Best portable power stations 2023: Top picks for preparedness

Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and it very much depends on how you plan to use the equipment and your requirements. A gas generator must be used outdoors in a well-vented area and can be deadly if not used properly due to the carbon monoxide output and fire hazards. While there are exceptions, gas generators tend to be far noisier. The benefits of a gas generator is in the ability to constantly generate electricity so long as you have the fuel to run it. Gasoline, propane, and natural gas are also very energy dense and a typical 2,200-watt inverter generator would be the equal of a 20,000 watt-hour power station storage, using just five gallons of gasoline. Gas generators tend to be far lower in cost as well.

The power station’s strengths come from the ability to be run inside your home with no carbon monoxide risks. That’s a boon for anyone who lives in an apartment, condo, or other place where outdoor space is limited. In stored capacity, the gas generator will win, but access to fuel and safe storage of that fuel can become an issue. This is especially true on an extended outing or during a lengthy outage—in which case you’re better off generating power from solar panel arrays. Fairly minimal maintenance and a minimal learning curve also favor a power station.

How long a power station lasts largely depends on how much power you’re draining from it and how large it is.

The power station spec that’s most important here is the capacity, typically expressed as watt hours. Think of watt hours similar to your car’s capacity for gas. The larger the gas tank, the longer in between fill-ups.

In a power station, a 1,000 watt-hour power station would last roughly one hour if you ran a space heater that constantly consumed 1,000 watts. If you plugged a 100-watt incandescent light bulb into the power station, it would, in theory, last 10 hours. If you plugged in a CPAP device that uses 50 watts, you could potentially see 20 hours of run time.

How long it lasts is largely answered by what you’re running off it as well as other factors such as efficiency and even the age of the power station.

The other important spec is the output wattage the circuit that converts DC to AC power (the inverter) supports. This is also expressed in watts but relates to how much power the power station can provide to what is plugged into it. For example, on a Goal Zero Yeti 1000X, each AC plug is rated for 1,500 watts, or 3,500 watt surge (or momentary spikes). 

This is enough to start or run most things found in a typical home: from a refrigerator or chest freezer to power tools to CPAP devices. Remember, when we refer to “run” this is strictly in reference to what you can run—it doesn’t refer to how long you can run it for. And as we learned earlier, that’s mostly influenced by how much capacity or watt hours that power station has.

One of the primary reasons people own power stations is to keep a refrigerator running so your expensive groceries don’t spoil. Unlike a light bulb that never uses more than its rated wattage, refrigerators have compressors that consume more power when started and then ease back down once started. For example, a refrigerator might use 1,200 watts for less than a second but then mostly consume 150 to 250 watts for the next 45 minutes.

If you’re looking for a power station to run a refrigerator, first you’ll want one with an adequate output on the AC ports to support the surge when it starts. Some very small power stations may only support a surge rating of 500 watts, which isn’t enough. Your refrigerator will typically have a label inside or on back that lists how many amps it requires. If it, for example, says it needs 9.5 amps, you can simply multiply 9.5 amps x 120 volts to roughly determine how many watts it needs to start, which is 1,140 for the example here. Remember it’s just 1,200 watts for a second or two while the compressor motor starts. Most fridges use far less power after the initial start.

The second important spec to look for is capacity or how many watt hours the power station has. This dictates how long the power station can last between charging.

We’d set the floor at no smaller than 1,000 watt hours if you’re intent on running a refrigerator, with a 1,500 or 2,000 watt-hour unit being strongly recommended a if you want to get a full day of use from it. Even then, we’d strongly encourage a plan for charging the power station via solar or by lugging it to an available power source if you’re expecting a longer outage.

The vast majority of power stations today are based on lithium ion batteries, but not all lithium ion batteries are the same. Two popular chemistries today are Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) or Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP). NMC batteries’ main advantage is energy density, which means they can pack more into a smaller size. LFP batteries’ main advantage is in cost (although NMC can also be lower cost), but also lifespan. For example, EcoFlow’s original NMC-based Delta was rated for 800 full power cycles before capacity would drop to 60 percent. EcoFlow’s new LFP-based Delta 2 is rated for 3,000 full cycles before capacity drops to 80 percent.

That’s a huge difference, but it may be a little overkill depending on your use case. Since most power stations sit on a shelf 95 percent of the time, the average use during emergencies or camping trips is likely to keep an NMC battery lasting for years and years of service.

Those who use a battery in a full-time off-the-grid situation, however, will likely want as many full cycles as possible, which a properly built LFP battery can provide.

In the six years since Goal Zero introduced the first lithium-ion portable power station, the competition has exploded with probably a half-dozen “big name” brands and dozens and dozens of unknowns companies all hawking feature-rich, powerful portable stations that all the look the same to the average consumer.

While you probably recognize Goal Zero, Jackery, EcoFlow, and Bluetti, we’re almost certain many of the small brands won’t be on your radar. For many consumers, a confusing list of results on Amazon could give the impression that portable power stations “are all the same.” In some ways, they are indeed. For example, the batteries inside of the units aren’t actually manufactured by even the biggest of the brand-name power station makers. Instead, they are sourced from much larger multi-billion dollar battery companies that make them for everyone from power tool companies to EV car manufacturers as well as other electronics makers.

Since those battery companies make and sell them to everyone, aren’t they all the same? Yes and no. Like all commodity products from diamonds to wood, batteries are also sold in grades. A larger brand may pay for a top-grade battery while a smaller brand may not. That can mean a battery that actually achieves its claimed 3,500+ duty-cycle life in the next 10 years and one that won’t.

Larger brands also offer the promise of better engineering support in their power station design, as well. That can mean everything from the charge circuit, to the cooling and durability of the portable power station in addition to the safety designs.

The rub in buying higher-grade batteries and having more resources for engineering means the company must make more money to cover those costs, which means higher prices. This is where smaller brands are extremely appealing.

For example, a 2,000 watt-hour power station from a larger brand maker may cost you $2,000 while a smaller brand might charge you $1,000. That’s a significant increase in capacity at a significant savings. Smaller brands also benefit from the fact that off-the-shelf parts to make portable power stations are so common today, it’s very easy for small companies to actually make very decent portable power stations while charging significantly less.

One area big-brands lead small brands though is in support. As you know, a warranty is only as good as the company that stands behind it. The odds are that a larger well-funded company will still be around for the next five years versus a small no-name brand that could decide to exit the business after two years.

Ultimately you need to weigh your comfort level against your budget to make a decision, but there are pros and cons to both big and small brands.