CTEK MXS 5.0

It ranks #1 (A tier) on our consolidated car battery chargers board, drawn from 6 independent outlets.

Anyone who wants one charger that recharges a flat car battery and then maintains it. It leads our car battery chargers board on a reputation for reliable smart charging, consistent positive feedback and a metal housing that resists corrosion, and the research turned up no recorded drawbacks. If you only need to keep a charged battery topped up and want something smaller, the NOCO Genius 1 does that job for less. If you charge large batteries often and want a faster top-up, the NOCO Genius 10 is the higher-output pick in B tier.

Reliability is the reason it sits at the top of our board. Reviewers repeatedly praised its dependable charging, and the durable metal housing resists corrosion in a damp garage. Like any charger the clamps and cables wear first, so keep them clean and dry and the unit itself should serve for many years.

At 5 amps a typical 60 amp hour car battery that is half flat takes roughly seven hours, and a fully flat one can take most of a day. The charger slows down in the final absorption stage, so the last part of the charge takes longest. Once the battery is full it drops into maintenance mode and can stay connected.

Yes. It is a smart charger with a maintenance stage, so once the battery is full it holds the charge with a very low current rather than overcharging. This is the normal way to store a car, motorcycle or boat over winter. Keep the unit off the floor and away from water, and connect the black clamp to bare metal on the chassis rather than the negative terminal.

It is a 12 volt charger for lead-acid batteries, which covers the standard flooded, AGM and gel batteries in cars, motorcycles, boats and caravans. At 5 amps it suits batteries from small motorcycle sizes up to the larger batteries in SUVs, though a very large battery charges slowly. It is not a lithium charger, so check the battery type before connecting it to a lithium starter battery.