For weekends away
Camping
Compare carry-in weight, usable capacity, solar input, and the outlets you actually need.
Portable power stations · buyer’s guide
What are you trying to keep running?
Start with the load, then compare the battery and solar input that can support it. We turn manufacturer specs and current street prices into a short path to a decision, with one Pecron build we own as a useful reference point.
Start with your use case
For the next outage
Home backup
Check running watts, startup surge, 240V support, expansion, and inverter idle draw.
For one essential load
A refrigerator
Estimate runtime from battery capacity and your fridge’s average draw, then check startup headroom.
Current comparison
Find the lowest current $/Wh
Pecron F3000LFP is the lowest $/Wh in the current price update. Compare it with the rest of the catalog before you buy.
A build we can point to
Pecron F5000LFP We own this
We own this 5,120Wh, 7,200W AC unit with 240V output and wired twelve used SunPower panels to it. The build page shows the wiring math, panel data, and limits behind the setup.
What is a watt-hour?
A watt-hour (Wh) is stored energy: watts × hours. A 1,000Wh pack can theoretically supply 100W for 10 hours, or 50W for 20 hours. Real runtime is shorter once you count inverter loss and idle draw.
Hours below are estimates from capacity ÷ labeled average watts. They are not first-hand measurements of an appliance we ran. The pack size in the table is a published watt-hour rating, not a runtime we measured.
| Labeled average load | Estimated hours |
|---|---|
| 50W average | 102 h |
| 100W average | 51 h |
| 150W average | 34 h |
Choose by the job first. A fridge needs enough continuous output for its compressor and enough surge headroom to start. Camping favors lower weight. Home backup adds startup watts, 240V requirements, and idle draw. Once the use case is clear, compare current price per watt-hour and the solar input limit. For solar recovery, a battery's best-case refill time is capacity divided by maximum solar input: the Pecron E3800LFP computes to about 1.3 hours, while the Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 computes to about 5.1 hours. Across these 38 units, capacity spans about 48× while solar input limits span roughly 58×.
Solar recharge speed, ranked
Best-case hours = manufacturer capacity ÷ manufacturer solar input limit. Real-world time is longer — panels rarely hit their rating. Blank cells mean the manufacturer figure is not yet verified from a primary source. Shop links go to Amazon or eBay listings we already track; they are affiliate links.
| Model | Capacity Wh?A watt-hour (Wh) is stored energy: watts × hours. A 1,000Wh pack can theoretically supply 100W for 10 hours, or 50W for 20 hours. Real runtime is shorter once you count inverter loss and idle draw. Hours below are estimates from
| Solar in | Recharge | AC output | Listings | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pecron F5000LFP We own this | 5,120Wh | 5,800W | 0.9 h | 7,200W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta 3 Plus | 1,024Wh | 1,000W | 1.0 h | 1,800W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Bluetti Elite 100 V2 | 1,024Wh | 1,000W | 1.0 h | 1,800W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra | 6,144Wh | 5,600W | 1.1 h | 7,200W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Bluetti Apex 300 | 2,764.8Wh | 2,400W | 1.2 h | 3,840W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Pecron E3600LFP | 3,072Wh | 2,400W | 1.3 h | 3,600W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Pecron E3800LFP | 3,840Wh | 3,000W | 1.3 h | 4,200W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Bluetti Elite 10 Mini | 128Wh | 100W | 1.3 h | 200W | |||||||||
| Bluetti Elite 30 V2 | 288Wh | 200W | 1.4 h | 600W | |||||||||
| Jackery Explorer 2000 Plus | 2,043Wh | 1,400W | 1.5 h | 3,000W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Bluetti AC70 | 768Wh | 500W | 1.5 h | 1,000W | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta Pro 3 | 4,096Wh | 2,600W | 1.6 h | 4,000W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Pecron F1000LFP | 960Wh | 600W | 1.6 h | 1,500W | |||||||||
| Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 | 1,024Wh | 600W | 1.7 h | 2,000W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Bluetti AC200L | 2,048Wh | 1,200W | 1.7 h | 2,400W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Anker SOLIX C1000 | 1,056Wh | 600W | 1.8 h | 1,800W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Pecron F3000LFP | 3,072Wh | 1,600W | 1.9 h | 3,600W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| ABOK Ark3600 | 3,840Wh | 2,000W | 1.9 h | 3,600W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta 3 Ultra Plus | 3,072Wh | 1,600W | 1.9 h | 3,600W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Bluetti FridgePower | 2,016Wh | 1,000W | 2.0 h | 1,800W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta 3 Classic | 1,024Wh | 500W | 2.0 h | 1,800W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta 2 | 1,024Wh | 500W | 2.0 h | 1,800W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta 3 | 1,024Wh | 500W | 2.0 h | 1,800W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta 3 Max | 2,048Wh | 1,000W | 2.0 h | 2,400W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta 3 Max Plus | 2,048Wh | 1,000W | 2.0 h | 3,000W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Bluetti Elite 200 V2 | 2,073.6Wh | 1,000W | 2.1 h | 2,600W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta Pro | 3,600Wh | 1,600W | 2.3 h | 3,600W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Bluetti AC180 | 1,152Wh | 500W | 2.3 h | 1,800W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Bluetti Elite 300 | 3,014.4Wh | 1,200W | 2.5 h | 2,400W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Anker SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 | 2,048Wh | 800W | 2.6 h | 2,400W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 | 1,070Wh | 400W | 2.7 h | 1,500W | |||||||||
| Anker SOLIX C300 | 288Wh | 100W | 2.9 h | 300W | |||||||||
| Jackery Explorer 300 | 292Wh | 100W | 2.9 h | 300W | |||||||||
| Pecron E2400LFP | 2,048Wh | 700W | 2.9 h | 2,400W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus | 3,584Wh | 1,000W | 3.6 h | 3,600W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| EcoFlow Delta 3 Ultra | 3,072Wh | 800W | 3.8 h | 3,600W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Bluetti Elite 400 | 3,840Wh | 1,000W | 3.8 h | 2,600W ≥1800W AC | |||||||||
| Jackery Explorer 2000 v2 | 2,042Wh | 400W | 5.1 h | 2,200W ≥1800W AC |
Check running watts, startup watts, and voltage
1,800W is the nominal ceiling of a standard US 120V wall outlet, so it is a useful first filter for a power station. It does not mean every appliance will work: compare the appliance's continuous running watts with the unit's continuous AC rating, then check that its startup or surge watts fit the surge rating too. A 240V appliance such as an electric dryer or water heater also needs a power station with a true 240V output. The table badge marks AC output at or above 1,800W; it is not an appliance compatibility guarantee.
The spec almost nobody publishes
A power station burns energy just having its inverter switched on, with nothing plugged in. That idle draw can decide whether a unit lasts a weekend outage or dies overnight, and it appears on almost no spec sheet. The Solar Lab measured an Anker SOLIX F3800 drawing roughly 80W while idle during a simulated blackout — the unit was nearly flat by morning, far sooner than its capacity suggested.
Of the 38 models tracked here, 1 has a manufacturer-published idle figure: the Bluetti FridgePower at 4W (manufacturer Amazon listing ("4W Self-Consumption")). At that draw it would take roughly 21 days to empty itself doing nothing at all. An 80W idle drain on the same pack would flatten it in about 25 hours.
Live street prices
Best portable power station by $/Wh uses Amazon.com prices from the Creators API, refreshed at least every 24 hours, with an eBay used median beside each model when enough listings match. We do not print a remembered Amazon price in copy — if the daily price update is stale, the number comes off the page.