Energizer (EN180 12V 180W Cup Inverter

I never heard of an Inverter until my wife injured herself and wanted to use a heating pad in the car. She sells insurance and her car is her “office.” She spends most of her day behind the wheel. When I found Energizer’s cup-shaped inverter it solved our problem. I was a bit concerned that the unit wouldn’t handle a heating pad and would blow a fuse. (I don’t know what’s with our heating pad manufacturer. I couldn’t find its wattage on the paperwork with the unit or in an online description.) I “guess-itamated” that the heating pad wouldn’t draw more than a 150 watt laptop. And I was right. It worked fine! My wife has also used the electrical socket in the unit to charge her laptop. What a well thought-out design! The Inverter fits perfectly in the center console cup holder in my wife’s Toyota Corolla. Reading the product reviews by other Amazon customers, I had some reservations about the way the power cord is configured. There were several posts that complained the cord (that plugs into the car’s cigarette lighter) was located in the wrong spot. These folks said this configuration caused them to use both beverage holders or the unit had to lean on its side. We discussed this and my wife figured she'd deal with it. When the Inverter arrived we were pleasantly surprised to find that Energizer had changed the design and put the power cord on the top. (See photos.) The unit fits snuggly in the opening of the beverage holder with a little bit sticking out. The cord is located on the very top of the unit where it protrudes out of the beverage holder. The Inverter is the perfect solution if you need to power a laptop, an electric cooler, a portable DVD player or a heating pad, while driving in your car. When we considered buying the device, we knew my wife’s injury would soon get better and she’d no longer need her heating pad. But we’ll figured we’d use the inverter for its six USB connections to power up our smartphones, iPods, etc. when we’re on the road. Energizer has thought of everything. I was surprised to find a pair of auto fuses in the packaging. (Just in case.)

Bought this for a recent trip to Iceland where I would be away from any source of electricity. I put it through the wringer and it emerged unscathed. For 8 continuous days, it was charging something. Whether it was camera batteries, phones, or batteries for my electronic cigarette, it was never not being used. I used both the household outlet and the USB chargers, but mostly it was the household outlet. Prior to the trip, I had bought a couple other types of a vehicle chargers. One blew my car's fuse immediately upon inserting the plug into the accessory port while the other (which did not have a cord, rather the entire unit plugged into the accessory port) prevented my car's gear shifter from being allowed to be placed in the park position (yeah, that's kinda important). Worried because a vehicle charger was going to be VITAL for my trip, I began looking at just about every charger there was and settled on this Energizer cup-type. It was a wise choice indeed. Worked outstandingly. The unit is quiet when the cooling fan is on and, let me tell you, the cup-shaped design is very convenient. When in the cup holder, there is no worry of it rolling around while driving (I first had it lying on the passenger seat on my trip's outset). On a less significant note, this charger fit perfectly into one of my camera bag's slots which made traveling with it quite convenient. When I return to Iceland next year, this is at the top of the "make sure you bring this" list.

Bought this inverter back in March of 2014 for our minivan. I didn’t see the need of going up a class for tech packages when all of the kids had access to either tablets and phones. So we needed a away to keep their batteries charged on road trips thus keeping the peace. This has more than served the purpose in our vehicle. It sits nicely in one of the cup holders in our front console, and with 13 cup holders we are fine. It’s plugged into a charger that the driver can safely and easily access as the need arises. We keep extra charging cords handy and there has been an occasional need to plug in air mattresses, laptops, or the occasional tool battery charger. We’ve had no problems with power from this little inverter over the past four years. That being said the side placement of the cord has been an occasional issue. Every now and again it would disconnect itself. A little frustrating but not a deal breaker. The power indicator light helps us to quickly troubleshoot it and resolve it. I’d buy this again in a heartbeat.

