AstroAI S8 Ultra 4000A Jump Starter- Orange

My 8 year old Rugged Geek started coming apart and even though the sides of the case are held in place with gorilla tape it will still fire up a completely drained battery on the first try but knowing it’s only a matter of time before it stops working I went back to Amazon to buy another. Unfortunately after doing a complete internet search they apparently have quit production so after a couple of days searching and comparing Amazon offerings I settled on this and am so disappointed. The thing is huge and awkward to hold while connecting and it doesn’t beep when ready as my other past units. No screen to see what’s going on just an awkwardly placed light that you have to twist the unit after connecting to see what color it is and the movement causes the clamps to pop off the terminals. As for the clamps the fact that they aren’t flimsy plastic like so many other brands was a major factor in my purchase but they are so tight and hard for me to open that I have to use 2 hands and it takes several attempts to get a good connection. Now I imagine a man who works with their hands and has a lot of strength will have no problem but they definitely weren’t designed with females in mind. Another issue is the power bars are useless in the daylight and on first use I thought it must not have charged correctly so I disconnected it and went back in the house to get my old one but once inside I could see the illumination so I took it back outside and hooked it up again. If you want to visualize the bars while outside you need to cup your hands around it to block the light. My car only clicked on the first attempt and I had to get out and even though nothing was indicating the need I pressed the boost button and got back in to try again and it fired up. Mind you it’s minus 3 degrees in the snow and all the futzing with the clamps, going back in the house and two tries my hands were numb. Another con is the cheap little nylon bag with a tiny diameter cord to pull the opening shut. This is a heavy unit and I’m sure the cord won’t last long. I also had to get a wash cloth to wrap around the clamps since the metal rubbing back and forth against the unit will obviously scratch it up and possibly lead to problems. The only plus to the unit is a decent cable length. Even though I put a new $300 battery in last fall my old car is dead every morning when winter hits so I’m really unhappy with the length of time it takes to get the clamps on all while having to be gloveless to hook up and start the car. My old unit has great metal clamps that I’ve always been able to open with one hand and looks identical to the ones provided with this unit so while the manual advises against it I’m going to see if the unit will work with them. My battery terminals are on the backside of the battery so it’s a real struggle getting two hands down in there while hooking it up. As for longevity that remains to be seen. Another complaint is when I jump it and go to the store or doctors the distance is obviously too short to charge it back up so I have to take the unit with me inside and jump it again to get home. This thing is so long and awkward I started bringing my old taped up unit which is 4.5” shorter, not as wide, much thinner and fits in my purse which by the way is very large. If I had known how cumbersome this was, and yes the measurements were stated and I should have written them down and drawn an outline to visualize the size but since I didn’t I would have been better off to purchase a big heavy power station. Obviously I’m not real happy with it but while awkward, hard to use and not small enough to be convenient it will start the car when I use the boost button so there’s no legitimate reason to return it. I’m secretly hoping it only lasts long enough to get me through the winter and I can find a smaller one with an actual case that keeps the clamps separate from the unit.