The best solar generators in 2023, tested by editors

Aug 17, 2023

A solar generator pairs a large-capacity rechargeable power station — a big battery, at heart — with a set of portable solar panels, making for a versatile device that can provide backup power for your home during an emergency and do double duty for off-grid activities like camping, tailgating or even DIY projects around your yard. They’re safer to store and use and far simpler to maintain than gas generators, and with people more and more conscious of the threat of storms and wildfires, they make a lot of sense for emergency preparedness.

To choose the best solar generator, we tested 19 devices — a dozen in the summer of 2022, the rest in the summer of 2023 — in the hot Florida sun to determine which device could reliably provide the most power with the least fuss. We considered factors such as portability, ease of setup, price, industrial design, technology and innovation when making our final selections.

With all the features of its bigger siblings, save expandability — and including an LFP battery, simple panel connections, plenty of ports to charge most everything and a useful app — the compact River 2 Pro is a great solar generator for smaller needs.

With updated features, an upgraded LiFePO4/LFP battery, a ton of ports and easy expansion, the new Ecoflow Delta 2 outperformed everything in its class in our testing. It hits the sweet spot for people who need portable power and a dependable emergency backup.

Easy to use, packed with the most up-to-date features and battery technology and expandable enough to serve as a whole-house emergency generator, the Ecoflow Delta Pro beat impressive competitors in our testing, emerging as the best large solar generator.

The Ecoflow River 2 Pro, brings the tech and features of the company’s Delta 2 to a smaller-scale device offering 768 watt-hours of LFP-based battery capacity. With Ecoflow’s latest technology in a more compact design (it resembles a big UPS and weighs in at just 17 pounds), it’s backed by a five-year warranty (among the longest of the models we tested). It’s an ideal choice for camping, emergency use in apartments and small homes or even to keep in a car along with a single solar panel. It’s got sufficient capacity and connections to power small devices like laptops, tablets, smartphones, LED lights, mini refrigerators or small fans.

The Ecoflow River 2 Pro effortlessly handled our variable test loads ranging from 60W to 200W, including a small 60W freezer when using single-panel configurations. The battery remained undrained overnight with a connected panel as long as there was at least partial sunlight during the day.

The limitations of the smaller unit were clear in our testing, but overall the River 2 performed to expectations. With a full 200W load, such as using dual 70W fans overnight, we could deplete the battery in about three and a half hours. It’s worth noting that this represents a heavy continuous load, and the generator is primarily designed for camping and short-term usage. Even with about 50% efficiency on the panel, the unit could sustain a 100W load from day to night for two consecutive days without depleting, showcasing its robust recharge rate.

It features a 480W DC/solar input, allowing the connection of two Ecoflow 160W panels, and has four 110-volt AC ports. The output power inverter can handle up to 800W AC, with a “boost” mode that can reach 1600W AC.

The River 2 Pro features four fully grounded 110 VAC ports, 4 USB ports, and three 12-volt ports (one car and dual 5521 ports). A 480W solar input allows for connecting one or two 160W panels, like Ecoflow’s own panels, which are compact, easy to carry and simple to set up. They feature MC4-type locking connectors and a folding, four-segment flexible design. Charging over solar took us between 4.5 and 9 hours, depending on conditions. Alternately, the River 2 Prop rapidly charges fully from AC in 70 minutes. You can also charge simultaneously from AC and solar.

A minimalistic monochrome display provides information on the remaining charge percentage, depicted as a spinning wheel with a numerical percentage, as well as the input and output wattage. We found it was enough to operate the device, though many users will want to use the Ecoflow app, which lets you control multiple Ecoflow devices simultaneously and get real-time information about the state of charge and power flow. You can also alter settings, such as turning ports on and off, adjusting AC-input wattage and upgrading firmware.

The new LFP/LiFePO4-based, 1,024-Wh Ecoflow Delta 2 arrived toward the very end of our testing period, after we had already evaluated its predecessor, the original 1,300-Wh Li-ion-NMC Delta. But after testing, the Ecoflow Delta 2 completely upset our decision matrix — it’s that good. With an expanded feature set and the latest technology and capabilities, it simply outperformed everything else in its class.

A slimmed-down version of EcoFlow’s Delta Pro, the new Delta 2 uses the same LFP/LiFePO4 battery chemistry and has onboard Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to enable smart management with an excellent, extremely detailed app with many configurable settings. The rear of the generator has two grounded AC ports, four ungrounded ports and three 12-volt ports, with one car and a dual 5521 (for devices such as routers with barrel connectors with which you might want to avoid the use of a power brick). An internal AC power supply simplifies cabling, and the Ecoflow Delta 2 has a dedicated AC power cord.

Solar 12-volt charging uses an XT-60 modular connector and a PV4 to XT-60 adapter cable. It has a 500W DC/solar input — allowing you to charge it using two of Ecoflow’s 160W panels, two 220W panels or a single 400W panel — or via an AC inverter (more on that later).

