Stanley fatmax professional power station how to charge

My daughter’s vehicle recently had a flat tire and the hose on my old tire inflator was busted.  I decided to head down to Sam’s Club to see if they had a nice air compressor and was delighted to spot the Stanley Fatmax Jump Starter and Power Station that also included an air compressor.

I bought the Fatmax, brought it home and started having some buyer’s remorse once I started learning more about the unit.  The bottom line is that the Fatmax Jump Starter from Sam’s Club is an okay product at a decent price with some unfortunate drawbacks.

Keep reading and we will cover:

• • Key Features of the Stanley Fatmax Jump Starter
  • How to Use the Fatmax Power System
  • What I Like and Dislike About the System
  • Customer Reviews of the Fatmax
  • Sam’s Club Value

Key Features of the Stanley Fatmax Jump Starter

The Fatmax has the following primary features:

• Jump Starter with 1200 available amps.
• Digital Air Compressor to 120 psi
• Four USB Ports
• Alternator Checker

The model I bought at Sam’s Club is pretty much identical to the Stanley Fatmax Powerit 1000a sold at Walmart.  The only difference that I could spot was that the jump starter on the Powerit 1000a has a max power availability of 1000 amps compared to 1200 amps on this model.

The Fatmax is powered by a lead acid battery that is charged by a plug located on the bottom left side of the front panel.

How to Use the Stanley Fatmax Jump Starter and Tire Inflator

I found two videos on YouTube that do a nice job of showing you how to use this unit.

The first video shows how to use the air compressor on the unit to inflate a tire.  Basically you attach the hose to the valve stem on your tire, select the compressor function and input the desired tire pressure.  Once the tire reaches the desired pressure the unit shuts off automatically.

The second video shows how to use the Fatmax Jump Starter function as well as how to perform an alternator check.

The video is showing the Powerit 1000a in use but the unit from Sam’s Club is identical in function.

To use any of the four USB ports to charge your phone, etc simply plug in your devices and press the “USB Power On/Off” button.

What I Like and Don’t Like about the Stanley Fatmax Jump Starter

There are pros and cons to this power station and overall it balances out to be an okay unit.

Things I Like About the Power Station

I absolutely love the digital tire inflator.   The ability to dial in the tire pressure you want and not have to stand there watching a gauge is a wonderful feature.

I also like that the unit has a bank of LED lights so you can work in the dark if needed.

Additionally I appreciate the abundance of USB ports as it seems like we never have as many available as we need.

Things I Do Not Like About the Power Station

My biggest issue with this product is that it uses a lead acid battery instead of lithium.

The use of a lead acid battery means that this charger is heavy, slow to charge and loses charge during storage.  What is more, while the battery is being charge by the 120V plug on the base of the unit it cannot be used to run the air compressor etc.

What this means is that this unit would NOT be suitable to store in the trunk of your car for emergency use.

The lead acid battery slowly uses charge through self discharge and you run the risk of he battery being dead after sitting in your trunk for 4-6 months.  You also cannot charge or power this unit from the 12V DC port (cigarette lighter) on your car’s console.

This is a decent unit to store in your garage where it can be hooked up to a trickle charger but is not something I am going to stick in the back of my daughter’s car for emergencies.

Customer Reviews of the Fatmax Jump Starter and Power Station

I pulled the customer reviews for the Powerit 1000A from Walmart’s website to see what other people thought of this unit.  There were over 2,100 reviews which is a nice set of data to work with.

The customer reviews were bipolar with 80% of customers loving the unit and 15% of customers saying that it was a piece of crap.

The most common complaint about the unit was reliability with many customers saying that it just up and died on them.  Some representative negative comments are as follows:

• Do not Buy! Stopped working after 3 uses.
• Bought two of these. Both had the same problem after about 6 months. Electronics are total crap.
• Turns backlight and led light on for no reason and depletes power, no usb power has ever worked. Don’t waste your time or money on this. 

The Stanley Jump Starter is a Sam’s Club Value

I bought this unit in the Sam’s Club warehouse for $89 (note, the sign says that this is the 1000A model even though the box does not).

The same unit will cost you $118 at Walmart and there is a stripped down version of this with no air compressor on Amazon for $171.

Considering that I got a digital air compressor, jump starter and a few extra USB ports for less than $100 I am satisfied with the purchase.  That being said, I still need to go buy a portable air compressor for the back of my daughter’s car.

How long does it take to charge a Stanley Fatmax power station?

Does a Stanley Fatmax need to be charged?

How long does it take to charge a Fatmax battery?