Customer Reviews:
 very fine inverter August 31, 2010
nsshawaii
i dont have a cig liter in car... Use battery cables...get perfect charge evrytime. No noise. Costs $40 less than any 400W in this area. No problems, 5 stars.
useful and a good value August 27, 2010
Jill L. Becklund (Minneapolis, MN)
This unit replaces the need for car adapters. I have used it for my netbook, to charge my ipod, to power my portable CD with its ac adapter to save batteries. The Cobra inverter makes it so you have the ac convenience of home in your car. I would not want to be without it.
Just what I needed August 24, 2010
T. Olson (Seattle, WA)
I bought this to use during camping trips. I have an air mattress with a built-in 200w air compressor, so I figured this would be perfect to inflate that. I was pleasantly surprised by the compact size of the unit, which made it very easy to pack up for the trip. The inverter includes both a cigarette lighter adapter (for 150w and below) and alligator clips (greater than 150w). I just hooked up the alligator clips and attached them to my car battery...and instant power! It was super easy and worked great. Definitely happy with this purchase and look forward to using it again in the future.
 Work well August 22, 2010
Shou C Chen (Los Angeles, CA United States)
We used it for inflating air mattress during camping trips. It has worked well on our first trip. I'm pretty happy with it so far. The down side is it is a bit bulky and I also wish it comes with a case for storing it so the connector won't get bent.
Perfect for long drives and vacations August 11, 2010
Corey L. Oakes (TX)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This inverter is intimidating to look at, but once you use it you won't want to do without it.
I purchased this and the Duracell 175 Watt inverter for a cross-country trip. The Duracell is the sleeker looking device, but it has one less standard U.S. wall socket plug-in and gets very hot very quickly.
The Cobra CPI 480 400 Watt was used by my son who wanted to ride in the back seat of the truck and watch movies and play video games. He plugged his 17" Dell laptop into it and charged his cell phone without any problems.
The Cobra CPI 480 remained at room temperature during a 24-hour drive!
Occasionally I would hear a soft whirring sound -- I think it was the internal fan trying to cool it off -- although it never seemed to need it.
When I arrived at my destination, a relative was coincidentally trying to revive an older, longer and less powerful inverter he used for camping. I gave him this one and it was better than the one he paid much more for. It was also quieter, easier to connect to his truck battery and it NEVER gets hot.
On the way back my son used the Duracell inverter to power up his laptop, which worked, but it was very hot and I just don't think it's supposed to get so warm so quick (or for so long a drive).
Synopsis: Buy this.
If you are just going to drive around town, use the duracell for your laptop and USB devices.
If you are going to go camping, or driving for more than a half an hour, definitely go with the Cobra CPI 480.
The only negative I have is that the solidly attached heavy metal mounting bracket has sharp corners.
Round those off and it's perfect for in-vehicle use.
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