Ring Ultraboost 1000
RING
First Aid For A Dead Car Battery, No Breakdown Call Required
A flat battery never picks a convenient moment. It's the supermarket car park at closing time, the school run when you're already late, or a driveway on a cold morning when the engine turns over once, groans, and goes silent. The Ring 8000mAh Ultraboost Jumpstarter & Powerbank exists specifically for that moment — a pocketable battery pack with enough punch to crank a stalled engine back to life without a set of jump leads, a second car, or a wait for roadside assistance. It's also quietly useful the rest of the time, doubling as a fast-charging power bank and a torch. The question worth answering before you buy one is whether it has the muscle and the safety features to actually deliver when your battery is completely dead, and how it holds up against the small crowd of similar devices competing for the same glovebox space.
Built For The Glovebox, Not The Garage
Pick this up and the first thing you notice is how little of it there is. At just over 900 grams and roughly the size of a paperback book, it's designed to live somewhere you'll actually keep it — a door pocket, a glovebox, the cubby under a boot floor — rather than taking up space in a toolbox you only open twice a year. That matters more than it sounds, because the jump starters that never get used are the ones buried in a garage at home while the car that needs them is stuck twenty miles away.
The clamps use what Ring calls a "Lock 'n' Load" connection, which is really just a secure, positive click-in fitting between the crocodile clips and the main unit rather than a permanently wired connection that can fray or work loose over time. The cables themselves are genuinely long enough to matter: the positive lead runs close to 36cm and the negative just over 27cm, which is enough slack to reach batteries mounted in awkward spots — under a wheel arch, at the back of a tight engine bay, or on the passenger side of a car you're not used to popping the bonnet on. Several owners specifically mention this reach as one of the things that separates a jump starter from a novelty gadget: cheap jump packs with short, stiff cables can make even a straightforward battery infuriating to reach, and that's exactly the situation this device is trying to solve.
On the front of the unit sits a proper digital display rather than a row of ambiguous dots, showing the remaining charge as a clear percentage, alongside a set of LED indicators that report what's happening the moment you clip on. A dedicated LED torch is also built into the body — not a marketing afterthought, but a genuinely practical addition for anyone trying to work out which terminal is which in a dark car park.
Starting Power: What The Numbers Actually Mean For Your Car
The core spec that determines whether this device can start your particular car is its peak output, rated at 1000 amps of cranking current, with roughly a quarter of that as a sustained continuous output. In plain terms, that peak figure is the short, powerful burst the unit throws at your starter motor for a second or two to overcome the initial resistance of turning a cold, stationary engine — the hardest moment in any start attempt. Once the engine catches, the demand drops off sharply, which is why a relatively compact battery pack can still deliver serious cranking force despite weighing under a kilogram.
Ring rates this specific model for petrol engines up to 5.0 litres and diesel engines up to 2.0 litres, which covers the overwhelming majority of UK-registered cars, including most family hatchbacks, saloons, and mid-size SUVs. Diesel engines are the more demanding case here, because compression-ignition engines typically need more sustained cranking torque than an equivalent petrol unit, which is why the diesel ceiling sits noticeably lower than the petrol one. If you're driving something at or beyond that diesel limit — a larger van, a pickup, or certain 4x4s — it's worth checking your logbook before assuming this unit has the headroom, since Ring's own guidance on borderline cases (a 2.2-litre diesel panel van, for example) is that success starts depending on the state of the vehicle's battery and the ambient temperature rather than being a guaranteed yes.
The genuinely clever part of the performance story is the dedicated boost function. Most basic jump starters need to detect a small amount of residual voltage in your car battery before they'll engage — which is no help at all if your battery is so far gone that nothing registers. The boost button overrides that check and pushes power through regardless, which is precisely the scenario multiple owners describe in their real-world reports: cars that hadn't been started in months, batteries so flat that not even a dashboard light would illuminate, brought back to life on the first attempt where a set of traditional jump leads connected to a second car had already failed.