The compact 160W/220W panels are light and easy to carry. With multiples, a single person can easily carry them out one at a time, unzip them from their fabric cases and lay them down on a driveway or pool deck area (which is exactly what we did). You can also prop them up easily using the carrying case, which doubles as a stand, but it might be good to have one other person help you with that. The 400W panel is larger but is of the same folding, four-segment “floppy” or flexible design. It’s more cumbersome because of its large size and weight, and while a single person could lay it out flat, it took two of us to position it when we set it up on the stand.

Connecting a single panel to the generator only requires attaching a single MC4 to XT-60 bridge cable that connects to the panel’s positive and negative wires (you can’t mix it up either; it’s a “keyed” connection) to the rear of the panel. The generator does the rest and shows the incoming wattage on the display and in the app. If you need to connect more than one panel, they can be serialized by attaching the positive pole of the MC4 connection of the first panel to a negative pole of the other panel, and then connecting the bridge cable to the other positive and negative poles. This can be done for up to three 160W panels on the Delta 2, for a maximum power input of 480W. EcoFlow also has a “parallel” connector cable to simplify this if you need to, particularly in situations where you might use three or more panels, but we did not have one for testing.

Like its big sibling, the Delta 2 is expandable. While its onboard battery capacity is slightly smaller than the similarly priced units we tested, you can double the power of the Ecoflow Delta 2 to 2,048 Wh with an expansion battery unit. (The battery expansion port is on the side and uses a thick proprietary connector cord.) That gives you the flexibility of choosing portability over power, or should you realize you need more “oomph” after the fact. The 1,200W of AC input capacity (up to 1,500W with the additional battery pack connected) allows it to charge quickly.

That said, given the high AC draw, we recommend you use the app and limit the input to 800W or less unless you have nothing else plugged into the circuit when charging it. We managed to trip a breaker charging the unit from a shared circuit in our garage charging at the default maximum speed setting in the app. While it’s easy enough to reset a breaker, it is not something you want to deal with when it’s easily avoidable by using the Delta 2’s well-thought-out management features.

The Delta 2 lets you charge from AC and solar simultaneously as well. We tried this setup, and the unit prioritizes AC over solar most of the time (not a surprise given that the AC side of the unit supplies more current and solar is subject to variable weather conditions and solar exposure). It’s a useful option for faster charging or keeping the unit consistently charged without relying entirely on the grid.

While the main display is simple enough, most users will likely want to use the app for monitoring status and adjusting settings. It allows you to control multiple Ecoflow devices at once and get real-time information about the state of charge and power flow. You also can alter settings, such as turning ports on and off, adjusting input wattage and upgrading firmware.

We used the unit in both 1,024-Wh and 2,048-Wh configurations with the external battery. Given the 27-pound weight of the generator (and slightly less for the external battery) we found it fairly easy to drag around the house in two separate parts if we needed to move it away from its primary charging position on the patio. We had no issues running our maximum loads with the Ecoflow Delta 2, particularly when the second battery was connected and using a single 400W panel.

In our estimation, the Delta 2 with an extra battery for a total of 2,048 Wh of capacity and 400W of solar panels is probably the “sweet spot” for a small family looking for an emergency backup generator to cover essentials. A variable output of 100W to 300W is a realistic load to plan for if you consider the typical appliances that might be connected in an emergency scenario, such as lower-wattage LED lights (typically in the 10W to 20W range), a small refrigerator, fans, personal electronics and higher-wattage small appliances for cooking for 10-20 minutes at a time. We found that with this setup, we were able to go for at least three to five days using our 60W to 200W variable test load under medium cloud conditions, with plenty of capacity left on hand.

The Ecoflow Delta Pro, released in 2021, is similar to the Delta 2 in overall design and basic capabilities, with the latest LFP/LiFePO4 battery chemistry, onboard Bluetooth and Wi-Fi that let you access the smart battery management system via a well-designed app, an integrated power supply, MC4 to XT-60 solar input connectivity and an identical informative display.

But the Delta Pro is a much bigger unit, and not just physically. The Delta Pro’s base battery capacity is 3,600 Wh, so if you are driving a 200W load, you can run it for 18 hours before depleting the battery, assuming there’s no recharge. And if that’s not enough, it can accommodate two additional 3,600-Wh batteries (connected with thick proprietary charging cables) for up to 10,800-Wh capacity, which begins to compete with gas generators. The inverter can drive up to 4,500W of load from its four 120-volt AC, six USB ports, three 12-volt ports, a 12-volt 30 Anderson connector and a 30-amp, 125-volt RV port.

For most people that should be enough to power even some larger appliances like a refrigerator or freezer, along with lighting and personal electronics through a power outage. Since it is a viable alternative to smaller gas or propane/natural gas generators, you can buy Ecoflow’s Smart Home Panel, a transfer switch with a subpanel that lets you directly connect two Ecoflow Pros (each with up to two additional batteries) to your home electrical system and power up to 10 circuits.

