2023 test14 productsJump Starters & Car Power
Which Jump Starter Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 14 jump starter options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video. Shoppers cross-shopping car jumper cables, heavy duty booster cables, heavy duty jumper cables and jump start cable land here for the head to head that settles it.
Budget pick
GooLoo GP4000
Price shown in test: $100
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Rated Claim | V 6 Engine Test | V 8/454 Engine Test | Diesel Engine Test | Cold Test | Bench Test | Tire Inflator Test | Battery Capacity Test | Bench Test Pre Screening |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1NOCO GBX155$370 | no specific amp claim stated at introduction; used as 4,250 rated amps for bench-test comparison purposes | made very easy work of the V6 Ford Ranger, spinning the starter and engine very quickly; had not been used in a full year and was still fully charged | no result found in the transcript for this brand in this specific test; a probable gap | made very easy work of the diesel, described as just as powerful as the KeenPower super capacitor | by far the best of all jump starters tested in the cold (4 F after 15 hours), 'not even close'; only the super capacitor outperformed it | 879 amps at 8 volts, just over 7,000 watts; won the bench test outright, taking the lead from the KeenPower super capacitor | not applicable; no tire inflator on this unit | specific watt-hour figure not stated in the transcript for this brand individually; named as one of only four brands (with GooLoo, HOMPOW, and VTOMAN) to achieve over 70% of its advertised battery capacity | not tested |
| 2KeenPower Super Capacitor Jump Starter$300 list, found with a $150 coupon | 6,000 cranking amps claimed; claims usable up to a million times (not independently tested); charges from a car battery in about 1 minute 40 seconds to just under 2 minutes depending on source charge level, and never needs to be pre-charged at home | did a lot better job than anticipated, plenty of juice to start the engine | made very easy work of starting the motorhome in all three attempts | seemed even more powerful than the jump starters tested so far | outperformed all the jump starters in the cold test, very impressive | 799 amps at 8.2 volts, over 6,500 watts; finished second behind NOCO | not applicable; no tire inflator on this unit | not applicable; this is a capacitor, not a battery bank, by design | not tested |
| 3HOMPOW$119 before coupon, $100 after coupon | claims 6,000 cranking amps, and claims it can start all gasoline engines and diesel engines up to 12 L; jump starter plus power bank, no tire inflator; USB, two USB-C, and 12V ports; made in China | rated for 6,000 amps and did a great job spinning over the engine | made very easy work of spinning over and starting the 454 | made this look easy, seemed at least as powerful as any of the other jump starters | spun the engine over a little slower than GooLoo | 736 amps at 7.2 volts, almost 5,300 watts; finished third behind NOCO and KeenPower | not applicable; no tire inflator on this unit | 78.6 Wh, the best result among all jump starters tested at that point (battery is described as very heavy from the number of cells); one of the four brands to exceed 70% of advertised capacity | not tested |
| 4VTOMAN$130 list, bought with a coupon for $120 | 4,250 peak amps claimed; air compressor rated up to 160 PSI; USB, USB-C, and 12V ports; made in China | rated for 4,250 cranking amps, doing a terrific job spinning over the engine at a high RPM | no result found in the transcript for this brand in this specific test using the clearly-resolved name; a probable gap or resolved under an ambiguous mangled mention ('an Ain') that could not be confidently attributed | made very easy work of starting the diesel, seemed about as powerful as HOMPOW | performed better than AUTOGEN but not nearly as well as GooLoo or HOMPOW | 570 amps at 8.4 volts, 4,788 watts; described as moving into second place behind GooLoo at that point in testing | 93.8 dB (as loud as Veama and AlphaBot); fastest tire pump of the lineup at just over 5.1 minutes to reach 30 PSI; gauge accurate within 1 PSI of the calibrated reference | 70.9 Wh, moved into second place behind HOMPOW; one of the four brands to exceed 70% of advertised capacity | not tested |
| 5BRPOM$100 | claims 4,000 amp jump starter with 24,000 mAh battery capacity; claims its tire pump can inflate a tire in 3 minutes; includes carrying case, LED light, two USB, USB-C, and 12V ports; made in China | made more than enough cranking amps to get the engine to spin over quickly | made very easy work of the big block 454 | made more than enough cranking amps to start the engine | cold temperature set it back somewhat, but it did spin over the engine | 661 amps at 6.5 volts, almost 4,300 watts | 93.6 dB, almost as noisy as AlphaBot; a little faster than AlphaBot at just over 5.5 minutes; gauge off by about 1 to 1.5 PSI | 44.4 Wh against an advertised capacity of almost 89 Wh, only about half of the advertised figure | not tested |
