as titled, really could do with one of these, basically want to charge laptop or camera batteries, as im on the move alot for work.

any recommendations, horror stories etc

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/234463/inverters_tested.html

Going the inverter route will waste a lot of power if your just converting it back to DC again. Maplins do a laptop charger with built in usb which might suit you better.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=223912

I had the Ring Can inverter, but it put spikes on it’s output (on 2 different cars) if you ran the engine at the same time. I swapped it for the bigger rectangular Ring inverter (rated slightly higher at 150W I think) and it has a mush smoother output, no spiking on 240 O/P. it doesn’t look as cool and doesn’t fit in you drinks holder, but it works a lot better in my case. Aldi were doing them for about a £10 at one point.

I grabbed a Challenge Extreme one from argos a while back. Was on offer for £24.99 and it has a 700w peak power output. Not the smallest or most practical (didn't come wint a cigarette adapter only battery clips) but has done me for camping charging the laptop and running some lights at night time.

TBH unless you are using it off a battery with little input etc then you don't need to really worry about efficiency etc and all I did with mine to run latops etc in the boot was wire it into the power wires for the amp/sub in the boot. Will be fine like that unless you're drawing big loads from it.

Phil

I grabbed a Challenge Extreme one from argos a while back. Was on offer for £24.99 and it has a 700w peak power output. Not the smallest or most practical (didn't come wint a cigarette adapter only battery clips) but has done me for camping charging the laptop and running some lights at night time.

TBH unless you are using it off a battery with little input etc then you don't need to really worry about efficiency etc and all I did with mine to run latops etc in the boot was wire it into the power wires for the amp/sub in the boot. Will be fine like that unless you're drawing big loads from it.

Phil

Not sure what the max current rating of Skodas is, but if peeps buy an inverter rated at something big like 300W+, I think it would blow the fuse if they plug it into a cigarette or 12V socket and draw the max curent from it. I think my car's 12V sockets are rated at 150W max so I guess that’s why your ‘monster’ only came with croc clips

as titled, really could do with one of these, basically want to charge laptop or camera batteries, as im on the move alot for work.

any recommendations, horror stories etc

Bear in mind,an Inverter takes about 200mA (0.2 amp) to 500mA (0.5 amp) ,when nothing is plugged into it. Make sure you turn the 12 volt supply to it ,or remove cigarette lighter type plug ,overnight ,or long periods of parking. If you dont it will gradually flatten your battery. 12 hours at 0.5 amp load ,takes 6 ampere hours from the battery,over a week thats 42 ampere hours. (average new battery about 60 to 90 ampere hours capacity.