Black & Decker® PS400JRB Electromate® 400 Plus

This is a great looking “guy toy”! I was hoping to get a lot of use from it and really looked forward to testing it. Well, I’ve had it now for about two weeks and I really WISH this device would perform all the functions that the script writers at Black & Decker claim for it.

Let’s start with the radio so that I can give you some helpful tips. The radio has on/off again static and the volume seems to have a mind of its own. To temporarily eliminate the radio static, just give the unit a “whack” at various locations until you find the sweet spot. The static will then generally stop until you move the unit or turn it off.

The volume adjustment knob on the radio has no tactile feel whatsoever and just spins in either direction with the volume increasing/decreasing at some point. Just like the static, a few whacks on the radio itself will easily adjust the volume for your listening pleasure.

The USB port does work (eventually) but the fit of any USB cable into the port is very sloppy. Here’s a tip…If you find the USB port is not working well, simply get some duct-tape and try various “tape-ups” until you see that it’s working. Of course, you’ll have to remember the exact configuration or start over again next time you need to use the USB port. If you have a camera, you can just take a picture of how it looked when you finally got it to work and then just duplicate the tape-up each time.

The “area light” works great if all you’re trying to do is illuminate the inside of an M&M bag to see if just possibly, there could be even a partial piece of an M&M remaining. Otherwise, get a real flashlight or even a candle.

Hey, how about those 120volt and DC plug-ins? Yeah, right. As you salivate, just dying to plug-in something, anything (hey, we’re guys, we like to plug-in stuff) and show your buddies that you are truly the master of this device….. good luck! Even though the unit was fully charged, it would shut down with every low wattage device I plugged into it.

Am I starting to get just a little frustrated with this Black & Decker® PS400JRB Electromate® 400 Plus? Gosh Cletus…yuh think????? I called the 800 support number provided by Black & Decker and was transferred to a recording that said the number was no longer in use.

There was a time when the name Black & Decker stood for quality. But it appears that was a long, long time ago.

Rating: 1 / 5

We originally bought this for “emergency’s” However, we find ourselves using it all the time. We frequently use it as our outdoor radio. While the radio is adequate and simple to operate, don’t expect a high quality “boom box”. I wish that it also had the emergency weather radio built in though.

It’s a little bit heavy to lug around, but considering that it’s basically just a big ol’ battery, it’s not too bad. It’s reasonable

The charge on the system seems to last for a very long time, although I have never measured the actual charge life in hours. Even when the unit was not fully charged, it jump started a bull dozer instantly!. Everyone was impressed. We have also used it to jump start a car. It was super simple to figure out how to jump start the vehicles. (In my opion, it was easier than car to car jumping). Plus, everything that you need comes in the box. However, the jumper cables would be better if they were a bit longer

The item earns 5 stars because it does everything that the manuf said that it would do.

This is a great all around item to have. Makes a pretty cool gift too

Rating: 5 / 5

The Black & Decker PS400JRB is a good fit for those that need a little juice in the great outdoors or anywhere away from available AC power. My wife and I compete with our dogs on weekends, and most of the showsites are without electricity. The Electromate has 12v outlets for small appliances like RV fans when it’s hot, and portable DVD players for the downtime between runs. There are also 120V inverter outlets for light equipment such as fans that need 120v and laptops or portable TV’s. A few clubs in the area use one to power electronic timers and P.A. horns for the trial all day. It has a built in radio, and works great with the iPod car transmitter plugged into the 12v outlet and plays music at our set-up all day.

The only negative I have is the recharge time. It seems to be real-time. If the unit takes 8 hours to run down, it needs 8 hours to charge back to full capacity.
Rating: 4 / 5