It was a freezing winter day, the kind where you question your life choices as you sit in your car waiting. My ‘07 Avalon decided that day was the perfect time for its battery to give up the ghost. No sweat, I thought, I’m prepared! I had a brand-new, name-brand jump starter in the trunk, fully charged and ready to go. Famous last words.
Popped the hood, hooked up the jump starter, jumped back into the driver’s seat, and… click. One pathetic click and then nothing. The jump starter was as dead as my car battery. Yes, it was cold, brutally so, but this thing was advertised with something like 900 cold cranking amps! Turns out, those amps probably lasted for a fraction of a second, just long enough to give me false hope. This wasn’t some ancient, neglected device either; it was new junk. Maybe it would have worked on a warm summer day, but who needs a jump starter then?
And of course, because it was still during the height of Covid, asking a stranger for a jump was out of the question. My wife had to make a 30-minute round trip just for a quick jump start with cables. To add insult to injury, I discovered on my Odyssey you have to wrestle with the air intake just to get to the battery terminals. Eventually, we got it going, but the whole ordeal was a massive headache thanks to that useless jump starter.
The lesson learned? Don’t cheap out on a car jump starter. Look past the flashy marketing and focus on reliable ratings and real-world performance. Your peace of mind, and your time, are worth investing in the Best Car Jump Starter you can find.