With all that on tap, the Delta Pro is physically large. It weighs 99 pounds, though it has integrated wheels with a pull-out handle, so you can roll it (more like drag it) wherever it needs to go.

The 400W panels weigh just over 35 pounds each. As we noted with the Delta 2, the 400W panels use MC4-type locking connectors and are built with a folding, four-segment “floppy” or flexible construction, which can be used flat or angled. They come in heavy fabric carrying cases, which function as angular stands and use carabiner clips to connect to the panel.

The 400W panels are more cumbersome than the 160W panels supplied with the smaller EcoFlow units, and you may need two people to position them when the stand is used. The panels are IP68 rated, meaning they can handle being rained on — and during the testing period, sitting out on our driveway for weeks at a time in the South Florida summer, they were rained on regularly. They continued to operate flawlessly despite the deluges.

You can charge from solar or AC. The solar input lets you connect up to four 400W panels at 1,600W. You can charge from a 120-volt outlet, of course, but to fill this monster at high speeds, Ecoflow sells an “X-Stream” adapter that allows you to use a J1772 connector (like a Level 2 240-volt, 40 amp/50 amp EV charging circuit) to fill the 3,600-Wh battery at over 3,000W.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t overtax your home electrical circuit trying to AC charge it. We did encounter an issue where the power draw during 110-volt AC charging exceeded the capacity of the shared circuit (15 amps) to which the Delta Pro was connected; it caused the breaker to flip. To address this, we isolated the device to its own circuit and lowered the AC power draw in the app to a more modest 800W, which, as with the Delta 2, we suggest you do unless your circuit can sufficiently handle AC charging at the maximum draw.

There wasn’t a load we could throw at this unit it could not handle, including 1,800W espresso machines, induction cookers and hair dryers in addition to our lineup of personal electronics, fans and small appliances. To really stress out the Delta Pro, we used dual True 2A rated 24-inch undercounter commercial refrigerators, which had a peak draw of about 480W when the compressors were running at full blast, both at the same time.

In a continual consumption scenario with no solar connection for recharging, according to the built-in display and the app, the 3,600-Wh battery on the Delta Pro would deplete in seven and a half hours, and with a single external battery, it would deplete in about 14 or 15 hours with a total of 7,200 Wh. Adding a second battery (we’re extrapolating, since we didn’t test with a second battery) would provide about 22 hours of continuous draw without a solar panel hooked up.

In real-world use, with only periodic compressor bursts from the refrigerators and twin 400W panels giving us at least 550W of continual recharge at about 70% efficiency during the day, we didn’t tax the Delta Pro much at all. Similarly, continuously using a 1,800W induction cooker, running a boiling pot of water, got us about two hours of total use from a fully charged single battery with no solar recharging, but that’s not a realistic application. You’d use an appliance like this for only about 15 to 20 minutes at a time to make meals, and we rarely ran it above 800W-1,000W for medium-heat cooking. Practically, it doesn’t make a dent.

So, did we max out the capabilities of this monster setup? No, not by any means. And realistically, your typical family running emergency loads will not either. Suffice it to say, this bodes well for the Delta Pro’s usefulness in emergency situations, and at the very least, it should be a good solution to avoid having to toss a fridge or freezer full of food after a long power outage.

EcoFlow even sells a setup meant to address a particularly challenging situation: the EV charging adapter lets you use the NEMA TT-30 30-amp, 125-volt port with a grounding adapter to charge an electric car. Just be aware that EV batteries are really big, so you can’t expect to fill up that easily, at least not right out of the box. With the base 3.6 kWh in the Delta Pro, you only get about 5% charge on a 77 kWh battery or a 15% charge with 10.8 kWh if both external batteries are connected. With 1,600W of panels connected, you could fully charge your vehicle in a day or two (perhaps three) if solar conditions are optimal, but it’s a bit of a stretch and you wouldn’t be able to use it for anything else. But if you’re stuck in a snowy cabin with a pooped-out electric vehicle, you should be able to get enough charge to make it to a charging station.

First off, a solar generator isn’t really a “generator.” It’s a large rechargeable battery pack — not that different from the devices you might carry around to charge your phone while traveling — that integrates an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with surge protection and an inverter and line conditioner to power your AC devices.

These devices are known as “solar generators” because they’re designed to be charged using a solar panel, making them suitable for long-term use in emergencies or off the grid. (They can also be charged from a wall outlet.) A wide range of battery capacities are available, from large models that can keep critical appliances going and the lights on during an emergency, to lightweight models more suitable for camping or tailgating.

In order to supply power to a wide range of devices, solar generators offer a variety of AC outlets, 12-volt DC ports, a standard car port and 5521 barrel-type ports, in addition to Anderson power ports. The more sophisticated, higher-power generators may also have 125-volt, 30-amp outlets for powering an RV. Some solar generators can even integrate directly with home generator transfer panels to power AC circuits.

