Many drivers have experienced the frustration of a dead car battery, whether it be due to freezing temperatures in the winter or simply forgetting to turn off the lights when leaving your vehicle. And while seeking help from friends or strangers with jumper cables may solve the problem, it can also be costly, time-consuming, and stressful. To address this common issue, we reviewed the NOCO Genius Boost GB40 mini jump starter. This device not only serves as a solution for car battery problems, but it can also be used to charge various other devices such as phones, tablets, and more through its mini USB port. In this article, we will focus on its ability to jump start a car battery.

Genius Boost GB40 – first impression

Contents

As you see Genius Boost GB40 for the very first time you think “no way this can start V8!” but let’s do this step by step. You can see from the photo how the front side looks. We have a power button, light button, and the override trigger. Also, it has four LED lamps which indicate the health of your battery and how much energy it has. The housing of this 1000A powerful jump starter is constructed of very hard plastic material and as you take it in your hand you can feel its ergonomics so it fits well in your hand and it is pretty light weighing ( just around a couple of pounds). I have to say I don’t like its design. I’m not saying it is bad or ugly but it is just a device I would rather have in my car and garage than in my backpack or fancy suitcase and use it as a power bank.

The truth is it is quite compact so calling it pocket jump starter completely meets the point. GB 40 from NOCO can easily fit in the glove box with no problem and that for sure is one of many advantages if we compare it with heavy, massive jumper packs we used to have in our cars. From the backside of this device, there are two USB ports. One is a micro USB port for different kinds of gadgets who can be charged using this jump starter as a power bank, but we will talk about this option later. The other one is used to recharge this mini jump starter. Also, the interesting thing is a bright flashlight in front of NOCO GB40, it can be very useful to lit either under your car’s hood or in everyday situations. We were positively surprised when tried to shut it down and it started changing modes from SOS to emergency strobe before eventually turned off.
Within the package besides this jump starter unit you get:
– mini jumper camps used to connect GB40 to your car battery (they are quite short but don’t try to add an extra cable as it is not recommended)
– USB cable used to recharge your device
– 12V 2.1A USB Car cigarette lighter charger

NOCO GB40 can jump start your car?

Is it really the truth? The manufacturer claims that this powerful small jumper can actually jump-start from the smallest cars such as Chevrolet Spark up to powerful V6 engines. It is hard to believe this as we used heavy, mighty jumper packs for this cause.
What we di, of course, was to test it on 3.5L V6 Toyota Highlander. The GB40 came almost fully charged so we had to recharge it before use. It takes up to 3 hours to be fully charged. Before you do anything you have to carefully read instructions provided with this device. The user guide came with the device but it was a little bit hard to read it because it was written with tiny font, so be aware of it because it could be a problem especially if you already have vision problems. Another important thing to notice is that you must be sure your car has a battery problem and not some other mechanical issue. Check out our step by step guide “How to Jump Start a Car” if you are not sure about this simple procedure.
We had fully drained 12V battery inside our truck and we connected cables as instructed in user guide. Notice that jumper cables are short but don’t try to enlarge it or to use the other one as it is not recommended.

A possible reason for this might be a problem with overheating. Of course, it is not something that is a big problem or unusual case as this powerful device provides huge energy needed to jump-start the battery of your car. It is recommended to wait a few moments (20-30 sec.) before you try to start the engine. We did so. These four LED lamps we talked about earlier started blinking so it is a moment of truth. Finally, we started the ignition…. and YES it managed to start the engine with no problem! After you start a vehicle you have to disconnect GB40 in order to not completely drain its power. Besides that we went one step forward, better said three steps forward as we repeated this process three more times and every single time this powerful mini jump-started did his job with no problem! AMAZING! Manufacturer climes that you can jump-start your car up to 20 times. We did not go so far but even if can’t reach that number it is not such a big deal. Also, a thing worth noticing is that jumper cables got slightly overheated during this test. So, we recommend you be careful and not push too hard on this device. If you read the NOCO GB40 manual provided within the package you will notice that this device has “BOOST” mode. It is marked as a red button on the front side of GB40. This option allows you to increase power so that jump starter uses more power if needed to start a car engine. We did not have to use this mode as we started the engine with no problem. If you eventually use this mode be very careful because as in this mode most of safety precautions will not work so the injuries and unpleasant situations could acquire.

