In our interconnected world a power outage is particularly frustrating. But if you have an electric power station on hand, then you never have to worry about dead cellphones or gadgets again.
Large capacity batteries are becoming more affordable and more efficient. It’s gotten to the point that a shoe-box sized electric power station can, in the right contexts that is, give you more mileage than a loud, gas powered generator. And you could use a power station to go off the grid for awhile, you’d just have to pair it with some solar panels.
It’ll be a long while before you can toss out the gas generator at your cabin and replace it a backpack friendly power station, of course, but the current generation of power stations are pretty amazing and you can easily stay juiced up at a remote campsite for days and weather minor power outages with your cellphone and laptop still going strong.
But there’s a lot to take into account before buying a power station. If you want a power station for outdoor or auto work, then you should find one that has a large capacity and a lot of AC or DC ports. But if you’re just looking for something to charge a couple of phones on a camping trip, then you’ll want to focus on portability and USB ports.
Luckily, we’ve done the research for you. Here’s our favorite power stations to keep the juice flowing whether you’re in the deep woods, deep under the snow in a power outage, or deep into a serious job at the worksite.
EcoFlow River 412Wh Power Station ($550)
If you’re looking for a large capacity power station that can charge multiple devices during a camping trip or power outage, then you should take a look at the EcoFlow River. We’ve raved about the EcoFlow River before—it has a capacity of 412Wh, which means that you should be able to power TV or lights for a couple of days. Or, if you want to blow through those 412Wh a little bit faster, then you can use the EcoFlow River to power up to 11 devices at a time. The River has 2 USB Quickcharge inputs, 2 regular USB inputs, 2 USB-C inputs, 2 AC outlets, 2 DC outlets, and a 12V car port input. That’s quite a few ports and significantly more than you’ll find on most power stations.
If you need some extra juice, then you can extend the life of this power station by pairing it with an EcoFlow solar panel. But really, 412Wh is more than enough power. The only real downside to this device is that it’s pretty expensive. And if you’re just trying to charge a couple of phones on a camping trip, this power station may be a little overkill.
