Cobra CPI-150 Micro Port 150 Watt Power Inverter (Black)

This is a great product. It is perfect in (almost) every way. Smallest 150 watt inverter around. Very quiet. Works both in the car and on a plane. Has both a 3-prong AC and USB powerpoints. It shines particularly well verses the 'big-black' inverters for traveling for 3 reasons. 1) Again, it is so quiet that more often than not you can't even hear it; 2) when you re-start the ignition on your car it properly resets itself and keeps providing power (unlike the 'big-black' units which are universally dumb and unpower themselves); 3) if your car's battery voltage drops (because it is cold...older battery...or you are not running the engine) this unit tends to keep working whereas most others sense the voltage drop and quit working. The only minor quirk with it is that the silver-tipped spring that you insert into the lighter socket is overly sprung and in some cars you need to occasionally re-push it into the lighter. An annoyance but not a deal breaker. Overall I cannot recommend this enough. The only other unit that comes close is the Xantrex 175 watt unit (#813-0291). It has all of the above qualities except that the airline portion of the adapter would not seperate correctly from the cigarette portion of its cord. This resulted in the unit's tip being slightly loose at the plastic seem of the cigarette portion of the adapter.

Get this adapter for your laptop! I tried two other adapters and they failed to support the load on my Sony Vaio Z series laptop adapter. Plus it comes with a nice little case and has the airline adapter. There are two fuses one in the tip and one in the adapter to help keep things safe. Highly Recommended!

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I spent an absurd amount of time comparing the different inverters on Amazon and finally decided on this one. I'm glad I did, and I am a very persnickety designer. Unlike some of the other ones I was looking at, this one has a clean, slim design. Most inverters must be triple or quadruple the size and weight, if not more! This one is light and tiny, about half the size of a small paperback book, if even that. The plastic it is made out of is the high quality impact resistant stuff, not the fragile junk I was half expecting. The cord is detachable and is just right to keep the inverter out of the way of things like your shifter, but not too long that it's messy. The product comes with this nice little case for the inverter and cord which is pretty handy, perfect for storing it in the glove box. I just got it but have tested it out and it was charging my laptop. I recommend going with this one, you will be happy.

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The product is great overall. Incredibly small for inverters (will be perfect for flying with my laptop), the power is not underrated, and the pouch it comes in is very handy.

The only downside is that it is noisy. I've heard noisier inverters, but this thing is far from silent. I can hear the cooling fan distinctly over my car's engine and road nice (and I have a pretty loud car).

Overall still happy with the product. I needed an inexpensive, compact power inverter that can be used in a car and on a plane.

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I read a lot of these reviews and couldn't find definitive answers. So I bought the Cobra, and now I have some very specific notes I hope will help you judge whether this unit will work for you.

I used the Cobra CPI-150 in an American Airlines 737 plane.

The DC plug was the standard "car lighter" size, and the Cobra comes with an adapter so you can plug into that. If your plane has that miniport DC power, the Cobra will fit that too. (I didn't find its ability to fit in either port detailed in the product description, but it's a really nice bonus.)

When we were stationary and then taxiing on the runway, it charged my iPhone 4s via the USB port no problem, no interruption. I mention this because some folks had complained they didn't have power on the ground but did so once the plane was in mid flight.)

Then I plugged in an Apple MagSafe 85 watt power adapter with a 3 prong extension to charge up a 2007 17" MacBook Pro. It charged fine for a quick minute, then the Cobra began to reset, light turning from red to green over and over, first sending power to the computer, then nothing, then sending power, then nothing. I thought the problem was that the plane was still taxiing and under-powering the Cobra.

However, mid-flight, I was having the same resetting issues with the Cobra and the 85w Apple power adapter.

I borrowed a 60 watt Apple MagSafe power adapter, and that seemed to solve all the problems. In fact, I'm typing this review on my 17" MacBook Pro that is charging steadily with the Cobra and the 60 watt MagSafe adapter.

So, in conclusion, though the Cobra is labeled 150 watts, it doesn't even sustain 85 watts for longer than a few seconds. Booooo! Shame on you, Cobra. But 60 watts? Sure, no problem. And charging an iPhone via USB, heck yes, it can do that.

Happy, fully-charged journeys to you...

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