After a hard day at work, you wrap the day’s shift, bid your buddies farewell at work, and jump into your super reliable (or not so reliable) vehicle.
The weather is near freezing and the plan is to drive as carefully as possible, get home, and then, binge watch a show on Netflix covered with a thick blanket, and afterward, snooze all night in the warmth of the room heater.
Perfect plan and you’re looking up to it.
To make things easy for you, you even start humming your favorite song along the way and are in truly high spirits. Your buddies suspect that you have a lover waiting for you at your destination and are even vocal about it.
You don’t bother with an answer, but deep down, you’re simply grateful for being alive and enjoying the sensation of having your heart, beat.
Then, your stomach begins to whirl…and you think: not this night!
As you ignore the whirling, it changes form to pangs, biting you left, right, and center! Only then does an important reality come to your attention: you haven’t had dinner yet and the last time you tasted anything was about ten (10) hours ago!
You silently curse yourself (for being so careless) and decide to drive straight into the nearest MacDonald’s to get a bite.
You bite to your heart’s content and just as the digital piece on your wrist chimes 22:00 hrs, you grab your keys, confirm that your wallet is still where you placed it and you head out to the icy elements, your boots deep into snow.
As you approach your car, you press the remote fob but you can barely hear the beep, indicating that the vehicle got, understood, or processed the command to unlock.
However, your indicators flashed poorly, like some lukewarm soup that takes forever to warm up. That doesn’t bother you though: the roads are well-lit right up to your apartment; you can drive home even without vehicular lights (assuming you do not meet any cops on the way).
However, as you get into the vehicle and insert the key, something very strange happens; the engine turns with the greatest reluctance. It is at this point that everything else begins to make sense: the sluggish indicators, the weak horn, and the headlights that are completely incapable of even showing you the way.
You pray silently that the engine starts…and you promise yourself that once it does, you’ll never kill it for the rest of the night and you’ll get a replacement first thing on the morrow. The only challenge is that it appears that your guardian angel is busy…
…nothing happens!
You try again and the vehicle responds with even greater reluctance and the motor barely turns.
You try a third time, now vocalizing your prayers and hoping for a miracle. Nothing happens, yet again…and even the poor illumination that showed on the dash by way of the lights there goes out.
You now know that you’re officially SCREWED!
In that crazy weather, you remove your smartphone and begin to frantically type into Google…jumpstart service near me…
Photo by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi Via Pexels.
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Why The Concept Of A Jump Professional Jump Start Is A Bad One
A professional jumper service is a sort of ‘rescue’ service that you call when your starter battery packs up in the middle of nowhere.
Arriving anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours, these professionals jump your battery with theirs and proceed on their way to wait for another caller or drive right after to attend to another client.
The service is usually over in less than three (3) minutes. Often, this service comes as an add-on to the standard towing service, and the offering of one or the other is premised hugely on the best option in your condition. Sometimes too, tire changes are part of the mix, either as a standalone service or complimentary.
However, depending on the company, their services (including add-ons), and importantly, the location, these three (3) minute services will set you back financially between $50 and $100.
Not bad for a service that helps you overcome your stranded reality – at least, at face value.
The challenge, however, is this: starter batteries (powered by lead acid) are at their weakest during the winter months due to the slowness of the chemical reaction the cold ensures. The implication is that there is a peak in demand for this sort of service around the winter months.
Ordinarily, as a vehicle owner or user, you could casually say or think that the above fact doesn’t concern you, at least, not directly.
This argument also appears plausible, but it is only so at face value (too). Looking closely, the reality that implicates the demand surge directly means that the chance of you needing such a service is also higher during the cold months, especially if your starter battery is a few years old, you drive an older vehicle, or are in habit of using vehicle features that put needless strain on the battery.
$100, spread over at least five (5) times gives an impressive $500 – sum enough to buy an awesome replacement battery and not only that, get an awesome option that can help you go without needing the services of the jumper folks should the new battery decide to develop ‘cold feet’ down the years and winters ahead.
What is that option?
