Annemarie Conte, Deputy Editor at the NYT Wirecutter and author of Wherever We Go, We Bring the Weego 44s Portable Jump Starter - featured our most popular jump starter, the Weego 44s.
I was already running late to bring my kid to Girl Scouts, and the car wouldn’t start because said kid left the interior light on all night and killed the battery. There was also the day that I had to get some friends to the airport and our 10-year-old sedan refused to turn over. On another occasion, a cold snap KO’d the last juice on my first-generation Honda Fit, a hardworking rust bucket of a jalopy if ever there was one. The thing that quickly, efficiently, and expertly got me out of all of those jams (and many more): a portable jump starter.
What is a portable jump starter?
A portable jump starter is essentially a lightweight battery attached to two jumper cables that you use to jump-start your car. It’s easier, safer, and less intimidating than old-fashioned jumper cables that you attach to another car—and it’s something you can use if you’re alone, instead of waiting for roadside service/a kind stranger/a friend/a relative to show up and bail you out.
Wirecutter's tests and recommendations
Wirecutter has recommended Weego gear since we first published our guide to portable jump starters in 2017. The guide writer, Mark Smirniotis, researched 40 lithium-ion jump starters and tested 12. Two Weego portable jump starters (both of which are now discontinued) became picks: the Weego 22s (the top pick; about $60) and the Weego 44 (the upgrade pick; about $150). Though we no longer maintain the full guide, many of us at Wirecutter still keep a Weego jump starter in our cars. But now, in many cases, it’s an updated version: the affordable Weego 44s, which hovers around the same price as the 22s model, its less powerful predecessor.