The Safety Systems And Small Features That Do The Heavy Lifting
A jump starter is only as good as its ability to stop an inexperienced or flustered user from making a costly mistake, and this is where the "Ringtelligence" safety layer earns its keep. Connect the clamps the wrong way round, and the unit refuses to send power, flashing a red warning light with an audible alarm rather than letting a reversed connection fry your car's electronics. Spark-free clamp design and anti-spike protection reduce the risk of arcing when you first make contact with the terminals — a genuine hazard given that a discharging battery can vent small amounts of flammable hydrogen gas, particularly on an older or damaged unit.
The status lighting is worth understanding before you're standing in a car park needing it.
- A steady green light means the connection is good and it's safe to start cranking.
- A flashing green light indicates the car battery's voltage has dropped below roughly 9 volts, at which point you're meant to reach for the boost override.
- No light at all signals the battery has fallen below around 1 volt — effectively dead — which again calls for the boost function rather than a standard start attempt.
Understanding this traffic-light logic in advance turns what could be a confusing moment into a simple three-step decision.
The USB-C port pulls double duty as both the input for recharging the unit itself and a 30-watt fast-charging output for phones, tablets, and similarly USB-C-compatible devices — a meaningfully quick charge, comparable to the fast chargers now bundled with many modern smartphones, rather than the trickle-charge speeds older power banks were known for. A secondary USB-A port handles the same power bank duty for devices that haven't moved to USB-C. In practice this means that even on a day when nothing needs jump-starting, the unit is still doing useful work as a backup charger for a phone that's died at an inconvenient moment — sitting in traffic, waiting for a delayed train, or on a day trip away from a plug socket.
Charging Time, Battery Capacity, And Living With It Day To Day
The internal cell is an 8000mAh lithium-ion pack, built from four individual cells rather than a single large battery — a construction choice that tends to help with both safety (isolating a fault to one cell rather than the whole pack) and consistent power delivery under the sudden heavy load of a cold start. From flat, Ring states the unit recharges fully in around two hours via its USB-C input, which is fast enough that plugging it in overnight is overkill and a lunch break at a desk is genuinely sufficient.
What that capacity translates to in the real world is more than a single rescue. Owner reports describe using the unit to jump a car more than once without needing to recharge in between, while still having enough left over to top up a phone — a useful sign that the 8000mAh figure isn't just a headline number but represents genuine reserve capacity rather than a single-use burst. That matters because the scenario this device is built for is rarely a single clean event: you might jump your own car, then discover a family member two streets away in the same predicament, and having a second start left in the tank is the difference between being genuinely useful and needing to find a plug socket first.
Two practical points are worth flagging clearly.
- First, the unit ships partially charged and needs a full charge before its first use — skip this step and you may find it underperforms on the one occasion you actually need it.
- Second, the pack is rated to operate across a wide temperature range, from -20°C to +55°C, so a cold snap parked outside overnight shouldn't stop it working, though Ring's own guidance recommends charging it indoors within a more moderate temperature band rather than in a freezing car, which is a sensible habit regardless of which jump starter you own.
Who Should Buy This — And Who Should Look Elsewhere
Ideal For
This is the right device for the driver who wants genuine peace of mind without carrying a bulky, professional-grade unit around. If you drive a standard petrol or diesel hatchback, saloon, or mid-size SUV, commute regularly, park outside in winter, or simply have an older battery that's starting to show its age, this sits neatly in a door pocket as a low-effort insurance policy. It also suits anyone who's been stung before by a car that's sat unused for a few weeks — over a holiday, in storage, or simply an infrequently driven second car — since the boost function is specifically built for batteries that have drained past the point where a basic jump starter would even attempt a connection.
