark ages to the 1930's!! After a lot of research, I bought the Whistler-Pro 800W and 400W inverters as emergency backup. When I connected them to the boiler's electric circuit, they would immediately trip. I checked the circuit's wiring and found nothing wrong, but eventually stumbled across the solution. If I leave out the ground plug, they work. These inverters must have some protective feature that is sensing a ground fault or ground loop. The HF inverters are cheaper and probably lack this feature as they work with all three wires connected. I've been thinking about modernizing to circulating hot water, but considering the benefits of having a heating system that runs on 90 Watts, I'll leave thing the way they are.
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