Customer Reviews

Wagan Power Dome EX 400-Watt Jump Starter with Built-In Air Compressor

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

This is a fantastic unit and the price is on par with other brand units.

Pros:
It has a charge indicator, FM/AM radio with aux. audio input jack as well as a USB power supply port for those suckers who own an IPOD, the LED light is bright enough, the presence of an air compressor is a plus and the hose is a decent length but doesn't appear so at first glance, 2 AC outlets as well as 1 DC outlet should provide ample space to plug in anything, and of course the jump cables for car starting which, like the air hose, is longer than it appears in the picture (about 2.5 feet)

The reason I gave it only 4 stars:
the power switch for the AC outlets on mine is a 2 stage switch, meaning it has off, 1, and 2 settings. The 1 does nothing and the 2 powers the outlets. Based upon the pictures, it is clear that a simple ON/OFF switch was meant to be there and probably is in most units but for whatever reason, mine has a different one (no biggie). The air compressor works fine but I have a problem with the fact the dial goes to 260psi. Who is pumping that much air into something? Because of that, I need to look closely when I am filling tires because the distance from 0-35/40 is very small. The tips for the air hose come loose so they will get tossed or lost easily. Lastly, the speaker for the radio is not the greatest, it would have been nice to have a built-in amp and an audio out but i guess this thing can only do so much.

Overall, it is a great buy and should do the job well for most people.

Ironically, shortly before I purchased this item I told myself I would start leaving feedback on services and items I utilized. I figured it was only fair as I usually do tons of research on things before I spend my money and use customer reviews whenever possible. With that in mind, here is what I think of Wagan and their Power Dome EX...

We were driving cross country and were looking for an inverter/compressor/jumpstarter to carry for emergencies. Like most people we didn't need all the extra bells and whistles but they seemed like nice bonuses that were essentially free for the price. I read the reviews and, as you will see or have seen, they are are all over the place from 'love it' to 'junk.' I know even in the best product there is always a few ranting, cursing, grammar-slaughtering diatribes from someone who feels they were wronged but usually you can pick those ones out and disregard them. This item though almost seems like their quality really does run the entire spectrum. I can only speak for myself but I have to lean strongly towards 'Junk.' Like some other reviewers noted, right out of the box parts fell out and the item seemed poorly assembled. The casing did not line up and some of the trim pieces were partially falling off. Not a huge deal to me as it was going to bounce around in the back of the car or sit in the garage but not a great first impression nonetheless. Following the instructions I charged the unit for 48 hours before using which meant I couldn't test until it was about time to hit the road in two days. No issues during charging and after I removed it I did a cursory check off all the items. Everything seemed to function properly, compressor hummed, light and radio came on, inverter fan came on, etc. The problem came when we moved to to the back of the car and plugged in my son's Nintendo DS charger to the AC outlet. We turned on the inverter and the fan came on but DS wasn't showing a charge. Tried another item, a small fish tank bubbler we were bringing (yes, we moved with fish) and that didn't run either. Shortly after unplugging that we noticed smoke starting to blow out of the vents from the inverter fan on the unit and filling up the car. I removed the unit and shut it off stopping the smoke. The smoke was clearly electrical in nature (I've been a firefighter for 15 years so please don't waste time in your review second guessing my assessment) but the fans had continued to work and the unit was not particularily hot to the touch. Not a great start to the trip as we now had no power for the fish bubbler and the car smelled like burnt wires (not to mention I was pissed I had a $100 paperweight) but what do you do? As our beloingings were already packed in the moving truck, and I was afraid if I put the unit in with them it would burn it down, I had no choice but to let the unit cool down for a while as the car aired out and then then threw it in the back of our car to keep an eye on and deal with when we reached CA.
about a week later when I got around to dealing with it I went on Amazon to return I found out that, because of the battery, it could not be returned. I figured that I would call Wagan directly and that they would take care of it. After being on hold for quite a while, I finally spoke to a young man that seemed thoroughly disinterested in helping me. It sounded to me as if he fielded a fair amount of complaint calls as he seemed less than surprised I was calling and never even asked what happened before telling me I could return the item to them (at my cost) and they would send me a replacement. I told him that #1, I had already paid shipping once and wasn't going to pay it again to return their faulty merchandise, and #2, I didn't want a replacement as I didn't trust the quality. He told me they didn't do refunds and I would have to talk to Amazon. I asked to speak to a Supervisor and he told me that none were available but he would take my number and I would be contacted (It's been almost a month and nothing yet but in fairness he never said when they would call back so maybe one of these days but I'm not holding my breath...).
Already wound up I called Amazon ready for a fight. Dealing with Amazon as much as I had in the past I should have known better. I spoke to 'Phil' who listened to my problem, asked me to hold for a moment, and came back and informed me that while it is true Amazon cannot accept returns on the item they would refund my account for the full cost without the item and asked only that I find a 'responsible' way to dispose of or recycle the unit. Like I said, I should have known Amazon would stand behind something they sold. It's too bad they can't vett all their vendors to find ones that have the same approach but that's probably not possible.
So, in closing, here is my final scorecard. The Wagan Powerdome 400 I received was faulty and, most likely, a serious fire hazard. Apparently this is not true of all of them but I can only speak for myself. Quality and customer service of agan is very poor in my experience although it appears, at minimum, the compressor, light, and radio still work. The inverter turns on and does not smoke but also does not provide power nor does the DC or USB port. I also have not had opportunity to test the jumpstarter feature but would probably be hesitant Again, please don't waste your time telling me I had the wrong switch on, followed the wrong procedure, etc, as I read the manual up and down and tried every combination to get the unit to work). So buyer beware is the moral of my story. It appears this unit is something of a crapshoot based on the reviews and it can be a dangerous piece of equipment to malfunctio so do your research and good luck. On the bright side it appears you will always have Amazon's superior Customer Service to fall back on.

