Customer Reviews

Coleman Cable 08665 12-Foot Heavy-Duty Truck and Auto Battery Booster Cables with Polar Glow Clamps, 4-Gauge

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It never fails, that when you need a jump, you are parked nose-in the parking space. With 25 foot cables, you don't need to push the car out. Plus, it doesn't matter what side the battery is on. AMAZON.COM sells 12, 16, 20 and 25 foot lengths. Compare the prices, and the 25 foot is a good value for just a little extra money. Thick, heavy, 4 gauge wire provides quick starts (these things weigh about 15 pounds!). Each clamp has a glow in the dark polarity indicator on it. At first, this sounds like a solar powered flashlight, because the cables are stored in the dark trunk, but ten seconds in front of the booster car's headlights will charge them up. Cheap jumper cables are no bargin. Buy the best and be done with it. I can't wait until my next dead battery! (Well, almost).

I purchased these cables based solely on internet research. Coleman seems to be a well respected company. After inspecting the 08660 twenty foot long four gauge cables, I am satisfied with my purchase. The materials appear to be of good quality, and the clamp design is intuitive. There is a top of page review dated September 14th 2006 by Privacy Advocate titled "Slight disappointment" in which he describes his concern about the clamps having only one side of the jaw plated with copper. This actually is an intelligent design. The copper cable is connected to only one jaw (the jaw that is copper plated for increased conductivity). Copper plating the non-connected jaw would be counter productive. I recommend purchasing a minimum length of twenty feet, a minimum of four gauge cable, and clamps rated a minimum of 500 amps. The length is recommended because you may not always be able to place a boost vehicle nose to nose or side by side. The gauge and amps are particularly important if you live in a cold climate. Check the vehicle OEM battery specifications regarding cold cranking amps (CCA) for a clear understanding of why gauge and amps are important.

For the price and in the right situations these are good cables. Good length, good ga. wire and copper connectors. But for me where they fall short is at the clamps and this type of clamp seems to be on MANY cables available today. I could not see it in the photos but the clamps are uneven at the ends because of the extra notch the manufacturer adds on one side to make it easier to connect to side terminal batteries. Also there are NO teeth on the end of the jaws so you HAVE to make your connection using the teeth on the sides of the jaws. This does not sound like a big deal until you are in a tight situation and have to clamp onto a top post battery straight down, then you have an uneven clamp end and no teeth to grip the post. I happen to also have a car (a domestic) with a remote mounted battery, not a HOT ROD or modified car, just a stock factory production car where the manufacturer could not fit the battery under the hood for space saving and design reasons and put it elsewhere in the car. Remote batteries used to be a rare thing on mostly European cars but it is fairly common now on all makes of cars. With the battery not under the hood or in the trunk I have a Pos. and Neg. lug under the hood at the end of battery cables to jump the car with. The Pos. lug is surrounded by plastic in a depression to prevent anything from accidentally hitting it and shorting. Because of this there is little room and I can not get the side of these jumper cable clamps to grab the lug, I need teeth on the end of the jaws to grip the Pos. lug. I'm returning these cables and for $15 more (on sale) than the price of these cables I got the same length, the same 4 ga. wire, clamps with teeth on all 3 sides, even jaw ends, a side terminal connection in the jaws, and they came with a hard plastic storage case, safety glasses and gloves. After shopping around for a week I found this is a great deal. I shopped all over the Net and in my local stores comparing prices wire length, size, and end clamps. There are many great items for great prices at Amazon but if you need what I need in a jumper cable go to your local SEARS.

This 16 ft. Coleman jumper cable is a 4 gauge cable which is a mechanic's grade. It is durable and will last a long time. The length ensures that you will be able to utilize this tool without worry, the clamps glow in the dark and fit both side post and top post batteries. It comes with a lifetime warranty and I am very glad that I bought it.

These cables are made with aluminum wire which has been tarted-up with a copper coating. The jaws are steel, also deceptively copper plated. The insulation on the wire is some cheesy substance that I suspect will crack and fall off within a few years. I would rate these three stars if they were sold as what they were, instead of pretending to a quality that they don't possess. If you need a long set of jumper cables that will start your car, and you don't expect them to last too long, these will probably do the job for you. If you expect quality components and a lifetime of service from the tools you buy, keep looking.

I had one pair of these cables that I keep in the trunk of my car, and now I am getting a second pair for my second car. Solid construction, nice thick guage. Clamps are very secure and the no tangle feature is amazing. The fact that it is also secure on side post batteries is a major plus. This is a must have for the trunk of your car, however I recommend going with the longer cables. It's also a nice feature that they stay flexible to -94F for those of you in colder states/areas. These things will never let you down!! Coleman is a name you can trust in all sorts of products. I also recommend getting the jumper cable bag just in case they ever get dirty, you don't want the truck of your car getting dirty because of jumper cables. Very sturdy 4-guage wire provides all the amperage you need, you wont lose power through the cables length, you will always get a nice clean start using these cables, whether it be starting your car, or just charging your battery, they will not let you down. Handles are also nicely insulated to protect you from getting electrocuted from the battery terminals.

The cables are made in the USA, which is great, but they are not copper cables. They are the much cheaper "copper clad aluminum" cables that are of much lower quality. The product description states, "Extra Heavy-Duty" and "the strongest consumer grade available", which CCA is not. I need the jumper cables for emergency use only so they hopefully won't be used much. If you need to unroll and roll up the cables often look for copper cable, not this product. This kind of information should have been in the product description, but then if it was, I wouldn't have made this purchase.

