Customer Reviews

Duracell DPP-300EP Powerpack 300 with Built-in 300-watt Inverter and 250 PSI Air Compressor, (Pack of 1)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I'd purchased a Black & DEcker Starter earlier this year from Amazon and it was a piece of junk. It NEVER worked; left my 16-yr old daughter stranded twice. This Duracell, however, lived up to its reputation: the air compressor is a very nice added bonus. If there is a downside, it is it takes a very long time to recharge (often overnight). It will recharge from the car's cigarette lighter outlet while the car's running, so this is a minor quibble.

COMPRESSOR

I've used this to inflate the tires on my car and it works just as well as my last compressor. There's even a gauge to show what the tire pressure is as I'm inflating.

OUTLETS

I used this on a camping trip to power my vacuum via the 12V DC socket. I also used it to power my ASUS eeepc netbook via the 120V AC socket. That was no problem.

There are two 120V AC sockets, so my husband tried plugging his notebook computer in while I had my netbook in. The fan started blowing as soon as he was plugged in and eventually a loud alarm sounded. I thought it was too much for the battery to have both units plugged in. When my husband tried his notebook in without anything else connected, he got another loud alarm. He has a large, 17" notebook. It was just too much of a strain on the battery. My netbook never got the alarm by itself.

I was camping for three days and I used the battery for a few hours the first two days with my netbook. The last day, the battery read empty, but it still had enough juice to power the vacuum.

FLASHLIGHT

The flashlight uses LED lights. It's bright white light, brighter than the flashlights we had brought with us to the campground. The LED lights are arranged so that the output forms the shape of Mickey Mouse and the light is not even but rather forms rings with light and dark areas, but it was sufficient enough for me to navigate my way through darkness.

JUMPER CABLES

I am happy never to have needed these cables but I'm glad they are there. If I should even use them, I will come back to update the review.

CONCLUSION

I am happy with the performance of this product. Had I been my husband, who wanted to use it for his notebook computer, I wouldn't have been so impressed. It's a great product to keep in the trunk for emergencies. Just keep in mind that the battery does have its limitations.

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UPDATE: I would like to update this to add that I did once use this to try to jumpstart my Honda Oddyssey. To be fair, the Powerpak was not fully charged. In fact, it was only halfway charged, but I had no choice but to try it. It did not jumpstart my car right away. I waited a few minutes and tried once more and it almost did work. The car was revving, and I think it would have worked had I waited a little longer and turned the key. However, my husband was already there with our other car and since he was so cranky, I didn't want to make him wait to try again. The biggest problem with using this as a jump starter is I have to remember to keep recharging it every three months. If I ever get to test it at full power, I will come back to update.

I bought this product after reading all the good reviews but I did not notice that no one that reviewed the product has used it as a jump starter yet, all reviews talks about how fast it will recharge while driving and how nice the order process was or the use of the air compressior.
I had to use it to jump start my car once after 3 months of purchase and it seems not to have enough power to do so, however it works on jump starting a smaller car with 4 cylinders. I charged it fully and attempted to start multiple times with no luck.
I guess if you are looking for a real jump starter then do not count on this unit for emergencies.

The 300 Provides 10 hours of quiet, dependable back up for my Cpap machine which I need to sleep. No more lost sleep due to temporary power outages. I can go camping again! I might have purchased the 600 for it's extended service. I RECOMMEND IT.

I bought this item for tent camping. It easily powers motors that are rated at 250W or less (such as air pumps, etc.) Will recharge all my camping equipment and D-cell batteries. Might be a bit light on current for jumpstarting larger engines -- I haven't needed to find out. Two A/C outlets are a plus.

After owning this product for over a year the powerpack no longer holds a charge. After opening it up it turns out it does not have a deep cycle battery but a standard lead acid battery. Don't let the battery die as this could happen to you too. Customer service told me it would be $90 an hour to fix it for me plus parts and suggested I replace the battery myself. For those interested the battery is a Sealake FM12120E.

I had a problem in my car in the wiring so battery discharge everyday. Instead of fixing that i ordered this & guess what its a cheapest & best solution i got. This product is working very good. I jump start 5 to 6 time without charging still working good.

I bought it in last August. It works pretty well for the first 10 months, and suddenly died yesterday (cannot be charged anymore, the charging led is always green).

I purchased the Duracell 300 Powerpack to mainly use in my fifth wheel trailer for camping and emergency purposes.
Air compressor doesn't have enough umph! to inflate a low trailer tire from 65 to 80PSI. Inverter works great to plug in the laptop or a floor fan while camping. Tried to jump start the riding lawn mower, took too long to get a charge from it. It was faster to park the truck next to it and pull out the ol' fashion jumper cables. I give it 5 stars for the small LED flashlight, 4 stars for the inverter, and 1 star for the jumpers, and 1 star for the air compressor. Don't waste your money! Buy a separate inverter, an actual air compressor and jumper cables and go to the dollar store and purchase the flashlight-you'll have a better "powerpack" in the long run.

I've been looking for a good unit lately and done decent research. This is a nice unit for the price but the power is probably too low for colder areas and larger vehicles. Look for CCA(cold cranking amps)ratings of 300 amps or more. That is the power delivered to the battery and this unit with 300 amps is actually closer to 200 CCA. In this case spending more does get you more and you certainly want this product to work when you need it.