At the end, we can definitely say this device is worth having in your car. It is compact and yet so powerful it can jump start your vehicle. GB40 is great for emergency situations when you quickly need to jump-start your car. Just don’t forget to keep it fully charged. This is very easy as you can do it in your car using lighter space as a source of power. However, it wont work if your car battery is already dead…

As a multi-function device, this product offers various options for use. We already mentioned that with device comes with USB cable and has mini USB port used to charge your Smartphone or any other device which uses this kind of port. It is definitely great power bank especially for people who travel a lot or in cases when you don’t have a source of power nearby. It will recharge your phone and solve battery drain problems of many other gadgets. But we didn’t like it has only 5V port and capacity of 6400 mAh. It is really pity because you can’t use it to charge Laptops or any other unit who uses some other output port. Anyways, be sure you have this device fully charged as you go for a road trip, camping or any other place where you need extra power and it will do the trick as it has enough power to recharge your smartphone up to three times.

Safety precautions

Safety is definitely a very important characteristic every device has to have. This NOCO Genius Boost GB40 12V UltraSafe Lithium Jump Starter for sure is ultra-safe. We all know how dangerous can be if you touch clamps or if you connect them the wrong way. With this UltraSafe device as it is called, you don’t have to worry about this. Using advanced Spark-Proof technology and Reverse Polarity this device offers high-security features. If you accidentally make a mistake nothing will happen, not a single spark will appear. These safety precautions make GB40 very safe to use even for persons who are not familiar with these kinds of devices. His durable plastic housing makes it hard to break or damage.
But be aware when you turn the “BOOST” mode on. As this mode is “ON” most of the safety precautions want work!

Other customer NOCO GB40 reviews

This overall NOCO GB40 review doesn’t cover all details about a product. It is quite often when we have many different opinions and reviews of the same product. That is why in this part of our review we will provide you some useful information related to GB40 and collected by market research. We will start with some bad experiences which may occur as a result of improper handling. Most of the complaints are related to those who tried to jump-start heavy-duty machines and diesel motors. Truth is that manufacturer clime this device is capable to jump start powerful V8 engine but it is known fact that diesel motors need far more energy to start, so it is not so hard to believe that these reviews may be the truth. But we again emphasize that every customer should carefully read users guide. If you do it you will find an option called “BOOST”. It can be activated as you press and hold the red button with sign “!”. This mode is used to bypass most of the security features and your Genius Boost GB40 will provide much more energy. One more thing, if your engine won’t start after the first attempt, try again but wait for about 20-30 seconds before you do. We did not have to use this mode as we didn’t have any problems with starting our car engine. Also, you must be very careful when using this “BOOST” mode as most safety precautions want to work. However, if you are still suspicious about GB40 and you want to compare it with other mini jump starters we highly recommend other reviews on our website.

The truth is there is much more positive feedback on this mini jump starter. People use it with no problems either as a jump starter or a power bank. Here are some of their impressions

“I’ve only needed it once so far, but it did exactly what it’s supposed to do: it jump started my 1999 Honda Civic on the first try without any issue. Charging was easy. It’s lightweight and small. And I have tremendous peace of mind knowing I have this option for future needs. In a big city it’s so much easier than trying to hassle with a traditional jump.”

“On time delivery, works as advertised, I’ve used it twice and it worked flawlessly, ive had the old big heavy ones and i like this a lot better. appears to be very high quality, i highly recommend”

Conclusion

NOCO Genius Boost GB40 is definitely a lithium jump starter worth having. It is a compact but yet so powerful device. Used as a portable mini jump starter it can solve your problems related to a drained 12V car battery. Also as a multi-function device, it can be used as a power bank. GB40 recharges your smartphone up to four times so it is great to have it when you don’t have the power source nearby.
This advanced technology based on the lithium-ion battery is completely safe to use. No matter if you are professional or not, with this device you will be able to solve most common battery problems.

While there were a few aspects we found less favorable about the NOCO Genius Boost GB40 mini jump starter, such as the design and the user manual, we believe these drawbacks do not outweigh the device’s overall capabilities. We found the device to be durable and it worked as intended. However, it does not come with an AC wall socket charger or any other equipment, which we believe should be included. It is important to use the device as recommended by the manufacturer. Overall, we believe the NOCO Genius Boost GB40 mini jump starter is a valuable addition to any household.