A power pack that can also be used to jump-start a car. Now that's a great idea. Gone are the days of needing a second car to get yours back on the road when the battery's flat.
Australian consumer electronics company Laser's Power Bank CJ6000 ($79.95) can charge USB devices and resuscitate your vehicle as well.
Weighing less than 250g, it's light and portable — small enough to carry in your pocket; and not at all what I expected from a power pack that can handle a flat car battery.
But the Power Bank is a bit temperamental when doing its job. I had to read the documentation (printed in an almost impossible to read tiny font) to check what should be a simple process. It involves using the power button, which is also needed to turn the torch on, make it flash an emergency SOS message, and to charge your devices. It's a button with too many functions. And the flashing SOS message looks OK, but it isn't strictly correct Morse code.
Included in the pack are alligator clips and jumper cables with built-in surge protector, and a cigarette socket car charger, but you may want to use better quality cables than the ones supplied. One robust option that I've recently seen is tech accessory company Casetify's USB-to-Lightning cable, impressively encased in hard wearing leather that can withstand a bit of rough treatment, and hidden within stylish black tassel ($79) with metal accents that can be hung from a bag.
Packaging tech gadgets is an important consideration for landfill. Happily, the Casetify cable tassel comes in a cardboard box. The Laser Power Bank comes in a hard non-recyclable plastic.