Solar generators also come with USB ports for charging phones and small devices. The number of USB ports varies from two to four on smaller units and can be as high as six to eight on larger units, with a mix of USB-A 2.4-volt and 5-volt ports and USB-C with power delivery (PD) ports from 18W to 100W capacities.

In addition to basic watt-hour and inverter capacities, solar generators have different types of ports for connecting various devices. The number of 120-volt AC ports is typically one or two on smaller units and three to six on medium and larger units. The inverters on the generators themselves, however, have a maximum wattage rating, so nothing stops you from plugging a power strip into a single AC port and using the maximum wattage of the generator.

The inverters on the generators we reviewed are “pure sinewave,” which is the cleanest power you can get from an AC generator. They create a steady, continuous wave of electricity providing a smooth, oscillating current, also known as power conditioning. Some electronics require pure sinewave electricity, such as medical equipment and other appliances with AC motors, pumps and compressors.

Some solar generators have integrated power supplies for fast charging and can be directly connected using cables to external 110-volt AC and 12-volt DC power sources. In contrast, others use transformer bricks similar to ones you see on other consumer appliances such as personal computers. A separate power supply typically generates less heat and somewhat lowers the generator’s weight, making the cabling more complicated. The larger units typically also include integrated fans to cool the battery compartment. The battery management system controls them and spins them up and down as needed.

LEDs and LCDs on these devices display basic data such as state of charge, current wattage output, input and estimated times until charge and depletion. (Some have touchscreen user interfaces). Some generators also have wireless capabilities and are managed using a mobile application via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The benefit is remote visibility into real-time generator performance from the comfort of wherever you are and the ability to alter any settings that may be needed, such as activating and deactivating inverter ports, changing inverter charge speed so as not to overtax a circuit and updating the firmware.

The performance of solar generators is measured in watt hours (Wh). For example, imagine you have a load of 100W (which may be typical of a large fan and a portable refrigerator combined), and your solar generator’s capacity is 1,000 Wh. Then you could keep the load (the fan and portable fridge) for approximately 10 hours before the battery power is depleted (assuming there is no interim recharge by your solar panels, as happens at night).

When operating a solar generator, shield it from the elements somewhere, such as behind your front door, on a covered porch/patio or inside a vehicle. Some solar panels are rated for continuous outdoor use and are weatherproofed; however, the generators should never be exposed to water, rain or extreme heat. For this reason, we also recommend purchasing extension cables for optimizing generator/panel placement. In our testing, we used 25-foot extensions so we had a sufficient length between the panels and the generator.

The heart of any solar generator unit is its cell, where chemical energy is stored for use as electrical energy. Cells have used a variety of lithium-based chemical formulations; many batteries have used lithium-ion nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), though lithium iron phosphate (LFP) — also referred to by its chemical formula LiFePO4 — has gained popularity in the industry lately since it allows for faster charging and discharging as well as many more charge cycles. It also lasts longer.

NMC batteries are, however, more common, since they are lighter and more energy-dense (and smaller, which is why you see them in smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and portable batteries). However, they have relatively slow charge and discharge rates, which makes them less efficient in use. (In the battery world, the measurement of charge speed and rate of depletion/discharge are known as the C rating, and higher is faster.)

In addition to having a lower C rating than LFP batteries, lithium-ion NMC batteries only have a life span of about 500 full charge cycles. In contrast, LFP batteries can handle over 3,000 cycles. LFP batteries also don’t generate as much heat as NMC batteries, making them safer and ideal for use in solar generators and electric vehicles.

The BMS, a microprocessor-controlled device embedded in the solar generator, combined with software algorithms, ensures the battery’s safety and longevity by regulating the charging and discharging of the cells. It accomplishes this by monitoring the voltage and current of each cell in the battery pack and balancing them as needed. The BMS also shuts down the system if it detects an unsafe condition, such as overvoltage or overtemperature.

The inverter converts the direct current (DC) output from the batteries and the solar panels to the alternating current (AC) that your home uses for lamps, appliances and most gadgets. The inverter on a solar generator is rated in output watts (W). A small generator typically has a rating of about 500W, a medium-sized is about 1,200W and a large unit is 2,000W or higher.

In other words, the output wattage gives you an idea of how many devices can draw power from the generator simultaneously. A single electric fan might have a maximum draw of 70W, but a hair dryer or a portable induction burner running at maximum power may draw as much as 1,600W to 1,800W and overtax a medium-sized unit. Inverters also handle the combined input wattage from AC and DC power, so your maximum solar panel capacity is determined by the inverter’s capacity. If your inverter has a maximum input capacity of 400W, you cannot use more than two 200W panels or four 100W panels.