I have owned this a few weeks and have had to use it for 5 jumps and inflated 4 tires without it even going down below 13 volts Its great to have, you don't have to drag out those long cables and use another car to get a jump, and it started it right up. It will come in handy for storms also-- I love It..

UPDATE!!STILL GOING STRONG!!!

I have been using this for two and a half years now to jump cars and even for lights during power outages and it still works great..Im sorry some had had trouble..but mine is great ..I did have to tape on some decals that were falling off..but other than that it is still working..

Im glad I have it..

This is my third Wagan and each one has been a dud. This latest one I bought - PowerDome EX - won't charge up even when I've plugged it in to its maximum alloted time. I've done this three times and still, won't work. The outside looks new but I wonder if they stuck an old battery in there. It's such a pain to get it replaced. The one I bought last year - PowerDome 2354 - lasted one month and the charging receptacle broke on the battery side. The Wagan customer service guy said there's nothing they could do about it! He told me to take it apart and fix it myself. The first unit I bought several years ago, only lasted one year. The third time's it. No more Wagans. Overall, I'd say if you're going to review a product, better to give it some longevity rather than reviewing it shortly after you buy it. My experience with three over four years should give you a pretty good idea of how poorly made these power supplies are.

This unit is a high quality unit. I am very pleased as to how well it is made. It does everything that I expected of it and more. I don't need a radio or a compressor but it is there and it works well. I probably will order a higher wattage unit from Wagan which does not have all the frills.

Quick review: Functions as advertised as a jumper, do not use as a power device for extended periods of time.

Extended review:
This product came to me functioning properly except for the work light (which was a loose wire and I fixed it easily). I followed the instructions for charging and then used its power inverter to charge a few small electronics I have. Everything worked great. I then used it to power a laptop pc and it lasted about 45 minutes. I re-charged it again and left it sit for about 2 months. My car battery died because I hadn't driven it in 3 weeks so I brought the power wagon out, and it functioned exactly as advertised. Of course it advertises that you can let it sit for 6 months, but it still has a great charge level after jumping the car so that is a good sign. I wouldn't recommend this product to anyone looking for something to run larger appliances (even if they are within the advertised range of wattage) off of for more than a minute or two. If you're looking for a portable battery jumper/light/pump/radio or a little extra power to charge mp3 players or phones (the usb power function is great) while away from civilization (and weight isn't an issue) than this is a great product for you.

Customer service is extremely slow. My product started failing to take a charge, we contacted the company in june - it took them 6 days to get back to me - plus i had to chase them down by voice after emailing their cs dept failed to get any response (per the website). Then they promised to email the rma instructions -- which took several days -- but they sent the wrong ones (sent retailer instructions).... when i responded that the instructions made no sense - they finally sent the correct instructions. while waiting for their emails my husband tested the adaptor w/ a multi meter to find out it was just the adaptor that was failed (and since they expected us to pay to ship the whole unit back we didn't want to pay to send back the whole thing) -- i requested if i could just send the adaptor -- (btw - their emails are also full of spelling errors and they could not get my name right), it took THREE emails to explain to CS what an adaptor was... ! ... then 7 more for them to promise to send one... that was july 7. 2 days ago i still had not received the adaptor - so emailed once again asking where it was... was told 'sorry it's being mailed today' .... this product is used the most during the summer for us - we use it camping and at the drive-in, picnics etc etc -- and we have had no ability to use it (cause we cant charge it) for all summer... then after they promised to ship the part a month ago i find out today not only was it not shipped at all - it was sent snail mail today from California (across country to VA) after i asked them and 'reminded' them -- so the likelihood of us getting this time for our next use requirement (this weekend) is highly unlikely.

finally - its sold as having a compressor capable of inflating truck tires -- it does not. it does not create enough pressure to inflate our 17" truck or rv tires.. (we had to buy another dedicated compressor for them)

A company is only as good as its customer service - and they have failed at every point for theirs. not to mention a simple power adaptor should last more than 6 months. the item is useless if you can't charge it. I cannot recommend this product.

