Update 6/2009: Bummer. It burned up. Plugged it in one day and within seconds smoke was pouring out. Had to throw it out of the car and let it cool off before sending it to the electronics recycler. Scary. Amazon won't let me change the rating, but generally I would give burning electronic devices no more than one star.One of the attractions of this item is that it has two inputs: a regular mains AC socket and a cigarette lighter socket. In essence, this means you can power two things at once. That's a frequent requirement in my car so this item appeared ideal...or so I thought.
There are a couple of issues with it. First, as others have noted, it does seem to shut off quite quickly when you're powering a laptop. In my case, it could be anything from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. The second flaw is that the cigarette lighter socket on this device is about 2 inches (5cm) long. Some devices have shorter adapters than others and the shorter ones won't fit into the socket on this device because the adapter can't reach the contacts in the socket.
So, for example, this kind of item will work just fine:
Motorola Vehicle Power Adapter P510 Original (OEM) 89144 / SPN5401 for Motorola Razr V3, V3a, V3c, V3i, V3m, V3t, V3r, V3xx, Q, W315, RIZR Z3, KRZR K1, KRZR K1M, W385, MOTOROKR Z6m (Retail Package)
This kind of item will probably not work with it:
BlackBerry 12V/24V Automotive Charger
Finally, it's described as having a "Cup-Mount". All this means in reality is that it's narrow enough to fit into a cup holder. If you want an item that is actually designed for a cup holder, take a look at this:
PowerLine 0900-66 200-Watt Coffee Cup Inverter with USB Charging Port and Two Outlets
I shall be returning this item because of its poor performance and flawed design. I've still given it two stars because your mileage may vary depending upon the adapters/devices you want to use with it.
Worth a look but there are probably better-designed inverters out there.
Buy CyberPower CPS150CHI AC Mobile Power Inverter/Converter, 12VDC to 120VAC, 150W, Cup-Mount Now
My wife and I are planning a road trip this summer and wanted a way to charge camera batteries, cell phones and operate a laptop computer. The reviews indicated the CyberPower AC Power Converter was a good unit to purchase. We purchased the device and have since run several road test, 2 of which it powered an IBM laptop(with GPS software)for 5-7 hours. It worked GREAT! It ran cool and kept the battery in the laptop at full charge for the duration of the trips. We are very happy with this purchase.After buying product at Best Buy for $70, I came home and looked it up on Amazon.com where sure enough I found it for much less! I took back the one to Best Buy and got mine from Amazon in just a couple of days. I bought this primarily to use in our car for powering our Gateway & Toshiba laptops on road trips. As opposed to some power adapters which have various tips for various brands of computers, this is great in that if offers the versatility of being able to plug other AC items as well. A little large and the cords are a bit short, but I didn't think is was annoyingly loud.CyberPower CPS150CHI is very useful for the car, in the middle of the road you can charge your notebook, printer, internet really good. I used it and it was a good deal
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