GoKawiilOther Portable Power Stations We Tested
Photograph: Simon Hill
Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 2000 Plus for $1,999: The versatile, expandable, durable, and dependable Explorer 2000 Plus was my top pick for a while, and it’s still a good choice if you find it on sale, though the Bluetti Elite 300 that unseated it packs more power into a smaller form. It does still offer some advantages, chiefly that you can double or triple the 2,042-watt-hour capacity by adding battery packs. In my tests, the capacity consistently matched up with Jackery’s claims. It had no trouble with the kettle test (UK kettles hit 3,000 watts), though it chewed through 6 percent of the power. You can charge it speedily from the mains (AC outlet), but it also works as a solar generator. I filled it from 32 percent in a single scorching day with Jackery’s SolarSaga 200-watt solar panel. The fan is relatively quiet at around 30 decibels, but it comes on frequently. It weighs a whopping 62 pounds, and though there are indented handles on either side, a telescopic handle, and two wheels, it can still be tough to move around. The covers on the car port, inputs, and expansion port on the back are annoyingly tight. (I sometimes had to use a screwdriver to open them.) The Wi-Fi connection is 2.4 GHz only, and it took me a while to figure out that the connection mode requires you to press the AC and DC buttons together, since that doesn’t seem to be documented anywhere. Minor niggles aside, this is a great power station to serve as a home backup or off-grid generator. The warranty is three years, but you can extend it to five years by registering with Jackery.
Photograph: Simon Hill
Bluetti Elite 200 V2 for $999: While the Elite 300 is my new recommendation, if a 2,074-watt-hour capacity is enough for you, this power station has similarly strong build quality and mostly the same features (wattage is 2,600 and 3,900 at peak, and UPS has a 15-millisecond delay). It’s relatively fast to charge, can easily power your gadgets and small appliances, and has an info-packed display that’s legible outdoors.
BioLite BaseCharge 1500 for $1,360: Weighing 29 pounds, it has recessed handles at each side for carrying, though this is as big a power station as I can imagine lugging any real distance. There’s no superfluous app. You can do everything using the buttons and the display on the front. It has a good mix of ports to cover a lot of small gadgets like phones, tablets, and laptops. There’s even a wireless charging pad on top. I wouldn’t run anything too demanding on it, but it coped fine with an electric drill and blender. I tested it with BioLite’s SolarPanel 100, but the BaseCharge 1500 has a standard High Power Port (HPP) input, so you don’t have to use BioLite’s solar panels. It finished just on either side of the stated capacity in my tests. Sadly, the BaseCharge 1500 takes a long time to charge. Even from a wall outlet, you need a day, though you can speed it slightly by using the PD USB-C as a second input. Solar charging from a single SolarPanel 100 takes several days. The battery is also a Li-NMC, so it likely won't last as long as some of our other picks. The BaseCharge 1500 comes with a two-year warranty.
Ampace Andes 600 Pro for $449: This compact power station weighs 19 pounds and has an easy-carry handle on top. It stores 584 watt-hours of power and can be fully charged in an hour (30 dB sleep mode). It can deliver 600 watts (1,800 W surge), and has lots of ports (2 x AC, 2 x USB-C, 2 x USB-A, 2 x DC 5521, 1 x Car). There’s also a remote control app where you can change the light bar function or the colored light on top. It worked well in my tests and could be handy if you want something portable for small gadgets on a camping trip, but the EcoFlow River 2 Pro above gives you more power for less.
Photograph: Simon Hill
EcoFlow Delta 3 Plus for $699: I like the stylish, compact design of EcoFlow’s Delta 3 Plus, with the screen and ports at one end. It offers 1,024 watt-hours, can consistently provide 1,800 watts, and has a 2,600-W surge mode. It can also charge up in an hour and has lots of ports (6 x AC, 1 x Car, 2 x USB-A, 2 x USB-C, 2 x DC5521). You can add capacity with EcoFlow’s impressively compact and stackable add-on battery ($599), though it is pricey. The Plus version includes two solar ports for faster solar charging and can pull UPS duty with an impressive 10-millisecond response time. The reason it misses out on a full recommendation is the fan. The fan turned on all the time, even when I was only charging a single phone, and continued at around 55 decibels after it was fully charged and unplugged. It got louder when I charged the Delta 3 Plus from a wall outlet. It could disturb you, and it gave me concerns about overheating. Fan noise aside, I liked this power station, and the app also works well if you want to remote-control it. There is a quiet charging mode, but it drops the rate to 200 watts, meaning it will take more than five hours to fully charge.
Photograph: Simon Hill
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