Customer Reviews

Stanley PC1A09 100 Watt Power Inverter with USB Power Outlet

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I bought this unit because there is no cooling fan, and rated 100W continuous. It makes no sound at all. Instruction book states it creates a modified sine wave for AC power, not the standard square wave which can lead to excessive heating. Modified sine wave was exactly what I wanted.

I have powered a GPS unit through the USB charging port together with a laptop PC, with the PC operating and battery charging, no problems. Unit did not get hot. I'm thinking I should get another.

Caution, the inverter plugs into the dashboard 12V car adapter quite tightly. Take care when removing the inverter from the dashboard by holding the dashboard 12V car adapter in place while rocking the inverter back-and-forth to remove, so as to not pullout the 12V car adapter from the dash.

The fit needs to be snug so the inverter does not work loose from the dash, but I think it is a bit too tight. I give it a Good (4) rating because of the tight fit, otherwise it would be Excellent(5).

To try out this unit I put our two-bulb desk lamp in the car, put brand new 60 and 40 Watt incandescent bulbs in it (to load it to the rated 100 Watts) and ran it on the way to work and back. It performed wonderfully. The adjustable neck let it fit into either of the cigarette lighter jacks. Power held true even while idling for a train slowly leaving the Container Port and for a traffic accident to clear on the way home. The unit was warm to the touch but certainly not hot at the end of each commute, even after running constantly at its rated full load. For reference, the unit performed this well in a VW "New Beetle".

Popular Mechanics magazine had recommended the purchase of a Black & Decker PI100AB 100-Watt Power Inverter for hurricane preparedness. When I looked at these on Amazon.com, it was clear ordinary consumers were not as thrilled as Popular Mechanics with that unit. But the inverter was still a good idea and Amazon.com also offered this model from Stanley which showed a much higher customer satisfaction rating. Clearly I share the high opinion of those previous reviewers and hope that this review will, in turn, benefit someone else.

I highly recommend this inverter. I have used numerous inverters and I can say without a doubt, this is the most compact and quietest one I have come across. Construction is very good and I really like the fact that it cuts out if the car battery gets too low. The USB port is very handly for charging my iPods, iPhone, and GPS. Must have for travelling!

Dead silent, runs cool, charges almost anything. A friend's EEE PC refused to charge, but there are all sorts of warnings on the manual about certain products that dislike the "regenerated sine wave" this inverter generates. Please note that it plugs very tightly into the cigarette adapter. This is by design. You don't want poor electrical contact on something designed to draw more than the usual amount of current. Make sure you hold your socket in place with the other hand when unplugging this unit and you'll be OK.

Just replaced my previous inverter with this one...previous one worked fine for 3 years but had a fan and the fan just died so was looking for one without and this one so far works great. I use this a lot...constantly charging my computer in my work van so I need reliability so far this one works great...love how it makes no sound and utilizes technology so a cooling fan is not needed...so far so good after 2 weeks. Only one thing that they could improve is the fittment...it is really a tight squeeze getting it into the charging port...need to be careful putting it in and taking out so nothing gets damaged, other than that no complaints.

Originally, I gave this a 5 star review but now it gets one star and is getting returned after a real road trip and has to go back. When I first received the unit I thought it was great. I put it through a few hours testing locally in my two cars with MP3 players and smart phones. It did great. However, just a few days later we took a real road trip of about 12 hours. We didn't need the device for a few hours so kept it stowed away. Then I charged one small mp3 player and started charging an an Android phone. About 20 minutes later the unit died, or so it seemed. At the next stop we checked our fuses because nothing else would work in the cigarette power adapter either. It was a blown fuse. Blow fuses happen so we replaced it. I resumed charging the Android phone with the power off and not even 15 minutes later it died again. At the next stop we replaced the fuse again and decided not to use the unit again on the trip in case it caused worse problems than a blown fuse. At our destination, a family member was curious about this and tried the Stanley in his car with his mp3 player. This time it blew the fuse in his car in just a few minutes. His car was nearly brand new. I knew then there was something defective with the inverter sent to me. It seemed like a great idea and was very quiet opposed to other inverters I've had in the past. Perhaps its this quietness that caused the problems? So it's going back to Amazon. For the record we bought a no-name inverter in the same form factor as this Stanley at a truck stop on the way back and it operated during the whole trip home without any problems.

I have two of these inverters. One for each of my vehicles. The offset usb plug makes it real easy to plug in a standard plug at the same time. Everything I have plugged into these inverters have worked without fail (ipods, laptops, and cellphones). A good quality product. I highly recommend!!!

I was looking for a small inverter to charge my notebook computer on our boat, and this is it! It has no fan, as was stated by a previous reviewer, so it is silent. I was glad I read the other reviews, because I would have been very disappointed to discover I'd bought one with a fan. It doesn't heat up at all, and has worked beautifully so far. I haven't used the USB outlet yet, but having it means I can also charge my iPod.

Started out a great little inverter.

But then the fuse blew, a replacement fuse blew, and the unit began to melt. No hi-power draw devices were ever plugged into this inverter. Just a MacBook and some USB cables for charging USB devices.

It still works, but I won't use it for fear that it will damage the vehicle electronics, or damage whatever is plugged in to it. And the fuse always blows -- which in it self really blows.

Bought this inverter w/ usb outlet for charging up my phone in my car. Using the inverter charges my phone faster, especially if I'm using the GPS option and mp3 player. I also bought the inverter for using pwr equipment, which has worked w/ electric blower.