A Far Better Option Than A Professional Jumper & Towing Service
Having a portable jumper either in your glove box or trunk is a far better option than calling the professional jumper folks anytime you run out of battery juice and waiting for them to show up, often, in the bitter cold.
However, as it is characteristic of me, I won’t shove this idea/preference down your throat. Instead, I’ll convince you with cold logic and facts regarding why having a portable jumper is a better option than relying on jumping services anytime you have a dead battery that needs to be jumped.
Why Is A Portable Jumper A Better Option?
Having your own personal jumper as against relying on a professional when the need for jumping a dead or weak starter battery arises has many advantages. Outlined below are the most prominent.
1. It Is Super Easy To Use
There is a prevailing thought about batteries and their operation in the automotive world: the general consensus is that they are things that need special training to handle or understand.
For those that were ‘Art Majors’ while at school, this is made worse since they do not have the requisite background that makes understanding them easy. A simple term such as ‘short circuit’ can be a serious cause for concern and panic!
Then again, there are those without much experience with the hood: women (generally) and newbie drivers who erroneously believe that touching anything in the hood will lead to unquestionable fires 🙂
Irrespective of the reason you may have for avoiding coming close to a battery or attempting to jump your battery yourself, it is quite easy, to do it on the contrary: the portable jumper itself is charged as easily as you would a smartphone (or power bank) and jumping your vehicle is as easy as popping the hood, attaching the jumper cables to the battery terminals (don’t worry, they are clearly labeled and color-coded so the chances of you messing up anything is actually slim) and cranking your vehicle.
If you can start your vehicle and drive the same, believe me when I say that jumping its dead battery would be the least of your worries – and this applies across brands and models.
2. They Are Very Safe To Use
The very reason why you may shy away from jumping your vehicle’s battery yourself is the remote chance of getting something wrong and messing up things, which may amongst many other things, mean frying up the fuse box, damaging your jumper, compromising the integrity of the weak battery or even starting a fire.
These fears are understandable and valid.
However, a modern portable jumper like the Noco GB 50 is designed in such a manner that it is completely error-proof.
What this means is simple and straight to the point: if you allow the terminals of the charger to touch while it is powered, nothing happens – not even the traditional spark that is almost, always certain in such instances.
If you connect the cables of the jumper wrongly to the terminals of the battery, instead of shorting a circuit, you get a warning indication and beep and nothing else happens till you correct yourself.
With such an error-proof design, it is practically impossible for things to go wrong with such a portable, smart jumper, stored securely in the glove box and awaiting such a time as when you are stranded by a weak or dead battery to rescue you.
3. It Is Cheaper
With the raging inflation and generational upsurge of the prices of things in the market, it makes sense to keep your expenses low – and buying a portable jumper that can easily fit into your glove box is a way better option than relying on professional jumping services.
Traditionally, a portable jumper costs around $50 for the basic versions, averaging around $100 and maxing out around $150 for premium models that can power a variety of engine sizes, over and over again before needing a charge themselves.
Now, imagine this: if the professional jumper charges you only $50, you have already paid the price of a portable jumper – just that, instead of having your own unit, someone else gets the money.
Now, look at it this way: if you are charged $100, then, you could have got yourself a powerful mid-end glovebox portable jumper for your emergency needs.
If you need to jump at least twice, then, unquestionably, you have paid the price of a premium, powerful portable jumper (to someone else) already.
The tricky part is this: many vehicle owners reading this piece will imagine (wrongly) that they don’t need a jumper; that their starter batteries are still very perfect and that, once the batteries get weak, they’ll take note and arrange for a replacement.
This is false thinking, the type that gets you stranded. This is because, while starter batteries in a vehicle may indicate when they are about to go bad, some brands are notorious for going bad all of a sudden, giving you no room to plan at all.
Then again, you could unintentionally run the battery down yourself by leaving appliances/gadgets running while the engine is killed. In such a scenario, it will be completely immaterial the state or age of the battery; you’ll likely be stranded as a result.
A parasitic battery drain, happening all of a sudden, will also provide a similar reality.
