Targus PAPWR005U Mobile Power Inverter

I successfully used the Targus PAPWR005U power inverter on a 400+ mile trip to power my Mac PowerBook G4 (to watch DVDs) with the kids. Unfortunately it only made the one trip. The next week, on another 400+ mi car ride, the inverter started beeping constantly and then went into shutdown mode, I'm assuming because it was drawing too much power and was overheating. At 90 Watts, the power output matched the power draw from the Mac PowerBook, but didn't have enough umph to spare. I'd caution everyone to check the power rating on their laptop power bricks first before using it with a power inverter. Get an inverter that is at least 1.5-2x the power rating of the device you want to use.

I have had this item for about 6 weeks. Haven't used to a lot, but so far I like it. This power inverter is smaller and looks nicer than my old one, which was stolen out of my car along with a few other things.

It has one electrical outlet, and above that is a cigarette lighter outlet, so if you have other devices that need that kind outlet you can use them while this power inverter is plugged in.

The plug fits kind of loosely in my cigarette lighter outlet, but I don't know if that's the plug or the outlet on my car.

The only thing I don't like about this item is the "no tangle" cord. Its one of those coiled up cords, like a telephone cord (look at the picture of the item). The cord is long enough that it could stretch to the backseat, but if I were to try this it would pull the plug out of the outlet. Its coiled so tight that I couldn't really put it anywhere that would require the coil to be stretched. It just annoys me that they call it a 36" cord. For practical use not more than probably 18", but I don't have the item right in front of me to measure it.

I'll still give this item 5 stars. 4.5 if Amazon allowed 1/2 stars.

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The first and only time I tried using this for a legitimate need was when I plugged in my laptop to it. It started a long, continuous, high-pitched signal and flashing a light. What does that mean? I stopped using it immediately, since it probably couldn't mean something good. Was it drawing too much from it? There are no instructions to tell you what this means. I tried going to the web site for insight on this, but just got the same info as what was on the package. No help. Nice concept, now only if it worked. I'm returning it.

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Borrowed my daughter's to test it out before buying one for myself. Plugged my Compaq R4000 notebook in and got about 10 minutes worth of computing done before the inverter's yellow light started blinking and the "shut me down" alarm started chirping. I removed the plug from the cigarette lighter and the metal was hot enough to burn me.

Not recommended.

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I have bought 4 of these. One was destroyed by connecting it to the wrong terminals of my 12 volt battery. I had bought an adapter that gives me alligator clips, but it only takes one mistake to ruin this inverter. When the fuse blows there is no fixing it. Other than that these do the job!

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