Best portable power stations

How to choose a portable power station

Start with two numbers, watt-hours and AC watts. Across 81 stations, capacity runs from 128 Wh to 12,288 Wh and continuous AC output from 200 W to 12,000 W, with a median of 1,800 W. Watt-hours say how long a load runs, and AC watts say which loads the inverter can carry at once. A station with plenty of one and little of the other will either shut off early or refuse to start a heavy appliance. After those two, check surge, solar input, battery type, weight and charging speed.

Surge, solar input and battery type

Surge covers the brief jump some motors need at startup. The EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus lists 1,800 W continuous with 3,600 W of surge, while the Anker SOLIX S5000 lists 4,500 W with 8,000 W. Makers sometimes use the word peak for the same idea. Solar input ranges from 100 W on the BLUETTI Elite 30 mini to 3,000 W on the S5000, and a higher number refills faster when you own enough panels. Of the 81 stations, 71 use LFP chemistry, and rated cycles run from 4,000 on the DELTA 3 Plus to 6,000 on the BLUETTI Apex 300.

Weight and charging speed

Weight spans 3.97 lb to 135.6 lb, with a median of 32 lb, so capacity and carrying comfort pull against each other. The Jackery Explorer 600 v2 stores 640 Wh in 14.11 lb, or 45.4 Wh per pound, and the S5000 reaches 51.8 Wh per pound at 97 lb. Wall charging varies just as widely. The BLUETTI Elite 100 V2 lists 1.17 hours for a full charge, the Explorer 600 v2 lists 1.66 hours, and the S5000 accepts up to 4,500 W from an outlet.

What each size runs

At 288 Wh and 300 W, the BLUETTI Elite 30 mini covers phone chargers, a laptop and small lights. The 640 Wh Explorer 600 v2 adds a 500 W AC outlet. At 1,024 Wh and 1,800 W, the DELTA 3 Plus runs one high-draw appliance, or several that add up to 1,800 W. The 2,048 Wh DELTA 3 Max Plus lists 3,000 W, and the 2,764.8 Wh Apex 300 lists 3,840 W with split-phase output. Past 4,000 Wh, the S5000 stores 5,024 Wh and can grow to a 30,144 Wh system with extra batteries.

Expansion and UPS switchover

Of the 81 stations, 37 take an extra battery. The DELTA 3 Plus lists a system of up to 5,120 Wh, the Apex 300 lists 19,353.6 Wh and the S5000 lists 30,144 Wh. Sixty-seven stations list a UPS switchover of 20 ms or less, and several of the top scorers print 10 ms, among them the DELTA 3 Plus, Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 and BLUETTI Elite 100 V2. The Apex 300 lists 20 ms. Check the maker's wording before you plug in a desktop computer.

How the score works

Each station gets one score built from five figures: watt-hours per pound, rated cycles, hours to refill at full solar input, hours to refill from the wall, and warranty years. A light, long-lived battery with a fast refill and a long warranty scores high. The Anker SOLIX S5000 leads at 74. The BLUETTI Apex 300 and EcoFlow DELTA 3 Plus follow at 67 each, then the Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 at 63 and the BLUETTI Elite 100 V2 at 61. The score ignores AC watts, so read the size lists for your load.

Lists ranked by a single figure

The size and feature lists each use one plain rule. Stations under 300 Wh are ordered lightest first, 500 Wh models by most AC output, and 1000 Wh models by most solar input. Stations with at least 2,000 W of AC come ordered by capacity, and the LiFePO4 list by rated cycles. Only five stations deliver 5,000 W or more from one unit, and 12 make 120/240 V from one unit or with the maker's kit. Pick the list that matches the number your load depends on.