Best power inverters 2025
If you need a three-pin plug on the go, here are the best car power inverters
Whether it’s an emergency recharge for your laptop, the need to power a hand-held tool outdoors, or the convenience of a temporary energy supply on a camping weekend, being able to convert your car’s 12-volt DC electricity to a part-time 240-volt AC supply can be really handy.
That’s where a power inverter comes in useful. If it’s to give life to a low-wattage device such as a laptop charger, then a simple inverter that you plug into your car’s 12V battery socket is an inexpensive and convenient accessory.
At the upper end of the scale, there are also heavier-duty inverters that will power devices with a peak output of up to 1600 watts – roughly the same as a vacuum cleaner or microwave. These are especially useful for using power tools, or powering appliances in off-grid camper vans. These are known as sine wave inverters, and they provide a more stable power supply.
How we tested
We subjected our selected inverters to three tests – powering up an Apple MacBook with a completely depleted battery via a mains cable, operating a 60W table lamp and running a hand-held drill, of the type you might need to do minor DIY jobs. All of our inverters, bar one, passed the practical tests.
Used - available now
2020 Audi
Q2
21,843 milesManualPetrol1.5L
Cash £17,199
2023 Mercedes
GLC Coupe
22,218 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L
Cash £38,876
2022 Mercedes
GLC
24,291 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L
Cash £25,299
2019 Mercedes
GLC Coupe
44,405 milesAutomaticDiesel2.1L
Cash £22,729We also scored our units on the number of sockets available, total power output and if they had extra output sockets beyond a British Standard three-pin plug, such as USB-A or USB-C ports. We also factored in the cost, size and ease of use.
Halfords 200W Power Inverter
- Price: around £44
- Connector type: 12V plug
- Ports: USB-A, USB-C, BS 3-pin
- Rating: 5 stars
- Contact: halfords.com
The Halfords inverter is the joint least powerful here, but in terms of the job it’s designed to do, it’s comfortably the best. You won’t want to use it for high-powered devices, although its 200W output was enough to power our lamp without flickering. But its compact, glovebox-friendly size makes it the perfect emergency laptop charger, and despite its low output, it still enabled our completely flat MacBook to power up almost immediately. Despite its compact dimensions, it’s the only device here to also have a USB-C output ideal if you own a pre-2020 car that’s likely to only have USB-A, or a surly teenager who has a USB-C everything…
Streetwize P70061 800W Modified Sine Wave Inverter
- Price: around £67
- Connector type: battery clamps
- Ports: USB-A, BS 3-pin
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Contact: toolstation.co.uk
For a modest outlay, the Streetwize inverter packs an impressive punch. It offers 800W of constant power, but its ability to reach a 1600W peak output means you can run more powerful appliances than any of its rivals here – the peak output will even allow you to heat up a kettle, providing you don’t use a fast-boil one. It runs via a direct connection to your car battery using the included crocodile clamps, which are detachable from the unit. It also has hanging brackets should you want to mount it inside a vehicle – ideal for camper vans, for example. Our only gripe is that the fan is a bit noisy.
Sealey PS1300 Pure Sine Wave Inverter
- Price: around £174
- Connector type: 12V plug or battery clamps
- Ports: USB-A and BS 3-pin
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Contact: sealey.co.uk
In isolation, the Sealey is probably the best all-rounder in this test. It’s the only device here you can operate via battery clamps, or via the 12V socket in your car – you connect the correct leads to the back of the unit depending on which you want to use. This is the only pure sine wave inverter tested (which offers an even more stable power supply than the more common modified sine wave system used by the other direct-to battery items) and is recommended for sensitive products such as TVs. It’s superb for professional use, but is expensive.
Ring Powersource RINVU500 500W Compact Inverter
- Price: around £53
- Connector type: battery clamps
- Ports: USB-A and BS 3-pin
- Rating: 4 stars
- Contact: halfords.com
A former winner of our inverter test in 2020, the Ring is still a good product, offering stable power delivery at a very affordable price. We also like the fact that it features a low-voltage alarm, so if you use it with your car engine switched off, it will warn you before dropping the battery to a level where it won’t start your car. The long cables are handy if you’re using hand-held power tools, too. It’s not as powerful as the Streetwize, though, and it’s too bulky to fit in a glovebox.
Draper 28815 12V DC-AC Inverter 400W
- Price: around £62
- Connector type: battery clamps
- Ports: USB-A and BS 3-pin
- Rating: 4 stars
- Contact: drapertools.com
Draper’s 400W unit is compact and smart, and if it were a little cheaper, it would have been in with a chance of being the winner here – that’s worth considering, because there are sometimes very good deals online. It’s not the most powerful unit but we like its safety features, which include a reverse-polarity indicator, overload alarm and low-voltage indicator. The detachable battery clamps also feel well made and, being the smallest sine wave unit here, it’s more portable than its rivals.
BG Fox 300W Power Inverter
- Price: around £35
- Connector type: 12V plug
- Ports: 2 x USB-A and BS 3-pin (plus USB-C adaptor)
- Rating: 4 stars
- Contact: amazon.co.uk
You can’t fault the sheer value for money on offer with the BG Fox inverter and we also like its sturdy alloy case, which makes it feel tougher than the other in-car units tested here. It comes with dual USB sockets, too, and some adaptors to convert them to USB-C, but we think the Halfords twin USB-A and C set-up is better overall. The internal fan is also a little noisy. It passed all our practical tests though, despite not being a sine wave unit, firing up the laptop quickly and working well with the drill and lamp.
Bestek 200W 12V to 240V Car Voltage Converter
- Price: around £36
- Connector type: 12V plug
- Ports: 4 x USB-A and 2x BS 3-pin
- Rating: 3 stars
- Contact: amazon.co.uk
The Bestek is part of Amazon’s own-brand range and, on paper, it looks like great value, with four USB outlets and two three-pin sockets. However, unlike the Halfords unit, which supposedly has a similar power output, it took more than two minutes for our laptop to gain enough charge to switch on, and there was clear interference when running our lamp, causing it to flicker. Where its many ports will be useful, though, is in a family car where everyone’s phone needs charging at once.
Verdict
The Halfords 200W Power Inverter is the perfect glovebox companion, and ideal for those who travel for business. If you do need that extra wattage, then the Streetwize P70061 is hard to beat. It’s a great choice if you go camping regularly. The Sealey PS1300 is also excellent, but pricey.
Looking for a sat-nav as well? Then look at our best sat-navs page...