A good, portable jumper is thus a must-have for every ICE-powered vehicle and must be looked at as such. It is an important ‘insurance’ that may not be ‘claimed’ for years on end. However, as far as the earth still rotates on its axis, there will certainly be a day and time when its use will come…and like all manner of insurance policies, it will be better to be found up to date with your ‘policy payments’ than without.
4. A Portable Jumper Is Convenient
There are some persons who hate being inconvenienced to such an extent that if anything remotely looks like it would present some effort or obstruct their routine, it is going to be completely ignored. I perfectly understand such drivers as I share the same sentiments.
However, in as much as carrying ‘loads’ around the car is not ideal and presents a situation that no one truly loves, a portable jumper, especially the GB 50 from Noco, is in a completely different league and presents a reality that offers no inconvenience at all.
The jumper weighs around 3.3 lb and is small enough to conveniently fit into the glove box of most modern mid-size sedans. What is not to love here especially since it will be out of the way when not needed but powerful enough to do the job, every time when called upon?
5. A Portable Jumper Usually Has Other Benefits
The concept of benefits is one that often, is rooted deep into the basis of our purchase decisions. If something promises a benefit, it should be a great buy – and we opt into it without question.
Options that do not promise any (real) benefits are by default, buys that as humans, we aren’t so enthusiastic about expending money on. This is at the very heart of value.
Fortunately, a jumper is many valuable things into one – and this is the major reason why it remains a better option when compared to the traditional jumper service that you’d call when you need help with your not-so-strong starter battery.
In the rare event that you’re stuck in the vehicle (for instance, during an accident) and cannot get out, the jumper changes utility and becomes a hammer that you can easily use to break the glass of the vehicle and get out.
Driving on the highway at night and find yourself with a flat tire that needs to be changed?
The jumper, usually, comes powered with options which most of the time include a flashlight. With this flashlight, you’ll be able to simply light your way through your tire change and not go looking for the occasional lug that will always go missing when you attempt a tire change in the dark.
Further to its usefulness, almost all portable jumpers come equipped with a strobe and SOS function – perfect for those moments when you may veer out of civilization and wind up stranded in the process.
On a clear night, the strobe light, waved at reasonable elevation (you could do the roof of your vehicle if there appears to be none) would be seen from several miles away. Talk of using a stone to kill more than a bird!
Finally, there is not a single one of you reading this article at this time that does not rely on modern, battery-powered gadgets that need to be recharged, starting with the one you’re using to read this article with (phone, tablet, or laptop).
Unfortunately, these gadgets are always in the habit of needing a recharge: digital cameras, camcorders, smartphones – and getting themselves dead in places where one is highly unlikely to come by easily.
It is in such instances that the ultimate genius of having a portable jumper in your glove box shines through. These jumpers, depending on their sizes and capacities also double as power banks, capable of awesomely recharging your gadgets even if a wall socket is miles away.
With a portable jumper in your glove box, you don’t need to always remember to keep a dedicated power bank around, or worse, buy and keep both the jumper and another dedicated power bank.
Does it ever get better than this?
6. It Is Fail Proof
Assuming you still find no need for a portable jumper even after reading thus far, one thing is highly probably: a day will surely come by when you’d call the jumper folks and they’ll fall – or, at best, respond in a manner and time that won’t make any sense for you.
It is usually during such times that you’d wish you had a portable jumper close by; even if not in your glovebox, at least a larger one in your trunk.
A good portable jumper like the Noco GB 50 will save you such an embarrassment; importantly, it is completely fail-proof. Unlike the jumper folks, you only need to charge this small unit once a year and forget it and wherever it is that you need it, just remove it, clamp and power it and crank your engine.
Unlike the professional battery-jumping route, this works, all the time. Without fail or question.
7. Good Portable Jumpers Last A Truly Long Time!
Of late, times have been hard; often, it simply doesn’t make sense to dish out money on some sort of unproven technology or one with questionable longevity.
This is understood – and as a matter of fact, it should be what everyone should engage in. Financial discipline is a habit that will pay anyone that employs it to the greatest heights by the way.
