You are probably looking for something like the West Mountain Radio Battery Analyzer combined with a good float charger. I am partial to the Powersonic chargers myself.

the lower the gauge (#@) the fatter the wire, the more juice for jumping. get the fat $50 ones

The longer cables that are low gauge make for reasonable emergency towing. I have seen it done and it seems effective for a those situations where the car is only in a minor problem - needs a bit of help getting out of the ditch or snow bank.

Wow, how is that hitched? Do you tie the cable as if it's rope?

That is what my cousin and I did a bzillion years ago. He used his cables and his VW bug to help a guy out of slight predicament. Worked pretty good.

During Christmas vacation, my sister needed a jump in the middle of the night. No problem, I had my jumper cables in the back of my SUV. The next day, after she drove around throughout the day, she came back to me and said, "Thank you so much for the jump, but can you go out there and close the hood all the way?" Apparently, I had failed to close the hood fully after I had jumped her car.

I asked her, "You can't close the hood?"

No, she couldn't, seriously. Wow.

I suppose it would work if you had nothing better but in the same vane, I think it would be unlikely to be useful for its original purpose after that.

My retired climbing ropes had a second career as auto tow ropes - that is a bit cheaper than using jumper cables. I actually overstressed my rope and broke it on one occasion. It was pretty spectacular. Do stand clear when applying power

"Red to dead" is the single phrase I need to remember how to jump. I don't like the idea of needing to rely on written instructions. By the way, I have to jump a car maybe once every 3 years. I was finding that I had to look up the instructions like a newbie every time. The proper sequence is uncommon, unnatural knowledge. I'm unafraid to admit that anonymously here on the Internet!

"Red to dead" means apply the red clip to the dead battery first. For me, the rest is obvious. I know that I need to close the circuit in sequence. That is, (1) red clip to the dead battery's positive terminal, then (2) red clip to live battery's positive terminal, then (3) black clip to the live battery's negative terminal, and then (4) black clip to dead car's ground.

I know this is an old thread, but I thought of it when I was changing the battery on my Traverse. Turns out the remote posts are due to the fact that the battery isn't in the engine compartment; its under the floor behind the passenger seat.

So much for being due to common sense!