Customer Reviews
OK product 
2008-03-26
My big issue with this powerpack is that the charger is not self-contained. We lost the charger a few times now and really wish the engineers had designed it to be an all inclusive system. Other than that it works great.
Great item for people with sleep apnea! 
2008-03-25
I purchased the Xantrex 200 Powerpack for my husband who has sleep apnea, and is on CPAP nightly. This little unit paid for itself when the electricity went out in the middle of the night a couple of weeks ago. He plugged his CPAP into the unit and went right back to sleep. We still haven't tested it to see just how many hours he can get out of it, but he was able to sleep at least 4 hours with no problem. It sure beats having to get up and drag the gas generator out of storage at 2am! :o)
The only downside is that we should have gone ahead and bought one of the bigger Xantrex units. Our medical supply company suggested getting a car battery and inverter, and we didn't feel that was feasible for us. This has been one of the best purchases we've made, and we'll probably get another unit to go along with this one in case of emergency.
I highly recommend the Xantrex Powerpacks for anyone on CPAP. It's well worth the money, easy to use, and is a real lifesaver.
Falls short 2008-03-23
I've had the Powerpack 200 for six months. I use it for powering up my computer if I can't find an outlet, pumping up bike tires, and for an emergency back-up if the power goes out in the house. The powerpack is a little too big and bulky as a portable. I leave it in the trunk of my car. It also needs to be recharged often (once a week) and takes a whole day to recharge. I doubt it could jump start a car (it has cables) or do big electrical back-ups. Although it performs small tasks for me it falls short of my expectations.
Works well. Nice and portable too. 
2008-02-22
So far I've used this a couple times to jump my 98 Ford Windstar. My wife normally uses this vehicle and its become a little unreliable because the dome lights don't always go out due to aging door-ajar sensors that I don't want to pay to replace. This little unit was simple enough for her to use to jump the van when it died on her. (Well she did have to call me to walk her through one part ... she had forgotten to "turn on" the jump function with the switch on the side. Its kind of hidden in a weird spot.).
I've only used it for jumping our minivan. I usually keep it plugged-in, in our garage with the AC plug which supposedly won't overcharge the unit. It seems to work.
I haven't used the air pump yet, but I know it works because my wife accidently turned it on once and it scarred the daylight out of my kids!
8-)
The best thing about it is that its very portable, so we can take it with us in the back of the VAN and it gives you some peace of mind that you won't be stranded if you need a jump. (Its kind of a embarassing to go begging for a jump when you have an old not-so-reliable vehicle. )
This unit claims to be able to jump 4 cylinder and "most 6 cylinder" engines. My Ford Windstar is a 6 cylinder and it seems to work fine.
I gave it 4 stars because the jumper cable lead wires are rather short and the calipers don't really clip back on the side mounts that easily.
You have to really coil the wires tight to get them pack one. ...but it does do the job well if you overlook that minor shortcoming. (You get what you pay for and for this price this little power pack has some nice features).
good item 2007-11-26
purchased this unit a few weeks ago and have been only using it lightly, but it works well and i'm happy with it. only downside i can think of is that it comes with a power meter (that lets you know how much juice is left in the battery) but i'm not sure how accurate it is, as the powerpack seems to go from having full power (according to the power meter) to having no power (again, according to the power meter) after using it for a while- problem is that there's really no indication of the transition (power bar seems to only stay either at full bars or at no bars).
Neat gadget 2008-06-20
On a single charge I used the compressor to top off two tires and fill two more that were almost flat. The device reports that it has some power left even after that. The compressor is not speedy, but I wouldn't expect it to be. After all the compressor use I did notice that the rubber hose got pretty darned hot. It does not seem to have affected anything though and I doubt the compressor was meant to fill up four tires in a row like that. I don't have any complaints so far given the price and what I think it was designed for. I think I got a decent value for what I paid.
Bad deal 
2008-06-11
The battery part of the unit seems ok. After two years of usage it still works. The compressor part is a piece of junk made in China. I used it 4 times and it broke. Xantrex cannot get parts for it and does not fix it. So if you buy the unit for the battery powered compressor like I did, this is a bad deal.
Great backup battery, but limited use as air pump 2008-05-28
This is a great backup battery and love the "portable outlet" feature of it. The jumper cables are a great idea but I luckily haven't needed to use that yet. The flashlight has come in handy as well. I found the air compressor to be too weak for much value unfortunately, but it might be OK in a pinch.
In practice I use this more for portable power camping and such then for emergencies.
I do wish that they had a USB outlet or better yet a mini USB charger cable build right in to power USB powered devices. I also wish the air compressor had a bit more power.
Nearly perfect for powering my telescope 2008-05-17
This is my second Xantrex powerpack. I bought a 600HD a couple of years ago to power a CPAP machine, and have been very happy with it. The 600HD will power the CPAP for two full nights, which is the typical length of our camping trips. When not camping I have been using it to power my Celestron CPC800 telescope. However, the 600HD is very heavy, and at 28 AH quite a bit of overkill for a few hours of telescope use.
Last year I bought a cheapie, no-name powerpack for the telescope and it lasted about three months before refusing to charge the battery (the battery was OK). So, back to Xantrex. The 200 Plus will power multiple nights of observing with moderate to heavy slewing of the telescope. I like the size and weight of the 200 Plus for use with the telescope. The 110 outlet is nice for powering my DSLR, though I don't do that very often. Both of my Xantrex units are very well constructed.
For most people, I suspect the jumper cables and compresser are an added attraction, but I could live without them. I wish Xantrex would build a similar model, but without these extras.
Works very well so far. 2008-04-01
I bought this over a month ago because my car battery was giving me trouble, but I ended up replacing the battery. Therefore, I have never used it to jump start my car. However, I have used the air compressor and the electrical outlet and they were both very easy to use and worked very well. It is also holding the charge, even after using it several times. I am not a mechanically inclined person, so having this is very convenient. I am glad I bought it. The children love it to recharge their video games and it also runs the portable DVD player.
