Customer Reviews

Cobra CPI-150 Micro Port 150 Watt Power Inverter (Black)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This is a great product. It is perfect in (almost) every way. Smallest 150 watt inverter around. Very quiet. Works both in the car and on a plane. Has both a 3-prong AC and USB powerpoints. It shines particularly well verses the 'big-black' inverters for traveling for 3 reasons. 1) Again, it is so quiet that more often than not you can't even hear it; 2) when you re-start the ignition on your car it properly resets itself and keeps providing power (unlike the 'big-black' units which are universally dumb and unpower themselves); 3) if your car's battery voltage drops (because it is cold...older battery...or you are not running the engine) this unit tends to keep working whereas most others sense the voltage drop and quit working. The only minor quirk with it is that the silver-tipped spring that you insert into the lighter socket is overly sprung and in some cars you need to occasionally re-push it into the lighter. An annoyance but not a deal breaker. Overall I cannot recommend this enough. The only other unit that comes close is the Xantrex 175 watt unit (#813-0291). It has all of the above qualities except that the airline portion of the adapter would not seperate correctly from the cigarette portion of its cord. This resulted in the unit's tip being slightly loose at the plastic seem of the cigarette portion of the adapter.

I spent an absurd amount of time comparing the different inverters on Amazon and finally decided on this one. I'm glad I did, and I am a very persnickety designer. Unlike some of the other ones I was looking at, this one has a clean, slim design. Most inverters must be triple or quadruple the size and weight, if not more! This one is light and tiny, about half the size of a small paperback book, if even that. The plastic it is made out of is the high quality impact resistant stuff, not the fragile junk I was half expecting. The cord is detachable and is just right to keep the inverter out of the way of things like your shifter, but not too long that it's messy. The product comes with this nice little case for the inverter and cord which is pretty handy, perfect for storing it in the glove box. I just got it but have tested it out and it was charging my laptop. I recommend going with this one, you will be happy.

The product is great overall. Incredibly small for inverters (will be perfect for flying with my laptop), the power is not underrated, and the pouch it comes in is very handy.

The only downside is that it is noisy. I've heard noisier inverters, but this thing is far from silent. I can hear the cooling fan distinctly over my car's engine and road nice (and I have a pretty loud car).

Overall - still happy with the product. I needed an inexpensive, compact power inverter that can be used in a car and on a plane.

This is a great and reasonably priced gadget which anyone on the go can find very practical to have in the centre console of the car. I use a hand-held computer for my field work and it not only powers/charges that when I am out and about but it also charges my laptop on the go.

What I did not envisaged at the time of buying this unit was that it can charge different phones with the standard travel charger, especially when in a family there are different phones and require different chargers. One need not buy different car chargers as this unit works like a home receptacle. For twice the amount you pay for a car charger this device sure is an excellent multi purpose gadget.

This unit provides 150 continous watts of power which is more than adequate for computers and handhelds that can be charged from the 12v output of the car. I have a Corolla which I use for my field work and the 12v output can provide upto 120 watts of power as per Toyota's specs.

I accidentally droped this unit in the first week when I wanted to use it in my other car from about 3 feet. The unit survived the fall and except for slight scratch on the side it worked flawlessly and is still in use.

It also charged an old Ipod when I directly inserted it in the USB receptacle. I use a Motorola Razr phone and charge it simultaneously from USB output while the three prong receptacle is in use for the handheld.

Overall I'd say it is a good investment.

Highly recommended!

I have tried a dozen or so cigarette/car/dc chargers and none of them worked with the HP TouchPad. So I gave up and went the way of an inverter instead. Looked around for the smallest I could find and found this one on Amazon.com.: Cobra CPI-150 Micro Port 150 Watt Power Inverter A bit noisy with the fan, but I drive the freeways and it's not noticeable. All of the adapters I used to try to charge the HP TouchPad would end up with the same warning on the screen from HP that this is not the right current, etc....

Okay, so the surprise: the Cobra CPI-150 Micro Port 150 Watt Power Inverter can and will charge the HP TouchPad using it's USB port! Yes, you still have to have the inverter, BUT you don't need to drag along the HP TouchPad's AC/USB barrel plug and you will have the inverter plug open for other items, Laptops, DVD player etc.

This is the only USB (and I have tried and bought MANY) that has worked straight out of the box. It's only 4 stars, because of its noise (really not bad), but not perfect. If you've been looking for a car charger for the HP TouchPad, you KNOW what a hassle it has been to find one. Funny thing is Cobra doesn't advertise it specifically, but so far it's the only one that WORKS, despite the many, many now rebranded chargers out there "for the HP TouchPad".

Don't be fooled, this one really works!

