Customer Reviews

Whistler PI-100W 100 Watt Power Inverter

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Used this on a road trip recently to power a laptop. Worked great most of the time.

Pros:
Easy to angle
No noisy fan
shuts itself off if overload

Cons:
pin on end of plug is not spring loaded

The pin not being spring loaded is a major problem with this device. Most auto electronics are spring loaded at the end to ensure good contact for positive. In practical terms, it means the device will turn itself off regularly due to losing contact inside the outlet. You can plug it in and it will work, but bumps in the road or a very minor brush against the unit will cause it to lose electrical contact. This is easily remedied by pushing it harder into the outlet, but this problem should not occur. My GPS was using an identical outlet and it never lost contact for weeks due to it's spring loaded design. This is a design problem and could be remedied by the manufacturer for pennies.

Been great for months now. My last inverter (a Vector) got fried when I kept it plugged in when I started the car, but I can see the auto-shut-off feature of this one protects me from this.

I agree with Matt. It works OK and saves you when one of your electrical devices is on the verge of the battery dying. The problem is that in some cars (we tested in all 3 of ours, and they all acted different) the device looses its connection. When you wiggle it around, that usually comes back, but it is annoying.