| 6GooLoo GP4000$100 | jump starter only, does not have a tire inflator; dual USB and USB-C charging ports; made in China | not messing around, spun the engine over even faster than BRPOM | spun over the engine even faster than BRPOM | seemed more powerful than BRPOM, made very easy work of the diesel engine | by far the best jump starter yet in the cold test, plenty of cold cranking amps | 537 amps at 9.2 volts, almost 5,000 watts, described as really good for a $100 jump starter; narrator retested this unit since it had performed well in past videos | not applicable; this model has no tire inflator | just over 68 Wh against an advertised capacity of just over 88 Wh, by far the best result among jump starters up to that point in testing; one of the four brands to exceed 70% of advertised capacity | not tested |
| 7AlphaBot$100 | claims 4,000 cranking amps and 26,800 mAh battery capacity; has a tire inflator, USB, 12V, and USB-C ports, but no carrying case; made in China | not directly tested/no result stated in the transcript given the pre-screening failure | still not functioning properly during this test | no result found in the transcript for this brand in this specific test | no result found in the transcript for this brand in this specific test | 541 amps at 6.6 volts, 3,570 watts; performed a lot better than Veama at this later bench-test attempt despite the earlier pre-screening failure | 94.3 dB, the loudest of the lineup; finished inflating in very close to 6 minutes; gauge agreed with the calibrated reference at about 31 PSI; battery level at two bars during the test | 47.7 Wh against an advertised capacity of 99 Wh, well short of the advertised figure | did not survive a bench test performed before the main filmed tests and was described as fragile |
| 8Buture$130 list, bought with a coupon for $10 (likely a caption error; probably intended as a larger discounted price, but the number '$10' is preserved verbatim as spoken since it cannot be confirmed) | jump starter and air compressor with a 27,000 mAh battery, four input/output ports, up to 4,000 peak amps claimed, dual carrying-case pouches; made in China | did a pretty good job spinning over the engine but not nearly as fast as GooLoo | no result found in the transcript for this brand in this specific test | no clearly attributable result found in the transcript for this brand in this specific test | did not like the cold, barely had enough power to turn over the engine | the transcript reads 'a butcher is rated for 3,500 amps and it couldn't quite keep up with the burp and the Gulu 588 amps at 6.5 volts works out to only 3,822 watts'; interpreted as Buture's own bench result being 588 amps at 6.5 volts (3,822 watts), with 'the Gulu' likely an extraneous caption artifact rather than indicating the number belongs to GooLoo, since GooLoo already has its own clearly stated bench figure earlier (537 amps at 9.2 volts); flagged as an ambiguous attribution rather than fully certain | 87.1 dB, noticeably quieter than AlphaBot and BRPOM; finished inflating in around 5 minutes 40 seconds, about the same speed as BRPOM; gauge off by about 1 PSI | 41.6 Wh against an advertised capacity of 99 Wh, described as really struggling | not tested |
| 9Povasee$17 without coupon (likely a caption/digit error for a higher figure) or $87 with the coupon | has a tire inflator and a jump starter, claims to inflate a tire from 0 to 36 PSI in 7 minutes, claims 3,500 amp jump starter, 12V, two USB, and USB-C ports | not going to work with a completely dead battery in this specific sub-test; acted normal until connected to a low battery, then gave up | skipped in this test since it was not working properly | not up to the challenge, did not start the diesel | no result found in the transcript for this brand in this specific test | transcript reads 'the pacy met at to 5133 amps at 8 volts which works out to 4,14 watts to move into third place'; 5,133 amps at 8 volts would compute to roughly 41,000 watts, not 4,140 watts, so the amp figure is very likely a garbled/dropped-or-duplicated-digit number (possibly intended as roughly 513 or 517 amps, which would be consistent with the stated ~4,140 watt figure); preserved verbatim rather than corrected, and flagged as unreliable | 86.3 dB, notably quieter than Veama and AlphaBot; a little slower than the other inflators at around 6 minutes 15 seconds; gauge described as very close to accurate | 46.9 Wh against an advertised capacity of 88 Wh | not tested |
| 10AUTOGEN$130 list, bought with a coupon for $10 (likely a caption error; compare the identical implausible pattern noted for Buture above) | jump starter and air compressor with a 27,000 mAh battery, four input/output ports, up to 4,000 peak amps claimed, dual carrying-case pouches; made in China | spun over the engine but not quite as enthusiastically as GooLoo or HOMPOW | makes more than enough juice to start the 454 | has enough to start the truck but definitely not as powerful as HOMPOW or GooLoo | did not like the cold temperature and really struggled | 536 amps at 7.3 volts; described as good enough to move into fifth place at that point in testing | 81.4 dB, the quietest of the lineup so far, but the slowest pump at very close to 8 minutes to reach 30 PSI; gauge off by about 6 PSI, the least accurate gauge of the lineup | 19.9 Wh, only about 20 percent of its advertised capacity at a $130 price point, described as a disappointing result | not tested |