A solar panel comprises photovoltaic (PV) cells that convert sunlight into DC electricity. In a home setup, the DC current is then sent to an inverter, which is converted into AC, the type of electricity used in your home. In a solar generator, energy is stored in the battery cells for conversion to AC (or use as DC) later.

Solar panels integrate with solar generators using maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controllers. MPPT is a standard technology that manages the conversion from panel output. Generally speaking, any MPPT-compatible panel from any manufacturer can be used with any solar generator, providing that the correct connector cables and adapters are also used (such as Anderson, MC4/PV4, XT-30/XT-60 and various barrel connectors) and that the maximum voltage and combined input wattage into your inverter is not exceeded. However, it is possible to run into cable incompatibilities and capacity mismatches, so we’d recommend you use panels sold by your generator’s manufacturer for the highest compatibility and optimal performance.

A solar panel’s performance depends on atmospheric conditions and your panel efficiency. Inverters are about 95% efficient. That is: Is the sun shining? Even if you have a panel rated at 100W, you may find that it doesn’t work as well in cloudy or hazy weather, or if the panels are not in direct sunlight, or when the sun’s orientation changes during the day. Your panels could operate at 50% or less efficiency, maybe 50W. We never saw any manufacturer’s panels performing higher than 80% efficiency during our testing in the South Florida summer, where we had light to medium cloud cover. Therefore, when making recharge calculations against the watt-hour capacity of your generator, assume a panel efficiency of 50% or less, depending on your typical weather conditions.

Solar panels are rated by their power output in watts, and portable panel sizes can range from as small as 50W to as high as 400W. You’ll want to make sure you do not exceed the maximum input capacity of the generator from the panel array. Most MPPT charge controllers do not allow you to hook up panels that exceed voltage requirements. Some vendors (such as Goal Zero) will enable you to “oversubscribe” your panel wattage (such as using 1,200W of total capacity when the inverter input capacity is only 600W) during less favorable conditions. However, once the conditions become favorable again, any excess energy is lost as heat.

Depending on its design, a solar generator may be able to accommodate multiple solar panels hooked up in parallel, connected by long cables that use a variety of different types of connectors, which vary by manufacturer. Some panels are of a rugged, heavier, foldable metal design (also referred to as “briefcase”), and others are of a flexible, floppy design. Although the briefcase panels are heavier, they are generally easier to set up due to their rigid structure, and a single person can easily set up multiple panels. Briefcase designs are also typically outdoor rated, designed for continuous use and can be rained on without damaging the components.

In contrast, the larger floppy designs can be more challenging to set up by a single person, are typically not rated by the manufacturer for continuous outdoor use and are recommended to be removed from the elements during bad weather. However, in most cases, this only applies to the cable connections, so if you seal those with duct tape, there’s no reason why you can’t leave such solar panels outside for days at a time; we certainly did for our testing, and we encountered no malfunctions.

All generators were tested from June through August in variable sun conditions and varying weather. Generators were placed on a covered patio away from the elements. Long extension cables were connected to the panels placed outside the patio on a large outdoor pool deck. Panels were left outside for a week at a time.

The test load included two 70W stand fans, a 60W AstroAI 15L refrigerator/freezer (run at -4 degrees Fahrenheit for maximum load) and 20W of LED lamps. Incidental loads included a 1,800W portable induction burner, a 1,800W espresso machine, a 1,600W hair dryer and dual 2-amp, 240W commercial refrigerators. Various generators charged other generators to test maximum inverter loads. 15-amp and 20-amp circuits with GFCI were used for AC charging generators when solar conditions were unfavorable or to test dual-charging configurations.

We measured if the units were able to handle the test loads in terms of total wattage draw on the inverter and measured how long it took for the battery to run out under typical real-world loads with the solar panels attached.

We paid careful attention to ease of setup and use, simplicity of monitoring and industrial design and build quality issues, looking at how the design affected performance and use, potential issues with the durability of components and the terms of the manufacturer’s warranty.

Our former top pick — and still a great generator — in the small-capacity category, the Bluetti EB70S is a well-designed unit that packs the latest LFP battery chemistry and plenty of capacity into a compact package that’s great for camping, on-the-go preparedness, a car emergency kit or taking anywhere you need reliable power. It’s easy to use, light enough to take anywhere and built solidly enough that it’s easy to depend on.

The unit was easily able to drive all our variable test loads of 60W to 200W, and with a solar panel (it uses Jackery-compatible, 8-amp barrel connectors) hooked up, our small 60W freezer never depleted the battery, even on days of mixed weather. With a full 200W load using dual 70W fans overnight, we could drain it in about three and a half hours, but this is a heavy continuous load for a small generator designed primarily for camping and short-term usage.

UGREEN, known mostly for its smartphone peripherals and charging accessories, has introduced the PowerRoam 1200, a 1,024-Wh model with six grounded AC ports, two USB-A ports and two 100W USB-PD ports — a lot of connectivity for the money. Another standout feature is AC charging capability, which uses a traditional NEMA 5-15 PC-style cable with an internal transformer, avoiding the need for an external brick. Solar charging is made convenient through an XT-30 connector, giving you access to panels that use that connector. Even the design of the app is engaging and easy to navigate.