Look Elsewhere If
It's less suited to owners of larger diesel vans, pickups, or engines that sit right at or beyond the 2.0-litre diesel ceiling, where Ring's own advice is that success isn't guaranteed and depends heavily on the state of the existing battery and the weather. Anyone regularly dealing with bigger engines, or who wants a larger safety margin rather than operating near the top of the spec sheet, is better served by stepping up to Ring's own larger sibling in the same range, built around a bigger battery and a higher peak output specifically to cover 6.0-litre petrol and 3.0-litre diesel engines. It's also not the right tool for a fleet manager or workshop needing to jump-start vehicle after vehicle in a single day — that's a job for a mains-powered workshop charger, not a battery pack designed to be recharged from a USB socket.
How It Stacks Up Against The Alternatives
The compact jump starter market has become crowded, and two comparisons are particularly useful: Ring's own step-up model for buyers who might need more headroom, and NOCO's Boost Plus GB40, one of the best-known rivals in the same price bracket.
| Ring 8000mAh Ultraboost | Ring Ultraboost 1500 (larger sibling) | NOCO Boost Plus GB40 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peak starting current | 1000A | 1500A | 1000A |
| Engine coverage | Up to 5.0L petrol / 2.0L diesel | Up to 6.0L petrol / 3.0L diesel | Around 6.0L petrol / 3.0L diesel (varies by retailer listing) |
| Weight | Approx. 0.9kg | Approx. 1.0kg | Broadly similar, compact hand-held size |
| Fast charging | USB-C, 30W | USB-C, 60W | USB-A output; no USB-C PD fast charge on the standard model |
| Typical UK price bracket | Sits at the more affordable end of this category | A modest step up in price for the extra headroom | Usually priced somewhat above the Ring 8000mAh model |
| Best suited to | Everyday petrol and diesel cars | Larger engines, vans, and buyers wanting extra margin | Buyers prioritising a well-known international brand and widely praised clamp design |
The practical takeaway is straightforward. Against its own bigger sibling, the 8000mAh model is the right choice for the vast majority of everyday cars, and stepping up only makes sense if your engine sits close to or beyond its diesel ceiling. Against the NOCO GB40 — a genuinely well-regarded rival, particularly praised by independent testers for the quality and grip of its clamps — the Ring model tends to undercut it on price while matching it on peak output and adding USB-C fast charging as standard, a feature not universally included on the NOCO's base model. NOCO's own engine coverage claims vary between retailer listings, so it's worth double-checking against your specific engine size rather than assuming either brand has a clear numerical edge.
Where It Excels And Where It Falls Short
Strengths
The strongest case for this jump starter is how little friction stands between pulling it out of the glovebox and having a running engine. The boost override genuinely solves the specific failure mode that makes basic jump starters useless — a battery so dead it won't even register a connection — and multiple real-world accounts back this up, including engines left standing for months starting first time. The build quality of the clamps and the length of the cables also stand out as details that separate a jump starter you'll actually reach for from one that gets abandoned in frustration after a single awkward attempt.
Weaknesses
The honest weak points are narrower but worth knowing. The 2.0-litre diesel ceiling is a real limit, not a conservative underestimate, and owners of larger diesel vehicles shouldn't assume it'll perform reliably beyond that figure — Ring's own guidance is candid about this uncertainty rather than overselling capability it can't guarantee. One recurring piece of feedback from owners is that the instructions aren't always crystal clear on operating nuances — specifically, that leaving the clamps connected to a dead battery for an extended period doesn't do anything useful and simply drains the jump starter's own charge for no benefit. That's a minor point about clarity of guidance rather than a design flaw, but it's worth knowing before you use it for the first time under pressure. There's also the unavoidable reality of any battery-powered safety device: it needs to be charged and ready before the emergency happens, and a jump starter left flat in a glovebox for a year is no better than not owning one at all.
