Tool Review: Schumacher Rugged 10A Charger & Maintainer

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Q: How did the tool function as far as saving you time?

A: The battery charger is very quick and easy to use. You simply hook up the clamps to the battery, plug it in, and select the voltage and type of battery. It automatically fully charges and then maintains the charge in the battery.

Q: What kind of setup was involved before using the product?

A: There was very little setup involved after removing it from the shipping box. All I had to do was plug the sealed quick connector together that attaches the clamps to the cable coming out of the charger.

Q: How easy was it to use?

A: It’s actually very easy to use. There is one mode button that is used to control everything. You use it to select the voltage and type of battery. It is pretty much self-explanatory. There is also a service mode and a repair mode that can be selected. Once you make your selection, the charger works without further attention or monitoring. 

Q: How was its packaging? Did it come with any accessories?

A: The packaging is actually pretty decent. It comes in a very sturdy cardboard box, with everything neatly packaged inside. There is also a package of screws included if you want to permanently mount it somewhere.

Q: Was there a manual included?

A: There is a manual included. It has a quick start guide as well as more detailed instructions for override mode, repair mode, and service mode. It lists all of the specifications and has all of the required safety warnings. It also has a QR code with a link to a user video and manual.

Q: What features did you like?

A: The unit is very small and compact. I have had a couple of other battery chargers, but they are much bigger. There is a built-in hook for hanging it under a hood or wherever. It is set up to be permanently mounted, but I’m not sure why you would do that. The case of the charger seems to be a very solid metal enclosure. The clamps do open up pretty wide to fasten onto some of the larger battery terminals. It will charge 6V or 12V standard, AGM, lithium, gel, and deep cycle batteries. It does have an override mode to get charging started on a deeply discharged battery. It has a repair mode to recover stratified and sulfated batteries. It also has a service mode to maintain a steady voltage while you are servicing the vehicle.  This is especially helpful when doing module programming.

Q: What types of jobs/repairs did you use this tool for?

A: I have used the charger to do normal battery charging on regular and glass mat 12V batteries, and also on 6V batteries. I also used the repair mode on a severely depleted 12V battery. It didn’t bring it back to new capacity, but it definitely made a difference in the cranking capacity.

Q: Have you used a previous version of this tool?

A: I have used a couple of different battery chargers in the past. Both worked just fine, but were much bigger to store between jobs.

Q: Is there any way you could think to improve or add to this tool?

A: The tool itself seems to be pretty well thought out. If the mode indicator lights had words instead of symbols, it would be helpful, especially if you hadn’t used the charger for a while and didn’t remember what the symbols meant. The short adaptor cable ends in eyelets, and is detachable from the clamps. I’m assuming this could be more permanently attached to a battery for maintaining in storage. It would be nice if there was also a separate cable like this included so that you could leave it attached to a vehicle, but also still use the battery charger for other uses with the clamps.

Q: Is there anything you had questions or concerns about in regard to the tool?

A: Only the use of symbols instead of words on the indicators, but I’m assuming that if you used the charger quite often, you would get used to that. 

Q: On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this tool overall? Why?

A: Probably a solid nine. The tool seems to be pretty well built. The case is very solid. It’s very quiet in operation. It works on most of the batteries that we are likely to encounter. It’s compact, so it doesn’t require a lot of room to store. It’s also safe to leave attached to batteries for extended periods of time. Overall, a pretty solid battery charger that could easily be stored in a toolbox drawer.