TOOLMODO REVIEW: Black & Decker (Vector) Electromate 400

I had heard about the Black & Decker Electromate 400. Made by Vector Mfg. and branded Black & Decker it is a little 12v rechargeable jump box, LED area light, air compressor, 12v power supply and 400 watt power inverter. Just over a year ago I was going camping and I needed a way to power the air matress and thought I’d give it a try. So I ordered one from Amazon for $99 with free shipping and no tax (that is the best part of online shopping!). The unboxing was not that spectacular and it took a good 6 hours to charge up that first time. But over the last year I have used that thing more than any other single tool I own. I love to take it camping, the area light lights up a tent great, the inverter has kept my cell phone and video camera charged while keeping the air matress full even on an extended (5 day) camping trip, with 2 bars of power left when we got home. I even let it charge the computer which in turn was charging the Ipod for about 3 hours straight on the way home. It will charge off a 12v DC outlet or through the AC plug on the back. You do need to plug it in to an extension cord to charge it as it has a male plug and not a cord coming out of the back. The jump box feature works amazing, I’ve been saved by that several times. Once I even used it to jump start a dump truck. The compressor is great for car and bike tires, balls and floaty stuff for the lake. I mean its not going to run a framing nailer but what do you expect. This gets packed as standard gear when we go camping and the Electromate 400 has yet to let me down.