EF ECOFLOW Portable Power Station River 600, 288Wh Backup Lithium Battery with 3 600W (Peak 1800W) AC Outlets & LED Flashlight, Clean & Silent Solar G…

I was on an important Zoom call this afternoon when we lost power due to a severe thunderstorm. Thankfully, I had bought one of these EcoFlow River 600 Power Stations a week before, and had already fully charged it up to perform some testing of it. What better test than to put it in a real world situation! In less than 5 minutes I was able to connect my computer, monitor, and networking equipment up to this power station and jump back on the Zoom call, which lasted another 45 minutes or so. My entire team was impressed with how quickly I was able to re-join as if nothing happened. If I had thought ahead (with the advanced knowledge of the severe thunderstorm warning) I could have pre-configured this to act as a UPS, and I wouldn’t have gone down at all.

As to the specifics of the power station itself, I am highly impressed. The first thing that impressed me is how fast this power station charges. I plugged it in with the included AC cord (standard IEC cord) and it was fully charged barely an hour later! I love that it can be recharged so fast with just an AC cord, no separate power supply required. I haven’t tried DC/solar charging yet, but I love having that option as well, and love that it uses a standard XT60 plug in case I need to create my own charging cables for any reason. The included charging cables (Solar/Car) seem to be of high quality 14 AWG wire (although not the super flexible silicone wire).

The other thing that impressed me is how smooth the AC output power is. This is an impressive inverter, that no only produces a true sine wave, but also has the ability to power heavier appliances than would normally be possible. My desktop computer seems to like this pure sign wave power much better than the modified sine wave inverter that my previous DIY power station produces.

The Smart app was easy to install (listed on the Google Play Store) and connect. It required holding down the IOT reset button for a few seconds and then connecting my phone to the presented WiFi signal so the app could configure the River 600 to connect into my home network. Once connected to my home network the app presented with all sorts of monitoring data and control options. Pretty much anything (and then some) that can be viewed or done on the unit itself can be viewed or changed in the app.

I also love the light weight and portability of this device, with its convenient carrying handle and durable exterior. I can easily see bringing this along on various trips to use as a central power hub for recharging various devices and powering small appliances. The run-time is highly dependent on what kind of power is being drawn by the devices/appliances, but is pretty reasonable for something this size/weight. I am contemplating getting the extra batter to double the runtime. I really like that informative display that shows at a glance the current charge %, hours/minutes remaining for charge or discharge, and incoming/outgoing power draw.

One other feature worth mentioning is the DC output ports seem to be regulated to behave like a true vehicle’s alternator. So, instead of just outputting whatever the internal battery voltage is at, it outputs around 13.6V at all times. This is very helpful for running certain external appliances that are tuned for normal car DC voltages that prefer more than the nominal 12V.

So far the only potential issue I have with this power station is the fan noise that is audible whenever the unit is charging or the AC inverter is turned on. It seems to run at full speed regardless of charge/discharge current, even when I turned on the quiet mode in the app. Possibly something is wrong with my particular unit, but that may be something to keep in mind if expecting super quiet operation.

Overall, I am really happy with this power station, and think that everyone should consider getting one for emergencies and convenience.