P.S. Also works (USB) with my Visio, my Kindle, Kindle DX and based on the specs my soon-to-have Kindle Fire, as well as my DroidX and HP Veer!! Comes with a case, so it's compact for travel and when not in use, although I have it plugged in ALL the time now!
Edit 2. Bumped it to 5 stars, the noise is really not that bad, so I can't justify a star reduction, just for that.

This is the second one of these; the first only showed the red fault light, so the vendor sent me a replacement. This second one only powers SOME items, like my cell phone charger, mp3 player usb charger, two-battery AAA battery charger, and surprisingly a small room-size fan on low; but NOT a 40W or 60W light bulb in a standard table lamp(??), or my Toshiba laptop charger(which may be 200W though)! So if you need a more versatile/reliable inverter, you may want to look elsewhere. It DOES what I need it to do in the car though, so more 3-star than 2-star.....I guess! Oh, I opened the first faulty one that I got and there was a loose capacitor rolling around in it....may take a shot at resoldering that in!

During my senior year of college, I opted to take a road trip from Portland, Oregon to southern California with a buddy of mine during spring break to visit a couple of friends, go to Disneyland, check out the famous locales, and explore Yosemite (the latter did not happen after we got snowed out, unfortunately).

Since my buddy and I both carry laptops and phones that need charging, along with my dSLR camera, and since the 1000 mile journey would get boring without some computer entertainment, I decided that I should pick up an inverter for use in my 1998 Kia Sephia, which is by far the worst car I have ever taken on a long trip.

Since I have only used one other inverter, which was in a friend's car, I can't compare this item to other ones, but I can compare it to my needs and desires for an electronic device of this nature.

First of all, this thing works beautifully. It is extremely small, very quiet despite having an internal cooling fan, and flawlessly charges items with both USB and 3-prong AC connections. Unless you are attempting to use a microwave in your car, the 150 watt max load capacity is more than sufficient, as most laptops run at about 65 watts. I was able to both use a laptop and charge my iPhone simultaneously. Interestingly, with that combination of items, I had a number of options...I could run the laptop, while charging my phone directly off the inverter. Or, I could charge my phone off the laptop. Or, I could charge my phone using its optional two-prong AC "power block" with the inverter.

Since driving and using a laptop simultaneously is a good way to get arrested and/or die, there was no need for multiple AC outlets on the unit, which would have also been pushing the limits of its capacity. My buddy was able to use his MacBook to play games while I drove, then later use my HP G-series (with a 17.3" screen, so a rather large laptop) to watch some movies I had on there. At any given time, I was also charging my phone, and encountered no problems with overheating or failure.

Just in case you do overdraw from this unit, it has a built in mini-type automotive fuse to protect its circuitry. The cord is a two-piece design which allows the whole system to fit into the small leatherette zip pouch included with it, which is a nice way to keep it stored when not in use. The 12-volt adapter end is a typical style as might be found on a phone charger. It fit snugly with no issues in the cigarette lighter of my Kia, but in my friend's BMW E34, it was extremely loose, though still functional. I am going to assume that her older car was to blame. The cord did not get in the way of my 5-speed gearshift, although it was close. The unit itself was a little awkward as there was no good place to put it, but the cord was long enough for it to rest vertically on the floor against my center tunnel and was not in my friend's way when he was sitting there.

The Cobra CPI-150 is not perfect. The plastic housing is rough and poorly fit together. The USB port was rather crude and required some clever fiddling and considerable pressure for me to get anything plugged in. When it starts warming up, it smells pretty bad, as does its storage pouch, which seems to be coated with some kind of ill-scented processing chemical. However, we are talking about an extremely inexpensive device that functions almost perfectly, so there isn't much room for complaint.

Overall, I would highly recommend the Cobra CPI-150. It works well, costs hardly anything, and provides much needed electrical capacity for devices not designed specifically for 12 volt power sources.

As an added side note, I found it rather great to be driving over the Cascade mountains into California at 1 AM, with moonlight illuminating the snowy roadside, while my friend played Age of Empires 3 on his laptop with the use of this inverter. I only wished I had a stereo jack input on my audio receiver so that we could have heard the sound of cannons rumbling through my subwoofer, but "Empire State of Mind" had to suffice instead.

Love this inverter. Take it whenever I travel, airplanes or roadtrips. Don't need to keep buying new dc adapters every time I buy a new electronic item. Comes with a nice little travel case. Good quality, had this for over a year now, no problems, would buy again.

I can sit in my car and power my 13.3 laptop with a 2.2ghz processor and using the USB connection to charge my cell phone works great. Seems to be somewhat noisy when the load becomes intensive, or on warm days, but it is very compact so it is a good trade off, I had the other power inverters much larger, and quieter, but the choice is yours large bulky and silent, or small and a bit of noise. I prefer the latter.

this is a great inverter - small, quiet, and powerful
charges my macbook and iphone at the same time