It won't start
A battery that will not crank is the most common reason a car does not move. A jump pack fixes it in two minutes, with no second vehicle.
Jump starters · Tire inflators · Battery chargers
The trunk kit that gets you home.
Trusted picks for portable jump starters, tire inflators and battery chargers — sized by engine, climate, and how far from home you will be. Every spec on this site is read off the manufacturer’s own page and linked.
- Pages
- 67
- Products
- 21
- Sourced specs
- 69
- Units we claim to have lab-tested
- 0
Start here
Start with the problem
Three failures account for nearly every car that will not move. Pick the one you have.
A tire is low or flat
Tires lose a couple of PSI a month, plus a pound for every 10 °F the temperature drops. An inflator is the tool you use most often.
The battery keeps dying
If you have jumped the car twice this year, the pack is the symptom. A charger or maintainer is what actually fixes it.
Top picks
What won each category
The number-one pick from each of our buying guides, with the specs that decided it. We publish no prices — every link goes to Amazon, where the current price is shown.
Best Portable Jump Starters
NOCO Boost Plus GB40
The default answer if your engine is under 6.0 L gas.
Check price on Amazon
#ad Affiliate link · We show no price here; Amazon shows the current one
Best Jump-and-Inflate Combo
DEWALT DXAEJ14 Power Station
Jumps, inflates and has an AC outlet — and it is heavy.
Check price on Amazon
#ad Affiliate link · We show no price here; Amazon shows the current one
Best for Diesel Trucks
NOCO Boost HD GB70
6.0 L diesel rating covers the common truck engines.
Check price on Amazon
#ad Affiliate link · We show no price here; Amazon shows the current one
Best for SUVs & Trucks
NOCO Boost Plus GB50
7.0 L gas rating clears a 6.2 L with margin.
Check price on Amazon
#ad Affiliate link · We show no price here; Amazon shows the current one
Best for Cold Weather
NOCO Boost HD GB70
The margin you want when it is below freezing.
Check price on Amazon
#ad Affiliate link · We show no price here; Amazon shows the current one
Best Portable Tire Inflators
DEWALT DCC020IB 20V MAX Inflator
Three power sources means it always works.
Check price on Amazon
#ad Affiliate link · We show no price here; Amazon shows the current one
Sections
The five sections of the site
Jump Starters
A jump pack is the one trunk tool that turns a tow truck into a five-minute inconvenience. This is how to size one, and which ones are worth the space.
Tire Inflators
The cheapest tool that prevents the second-most-common roadside stop. Here is which type fits your tires, and the two specs that actually matter.
Battery Chargers
A jump pack gets you moving. A charger is how you stop needing one. This is the home half of the problem.
Trunk Kit
What actually lives in the trunk, in the order it earns its space — and the pre-built kits that are a starting point rather than an answer.
Road Trip & Travel
What changes when the nearest parts store is four hours away, the pack has to survive a hot trunk, and the airline has an opinion about your lithium battery.
Built for away from home
What changes four hours from anywhere
At home a dead battery is an inconvenience with a workshop at the end of it. Away from home it is the difference between continuing your trip and not. The tools do not change — the margins do, and so do a couple of rules nobody publishes clearly.
- Flying with a jump starterThe FAA and TSA watt-hour thresholds, quoted from source, and where every mainstream pack sits against them.
- Storage and heatWhy a hot trunk permanently costs a lithium pack capacity, and where to keep it instead.
- The road-trip car kitWhat to size up, what to add for the terrain, and what to leave at home.
Sizing
Work out what size you need
Three tables that answer the only questions that actually matter before you buy anything.
What size jump starter do I need?
By engine displacement and fuel type, using ratings manufacturers publish.
What amp battery charger do I need?
The 10% rule, worked, with published capacity ranges to check it.
What PSI should my tires be?
The door-jamb placard, not the tire sidewall. They differ by 15-20 PSI.
Read these first
The pages that carry the argument
Guide
What Size Do I Need?
The sizing table by engine displacement and fuel type, using ratings manufacturers publish and warrant rather than peak-amp marketing.
Guide
Flying With a Jump Starter
The FAA and TSA thresholds quoted from source, where every mainstream pack sits against them, and the rules airlines add on top.
Guide
What PSI Should My Tires Be?
The single most common tire mistake, fixed in two minutes: placard versus sidewall, checking cold, and what cold weather does to the reading.
Head to head
Charger vs Maintainer
The difference in one table, why the amp rating is the giveaway, and which one solves the problem you actually have.
Latest
Recently published and updated
- Best Portable Jump StartersOur main roundup: five packs from compact to heavy-duty, ranked on the engine rating the manufacturer will actually stand behind.
- Best With an Air CompressorCombo units that jump and inflate — plus a frank accounting of what the built-in compressor gives up against a dedicated inflator.
- For Diesel TrucksPacks with a published diesel rating that actually covers a 3.0 L to 6.7 L light-truck engine, with margin for a cold morning.
- For SUVs & TrucksFor gas V6 and V8 SUVs and pickups: the packs that clear a 5.3 L or 6.2 L engine with margin, without buying diesel-grade weight.
- For Cold WeatherWinter picks with real margin, plus the one situation where a lead-acid box beats lithium and why lithium usually still wins.
- NOCO GB40 Review1,000 peak amps, 24 Wh, 2.45 lb. The default answer for a four- or six-cylinder car — and wrong for a diesel.
- NOCO GB70 Review2,000 peak amps, 56 Wh, 4.18 lb, rated to 6.0 L diesel. The right pack for a diesel pickup or a big V8.
- NOCO GBX45 Review1,250 peak amps, 31 Wh, 2.16 lb, USB-C Power Delivery both directions. The pack to pack.
How this site works
What we do and do not claim
Every spec is sourced
Figures come from the manufacturer's own specification page or a regulator's publication, linked on the page. Where a figure is not published, we say so rather than estimate it.
We do not claim a test lab
We run no instrumented testing, so we publish no measured fill times, gauge deviations or star ratings. Our picks are reasoning from sourced specifications, and we say which is which.
No prices, anywhere
We have no live price feed, and a stale price is worse than none. Every buy link goes to the retailer, where the current price is shown.
Commission never moves a ranking
We earn a commission on qualifying purchases through our links. It does not decide a verdict or a position, and every pick carries a plain statement of who it is wrong for.
About the publisher
Clamp & Crank is written by Ryder M., the hands-on owner behind Magoo Media Group. The site exists because the three tools that get a stranded driver moving are covered separately everywhere else, and nobody covers what changes when you are away from home.
We make no claim to credentials we do not have. What we do claim is that every number on this site can be traced to its source.