CNN underscored | The best jump starters we tested

Best jump starter: Gooloo GT4000S Jump Starter

Best budget jump starter: Noco GB40 Boost Plus Jump Starter

The best jump starter doesn’t achieve top status just by shocking your car back to life whenever you have a dead battery. Beyond that prerequisite, this road trip essential has to simplify each step of the process because you might go months or years between uses and no amount of studying the instructions will help them stick in your mind for that long. It’s especially paramount because of how much energy is on the move here; a misstep can do damage to your car or, worse, injure you.

The options for any driver who wants the security of a jump starter can be frustrating. It’s a market flooded with overblown claims that can make a middling model seem elite and an adequate choice appear inferior. Enough amps to fire up a diesel engine? The capacity for 30 starts per charge? Maybe, but a jump starter’s performance will also depend on external conditions and, of course, your car. —read more—