Why I won't buy another portable power station if it doesn't have this useful feature

Why I won’t buy another portable power station if it doesn’t have this useful feature

Follow ZDNET:Add us as a preferred source has been with me on many an adventure, including on a UFO hunt to Rendlesham Forest, the location ofBritain’s own Roswell UFO incident. And this has a few tricks up its sleeve. The RIVER 3 Plus is a portable power station with 286Wh of capacity that measures 9.2…

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Follow ZDNET:Add us as a preferred source has been with me on many an adventure, including on a UFO hunt to Rendlesham Forest, the location ofBritain’s own Roswell UFO incident. And this has a few tricks up its sleeve.

The RIVER 3 Plus is a portable power station with 286Wh of capacity that measures 9.2 × 9.1 × 5.8 inches and weighs 10.4 pounds. It has three AC outlets — one on the front, two on the rear — good for 600W continuous load and a surge load of up to 1,200W. That power capacity is smaller than the 768Wh of the RIVER 2 Pro, but it’s also almost 7 pounds lighter.

The unit also features a tough yet comfortable handle on the back for ease of moving.

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The batteries are automotive-grade LiFePO4 cells designed to last 3,000 recharge cycles — which is around 10 years of everyday use — before their capacity drops to 80%.

The cells are protected to IP54 standards (protected against a limited amount of dust and water splashes from any direction), and the shell of the unit is made from a fire-retardant polymer designed to survive a 3-foot/1.5-meter drop.

It’s also got one 100W USB-C port, two 24W USB-A ports, and a 12V car outlet.

The ports on the rear are covered by a flap.

The ports on the rear are covered by a flap.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

You get options when it comes to charging the unit. Using the grid, you can go from zero to 100% in an hour, solar using the XT60 can be as quick as 90 minutes, and car charging can take around three and a half hours.

Also:Why I travel with 3 different portable power stations (and can’t get out of the habit)

But there’s more to the River 3 Plus. On the underside, there’s a port that allows it to be attached to expansion batteries — the 286Wh capacity EB300 (currently with 24% off and is yours for $418) — and this is what allows the River 3 Plus to become a bigger power station.

As well as offering a massive energy boost, the expansion battery has a 140W USB-C port that can be used to power devices and charge the expansion battery (a process that takes 7 hours).

The cooling fan is super quiet when it kicks in.

The cooling fan is super quiet when it kicks in.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

ZDNET’s buying advice

I review a lot of power stations in a year, but the EcoFlow River 3 Plus

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