We've been using this thing for two years now. My wife uses it for her work laptop and to charge her phone via USB constantly. The thing's held up great. ALSO, we use this thing when we go on vacation. We go to a cabin that off of the grid, so we hook this up to a deep cycle battery that's charged during the days with solar. The biggest plus is that we can leave it connected to the battery overnight (the thing is silent too) without completely draining the battery (something that was an issue with a different, similar output inverter.) Heck, my mother-in-law even used it for a curling iron (would NOT recommend) - the result is that it kept 'clipping' as it overloaded - BUT the curling iron still got hot enough for her to use and she didn't have a clue as to what she'd actually done. Regardless, it's good device.

First one arrived defective with some component rattling around inside. A little bit of a bummer, but things happen. Got it exchanged (quick and painless, thanks Amazon!) and the new one was rattle free. Went on my trip and hooked it up. Really handy how it fits in the cupholder, brilliant design really. I didn't use it right away after plugging it in, so it probably sat idle for around 20 minutes. When I went to plug in my laptop I noticed the power light wasn't on. I got a bit irritated thinking it was dead, but the laptop got power just fine. Maybe the LED just was bad I thought. However, when I plugged in my cell phone's cord I found all 4 USB ports were completely dead. I suppose the power light may be on that same 5V circuit as the USB ports. So, it only half works after a second unit. I'm not impressed at all. I expected more from Energizer. Also it is worth mentioning the fan is rather loud with only a 65W laptop plugged into it, and the inverter isn't even warm. I guess the good thing is I've used it for around 10 hours and the AC inverter side has worked OK but other than that... nah. It is going back for a refund at this point now, and I'll buy some other brand.

Works great! I bought this for an out of state trip I went on, so I could run my laptop and tablet in the car on the road. I ended up just using it for my laptop. But it worked great! My laptop had constant power. It was really silent too! We have a new car that is very, very quite and blocks out all sound from outside. So I was a little concerned this would be noisy and irritating. But it wasn't at all! I couldn't even hear it. The size is perfect too! It fit right into the cup holder. But it's also small enough, that when I needed to use the cup holder, I was able to put it on the floor next to my feet without it being in the way. I am very satisfied with this product.

I had been researching inverters for many months and reading up on so many different brands, and then, Energizer came up with this new device. It can charge up to 4 USB and one plugin device (pronged outlet). We recently took a mini trip to NJ where we were lost. We used 3 GPS to find our way in NJ, and both mobile and actual car GPS were plugged in and running off this nifty little device. I loved how it breathed new life into my old Camry! It fits perfectly in the cup holder with a little room for the fan to "breathe". It's silent, and you won't hear the fan at all. It doesn't get hot at all. I highly recommend this inverter over other brands. Just don't leave it plugged in, when you shut off the car, you don't want your gadgets to "leak" out your car battery. Also, hide it from prying eyes when not in use. It could be inviting to car thieves.

This has a decent power inverter but the four or five usb ports are a total joke. We got this for our cross country road trip to charge our two smart phones and the kids tablets. We were a bit bummed to discover that it could only charge one usb device at a time. When you plug two usb devices in one will just stop charging. We ended up using the usb charger for one phone and charging the second phone with a wall outlet through the inverter, not the best method. If you want one usb charger and a decent inverter this is a good product but don't fool yourself and think you can charge four usb things at once.

Performed flawlessly. Needed something to charge an iPhone, MacBook, GoPro batteries and digital camera batteries for a 12 day car camping trip. The EN180 was exactly what we needed, as it did what it was made to do and was completely silent. Excellent value. As others mentioned, plugging something into it was a tight fit, but not a deal breaker. Would definitely buy again and highly recommend it.

Worked as expected

Made a long road trip fun for the kids and quiet for the parents. Used this to power a router which had a USB hard-disk attached for movie streaming. Worked like a chard, and with 4 USB port, we were powering tablets and smart phones. Great device.

Used it for a week. Worked great for the week then it died. Won't work anymore.

Nice product works perfectly in 2017 Elantra (180W receptacles)