Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As mentioned in the literature, this 1800w is achieved by turning the amps up and the volts down. However, in my book, you'd have to maintain something that would mathematically still equal 1800w. Knowing that you use volts times amps to get watts, on the 120 volt inverter you need: 1800w/120v=15a. However, we know we don't get to keep the 120v if we're into the 1800w x-boost output. So let's try some other numbers. 1800w/60v=30a 1800w/30v=60a 1800w/15v=120a. I'm making random examples - this is not telling you that this is exactly what it does. For my unit, I never see more than 600w. I can put a 700w heater on, it never goes over 600w. I'm told that with the adjustment of volts and amps you end up with a number that still never exceeds 600w. Ecoflow does not tell you that it will output what still amounts to 1800w on compatible appliances, which would have been in line with my above random examples. They tell you that it can run some appliances that need 1800w to function. This leaves some room for misinterpretation in my opinion but the end result is ostly the same. It's just that they leave a customer expecting the display to show up to 1800w depending on what's being used and this is never going to happen. voltage and amps don't combine to equal 1800w in these situations. Amps just go up because batteries are good at putting out lots of amps but meanwhile volts drop at the same rate meaning you don't actually get any more power. Amps make some appliances happy however so it works out. To be clear here, I'm not saying the device doesn't deliver what Ecoflow says it does. It's just that they're less thorough about the explanation than they need to be. They do make it clear that only some appliances will work but they don't geek out enough for a customer who would understand it to understand it right up front, not that I am an electrician or anything. What furthermore disappoints me is they do claim a surge of 1200w. I never see that either. It just plain won't feed more than 600w if you go by the numbers on the display or by the readout from a TP Link Kasa KP115 energy monitoring smart plug. In my book, 1200w surge plain and simple means that for a short time, I would have thought at least 3 seconds, it could outright push 1200w, (120v 10a). No it does not do this. With x-boost on, an appliance that does not demand more than 1800w won't trip the River. If that appliance is willing to put up with the power limitation and modification and is actually able to function well enough, it will work out. If it has a voltage requirement that is strict enough or if it just has any soft of safety check it will be the appliance that will trip. You can still trip the River, try to start a 4.6gallon 120v air compressor with it. Yes this is beyond what Ecoflow claims will work. They say that mostly heating elements will work out. I tried a simple hot plate that has a mechanical thermostat on it, no digital anything. It works. A K-Duo won't brew a k-cup, it makes a clicking sound and shuts itself off. The Remington Davinsi will brew a k-cup while powered by the River. It takes longer to get up to temp, and the sound of the water pumps are noticeably slower. My Vornado Velocity 1 can pull either 400w or 700w depending on the knob. At 400w the fan runs at full speed. When you pick 700w the fan slows down. This is because voltage affects rotation speed of a motor. If you try something like this, beware of overheating caused by blower motors not having enough speed. A big 1500w Heat WorX heater that you can no longer buy new will work at its 1500w setting as well as its lower 1000w setting. However, at 1000w this heater decreases the roller fan's speed to cut down on noise. The power limitation combined with that means the roller fan is just bearly going on low causing the Heat WorX to basically overheat. Putting it on high which causes it to try to pull more power by lightning more bulbs nets a safer result because the roller fan pulls more power for itself and will throw enough air out to stop the heater cooking itself before the River's battery conks out. Now, all that having been said, don't buy a battery with the intent of running a heater. It's not practical. You can get a small generator with just enough power to run a zone heater for less, and it can do it as long as you have fuel to put in it. River can push all of its output capacity, 600w, for about: 288wh/600=0.48*0.90(for efficiency loss)=0.43 hours (less than half an hour). If you buy the extra battery or choose the River Pro or River that have extra battery or just plain more capacity to begin with, you'll lose the output at 30 minutes in if Ecoflow's documentation is anything to go by. It says that running in x-boost mode for more than 30 minutes the inverter will temporarily shut down after 30 minutes. Now I guess you could run the Vornado Velocity1 on 400w, which is actually a fairly efficient heat output. That won't be needing X-Boost so a River Pro or River with extra battery can do it for longer. Let's see, for the River with extra battery: 576/400=1.44*0.90(for efficiency loss)=1.296 hours. That River costs you more than the 2500w Champion generator that could do it for more than 30 hours on a 20 pound propane bottle. If I wanted to leave you with one thing, I'd say that for the cost, the River and all other Ecoflow products have more output capability e.g. they can put out more power at any time than most of the competition. But most of Ecoflow's stuff, especially including the regular River has low capacity compared to competition. River has some options, but the options that correct this limitation end up with a product that costs as much or more than other products that have that much output in some examples. River's internal battery is not easily replaced. I do however like the app control, and since I'm blind having the ability to get my phone to read the status out loud is extra useful since I can't just read the screen on the device itself. If I asked Ecoflow to change anything, I'd like to see 4 things. 1. This is kinda specific to blind people like me but the Android app doesn't show the current estimated runtime for the current power draw but the built-in display on the battery does show this. I want the app to show it because that's the only way I have access to this info. I can't imagine people who can see would have any objection to being able to read the current runtime from the app either. 2. The charge level for the internal battery in the Android app is only available if you back out of the page for the River itself and view it next to the name of the River on the main page of the app. I'd like to see this data shown along with the input and output power draws and such after I tap on the River in the app without needing to go back and forth. 3. Needing to be on a WiFi network to connect to the River seems silly especially when the Android app complains at me if I launch it with Bluetooth disabled on my phone. Apparently the River can do Bluetooth. Why can't we have the ability to ditch the whole iot mode thing and just be able to view status of River with only Bluetooth if we're using this device on the go which let's face it being portable is one of the primary reasons to own such a device. Yes I know I need to be close to River for Bluetooth, but I really would like to have that option. Much of the time I'll be traveling with the Ruiver powering a car freezer. Being able to just use Bluetooth to monitor it will make things so much simpler especially since IOT mode isn't worknig on my unit for some reason. When I turn it on I can't connect to it, even if I set up a second device in the app for the purpose and manually join the WiFi network on my phone and have the don't ask again checkbox checked for the "connect to this network in spite that it doesn't have any internet going to it?" prompt. 4. more than 600w continuous output. This device is a good buy because it can run things that no other power bank at this price range can. I'd like to see them try to push it further. I wish I could have ran a decent sized air compressor with this little box. It would be handy for filling up a tractor tire without having to take said tire off, if it went flat while way back on the hill and such. For one thing, this device claims in no uncertain terms that it has 1200w surge. In my experience, no it certainly does not. It's 600w flat.