| 11JF.EGWO$279 before discount, $236 with the coupon | claims 6,000 cranking amps and includes an air compressor, battery charge indicator, two USB ports, but no USB-C; made in China | makes more than enough cranking amps to spin over the Ford Ranger engine | also more than powerful enough to jump start the motorhome | did a great job starting the diesel, seemed just as powerful as VTOMAN | took a couple of tries to wake up, but then did about as well as GooLoo and HOMPOW | 591 amps at 8.2 volts, almost 4,900 watts | 92.6 dB, fairly noisy; just as fast as most of the other inflators at just over 5.5 minutes; both gauges showing just under 30 PSI | 49.3 Wh | not tested |
| 12Veama$59 before any coupons or discounts | claims 4,500 amp peak capacity and 22,000 mAh power pack capacity, claimed operating range of -4 F to 140 F (not independently tested), two USB and one USB-C port, includes a battery life indicator LED; made in China | spun the engine over more than fast enough to start the vehicle | was able to spin over the engine, but it was definitely a struggle | the diesel's cranking demand was just too much for this jump starter | the very cold unit just did not have what it takes to jump start the engine | 359 amps at 7.4 volts, described as nowhere near its claimed 4,500 amp rating though still more than enough to start a car | not applicable; no tire inflator on this unit | 26.9 Wh against a claimed capacity of over 81 Wh, only about one third of the advertised figure | not tested |
| 13Jumper Cables Heavy Duty (1 gauge, 800 cranking amp claim)$40 | not tested | spun over the engine a little bit faster than the light duty cables, but not nearly fast enough to start it | not tested | not tested | not tested | 281 amps at 4.5 volts, 1,264 watts, far less than any of the jump starters | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 14Jumper Cables Light Duty (10 gauge, 12 ft)$17 | not tested | just not going to get the job done; tested against a fully charged 950 cranking amp battery reading 12.8 volts and making 941 amps, and still could not start the disconnected-ignition test vehicle | not tested | not tested | not tested | 158 amps at 2.9 volts, only 458 watts, the weakest result of the entire lineup including the heavy duty cables | not tested | not tested | not tested |
How it was tested
- start a disconnected/dead-battery V6 gas engine (Ford Ranger)
- start a 7.4 L gasoline V8 engine (454 big block, motorhome)
- start a diesel engine (Dodge Ram, two batteries, one drained)
- cold weather test after 15 hours in a freezer at approximately 4 F
- bench test using a carbon pile tester and digital ohmmeters, measuring amps and volts to derive watts, versus a car battery control
- tire inflator test (for units with a built-in inflator): noise level in dB, time to inflate a flat 225/75R15 tire to 30 PSI, and gauge accuracy against a calibrated reference
- battery bank capacity test: controlled discharge to measure actual watt-hours versus advertised capacity
“The Noco came out on top at just over 7,000 watts and the KE power super capacitor finished in second at over 6,500 and the H pow finished in third at almost 5,300.”
Data notes and caveats
13 branded jump starters plus a super capacitor jump starter plus two jumper cable sets (heavy duty and light duty) tested across up to 7 different tests; no single overall winner is declared, only per-test category leaders and a multi-branch closing recommendation by use case: best overall/battery-bank = NOCO (very expensive); best value = GooLoo, also HOMPOW if willing to spend just over $100; best with a tire inflator = VTOMAN; second choice around $100 or less = BRPOM; the KeenPower super capacitor is recommended only if found near $150, called overpriced at its $300 list price. Neither the heavy duty nor light duty jumper cables could start the test V6 engine, and both were far weaker than every battery jump starter on the bench test. Heavy brand-name caption mangling throughout, resolved against the video description's explicit Products Tested list using price, product features (tire inflator presence, port types), and testing order: Veama also appears as vimma/Vima/VMA/nma; AlphaBot also as alpha bot/alpab bot; BRPOM also as burpin/buram/burum/burp; GooLoo also as Gulu; Buture also as Booter/theer/butcher; Povasee also as povy/pacy; HOMPOW also as homow/haow/hoow/H power/H pal; AUTOGEN also as auto Jen/yo Jen; VTOMAN also as toan/atonement/aonan/atan/tomman; JF.EGWO also as JF iGo/jfig go/JF ego/JF Figo; KeenPower also as Keen power/ke power/King power; NOCO also as en noo/inoko. Two brands (Buture and AUTOGEN) share what appears to be a word-for-word identical introductory sentence including price, capacity claim, and features, which is very likely a caption duplication error; both are preserved verbatim per-brand rather than assumed correct. Several bench-test and price figures contain likely digit-drop or duplication garbles that could not be confidently corrected (Povasee's bench amps figure of '5133' is mathematically inconsistent with its own stated wattage; both Buture's and AUTOGEN's stated coupon price of '$10' off a $130 list price is an implausible discount); all are flagged in the affected brand's own notes rather than silently corrected. No meta chapters exist for this video.