However, portable jumpers, the variant that will fit into the glove box or trunk aren’t exactly new technology: they have been around for some time and their longevity has been confirmed. As a matter of fact, many users have had one in their glove boxes/trunks for upwards of five (5) solid years and yet, the jumpers are still in great condition, ready to do their thing when called upon.
In that five (5) years too, these jumpers have saved such users from multiple embarrassments and served other otherwise stranded folks through their original owners.
Most of these options, it is easy to see, will last for ten (10) or more years, especially given the large-scale adoption of lithium-ion in their manufacture, battery-wise.
Ten (10) solid years is truly a long time for something that was bought with as little as $150 or less. When these jumpers finally pack up, you may not have the original vehicle you bought them for again, around.
You are also certain to have changed the starter battery at least twice – a situation that would have forced you to see the logic of having the portable jumper around in your glove box.
And, it is worth noting that during this time also, the jumper would have helped many stranded persons (with dead or weak starter batteries) and importantly, would have charged several gadgets too numerous to mention.
So, What Is The Best Portable Glove Box Jumper For Your Vehicle?
The best portable glove box jumper for your vehicle is the Noco GB 50 – one of the sturdiest and most reliable portable battery jumpers ever made.
Combining the advantages we listed above: ease of use, convenience, safety, longevity, a fail-proof reality and importantly, also possessing the ability to serve as a power bank when the need arises, the unit is one hell of an option that I sincerely believe every motorist should have.
Luckily, I ran an in-depth review of the Noco GB 50 here. If you’re still on the fence regarding if this option is for you, that review will certainly put to rest your uncertainties. You should take a close and interested look at it.
Wrap Up And Alternatives
If you’re interested in a simple, portable jumper that will excellently fit into your glove box and while while ‘resting’ there, will be powerful enough to jump your death starter battery, across vehicles – both yours and your friends, and while doing this, be capable of holding a charge for a whole year and jumping at least thirty (30) vehicles before needing to be recharged, no option, currently on sale in the market beats the Noco GB 50.
However, if there’s anything I have understood from the numerous years of existence on earth is that there’s absolutely nothing like ‘one size fits all’.
People are different and the challenges they face, diverse. It is with this thought in mind that right after suggesting this Noco option above (that I have personally used and trust), I’ll also make the following recommendations if the ‘standard size’ above doesn’t fit you or your unique reality:
1. If You Want Something Cheaper
From my experience, this is one of the major reasons why friends and family I recommended the Noco GB 50 don’t wind up buying it. I understand perfectly: money is difficult these days and it only makes sense that you carefully choose where your hard-earned bucks go.
That said, this is something I will NEVER go cheap on, myself, especially since Noco is a premium brand and their offers are backed up with the best warranties you can find around; the reality of being in business since 1914 and still waxing strong counts for something positive.
Again, given how central and important the portable jumper is to modern motoring, I’ll personally go with the Noco suggestion above, even if I believe it costs higher than others that appear to do the same thing. Not all portable jumpers are capable of lasting upwards of five (5) years in the extreme temperatures of the glove box and while at that, holding a charge for a solid year!
If you’re still bent on opting for something cheaper, the Buture Portable Jumper is hard to beat: the unit is capable of cranking massive engines (up to 6 liters gas and 5 liters diesel), sports a decent enough battery, and importantly, costs only about a third of the cost of a comparable Noco.
It should serve, awesomely.
2. If You Need A Multi-Function Option
Now, let’s be realistic: why going minimalistic is great and often recommended, that reality doesn’t suit everyone. Most folks love to have their units powered on with features so that when they need anything, they won’t go looking for it or worse, be stranded.
When you come to think of it, it makes perfect sense too: after all, what you’re most likely to be challenged with on the road (beyond an engine or transmission failure) is either a battery or flat tire.
Luckily, a failing engine or transmission will give you a warning beforehand and the portable jumper already sees to it that the battery is protected should the need arise.
Now, why not cover the tires too, and make everything ‘complete’?
If this is you, then this DeWalt DXAEJ14 portable jumper is what you should consider. With powerful LEDs and a 120 PSI digital air compressor added to the original jumper mix, you are sorted in the most brilliant of manners especially as far as being stranded on the road goes.
Good luck.