Customer Reviews

Xantrex Technologies 851-0401 XPower Plus 400-Watt Inverter

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So far I have only used it to power my laptop through the cigarette lighter, but it worked well on an 8 hour trip and never once gave me any trouble. I especially like the small size and intelligent fan that only turns on under heavy load. You can keep this under the seat all the time and it's there when you need it.

This Xantrex 400-Watt Inverter is very nice and would strongly recommend it.

I have an old car and needed to wire it directly to the battery because of my older smaller wires in the dash. Other than Rewiring I have no problems with this little power house. I am in college and been finding my self sitting in my car surfing the internet and doing some classwork then my Laptop battery would go dead in about 3-5hrs... This little 400-Watt inverter has no problems powering my Laptop and recharging the batteries. I can sit for 2hrs running off my car battery (850cca) and not drain it or have to start engine to recharge because of low battery. The Unit does not pull much for a laptop but it does Pull More when charging the laptop battery and running it. I found the Fan not so noisy, a little radio drowns it out. (no louder than the Ac fan on low or medium) I have notice when my laptop battery is full and no longer charging the Inverter slows and even stops the fan because of a lighter load. The Fan only comes on when a moderate Load is their, otherwise it is dead silent and the little green light is on. Like I said the fan has turned off before with the laptop plugged in.

I have 3 other Xantrex products and never had a problem with them. It is a very good product, built strong, and last long.

I have not done any heavy testing on it, but a 100Watt incandescent work light light bulb and laptop running full speed does not phase this 400-Watt inverter. I have had them both on and for over and hour and still had 12+ volts in the car battery. I have a 25min drive to college and back every day and I just plug my laptop in and let it charge as I go to and from school. I have no problems with it and would definitely recommend it for the traveling Laptopers.

A laptop does pull down some power and I fear any thing less than a 200watt inverter would struggle under the constant load of a laptop. The two electrical outlets are convenient, for other small electrical applications that you may need to plug in, like a printer for example.

My Car is old and when I first plugged it in the Cig lighter it only worked for 10mins then the 11.00 Volt alarm would sound,and it is very loud and does not shut up until the voltage gets about 11.50volts for about 1min... This is why I had to ReWire my car (very old) and now with a new hot wire off the battery I have no low voltage alarm.

Pros: Powerful, quiet when not in moderate use, small, convenient, extremely portable, Fan turns off when no load (so you do not have to unplug or turn off ever time you stop using it)

Cons: low voltage 11.00volt alarm is ear shattering, Internal Fan is evident when on.

After opening the package, I did smell something funny, like when wires or circuit burns. But that did not deter me from trying it. So I went to the car to try it.

I press the red/pink button, it starts (you hear the fan, and status light turns green), but as soon as I lift my finger off the button, it shuts down. After several trys without succcess, I opted to get refund/replacement.

I tried to get a replacement, this site does not provide free returns for defective items. So I decided to return for a refund after I could not get through with any customer service.

I think I was thrilled to see this product, and it seemed to work fine, started my camera battery charger, but not for too long when I lifted my finger of the switch.

Updated Dec 1, 2008: Amazon customer service sent me another unit, and asked me to returned this damaged unit, and send them an email for the cost of returning. After returning via USPS, I emailed them the cost, and they promptly refunded me the cost. When you return an item, Amazon system also gets updated of the cost and they match with what you ask for.

This product worked like a charm. I tested it once in a car plugging my macbook into while I was using the computer, fan only came on once, but the sound was pretty low, only I could tell, no one else heard it, and it shut off the fan after couple of minutes. I like this product, not bad for the price and benefits. I couldn't change the rate later, so now I give 4 stars.

Good size, fan is not very noisy and other users indicate longivity with Xantrex products.

I have only used the unit two times; first to see if it worked via cigarette lighter, and second to hook up a Milwaukee Power tool charger for recharging a M18 Lithium-ion battery (Xantrex hooks directly to auto battery via clamps). Worked great!

With 320 continuous watts (400 surge) the unit had no problem meeting the requirements of the Milwaukee charger (300 continous watts). Before I purchased, I called Xantrex to get their opinion on the model and my application. They said it shoud handle it with no problem. It took less than 30 minutes to recharge a battery that was half discharged (M18 batteries have 4 indicator lights to let you know what's left). I watched it carefully to make sure nothing got hot since it was 97 degrees in the garage but the unit never indicated warm to hot air at the fan exhaust. It didn't drain the auto battery much during the 30 minutes.

Very Impressed ... a solid recommendation.

I was looking for a cost effective device to allow me to watch the TV news in my motorhome when we didn't have access to 120 volt AC power. It is small and powerful enough to accomplish that. I am satisfied with the purchase.

the inverter performs well as advertised, however it is bulky. A good improvement would be adding suction cups, clamps or hooks so that it could be hung or fastened somewhere on the dash board or under the hood. All in all, it is a good product but there is room for improvement.

It has worked great each time I have used it. I used it for 4 hours one day with no problems.

It works ok in the extreme enviroment I work in to power my notebook computer but, if the engine isn't on to run it it squeals. The fan is a bit loud too. I got a Vector 350 watt now and it's much quiter. won't work with a coffee maker though. not powerful enough.