I absolutley love Amazon!!! For the price of a set of cheap Booster/Jumper Cables in a brick and morter store, you can buy extra long and heavy duty jumpers! First off, don't be the person that not only needs to ask a kind passer-by for a "jump" but also if they have jumper cables. It's MUCH easier to get a jump start if you have your own cables.

Next lets talk about sizing. Having the longest cable possible is a major plus if your car is parked up against something like a pole or wall, or even parked on a one way street. The "booster car" (the car w/o a dead battery) can pull in close enough to use the cables without having to manuver into some akward position. Or better yet, you won't have to push your vehicle into a position to be jumped. If your diving a normal sized car they can even pull in behind you to jump you! Or if their vehicle is the shorter of the two, they could pull in front. Now how about gauge? For those who aren't electricians or engineers, as the number value of gauge decreases, the size and capacity of the cable increases. So for example 6-ga has about twice as much copper wire as 8-ga, and 4-ga is a about twice as much as 6-ga, so on and so on. That doesn't mean you double the capacity of wire with every two numbers though. 4-gauge may sound like a lot but it really isn't.

The technical stuff. Don't worry if this doesn't make sense, you don't really need to know all of this, but I'm trying to make a point as to why to get the longest and heavist cables you can. I'm not an electrican but I've worked with it long enough to know a few general rules of thumb. First of the enemy of electricty is resistance. Resistance ultimately determines the load a particular wire can carry. Five things factor into resistance. Temperature, conductor, voltage, load, and distance. Temp we can't control, so we have to assume the worst (HOT)...or in other words need heavier cable. Conductor should be copper, or at least a high purity mix of copper...good there. Voltage...12VDC is a low voltage system...probably the biggest problem we face. Since is a low voltage system we have to contend with voltage drop as it travels over the wire. The higher the voltage, the longer it can run with acceptable levels of voltage drop over a particular gauge wire...so again since it's low voltage need heavier gauge wire. Load (Amperage)...it's a car starter so it takes A LOT of power. The voltage is a fixed number (more or less) so Amperage is determined by the size of the engine your trying to start. And you'd be surprised how high that can be. Even a small engine can be well over 300 Cranking Amps. That said even a "dead" battery will put out some power. As for distance...this cables selling point is also a draw back. 25' is LONG run for 12VDC. So like I said in the last line 4-ga isn't as much as you think. In fact, if you have an engine over 6-liters you should really consider 2-ga for this distance. So summing up in layman's terms...considering the hot temperatures outside, the fact that it's 12VDC and we need a long cable, and that we're trying to start a car engine (which takes a LOT of power) these are the ONLY cables I could reccomend for anyone driving a small car up to a light truck.

Lets talk about how to properly start a car with a drained battery. Make sure the LAST connection make is the NEG clamp to the "dead" car on a frame ground (something metal and NOT MOVING or GOING TO MOVE in the engine compartment.) Don't attach it directly to the battery's NEG post. Next lightly rev the engine of the running vehicle for 3 to 5 minutes. This will put a bit of a surface charge on the dead battery. Then attempt to start the car. As soon as it starts remove the cables (starting with the NEG on the car being jumped.) If you ever have a dead battery for any reason...take it to an auto parts store as soon as possible and have it tested to make sure it still holds a proper charge. Most places do it for free. NEVER touch the clamps together once connected to a battery!!! Doing so could damage you vehicles electrical system, and/or cause fire, burns, explosion of the battery, damages to your cables...

A couple of final thoughts. Protect your investment. I bought a cable bag that works really well to keep them from getting tangled with everything in my trunk. Also keep the twist ties that come with them which will keep them organized inside the cable bag. And once used, take them home and clean and dry them before storing them once again. The oils inside of engine compartments can be corrosive to rubber jackets and copper contacts. These cables are more than worth they weight in gold! They are inexpensive and top notch quality!

Over the years I probably owned 3 or 4 cheap jumper cables prior to these. You think I would have learned after the first 1 or 2. True most people don't use cables very often, but when you do use them you need something that works well. It seems I use them more for stranded people in parking lots or friends and neighbors than I do for my self.

I have found the cheaper 8, 10 or higher gauge cables, in not to much time and use will deteriorate to the point when you really need them they won't work. These are a heavy duty 4 gauge wire that will last for many years. In fact they might be the last jumper cables you ever have to buy. My vehicle as do most newer vehicles have side battery posts. These cables slip on them and lock in place, making a nice solid contact with no worry about sparks. For posts mounted on top of the battery it has a alligator type clamp on the end which will lock on tight, since the handle is spring loaded. This cable is 16 ft long for easy access for cars, SUV's and smaller trucks. If you have a larger truck or motor home you might want to consider longer cables.

I also " as Reviewer George C writes " had cheap jumper cables literally melt when using them, it is not unusual for cheap bargain basement cables to do this. It's a scary and dangerous situation when this happens, particularly when battery acid is in the mix.

I feel it is well worth the couple of extra $$ for the peace of mind, knowing these cables will work safely when I need them.

i got this one back when my old car used to die on me all the time

when i finally got a new car i was almost upset that it always starts by itself thats how good this cable is

i also have another ( even more heavy duty 2 gauge ) coleman cable but that one is TOO heavy and clamps are too hard to compress. this 4 gauge one is ideal IMHO for a mid-size car. clamps operate smoothly, the cable itself is not too heavy or stiff and power transfer is good.

i had a cheap cable literally MELT on me once and wouldn't start the car because it was too thin. don't use cheap jumper cables - go for a nice solid one like this.