What is it?
If there's one bit of useful kit every driver should keep in the boot, it's a decent jump starter. Thanks to modern battery tech, jump starters are gettiing smaller yet more powerful. The days of using jump leads (and all the hassle that entails) are in past. Combine that with a tyre inflator and you've got something that's likely to save the day even if you only need it once in a blue moon.
The Gooloo A5 is a rival to the excellent Ring Jumpstart 5-in-1 combining a 4000A jump starter, a tyre inflator, a 20,000mAh power bank and an LED torch in one. It's designed to start petrol engines of any size and diesel engines up to 10 litres – so pretty much everything then. The built-in compressor can inflate tyres up to 160PSI, far more than a car tyre but useful for things like high-performance track cycling tyres.
There's also a bright colour display, USB-C fast charging and a selection of adaptors for inflating everything from footballs to the kids bicycle tyres. You can buy it directly from Gooloo for £89.99.
Is the Gooloo A5 any good?
The Gooloo gets off to a good start with us as it comes in a zipped carry case with everything you need inside, including the jump leads, charging cable and a selection of inflation adaptors. As well as the usual needle for footballs and the like, there are attachments for bicycles, inflatables and other things (we're relaly not sure but there are lots included) making it useful long aside from just checking your car's tyres.
Turn it on and the first thing you notice is the large, bright colour display. Even outside in direct sunshine it's easy to read, making it clearer than the screen on the Ring Jumpstart 5-in-1 we tested previously. The controls are simple and intuitive, with it taking only seconds to switch between PSI, BAR and kPa before setting the pressure you want.
One feature we particularly like is the quick-release air hose connector. Rather than screwing the hose onto the tyre valve, you simply clip it into place with a lever. It's quicker, easier and you lose far less air when disconnecting. It's the same style of connector used on the excellent Ring Jumpstart 5-in-1, and once you've used one you'll wonder why every portable inflator doesn't have it.
We tested the inflator on our Audi Q6 e-tron with a tyre that had dropped to 18PSI. After setting the target pressure to 35PSI, the Gooloo reached it in just 2 minutes 50 seconds before automatically switching itself off. That's more than a minute quicker than the Ring Jumpstart 5-in-1 managed on the same test, making it by far the fastest portable inflator we've tested.
Despite that performance, it's impressively refined. It's never going to be silent, but it's quieter than you'd expect from such a powerful compressor and there's very little vibration.
The jump-starting performance was equally impressive. We connected it to a BMW E36 328i with a completely flat battery and the engine fired immediately on the first attempt. There's an extra Boost mode for deeply drained batteries but the Gooloo started our car without needing it. Considering the A5 is rated at up to 4000A and can start petrol engines of virtually any size along with diesel engines up to 10 litres, it has considerably more capability than the Ring unit, although most drivers are unlikely to need that much performance.
Should you buy one?
The Ring Jumpstart 5-in-1 has been one of our favourite pieces of kit because it combines two genuinely useful products in one. But the Gooloo A5 raises the bar. It's faster as a tyre inflator, has a brighter and easier-to-read display and offers considerably more jump-starting power on paper.
At £89.99, it's also cheaper than the Ring, making it exceptional value. Unless you specifically need the Ring's 12V socket output, we'd choose the Gooloo. It's one of the best bits of useful kit you can keep in the boot of your car. Just remember to check the charge from time to time. Handily it comes with both a standard USB charging cable along with a USB-C lead.
Yes it's a little larger and heavier than the Ring, but given how much quicker it inflates tyres and how much more powerful it is as a jump starter, that's a compromise we're happy to make.
