Review of NOCO GB70 Car Battery Jump Starter
Although the market is loaded with a variety of battery jump starters of various sizes, energy outputs or price; we will focus here on the NOCO GB70 Car Battery Jump Starter. This unit is really popular due its size/power/quality/price/ease-of-use ratio as it caters for the vast majority of car owners and drivers.
Years ago, it was a massive pain in the back to deal with dead batteries. You needed to call professionals or a tow truck for any kind of assistance at the roadside. But with more advanced technologies, especially car battery-related issues can now be handled a lot easier and faster. One of these massive “helpers” are jump-starters. Jump cables have been around as long as car batteries themselves, but having your own backup is just a lot easier than relying on a random stranger willing to give you a helping hand. Even ignoring the “safety” aspects of waving a stranger down, these generally pay for themselves after one or two uses as you would pay a lot more for a tow or commercial jump start than these things go for.
What can it do for you? If you forgot to keep your car battery charged, left something on that drained the battery, or its capacity just decreased over time – it can’t turn the starter anymore so your car just won’t start. And this is why most people would get this – is is capable enough to start your car even when its battery is low, or quite dead. It will start vast majority of cars while not taking too much space and literally everyone can use it as it is dead-simple and safe to use. It can charge wet, gel, MF, EFB and AGM batteries.
Furthermore, it has an array of charging options (both in and out) so it can also be used as a battery pack to charge mobile phones, iPads, etc., a LED light with several modes, spark protection and a manual override for when your car battery is, metaphorically speaking, beyond dead (more about that below).
The unit arrives in a neat package, with the following contents:
- GB70 Lithium Battery Jump Starter
- XGC 12V Male Adapter
- XGC 12V Female Adapter
- XGC Extension Cable
- Micro USB Cable
- Microfiber Storage Bag
- User Guide & Warranty Information
There are 2 things missing that you might need or that might come handy – a decent external charger and a case. It is not a major issue of them not being there, just worth a flag before it arrives and you get surprised by the lack of it. Yes, you can charge the unit using the attached 12V adapter/cable, but for that to work your car needs to be running in the first place… Again, not a major issue but what we like is to charge the unit from the wall charger ocassionally.
For charging we recommend the Noco’s XGC4 here
In terms of a case, there is a cloth-y pouch that would hold the unit nicely packed and prevent minor scratches, but NOCO makes their own one and in our opinion it is worth the money as it fits the jump starter like a glove and protects it much better.
You can check the GBC014 Boost HD EVA Protection Case here:
The jump box is made of durable plastic so it can take some beating. The ports are covered with rubber flaps (the whole jump starter is IP65 certified, btw.), the rubber is sturdy yet flexible and we would not be concerned about them failing anytime soon.
Most people don’t like heavy and bulky jump starters because they are difficult to move from one place to another, and are a pain to store in the car. NOCO GB70 sort of wins in both. Yes, both are relative so what one can perceive to be a light and small, will be bulky and heavy for another.
The unit with clamps weighs about 5 lbs/2.20kg so akin to a large bottle of coke.
Dimensions are 8.8″(22cm) in length, 3.9″ (10cm) width, and 2.7″(7cm) height (imagine a good-looking brick). One thing we liked that is worth mentioning – when not in use, the clamps (connected to the unit using a thick high-grade cable) “click” on the plastic holders protruding out of the body of the jump starter, so they don’t wobble and wiggle around. A detail but we loved that.
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- Original image: NOCO
When the jump starter arrives, it will probably have a bit of charge but it is always good to have it charged to full before putting it in your car. One of the strong points of this jump starter is how universal it is in terms of charging – you can charge it using any USB port so even from your laptop, mobile phone charger, etc. The only thing that will vary will how long it takes as different devices (or even USB port within the same device) can have different output.
As you can see above, the times vary but even with a phone charger that are with newer phones typically 2A, it is on 100% pretty much overnight. 12V 3A is a speedy option which works really well if you are in a bit of a rush or don’t have that much time to wait.
Which port to use for charging?
For “normal” charging, connect the GB70 using the included USB Charge Cable (or any other) to the USB IN port and a powered USB port. For the fast charge, use the round 12V 3A socket.
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- Original image: NOCO
The heart of NOCO GB70 is made up of strong lithium-ion battery capable of delivering up to 15700 joules and 2000 peak amps – in human words it has enough power to jump start vast majority of cars (up to 8-litre gas or 6L diesels).
When fully charged, NOCO GB70 car battery jump starter is designed to deliver jump start within the range of 20 to 40 jump starts so even if your car doesn’t start on the first “jump” you still have enough to keep trying with.
