5 Best Pure Sine Wave Inverters 2018 – Reviews and Buying Guide

If you’re looking for a power inverter for all-around use, whether it’s on a work site, around your home, or for a boat or vehicle, this is one of the best inverters on the market.

First, the wattage is perfect for most needs. Most users could not use up all of the 2,000 watts even when running air conditioning units, refrigerators, and charging phones off the USB all at the same time. Even better, the 3,000-watt surge capacity allows you to run just about any standard household appliances that you would want to bring, for example, onto a boat or RV – such as an air conditioning unit or freezer. The continuous and surge wattages are also sufficient to run most power tools, making this ideal for a construction or other work site.

Efficiency and safety

This inverter is also watching out for you, your battery, and your investment in the inverter. It comes with a low-voltage alarm and will automatically shut down if the battery runs under 10.5 volts or if the voltage running through the inverter exceeds 15.5 volts. It will also shut down if it is overloaded or runs over temperature, although users found that the fan is extremely effective at cooling the unit. The LCD screen also makes it easy to decipher what the problem is when something goes wrong.

What sets this unit apart from its competitors is the attention to safety details. Unlike many power inverters, this inverter features GFCI AC plugs similar to what is found in most households. These plugs make it significantly safer to connect devices to the inverter when it is hooked up to a live battery. In addition, Xantrex did their best to make hooking the battery up to the inverter safer by including heavy-duty, extra wide terminals. Lastly, the inverter is compatible with an optional remote that allows it to be operated remotely and locked down so that it will not turn on if the boat or RV ignition is off.

If you have several different power needs and want multiple inverters for different purposes, the lineup of inverters from Samlex has you covered. This lineup runs the gamut from 300 watts to 2000 watts of continuous power, an even broader range than what is available from Xantrex. The 300-watt inverter is a nice option for those who simply need to power small tools or LED lights, and don’t want to invest in a heavy duty inverter.

In terms of performance, these inverters are largely comparable to the competitors from Xantrex with a few key differences. First, and most important, if you need surge power, these inverters provide it. The 2000-watt version provides up to 3500 watts of surge, and that 500-watt increase from the Xantrax inverter can be the difference between getting your appliances started or not. However, you pay for that extra power – this inverter is significantly more expensive than its competitors. Another difference of these inverters is that they offer a slightly wider operating range, with an overload capacity of 16.5 volts.

This inverter is designed to be very safe to use, with built-in GFCI AC plugs on the front and specially-designed pin connector battery terminals on the rear. However, the battery terminal design makes this inverter somewhat more difficult to use, since the connection will not accept a standard jump cable. And while the front panel has lights to indicate when the inverter is overload or overheating, the lack of sound alarms to give more information about other potential load issues can make troubleshooting this inverter more difficult.

If you need a power inverter that can handle the surge power needed to start up your most power-hungry tools, this unit from AIMS can deliver. The whopping 4500-watt surge power delivery is among the highest surge power ratings of power inverters in this price and size class. And just as important, it can hold that surge for up to 20 seconds – so even slow-to-start tools and appliances will get the power they need to run. Best of all, this inverter is just one of a series made by AIMS. If you need even more power, surge or continuous, there are units with increased power in increments all the way up to 6000-watt continuous power and 18,000-watt surge power.

A welcome feature of this inverter is that in addition to drawing power from the battery, it can also be used to send power back to the battery. The inverter comes with an AC power cord that can be plugged into any grid-fed electrical outlet. So after draining your battery to power appliances on an RV trip, for example, it’s easy to recharge the battery when you get home without disconnecting the inverter. This makes it perfect for when your battery is stored in a hard-to-reach place.

The inverter itself is easy to use with large, standard battery terminals, and it’s designed to withstand the salt spray that comes with marine applications. However, it does lack USB inputs and troubleshooting displays that some users prefer.

If you need a sine wave inverter to run power tools, motorized pumps, or similarly powered appliances and don’t want to spend a fortune, this inverter from Sunforce gets the job done at a moderate price. However, it does have some setbacks.

The inverter is rated for 1000 watts with 2000 watts of surge power, on par with the offerings from Xantrex. Where the economical price of this inverter begins to show is when the inverter is hooked up to a battery with no or little power being drawn from the AC outlets. In this case, the inverter still draws power from the battery as if it was running a 1000-watt appliance – which means that when you do go to use the battery, it has a fraction of the life that you expected. This inefficiency makes this inverter best for running tools and appliances that draw close to 1000 watts, but a poor choice for powering low-power devices like a radio or light. In addition, the inverter automatically powers off at 10.5 volts, which is roughly standard, but turns back on as soon as the battery gets above this threshold – making it more likely to be exhausted again.

The LCD display here is a nice touch. However, users found that it was difficult to use because it is not possible to select what is being shown – and the default is output voltage, which always remains steady at 120 volts. We also would have liked to see a USB port for charging small devices, although, given the inefficiency of the power draw from the battery, this would likely be counterproductive.

For people who need both a battery and a power inverter for an assortment of small devices, it doesn’t get much better than this portable inverter from EasyFocus. At only 500 watts of continuous power and 1000 watts of surge power, this isn’t an inverter that’s going to power appliances and large power tools. But it can power tons of small electronics, including laptops and televisions, without having to hook up an external battery. All of which makes it perfect for camping or extended trips away from wall outlets.

With that use in mind, EasyFocus added several features that set this inverter apart. Most important, the battery is inside the unit! The battery is 288 Wh, meaning that it would power a 60-watt device for about 4.5 hours (288 divided by 60). And the LCD screen makes it easy to tell how much battery life is left, so you’ll never run out by surprise. The unit is portable at only seven pounds, and the integrated handle makes it easy to move around. Plus, thanks to the integrated flashlight feature, you’ll want to. The other great feature of this unit that makes it perfect for travel is that it can be charged directly by solar panels, without the use of an additional battery bank and inverter, or from a car battery.

Another appreciated aspect of this battery and inverter is that it provides a huge array of outlets. 4 DC outlets, 4 USB outlets, and 3 AC outlets – you’ll have a hard time finding enough devices to plug in to fill all of the outlets.