REDFUEL Lithium Jump Starter Review

P40E

TCG Elite Member
Nov 4, 2012
9,151
4,472
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I bought this little RedFuel SL161 jump starter at Walmart today and immediately put it to use . It did what it said it would do and I recommend . The box says to use on small vehicles , motorcycles , or 4 cyl and 6 cyl cars . I bet it will work on some v8's too .

Price : $49.87 . I believe last Christmas they were going for $39.99 I'm sure you can probably find it somewhere online at that price . The unit itself feels like good quality. The jumper cables have plastic handles , but they are sturdy and are good . The plug in is also nice and snug . The light on the back is a single L.E.D bulb that is fairly bright and has different mode settings .

The lady at Walmart said she has sold a lot of these units . I'm going to say the units on the shelf were freshly stocked . The box says the unit is pre-charged . Mine was not . Maybe RedFuel charged it and it drained , I don't know . I charged it up to 100% , took about two hours or so . I didn't do an exact on time it . But when I plugged it in it took about 5 minutes to get to 10% , and the rest of the time to get to 100%

I did a half charge test later on in review below .

Testing : Cold dead battery start .

Waiting for my parts for the Fiesta ST , my car has been sitting outside since I bought it . I started the car a few times during the cold spells in December , but the car has been sitting since then . That being said , the battery died . To a point where there was no juice at all . Had to use the spare key to open the door and no power at all for ignition . Plus the battery is cold . Yes it was 45 degrees today , but the battery has been outside all winter .

Hooked the unit to the Fiesta car battery and the car fired up as if it had a fresh battery . No hesitation no slow crank . Full power like starting . Very satisfied . After jump starting the car , the unit was still reading at 100% .

Continuing with test two :

This Jump Starter also has device charging capabilities such as phones and tablets . I think you can run these simultaneously while the device is plugged in . The box says it will make a phone last 4 x longer and a tablet 1 x longer .

It can also be used to charge . It has two usb charge ports , a 1a and 2.1a . The box says you can charge phones with either port . I used the 2.1a port .

Since the unit was still at 100% after the Fiesta ST jump start , I decided to plug it into my Samsung Note 3 and charge the phone . The phone was at 5% battery life at the time .

With my phone turned off , It took 1 1/2 hours to fully charge my phone with the unit . Really not that bad at all . I will say that the last half hour of charging was for the last 5% of the charge . I don't know why it did this . Maybe it's my Note 3 phone that has a trickle charge built in when getting close to full . Not sure . But it charged 95% in an hour which is pretty good .

With both tests done , the unit was still at 50% . The owners manual says you need at least 40% charge to jump a car . So technically it could still be used to jump start more vehicles .

Re charging test :

With the unit now at 50% , I decided to recharge it . The owners manual says to charge immediately after purchase , after each use and every thirty days . Or when the charge level falls below 85% . To help prolong battery life .

It took 1 1/2 hours to charge the unit from 50% to 100% .

This Jump starter is tiny and I think it's a good price deal . It does what it says it will do . It also has a one year warranty .

I would not store this inside the glove box when it's cold , because of its internal lithium battery . But that goes for just about everything that is battery operated . I would keep it inside the house and charged ready to use .

It is a nice emergency back up you can bring along with you if you plan to venture out in the cold when you know your car might not start . Or if a friend needs a jump you can be the hero for the day by using this .

I recommend .
 

P40E

TCG Elite Member
Nov 4, 2012
9,151
4,472
One year warranty from RedFuel , and also when I went to the register to pay , Walmart gives you the option for an extended warranty . With the jump starter being only $47.87 , I opted not to get the extended warranty .

If you can purchase this for $39.99 online , I think it's the best bang for the buck for people with small cars . The Walmart price is still good though .
 

IDAFC21

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May 23, 2007
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Avondale, AZ
I keep one of these in my car. I think its a great piece for $40 when you can get it for that price. Even bought one for my dad for christmas and hes already got some decent use out of it :rofl:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RZXVQSU/?tag=tcg21-20

jump pack/air compressor, and it has a usb port if you do need to plug a phone in to charge in a pinch. I may order another one just so I can keep one in each car.
 
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