A few years back, having suffered through an extended power outage and hearing alarmist reports of storms that coulda/woulda/shoulda been bearing down upon my area that were likely/possibly to negatively impact power availability at my home I went out and picked up a small power inverter to use in times of emergency.  Since that time (knocks on my own head a few times for luck) the power outages have been fairly few and I've not had to rely upon that little inverter for much of anything other than the ability to charge up some small electrical items (most frequently phones, iPods, iPads and the like).  That particular inverter offers at least one USB port, pass-thru of the 12 volt cigarette lighter port, and one standard (U.S.) 120 volt AC port.Seeing the availability of this 500W inverter, I somewhat jumped at the chance to grab another inverter figuring that I could just move the original inverter over to wife 2.0's vehicle.  That is easily possible, though I would note that in thinking of putting this Energizer 500W Power Inverter into service I have concerns about just how big this inverter is by comparison.  Relatively speaking, the inverter that I had been previously using was only slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes, or perhaps 2 or 3 standard sized Kitkat candy bars stacked directly on top of each other.  This beast easily dwarfs that one in comparison.  It's heavier, bulkier, larger and more demanding of space in my vehicle.  Certainly I can make the room in case of emergency, but if I am not going to use this regularly, finding it a home in the vehicle where I can still get to it quickly enough if needed is a concern.I wish that this inverter offered the pass-thru for the cigarette lighter port, though would note this is more obviously intended to be cabled directly into the electrical system in a more permanent fashion.Potential purchases should be aware that this device is not intended to power large devices, or devices with high power demands. For example, a blow dryer, microwave oven, or other device that pulls a higher level of power would overwhelm this device and wind up popping the device's fuse or fuses in the vehicle that it was connected in.  If you are looking to power more demanding electronics then please check through the entire line of offerings and choose one of these inverters that is rated for and intended for use for higher power draw levels.  For most typical usage (small electronics, laptops, iPods, iPhones, iPads, Android tablets, Kindle Fires, Android smartphones, etc.) this device would work fine and could/should provide plenty of on-demand power in case of an emergency or during road trips with this device in use.