This is the part you normally hope would not happen – you have a flat battery and the car doesn’t start. Here are the instructions how to use it step by step:
- Open the hood and find the car battery
- Make sure that the terminals are exposed. Sometimes car batteries have protective cups so you need to make sure you are attaching the NOCO clamps on the metal.
- Make sure you are hooking up the positive clamp to the positive terminal and the negative to negative. If you happen to do it the other way around, the jump starter will warn you and it would not work at all, so you can’t go really wrong here. Connect the positive first, negative after.
- Make sure everything that can drain the battery power is off – radio, lights, AC, USB ports, etc. You will need all the energy going into the battery and the starter.
- Press the Power button – all LED’s will flash to confirm that the unit is working fine. If you have hooked up the terminals correctly, the white LED will come off. If the other way around, it will be red – reverse the connections.
- Try starting the car – most cars will start right away but especially if the car has been idle for a while, it might take a few attempts – just make sure you give it about 20 seconds to catch its breath (in reality, to prevent overheating, etc.) and let it rest after 5 unsuccessful tries.
- Once the vehicle is running, remove the clamps – negative first, positive second.
- Make a mental note to charge it back, especially after a few attempts.
GB70 Manual override
The manual override is a really neat feature when your battery is totally dead. The way these things usually start “jumping” your car battery is for them to find the battery first which is by measuring any current coming back into the jump starter from the car battery. Normally, when there is some charge left in the battery, the GB70 gets the current so it knows it is hooked to a battery and can start powering up. If your battery is too dead (in technical terms below 2 Volts), it won’t find it and would throw an error.
This is the right time to use the manual override – you essentially force the jump starter to start powering up despite it not receiving anything. Be careful though, by switching to the override it also disables any protective features (below) so please make sure you have it all hooked up correctly before firing it up.
How to switch the GB70 manual override on?
To enable the manual override mode, push and hold the manual override button for three (3) seconds.
If we spoke about the battery inside as its heart, the brains of the GB70 are quite smart too:
Charging other devices
As we mentioned above, there are 2 ports OUT to charge other things so yes, you can use this as a power-bank. The 2.1A USB OUT is perfect for charging phones, tablet, headphones or anything you normally charge via a USB.
The 12V 15A OUT is great for stuff like tire pumps, LED lights, inverters and so on.
400 lumen LED
The GB70 sports a LED light which can cycle through several modes – 100%, 50%, 10%, SOS, blinking and strobe. The light is really bright and outshines your mobile phone torch quite easily. One thing that would be great is to have a hook somewhere around the USB ports to be able to hang it off the hood if needed to engine inspection or similar things.
Spark-proof technology
This portable jump starter unit has been equipped with a spark-proof technology, meaning that even if the clamps touch, you won’t have sparks flying all over. The same goes for connecting the clamps to the car battery – if you have ever used jump cables, you would have most likely had a good few sparks flying around – not the case here.
Reverse polarity protection
As mentioned about, the polarity protection protects you, your vehicle and the jump starter from getting harmed as a result of a “wrong clamp on wrong terminal” situation.
The NOCO GB70 is commonly used in fleets, government organizations, police departments, in armed forces and in industries as well and it is not a surprise. This relatively small unit is powerful enough to start quite large engines – both petrol and diesel, while not breaking the bank. It is US designed, and equipped with enough features for it to work really well while keeping the jump starting process really simple so anyone can use it.
The other features such as USB ports, LED or the safety of the unit is a cherry on top.
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This is the common cigarette-lighter plug – male connection.
This is the common cigarette-lighter plug – female connection.
Yes, it can charge wet batteries.
Yes, it can charge gel batteries.
Yes, it can charge Maintenance Free batteries.
Yes, it can charge Enhanced Flooded Batteries
Hold the manual override button for 3 seconds
It can hold up to 70% of its rated capacity for up to a year. This depends on number of factors, however For example, too hot or too cold temperatures impact the internal battery so it is a good idea to check the charge occasionally.
Connect the 12V cable to the “12V IN” port on the GB70, and the other end to the Male 12V plug. Finally, plug into a powered 12V AUX plug (cigarette lighter port)
Yes, you can. The GB70 can power an inverter. Connect the 12V cable to the “12V OUT” port on the GB70, and the other end to the Female 12V plug (12V AUX/ cigarette lighter port.)
Nothing – it has sensors that will not let anything happen (unless in the manual override mode).
Nothing – the reverse polarity protection will prevent the jump starter from charging and will alert you by the red LED.
Yes, it can. Just make sure you check the battery type.
Yes it can.
Yes, they are – the company is based in the US and its products are designed there. It is regarded as one of the strongest brands in the world of jump starters and car battery chargers and we don’t have any issue recommending them.
You can find the best ones in our NOCO GB70 accessories post here.
Below is the Manual for NOCO GB70, courtesy of NOCO.
You can also find and download the manual here:
