I first got the idea to buy my own portable car battery jumper when many years ago I used to have a car that would require a battery jump every month. That's because the car had some type of internal battery drain. One year, I called AAA roadside service something like 4 times. The last time the AAA mechanic told me they would charge me extra because I only had something like 4 service calls available for my particular plan at the time. Each time the AAA mechanic used a portable jumper battery to charge up my dead car battery. The mechanic suggested to me I should buy one from a local auto store...so I did. Keeping a portable jumper battery in my trunk meant I could charge up my own dead battery by myself. Plus I charged up dead batteries for other people as well. Over the years, I got better quality jumper batteries. Many years ago, the only other feature was simply a flashlight built into the battery. Nowadays, modern higher priced batteries have multiple outlets for charging up other devices, such as 110/120 voltage plus USB too, plus a compressor for inflating tires. My Sears Diehard 1150 battery costs something like $150, so it wasn't cheap, but I have found it useful for more than charging a dead battery. Plus honestly, I simply don't want to use a jumper cable and having to rely on someone else's car pulled up beside me to charge a dead battery. That's for the birds. I see cars all the time creating a traffic hazard by parallel parking next to each other for jumping a battery. Dangerous situation in my opinion, an accident waiting to happen. It's so much easier to simply take out my jumper battery from the trunk to juice up someone's dead battery if the need arises. By the way, my Sears 1150 battery does not require charging up every day. It has a voltage meter built into it. Maximum charge is something like 14.0. It usually takes a few months for the battery to drop to a point where it needs recharging. I'm guessing cheaper quality batteries require more charging on a regular basis, but my Sears battery is working out pretty well, and I've had it for a few years now. Only major inconvenience is that the sucker weighs nearly 25 pounds. Given a choice, I'd rather have it than not have it. Gives me more options.
