Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Update July 2022: EcoFlow promised that they would add a "tourist mode" (that's what they called it) to allow the unit to be paired with a phone without requiring sign-in to the app. That was last year. There have been lots of app updates, but I haven't heard a word from EcoFlow. They also said that future app updates would not result in the app being signed out - WRONG. Almost every update, the app ends up in the signed out state. I went off-grid a few days ago, and went to launch the app... surprise! It's signed out. And the unit was stuck on Slow Charge, and I had no way to change it. Meanwhile, they seem to have lots of time to develop new products. But no time to fix broken products. I think all EcoFlow cares about is making money. Update 8-12-21: So I went camping where there is no service; the app was updated on my phone prior to going on the trip. At my destination, opened the app find it was logged out due to the update. With no service, the app couldn't be launched. EcoFlow, please fix this. I bought this for off-grid use, such as camping in the middle of nowhere. But, this requires internet. Yes, you read that correctly. Some of the features are ONLY in the app, and the app REQUIRES internet. And it requires you to have it connected to their servers. That's ridiculous - this is a battery pack. Who designs a battery pack that needs to connect to a corporate server? It's just a BATTERY. They could have easily put ALL the features in the main control panel, and added "remote" features to the app. If they did that, it would be fine. A sticker on the unit says "X-Boost must be turned off in the EcoFlow app" to turn on the AC power. So I'm in the middle of nowhere, with no internet, and what, now I can't turn on the AC output? Because I have no internet. Totally bad engineering. Just for the total fail with the app, which is super disappointing, I do not recommend this. Now if you think that you'll be "connected" 24/7, then here's my take on the rest of it. It charges very quickly. Mine was 30% charged out of the box. Plugged in to wall, it reached 97% in an hour. Ten minutes later it was at 100%. With two 100 watt solar panes (that actually output 100 watts), wired in parallel, I was able to charge at a rate of 190 watts; of course solar output will vary during the day, but I was easily able to charge it from 10% to 100% in about 4 hours. Car charging was slower, but that's just due to to the limitation of most 12v sockets which typically can only provide around 10 amps (about 120 watts). AC output voltage is accurate and steady at 120v, frequency measures exactly 60.0 Hz. On an oscilloscope, output is a clean sine wave with negligible noise. The AC output is ungrounded, or what some people call a "floating" ground. The neutral is not bonded to the chassis. For general use, this is ok, and does not present a hazard. Make sure you do NOT ground this unit under normal use, or you will create a shock hazard. Despite not having a ground circuit, you can still use a portable GFCI for additional protection, and it will work correctly. Now about X-Boost - it's marketing deception. This unit will provide 600 watts. PERIOD. That's all. No more. It will support a very short 1200 watt surge, only a fraction of second, which will allow *some* devices that draw under 600 watts to start, such as those with capacitive start motors. Again, it will NOT give you over 600 watts of running power. Ever. So what does it do? It simply drops the voltage, and you get a resulting current drop. Example: your hair dryer uses 400 watts on Low, you plug it in, it works fine. You want to use your hair dryer on High, which draws 1200 watts, so you turn on X-Boost. What you get is 600 watts of low voltage, low current to your hair dryer - it runs slow, and only gives less than 600 watts of heat. DC open circuit voltage is 13.57, which is appropriate for almost all "12 volt" devices, and will prevent some devices from shutting down from sensing a "low battery." For example, many portable refrigerators have a battery saver, and will shut off above 12.0 volts (mine shuts off at 12.1). All the ports charge as expected - USB, USB-C, etc. Run time at the C5 rate is as advertised. If you use higher powered devices, expect a correspondingly shorter run time, which is completely normal. The display is easy to read, but could be much better. For one, it's blue. I hate blue. It's trendy, and looks gimmicky. It would be much more practical with a green/red backlit LCD, which can be read in bright sunlight and total darkness. Useful info is missing, such as voltage. However, there's enough generic info to tell you when it's about to go dead. The built-in light is kind of weird. What's really needed is panel lighting so you can see the ports at night, not a arbitrarily placed flashlight. I have tons of flashlights, I don't need an 18 pound light that barely illuminates anything. The display shows 1w and 3w of power for Low and High respectively. I measured about 30 lumens on low, 100 on high and SOS. The beam is a sickly blue and green combo of hot spot and concentric rings, not that great. It's mostly a "last resort" kind of thing. I covered it with a diffuser, and it's way more useful. Summary: 5 stars for the power circuit / battery, size, form factor. 4 stars for general usability. 0 stars for adding an app and trying to make a battery into something it will never be. UPDATE: I bought the extra battery, here's my thoughts on that. It's basically just a big chunk of battery with a handle, and like the primary unit, it's fairly light weight and easy to carry. There's a 5-segment charge level indicator, and a over/under temp indicator light. The power switch will turn on both units when they are connected. Other than that, there are no other features, and it is simple and easy to use. After testing with various loads, I found run time to be as advertised. Combined with the River Pro, you've got 1400+ WH of power - very nice. Now for my gripe - the connector. EcoFlow literally used a connector from the 1950's that is not designed for power transfer. They even used an old design, with plastic thumbscrews that are difficult to grab, and difficult to use. There are so many other, better power connectors on the market, I can only think that they chose these to save money, which was a bad choice. ZERO stars for the connector, 5 stars for the overall design of the battery pack.