The real downside in our testing was the wonky connection over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. With a five-year warranty that underscores the product’s robust build and UGREEN’s confidence in its performance, the PowerRoam 1200 makes a compelling argument for those looking for a versatile and solidly priced power station.

The Biolite BaseCharge 1500 power station, the larger of two versions of the unit, has a capacity of 1,521 Wh, along with a solid assortment of features considering its price range. It boasts three AC ports, two USB-A ports and three USB-C 100W PD ports, one of which you can also use to charge the unit itself. Along with the Anderson connector used for solar input, you get lots of flexibility. A 10W wireless pad for smartphone charging adds to its convenience.

On the downside, there’s no app control for remote operation and the two-year warranty is shorter than similarly priced competitors.

The LiPower Mars 2000, offering a 1,460-Wh capacity at a middle-of-the-road price, stands out in that it’s designed to be low noise. Rated at 35 decibels or less at full draw, it was noticeably quieter in operation than the other units we tested and may appeal to those looking to use the unit indoors, whether at home or in a tent.

Unfortunately, beyond its quiet operation, the Mars 2000 falls somewhat short on features, making it feel overpriced. The three AC ports lack grounding, and the unit uses a dedicated external brick for power via a barrel connector (solar connections are via an Anderson-compatible port). The absence of app control further limits its flexibility. A long four-year warranty, however, is above average for units at this price.

Like its larger sibling, the Safari ME, Lion Energy’s Summit has a ruggedized design purpose-built for environments like construction sites or any situation that demands durability, emergency or otherwise.

Like the Safari, the Summit uses Anderson connectors to utilize the company’s briefcase-style 100W folding metal panels designed for outdoor use. Though the 665-Wh base LFP battery is marginally smaller than other models in this price range, the Summit has a respectable 530W pure sinewave inverter for sensitive gear that requires clean power. The Summit uses an external brick for AC charging when the panels are not connected; you can’t connect both the AC charger and a panel simultaneously. Lion Energy provides a basic Bluetooth-based app for monitoring, though its functionality is limited. On the downside, the Summit is a little sparse on connections, with only a pair of grounded AC outlets, plus two USB-A ports and a pair of 60W USB-PD ports. The unit is backed by a five-year warranty.

Founded in 2012, Jackery is one of the oldest companies in the portable power station industry and was key in popularizing these types of products. Its 500-series power station has been on the market since 2019 and is one of the most popular small solar generators. With its friendly industrial design and bright orange-and-black utilitarian look with monochrome LCD, it has spawned many clones.

The Explorer 500’s battery chemistry also puts it behind the times. It uses a lithium-ion NMC battery, which runs hotter, charges more slowly and offers shorter life spans with fewer charge cycles. That said, NMC batteries are lighter and more energy-dense, and the Explorer 500 is a solid, affordable performer, though it lacks up-to-date features like USB-C PD outputs for faster charging of modern portable electronics, still offering only USB-A ports. In addition to an external AC adapter that connects to its barrel-style DC power port, it uses a proprietary Jackery-to-barrel cable for its solar connection.

The Jackery 1000 Pro is the popular battery brand’s newest portable power station, but as with its smaller sibling, it’s a bit behind the competition at this point. It uses a lithium-ion NMC, and with its larger battery pack, it needs more cooling than similarly sized LFP-based devices. Jackery claims 1,000 charge cycles, however — perhaps enabled by the unit’s dual onboard fans. We’d expect these to run quite a bit at higher loads. That said, given that NMC batteries are lighter and more energy-dense, the 1000 Pro packs a solid amount of capacity into a lightweight case. It’s got more contemporary USB-C PD ports on board as well, making it more useful all around with today’s mobile devices and laptops.

For fast charging you can use a lot of panels. Large proprietary dongles connect to two Jackery panel cables, which attach to twin barrel-shaped solar connector jacks, letting you use up to four 200W panels on the 1000 Pro, which can get you a full charge in under two hours. The dongles aren’t used in simple two-panel or single-panel configurations.

While it’s nice to have the options, we felt the extra connectors made for overly complex cable runs and worry about difficulties in diagnosing problems should something go haywire. Also, unlike cables using locking MC4, Anderson or XT-60 connectors, these cables can be disconnected by a simple tug, so you’ll want to watch out for dogs, kids or simple clumsiness.

We had no issues running our test loads on 1000 Pro, and Jackery has one of the industry’s better warranties, providing up to five years of coverage if products are purchased directly from the company or an authorized reseller (Amazon works, if you fill out an application on Jackery’s site after purchasing). While we think the long-term purchasers would be better served going with a LiFePO4/LFP-based unit, Jackery’s warranty provides some peace of mind for those more comfortable with the older lithium-ion NMC-based technology.