The Verdict
For the vast majority of UK drivers running a standard petrol or diesel car, this is a sensibly specified, genuinely portable jump starter that does the one job that matters — starting a completely dead battery — reliably and safely, backed up by real safety protections rather than bare-bones crocodile clips. The combination of a proper boost function, sensible cable length, useful USB-C fast charging, and a compact footprint that actually gets used rather than left at home makes it easy to recommend as a permanent glovebox fixture for anyone who's ever been caught out by a flat battery, or who simply wants to stop relying on the goodwill of strangers with jump leads. The one group that should look elsewhere are owners of larger diesel engines pushing past the 2.0-litre mark, who'll get a more confident margin of safety from stepping up to a higher-output model in the same range. For everyone else, this is a small, sensible purchase that earns its space the very first time it's needed.
What People Say
52 commentsCompact and powerful back up battery
This is a very compact back up power supply. It comes in a handy case/bag that holders the unit plus cables and keeps them nearly stored. The unit can be used as a power supply for charging anything that connects via a usb cable, such as some laptops, phones, camera batteries etc. It is rated at a million maH so can potentially be used quite a bit before the unit needs to be recharged. The unit is charged via a usb cable. For starting a car, there is a plug in section with the crocodile clips. This concentrates the power needed for starting a car. As this is a fast discharge of energy, the instructions say to only turn the car over for a maximum of three seconds at a time. Personable more than this and there is a danger of overheating the battery. In addition to powering other devices the unit has a built in light. This is not terribly bright but good enough to help find your way round under the bonnet in darkness. All in all this is a very handy unit to have in your car to use for charging devices or restarting your car if it has a flat battery.
Amazing product
I brought this in a pinch of time, and I’m really happy that I did. My car battery died and I had no clue how I was going to get home , I spent ages looking for someone with jumper cables and wasn’t able to find anyone. I came across this product on Argos after seeing a similar product on Halfords And I don’t regret buying it one bit. It’s Small and portable and I haven’t needed to charge it since I’ve bought it (which was about 2 1/2 months ago) And I can use it to charge my devices as well as my battery for my car. The instructions were very clear To understand, as I have never had to jumpstart my car before. Highly recommend.
High power in a small package
My wifes car has a alternator issue and her battery goes flat intermittently so this is a life saver to get her started and back on the go. Super easy to use just charge it up and you can see how much battery it has by the charge indicator lights on the front. You can also use it as a battery pack to charge your phone or anything else that uses a usb c or usb a connection both are supplied. To use it as a jump pack just attach the additional piece with jumper cables attached press the boost button and start the ignition and bingo your back in business. Comes with a nice little storage bag too. Definitely recommend
In case of emergency
A neat, compact, well made unit collected from the local ARGOS branch within 24 hours of placing the order. I purchased the power bank after coming home from holiday and finding the car had a totally flat battery and then having to wait nearly 90 minutes for help to arrive! (thankfully it was a warm sunny afternoon - but should it happen again I may not be so lucky).
There has been no need to use it, hopefully there never will be, but at least I now have peace of mind that I can quickly overcome a flat battery, and that includes when at home.
Compact and portable emergency battery starter
The overall impression for this portable battery starter is great. It feels properly build and sturdy. It's very compact and won’t take much space to keep it in the boot when needed. I haven’t needed to use it yet but I definitely feel relieved to have this in my boot. I have expired my battery go flat and had to rely on strangers to help me get moving again. I am also very keen to it camping due to the power bank function. I would recommend this product due to the versatility and peace of mind.
Excellent Jump Starter
Focus on key benefits
My car battery was constantly dying, but this jump starter was the perfect solution. It worked flawlessly the first time, straight out of the box, and it didn't even need to be charged beforehand. I've used it multiple times since, and it still holds a charge wonderfully—only one bar has gone down! The included pouch is a great bonus, as it keeps all the cables neatly organized and easy to store in my car. This is an excellent and highly recommended product.
Fantastic battery starter
An essential piece of kit to have in the car, this is so nicely packed in its own little bag and a good size which does not take up any space at all, charge up at home with the leads provided and leave in your glove compartment for those emergency situations. Really easy and simple to use and comes in so useful if you leave your car for long periods, for example when going on holiday. The quality is excellent,being Ring you can expect that. Well worth it for that peace of mind.
