Customer Reviews

Whistler PI-400W 400 Watt Power Inverter

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I had previously purchased a Xantrex 851-400 inverter to run in conjunction with a marine battery so as to power lights for my jewelry booth at Art Fairs. I was very happy with it but when I decided to expand my use of lights, necessitating a second battery and a second inverter, for whatever reason I decided to try the Whistler PI-400W and save a whopping $7.55. Big mistake. The Xantrex will operate flawlessly for 2 days sucking enough juice out of that marine battery to operate 75 watts of CFL bulbs for 8-10 hours each day. The Whistler worked well for the first day but kick off after 2 hours of the second. The first time that it happened I rationalized that perhaps I hadn't fully charged the second marine battery but after making sure to test it again with both batteries on successive weekends, I got the same result both times. The moral of the story is that Amazon does a great job of refunding your money during the first 30 days and don't get cheap when making your purchase. If you find a product that does the job well that you need it to do, pay the man!

Plenty of power to power a 13 inch crt TV in my semi truck with just a cigarette lighter plug.Only drawback is at startup my truck must be running to turn the TV on.After that it has plenty of power and i can turn off the engine.Perhaps i have to hook it up directly to the batteries to get more power ,which i will be doing with the supplied cable

I used this inverter on our camping trip and was very disappointed in the materials they used. The terminal head (black) was accidental hit and was bent. I looked closer to find that the terminal black head connection is made of a light metal and was broken half way and was only attached to both ends by a cork screw thread. I managed to get it working by pushing back the bolt end and was able to get a connection. To prevent this from happening again you would need to protect this unit with a padded case. 400 watts power is enough for camera or cell chargers or to pump up an air mattress, don't expect this unit to do much more then that. Because of the terminal heads and how delicate they are, I would not recommend this product.

I purchased this product to blow up an air mattress while out camping at Cook Forest, PA. It worked fine with the two large air mattresses. It does state to not use it to charge devices such as cell phones. I used it for my cell phone and it did charge it but the phone started to act up a little. The phone is working fine now so I'm not sure if the problem came from the inverter or not.

I bought this Item to power my laptop in my truck. It works Great so far and I have no complaints.

This unit comes with a car cigarette lighter adapter which connects to the unit via ring terminals at the end of its 2 + and - cables. Well, I connected the adapter ring terminals to the unit, and both adapter cables detached from their ring terminals at the same time. Looks like the ring terminals were not crimped to their cables properly. Easy to just get new ring terminals and re-crimp, but this sort of thing should not happen to brand-new stuff.

The vent holes on the side of the unit are not in a straight line, they look like they were drilled by someone holding a drill rather than on an assembly line machine. I bet this product is manufactured by hand with very basic tools rather than on a modern assembly line.

I must say I really liked this inverter from Whistler. It performed very well in daily use. I used in My street sweeper that I drive in NYC for 8 hour work days. It worked awesomely to power my desk radio and Hamilton Beach air purifier. I started using June 1st 2009 and it lasted until just after Christmas. I loved the whistle it gave if my battery was low however it was the same whistle that would announce its death followed by horrible electrical smoke and smell. I was going to attempt to submit a warranty request but I have since lost the inverter altogether. I would have put five stars if it never burnt out yet I won't put one star because I never found out the warranty experience. So it's three stars.

10/31/10 An update: Around back in 5/2010 I found the inverter and sent the inverter back. It's under 2 or 3 year warranty. They sent a fixed or new one back super fast! Good company! Since it was purchased on Amazon I had all the proof of purchase I needed. Good experience overall.

It seems to work very good. I looked at whistler's name and reputation for this purchase. It is convenient to carry with you and is very easy to use. If you are buying an inverter, you need to look at the wattage you buy and is it enough for the job you want to do.

Took this on a camping trip so I could blow up an air mattress and it worked fine. For low power use (<150W), just plug into 12v outlet in the car. For >150W, you have to connect it directly to the battery with the supplied clips. Worked perfectly. Small, light, not bothered about any fan noise there might be.

WORKS GREAT! FAN IS NOT THAT LOUD ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE RUNNING A GAME OR VIDEO. WOULD RECOMMEND TO A FRIEND