The Jackery Explorer 2000 Pro, the bigger model in the popular company’s lineup, uses the same lithium-ion NMC battery technology and floppy-style, 18.2-pound SolarSaga 200W panels as the 1000 Pro, connecting with the same dongles to support up to six panels for fast charging and supplying 2,160 Wh of capacity.

Like its smaller siblings, the Explorer 2000 Pro proved an able performer in our testing and had no trouble pushing the loads we connected. Plus, it is covered by Jackery’s long warranty if you buy direct. It just isn’t the most up-to-date solar generator, so especially at this capacity and price, we’d suggest looking at something more up to date.

With a design very much like Jackery’s but with LFP/LiFePO4 cells under the hood, the Oupes 1800W, which offers 1,488 Wh of battery capacity and an 1,800W AC inverter, sits between the Jackery 1000 and 2000. It may fit the bill, though it doesn’t offer as long a warranty, nor does the brand have as long a history in power stations.

We hooked the Oupes up to Jackery’s and Geneverse’s 200W panels and cabling (both of which appear to come from the same factory) and its own floppy, four-segment 100W panels, which appear quite similar to Jackery’s in design, and got good results all around. That said, we’d probably look to more established brands for this sort of product.

Previously known as Generark, like Oupes and numerous others, Geneverse is making LFP-based Jackery lookalikes, selling panels that are spitting images of the SolarSaga 200W, except they are gray. Otherwise, the cabling and dongle setup is identical to what Jackery currently sells for its 1000 Pro and 2000 Pro lines.

Their HomePower One Pro eschews the orange-and-black color palette of the Jackery 1000 Pro, opting for a dark gray plastic casing and a blue-and-black display with a data layout similar to its competitors. It has a 1,210 Wh battery, a 1,200W inverter and an 800W DC input, giving it a slight edge over the Jackery 1000 Pro in power output.

Geneverse’s other advantages over the Jackery 1000 Pro include Wi-Fi-based app management, but we thought the app wasn’t nearly as sophisticated or well designed as what we saw from Ecoflow, Goal Zero or even Bluetti. Its functionality is pretty basic, and we felt its connectivity was not particularly reliable.

Geneverse provides a five-year warranty if you buy directly from the company.

Goal Zero, founded in 2009, is one of the standard-setters for the portable solar power station industry. It’s known for making well-made, exceptionally engineered products for people who work and play outdoors. The devices are expandable, utilizing the company’s Yeti Link/Yeti Tank 1,200-Wh lead-acid battery technology, and can also power up to four of your home circuits with their Home Integration Kit transfer switch and subpanel.

The Yeti 1500X is a powerful midsize solar generator with a 1,516-Wh battery based on lithium-ion NMC chemistry. It can drive 2,000W of connected load with its inverter and can charge at up to 600W DC.

It boasts an excellent app with smart systems management and notifications with reliable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. (In our testing, the Goal Zero app and smart functionality stood out in particular, excelling compared to most products we looked at). Goal Zero is also one of the few manufacturers using a briefcase-style, outdoor-rated metal panel design for its 100W and 200W panels, making it ideal for longer-term installations. The panels use Anderson-style parallel connections, which are more rugged than those used by most of the competition, and the cables are thicker. Despite their increased heft, we felt the Goal Zero panels were easier to set up than their “floppy” competitors due to their rigidity and stability.

When charging with AC, the Yeti uses an external power adapter connected to the single Anderson charge port to reduce excess heat. Unlike several other devices we looked at, you can’t “dual charge” the Yeti with both AC and solar simultaneously.

Despite employing less desirable battery chemistry than their competitors, the products performed exceptionally well with our test loads. Additionally, their rugged designs would be a good choice for many outdoor sporting, recreation and work scenarios. While we think overall LFP-based designs are a better investment at this point, especially when you’re spending so much money, the Goal Zero Yeti models are solid, dependable and highly usable alternatives.

If you want something big and built for the outdoors, the Goal Zero Yeti 3000X is a larger version of the company’s 1500X power station. Like its smaller sibling, it has a 2,000W inverter and can charge at 600W DC. The primary difference between the two is that the 1500X has a 1,516-Wh battery and the bigger, heavier 3000X (which has wheels) has a 3,032-Wh battery.

If you need the additional capacity but want to stick with the tried-and-true — or need the Goal Zero’s bulletproof build and well-designed system of cables, panels, and accessories — the Yeti 3000x makes a lot of sense.

Until the Ecoflow Delta 2 showed up, the Anker 757 was our category winner for a medium-sized solar generator. It is still a strong contender, with LFP/LiFePO4 battery chemistry and a good combination of features and performance at its price point. A 1,200-Wh LFP battery and six AC ports on its 1,500W inverter, plus a wide variety of USB and other DC outputs (as you’d expect given Anker’s background in mobile-device charging) make it a versatile and capable unit.

