But right now, it’s theAnker Solix F3800, and for good reason.
Anker Solix F3800: The good
Let’s talk capacity.
Many of the portable power stations on the market talk about “emergency home backup” power.
But many of these same units “boast” a capacity of 800 watt-hours.
Your options for longterm power are nearly zero in this situation.
That’s all you ever need.
And if not, you probably already have your own power plant anyway.
Modular capacity is great, and it’s definitely the direction the landscape is trending for many reasons.
But that isn’t my favorite thing about the Solix F3800.
Shall we discuss output options?
Most portable power stations only allow you to use receptacles that output 120 volts.
But what about ovens or clothes dryers that are not gas-powered?
Those require 240 volts.
Anker Solix F3800: The bad
I’ll just put it out there – price.
For most people, the Solix F3800 at $4,000 isn’t super friendly.
And if you’re wondering about a ballpark pre-tax cost on that 53.76kWh setup?
It rhymes with flirty-gate thousand dollars (if pieces were purchased separately).
I’m not saying that these products aren’t worth their list prices.
But I would highly recommend looking for other deals – maybe during Black Friday?
If you’re truly looking for aportablepower station, it probably depends on your portability needs.
But if you’re gonna wanna haul this to multiple locations, then grab a friend.
While the wheels are somewhat helpful, this thing still weighs over 130 pounds.
The interface and layout of the Solix F3800 is pretty clean.
Overall, I like the arrangement and the design choices that were made.
As well, there were times when buttons were pushed and functions did not execute.
I did not personally experience this, so I’m not deducting points for it.
But it’s worth mentioning since I’ve received that feedback more than once.
Every company that sells portable power stations provides the expected number of watt-hours its products are supposed to last.
Bluetti AC200P claims 2,000 watt-hours.
You’d get 576 hours from the Ecoflow model and an impressive 2,000 hours using the Bluetti generator.
That would last you almost three months.
How accurate are those figures?
Usable capacity
A power station’s capacity should be a no-brainer.
You should be able to look at a unit’s rated watt-hours and purchase accordingly based on your needs.
Generally, you might do that.
I’ve found that you typically won’t see theentirecapacity rating as usable power.
We record the outgoing voltage and wattage using external measurement instruments or the UUT’s own measurements if available.
In every case, that percentage ends up at less than 100%.
Most manufacturers say you should calculate expected usage at 85% of the stated capacity.
Generally speaking, the midsize units (blue bars) didn’t fare well.
A quick word on our math here.
That load rating is now 440 watts and the GoSun’s capacity of 1,100 divided by 440 is 2.5.
We would expect to see 2.5 hours of usage.
The actual run time for this unit was 2 hours, 50 minutes – 113% capacity.
Sounds great, Right?
We’re missing some key factors.
Charge time
Charging performance can be nearly as important as knowing your capacity stats.
Will it take 1 hour or 2?
(That’s an actual number from our tests.)
We report three data points for charging performance.
80% is the “magic number” for many rechargeable batteries.
You’re not going to run into anyone else, so dive, splash around, whatever you want.
As we add people, it gets a bit more crowded and complicated.
You’ve got less room for people.
Take a look at the full charge test results below.
Charge times are listed in hours, so shorter bars indicate power stations that charge faster.
