What is it?
The Ring Jumpstart 5 in 1 is a cordless jumpstarter, tyre inflator, powerbank, light and 12V output all in one. As a jumpstarter it can start 12V batteries on petrol engines up to 5.0-litres and diesel engines up to 3.0-litres, which covers the vast majority of cars. There's an extra boost function to help start completely flat batteries and it's compatible with start/stop batteries.
As a tyre inflator it comes with a digital pressure gauge so you can pre-set the desired pressure (it measures in PSI, kPa and Bar) and auto stop will turn it off once reached. As a power bank it has a USB port and a 12V socket via a supplied cable. It has a 12000mAh lithium battery.
Compact in size, it comes in a handy case and includes a charging cable plus inflator adaptors for bikes and balls. There is also an LED light which can change to red flashing for emergencies. It recharges via a (supplied) USB-C cable and takes around four hours to fully charge. Priced at £119.99 you can buy it through Amazon or directly from the Ring website.
Is it any good?
Given that this is both a tyre inflator and jump starter, it's an impressively compact bit of kit, measuring roughly 20cm by 10cm. It feels sturdy and well made, although we're not sure how long the gloss black top will stay scratch free with lots of use. It does at least come with a useful carrying bag, so you can store it (and all the cables) away neatly.
We're testing it as a tyre inflator on our Audi e-tron fitted with 21-inch wheels. It's easy to pre-set, using the M button to highlight the pressure and then changing it with the plus and minus buttons. Then all you need to do is hold down the button on the side (marked with tyre symbol) for a few seconds and it will start. Inflating our tyre from 18PSI to 35PSI took 4 minutes and 3 seconds, that's not far off of the time of the Ring UltraInflate 20. Once it gets to the pre-set pressure it switches off.
You can have several pre-sets stored (denoted by symbols for an SUV, a car, a bicycle and a football) which we found handy as the pressure vary between the front and rear tyres on our car. Although annoyingly this always resets to BAR rather than staying on PSI which we prefer using.
It's not the quitest unit around but there's little in the way of vibration so you don't have to worry about it moving around or falling over. In bright conditions, we found the digital display a little tricky to read, the screen on the Ring UltraInflate is much easier to see. But we did find the LED torch light useful in the dark when you're trying to find the dust cap. Usefully, the Jumpstart 5 in 1 comes with a quick release connector, which we prefer to the screw type. It's much easier to use.
Turning it into a battery jump starter just requires connecting the jump lead adaptor in the slot on the side. It weirdly goes in upside down, so to speak, so that to see the relevant lights that show you whether you're connected to the battery correctly or not, requires having the unit upside down or on its side.
Our main criticism is that the jump leads aren't that long. There's only about 80cm length from end to end, which is fine if the battery you're jumping has a simple positive and negative terminal, but not very handy if you earth point isn't that nearby, as is the case on many cars. We can imagine it would be immensely frustrating to carry this round only to find when you went to use it that it didn't reach both the positive and negative terminals.
That said, we have no issues with the power. We tested the Jumpstart 5 in 1 on an older BMW 328i that had been sitting for several months and had a completely flat battery. Thanks to the boost setting, the car fired up pretty much straight away - usually this is a job for jump leads from another car, usually something diesel. We then tried it on a Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi which we had deliberately drained the battery on. Again, it had no problems supplying enough power for a start.
Should you buy one?
As both a tyre inflator and jump starter, the Ring is a very useful thing to have around. The powerbank features may not be that essential but they're useful extra, for instance we used it to charge our phone when a car we were in didn't have a working 12V socket. As a jump starter we were very impressed by its performance, especially on an older battery that was completely flat. While as a tyre inflator we found it easy to use, quick and accurate. There's not much more you can ask of a tyre inflator.
As something to keep in your car in case you are ever stranded by a flat tyre or flat battery, the Ring Jumpstart 5 in 1 is the ideal bit of kit. You just need to remember to check the charge levels from time to time. While it's expensive, this is essentially two tools in one - and it performs both jobs very impressively indeed. If you look at it that way, and given the quality of it, the Ring Jumpstart 5 in 1 is a a good buy.
