Nowadays, most brand new cars leave the factory with USB ports inside the cabin, allowing you and your passengers to charge your mobile devices. While USB ports do come in handy for daily use, they don’t offer enough power to charge larger accessories. Maybe you often go camping and want to hook up a small coffee maker while you’re out in the woods. Or there’s a chance you’re a photographer or videographer who needs to keep batteries or a laptop fully charged while on the go.
In today’s connected world, there are plenty of devices that need more than a USB port for charging, and that’s where power inverters come in handy. Power inverters are an easy way of converting your car’s DC electric power into AC electric power, which can be used to power or charge a wide range of appliances and accessories. Now, you won’t be plugging in a full-sized fridge into your car, but power inverters will make your life a lot easier on the road by helping you charge or power your laptop, TV, or even a hair dryer.
Shopping for a good power inverter may seem like a fairly straightforward task, but they’re not that simple. You’ll find that there are several different types of power inverters, most of which can be plugged into your cigarette lighter receptacle or a 12v accessory socket. There are however, products that can be plugged directly into your car’s battery or fuse panel.
More importantly, some inverters produce what is called a “modified sine wave,” or an AC electric power that is good for most appliances—such as laptops, TVs, power tools, etc. Keep in mind that there are some appliances that only work with “pure sine wave” AC electric power, which is basically more stable than modified sine wave. Those power inverters tend to be more expensive, but can work with basically any electric device or appliance. Before you choose a power inverter, you’lll want to check whether the device you need to be powered requires pure sine wave.
Below, you’ll find a list of our recommendations for the top 10 best power inverters currently available. We detail each product, outlining the pros and cons, to help you choose the right one for your specific situation.
For more information on power inverters, refer to our table of contents.