Lightweight & multi-purpose powerful jump starter
I must say this jump starter surprised me with its lightness and multi-purpose functionality. Not only can this model jump start a car up to 5l petrol/2l Diesel but it can charge your phone or tablet with its usb & usb c connections (leads included) and has a built in torch/emergency light. It is very portable to keep in your glovebox and well packaged in its own pouch. Very handy to have for me recently as my car broke down twice and needed this to charge my phone.
Works like magic
Don't be caught out used this twice before we got a new battery BUT it's always now in the boot, keep it charged up just in case especially with winter coming.
Clip on the leads press boast and your off even with a flat battery this will start it up, charges via a good USB output. It even has an output USB for charging phones and other USB items. Well worth the purchase , if you have to have a garage to help just think of the cost !
Starts a 1.6 diesel no problem
My wife's car had been playing up recently and failed to start on a couple of occasions. A new battery didn't fix the fault so I bought one if these jumpstarter power banks whilst we get the fault diagnosed. I am very impressed that such a compact device can start a 1.6 diesel with no effort at all. I have had to use it 3 times over the last week or so and there's still plenty of charge left on the bar graph display.
Power / emergency back up
A small stylish and easy to use battery back up/booster with handy torch and powerbank facility. It comes in a stylish and functional carry case, the instruction manual isn’t very clear and ideally you do have to charge it before use, so that you have enough oomph. Whilst it would be very handy for cars with older batteries it can and will be handy in an emergency (torch and usb powerbank.
Everyone should get one.
I bought this in case I need to jump start the car. I haven't had to do this so can't comment on if it is any good . For peace of mind it might work should my car battery conk out. I think these things should be mandatory as it is quite simple to restart a car with a flat battery without hanging about for hours waiting for the AA to turn up.
Great piece of kit
First time in using this and it helped my friend out he had a flat battery, so impressed with this little piece of kit, he even asked where I bought it, also great because it also acts as a power bank to charge numerous devices and also has a light, overall compact, great to have in your car you never know when you’ll need it
Impressed
Quite impressed that something this neat and compact can start a diesel engine. Only tested it once but it started our 2 litre Ford diesel engine no problem when it's battery failed. The attached leads were quite short, so had to clamp the negative to the closest point on the vehicle body but it worked straight away.
Multi functional
I need my car for work. I have to park my car far up the road during snow and ice condition. Bought this product so if needed I can start the car anytime without mains electricity around.
Carrying it in the car and having it as a backup powerbank, very useful and giving me peace of mind when on an emergency call.
Worked when I needed it
I bought this jump starter battery when my ford car started having issues with the electronics. The car would not turn over at all but this battery started it in 1 turn. Its amazing that so much power is available from a small battery. It also works as a long lasting battery bank for other chargeable devices I have.
Brilliant!
Purchased this to keep in car as previously had a flat battery and zero battery on my mobile!
Not needed to use it myself yet but was able to lend it to another driver who could not start his vehicle. Started first time. Would recommend and purchased a second power bank for hubby's car just in case for winter.
Average performance
Bought this as had a flat car battery and worked the first time it was used.
However, the next time I had a flat battery it wouldn’t work, even after charging it up again it wouldn’t work and had to purchase a different plug in battery charger. Not convinced it was good value for money.
Did the trick
Brought this in the hopes I could use it to jump start my 1.4L car after accidently leaving the interior light on all night. Worked first time with no problem, the pack comes partially charged so I just took it out the box, hooked it up to the battery and started the engine.
Great little pump !
This little pump is brilliant !
Car tyres, bike tyres, footballs, whatever you nee o inflate this is the one!
It’s quick too and charging is easy through a usb cable.
It will inflate four car tyres from flat on full charge , its small enough to keep in the car too.