To start off, I bought this product from Amazon, and then replaced it with "another" unit, then replaced "another" with "another of another" unit.

I was excited about all the features on this product as they fit my needs, and at a very reasonable price. I need a unit to take on camping/long distance trips, to keep in car for emergency, to pump bikes and air beds, and of course to have as spare power for laptops and charging other small devices like cell phones and smart phones. (Such a nice thought to go to a park and bring my laptop with this unit and work on a picnic table under a tree for entire afternoon!) So it's perfect but was initially hesitant after reading many reviewers having to replace / return their defective units due to battery. And this isn't just Wagan, but Duracell and other units with built-in power storage.

First one came. The unit was not flat on the bottom so it wobbled. Charged around the 34 hours max. I was most eager to see how long it can keep my laptop running. To much my disappointment, my laptop ran for 25 minutes before the first couple of beeps, and then 35 minutes before beeping (low voltage) becomes continuous and therefore unbearable. Granted it could've been my power-hungry Thinkpad W510 - the one that uses 135W transformer. However I had another inverter that basically indicates constant use of 65 watts from the laptop, so 30 or so minutes is totally unacceptable. The unit was still able to run the compressor, and can run my car vacuum cleaner with DC adapter for another 20-30 minutes continuously after inverter stop providing AC power to my laptop.

I pretty much decided the unit I got has a weak battery based just on the frequency of the reviews, so I requested exchange with Amazon. Amazon sent out a second one and I returned the first without extra charge. This second unit also isn't flat on the bottom and wobbled on hard and flat surface! After equal amount of charging time as before (34 hours), I tested this replacement unit with my laptop again. This time, I got 90 minutes of power before it started to beep! That was acceptable. Few days later I used the compressor to pump up my bike. Guess what? The compressor gauge wasn't working! It showed zero while my tire was rock hard. I was debating whether to keep it since I was afraid that the next replacement will have weak/bad battery again. At the end I just don't think it was safe to pump while blindly guessing at the pressure, or keep swapping with a pressure tester.

Called Amazon again. The customer rep understood the risks with gauge not working. So she shipped me yet another one. This time, the battery is just as good as the second unit (around 90 minutes of power to my laptop), and compressor gauge worked like it should. All's good! But then I noticed this unit also WOBBLES! What's with the engineering or with the assembly or case warping? This third unit wobbles less than the first two so at this point I just thank God.

I then tested the USB charger. It worked, but it required turning on of the inverter switch, which therefore kicks up the internal fan. That's a bit ridiculous to run the fan while charging a USB device. I bet the fan takes more power than the phone I was charging, and then the power loss with the inverter!

The flash light works and it's not overly bright but acceptable depending what your situation maybe in the dark. I haven't test the jumper cable yet and didn't need to. Cross my fingers that *will* work as it should. At this point, I'm beginning to think the odds are pretty even!

The funny thing is all 3 units have a little gold oval sticker saying "QC Passed". I wonder who they hired to do the quality control, or what was done before putting on the sticker? On second thought, I don't want to know...

The bottom line for me is if it works, it's very useful and a great all-in-one unit with balance of features I wanted. 5 Stars for Amazon's handling, 4 Stars for my third and working unit, -5 Stars for Wagan's (outsourced?) QC department. 3 Stars overall because I have the patience, and a sense of humor to laugh at this whole process.

*UPDATE* I finally got a chance to use the car jumper twice. Both on V6 engines. With positive on battery terminal and negative on chasis, it took 2 - 3 cranks. The cars started, but the engines "reluctantly" started which leads me to believe this battery is not the strongest.

*UPDATE 2* Finally got a situation where a minivan had battery with low crank (AAA reported 136 cranking amps out of 600 for the battery). This Wagan, at 13V, could not start the car. The AAA tow guy with his smaller-than-this-Wagan jump starter started with one crank. He said it needs to be at 15V to have a shot. This mean I must keep this jumpstarter battery real full and ready to go all the time. However because this product does not automatically stop charging when full, then it's becoming a jumpstarter that is only useful when the car's battery is not in a weak state. I still need to keep my AAA membership.

Overall this is a pretty nifty unit. I have kids bicycle tires to constantly inflate, a riding lawn mower to jump start every week (because I'm too cheap to buy a new battery for it), and I like remote power availability while I'm on my boat or on long drives (to power kids' stuff like computers). I agree with most of the other reviews - cheap stickers everywhere, a three way power switch for the inverter where one of the positions does nothing, and an incredibly useless radio that either works at full volume or not at all. BUT, I don't really care about the stickers, the inverter works great, and it's quite a useful little device.

The product basically smoked and went on fire the other day when i tried to blow up a small raft. I am trying to reach the manufacturer to see what the issue was and see how they want to handle this.

Other than that, I was enjoying using the unit on my boat.