The Anker 757 does, however, lack the app management features of its competitors, has no expansion capability and is heavy for its size. Considering the inverter and battery size, we also felt the DC input capacity — only 300W — was anemic, making for slower charging than its competition. However, Anker boasts one of the best warranties in the industry, at five years, so it may still be a good choice for those who intend to use it heavily.

The Lion Energy Safari ME is a small solar generator meant to be used with a large expansion battery as part of a bigger setup. Like the Goal Zero units, it boasts a heavy-duty design and uses outdoor-rated, briefcase-style 100W metal panels connected with thick cables terminating in Anderson connections. The 922-Wh base LFP/LiFePO4 battery is on the small side for other generators at this price point, but the device is expandable to 2,970 Wh and has a 2,000W inverter capacity.

We liked the ruggedized metal build of the unit. Still, we wished the 585W DC solar input was higher and the panel capacity was 200W (or higher) like Goal Zero’s, as they aren’t very space efficient for the amount of power they generate. We also discovered the unit employs an electromechanical switch rather than digital for locking on to AC versus DC solar inputs and isn’t designed to be plugged into both simultaneously. If you do, the generator clicks loudly and rapidly when there’s no solar input power at night — an issue the company is looking to resolve in the next hardware release.

With so many new expandable models on the market, the Lion Energy Safari ME isn’t that great a value proposition. It is very expensive for the capacity the base unit offers out of the box and even pricier when expanded to near 3,000 Wh compared to its competitors. In addition to a lack of app management, we felt that the unit was also short on the number and capabilities of AC and USB ports compared to its competitors. Given the industrial design and price point, we feel it should have a more extended warranty than a single year.

As with Ecoflow and its Delta Pro, Bluetti is pushing the envelope on what a solar generator can do. With 2,048 Wh of LFP/LiFePO4 battery capacity on board, a full range of AC and DC outputs — including a 30-amp, 125-volt NEMA TT-30 outlet for RV power and two 15W wireless charging pads — and the ability to add an additional 4,096 Wh with dual 2,048-Wh B230 LFP batteries, for a total of 6,144 Wh, you can build a very large system around the AC200MAX. (If that’s not enough, Bluetti offers the 5,100-Wh EP500 and the 3,072-Wh AC500, which is expandable to 18,000 Wh of capacity for a whole-house emergency solution.)

Bluetti also has a sophisticated app, though it only has Bluetooth connectivity, not Wi-Fi. We found that it lost connection more often than the competition, and we had to reestablish it manually. The generator has a touchscreen display that allows you to configure every option, however, so an app isn’t essential to get the most use out of the AC200MAX.

We had no issues with test loads on the device, and the company’s floppy 350W panels were easy to hook up and performed well. If you are looking for a generator with a lot of battery power and expansion capabilities at a reasonable price point, the AC200MAX would be a good choice, though Ecoflow’s Delta lineup is a bit easier to use and manage. Zendure’s SuperBase V4600 is a rival to the Ecoflow Delta Pro, a large-capacity generator that can be daisy chained with multiple battery packs and in large configurations can keep an entire home powered for extended periods (provided you have enough solar panels).

Zendure’s SuperBase V is a rival to the Ecoflow Delta Pro, a large-capacity generator that can be daisy-chained with multiple battery packs and, in large configurations, can keep an entire home powered for extended periods, provided you have enough solar panels.

The base unit is available in 6.4-kWh unit (lithium ion) and 4.6-kWh LFP models. With either you can chain up to four additional 6.4-kWh lithium ion or 4.6-kWh LFP expansion batteries, maxing out at 32,190 Wh or 23,040 Wh, respectively — capacity that rivals gas generators.

You can also connect two SuperBase units for even more power, though the expense of the system rapidly outstrips fossil fuel-powered alternatives (and charging via solar might be very difficult in all but the most ideal conditions). The XT-90 solar panel connection port can handle 3000W, so conceivably, you could connect a dozen 200W or 350W panels to max it out. While this scenario is compelling, it’s more realistic that this unit will be used for rapid AC charging in urgent situations, like prepping for a hurricane, and then topped off with more modest panel arrangements. To that end — assuming you have the proper wiring — using a J1772 adapter, the SuperBase can gulp power through a unique “ZenT2” port using Level 1 or Level 2 EV chargers at a brisk 3.6 Kwh. We tested this and saw it reach its limits in just three hours.

The SuperBase V is only nominally portable, weighing in at 130 pounds alone or 231 pounds with a companion expansion battery (and bigger configurations are obviously much larger and heavier). The sturdy suitcase-style handle and motorized castor wheels are a practical touch but don’t expect to take this on a trip. A five-year warranty is great to see.

We didn’t feel app management was on par with the rest of the system. Although flashy and packed with controls (you can even change LED colors), Bluetooth and Wi-Fi were not as dependable as what we saw from Ecoflow.