We have used the ru-vid.comUgkxOTeIs0vv4_9B5hsmnLsk9r930uDQLu_Y for probably 30 hours with our camper and it’s been great! The noise level is really only noticeable when running the AC and other appliances like the microwave, hair dryer, or coffee pot. It’s not huge like other ones and it has wheels so even at 90lbs, I can move it!
By far the best review of this battery system on RU-vid. You really hit all the bullet points! I ordered one this week and was a little nervous about the no return policy, this review has me feeling very good about my decision and helps me understand the strengths and limitations of the pack. Thank you!
@@frediventure3 The standard River has a much smaller battery (288 vs. 720wh), has a smaller expansion battery (576 vs. 720wh), slower wall charging, etc. I'd go with the Pro or Delta Mini over these older products
@@todd.parker thank you so much really aporeciate your quick reply. One more queation tho. Im planning to buy a protable ref freezer. Alpicool which is about 45watts do u know how long i could run it with river pro? Tnk u so much man. Your review is is amazing. Good luck to you🤗
Much appreciated this review! Confirms my confidence in my choice. I originally picked up one of the Duracell 660 units and couldn’t return it fast enough! My wife couldn’t even budge it! I just ordered one of these. I am still waiting for FedEx to get their act together and deliver it. Great customer service from ECOFLOW though. No extra battery yet, but most likely will add this on before next winter storm season. However I gave it some thought and I think the connection cable for the 2 units is probably that way for 3 reasons: 1- stiff cable is more resistant to repeated flexing and damage to internal wire strands 2- size of cable (diameter) is to avoid power loss 3- length of cable allows you to carry both units while walking with one in each hand without tripping yourself or hindering your stride
Considering the location of the plug, I think they should make another cable with a 90 degree out sitting flush with the body of main unit. The way it is right now, I am scared one could easily hit or tug on it and cause it to break internally.
We were hovering between Bluetti EB70 and EcoFlow River Pro. Went for the River Pro primarily for the internal charger where-as bluetti had a noisy external power brick. Fastcharge is also a good feature. This review really helped us getting a good view of the EcoFlow product. We're getting the EU version with 2x230V tho :)
Thank You for what you do. I have seen a number of reviews and all seem to say what you did. So, I bought the River Pro. I wanted a mid-size unit, and for the price and fetches, this is the best.
Perfect timing. I have been considering this River Pro. Was originally wanting the Yeti 1000x but they never came out with that model, instead they go right up to 1500 and a much higher price than I wanted to pay. So been wanting something more along the lines with this model. I am watching the video now but hoping you review it to run a full-size fridge.
It ran my full sized fridge but will only run it for about 12 hours with the expansion battery, maybe 16 if your fridge is more efficient than mine. I really like the River Pro, good stuff.
An update: Goal Zero released a 1000 Core exclusive to Amazon that looks interesting. I'm working on getting. review unit. www.amazon.com/Goal-Zero-Generator-Tailgating-Emergency/dp/B0988916ZK/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=yeti%2B1000%2Bcore&qid=1628701071&sr=8-2&th=1
Thanks for a great review, Todd. I have learnt a lot and just purchased my River Pro. My first time using the Solar panel was a bit of a surprise in that, even it started to collect the sun energy immediately, as shown in the Input watts on the display, there was no increase in the total stored energy % . In fact, it has gone down from 51% to 47%. It is possible that my sun capture was not too high, @36% input only. Just wonder if I have done something incorrectly and thus not will never achieve any benefits from this green energy. Knowing I can make use of the sun's energy is exciting, just need to do it right to make it worth the time too. Your comments are appreciated.
Huh, that seems odd. So you were getting 36w of solar input and the state of charge dropped 4%? Did you have anything connected to the AC, DC, or USB ports that was draining the battery as you charged it? That would explain the losses if the sola input was less than the output.
Extremely well done. I am in the market for a unit that I can use overlanding while being a decent backup at home during short outages. Thank you for this review.
Dude, trust me, this is absolutely EXACTLY what you are looking for. It will not disappoint on either front. Though, when overlanding, I do bring my 160 Watt Eco Flow solar panel set-up (the best in the business, by the way) and my slightly older Renergy 300 solar battery, just in case.
Great review. I really like my River pro. I don't have the expansion battery but I converted two 400 watt scooter batteries that I use to back up all my small solar gens and it's way cheaper ($90 total for used batteries, charger, connectors and special "dongle"). Not as pretty but saves $300 and I get an extra 100 watts.
I'd be curious to see what you did there. I though connecting lithium batteries of different sizes/voltages was tricky to pull off. I think that's why Goal Zero went with lead acid (boo).
Really informative video. I’ve just ordered this eco flow unit will extra battery. With proposed power blackouts in the UK and Europe this winter I think it’s going to come in handy.
Luckily I bought this unit 2 days before I saw this post and video..so glad I watched it as it confirmed my choice. By far the best review I've seen and I understood all of it as I'm not a high tech person. Delta was my second choice but seemed for my needs this one was better and cheaper even after buying the expansion battery. And at $399.99. I can afford more expansion batteries as needed to survive longer days of uncertainty. Very well put together. Thank you
Months later are you still enjoying it? Researching this thing and mostly just coming across promo reviews where someone was sent one but little follow up or someone using it regularly.
@@bucky716 yes, works perfectly. Its very portable and has enough power for what I'm using it for. Ego generator is what I'm using for my heavy backup. But I have 15 batteries to keep it running. It just has a slow recharge time otherwise I'd give it a higher rating. You won't go wrong with this choice, because you will need a fast solar charge to be ready for the next day without power
I got a River Pro when they first came out on Kickstarter and got delivery in January. February in Texas saw us get hit with a snow/ice storm and this thing saved my butt. They had rolling blackouts where we got power only for a couple of hours at time and then off for 10 yours. That means with this supercharging unit, I could get fully charged before the electricity would shut off for another 10 hours. I had only wished they had a more powerful inverter. Come to find out, they are putting out a Delta Pro which will be the high end. I'm all in.
I just bought the River and the Delta. They will be used for emergency power so the lower amt cycles won't be an issue. I also got both for just over $1960 including one 160w solar panel.
I have a Bluetti AC50S, a EcoFlow River Pro, plus a Jackery Explorer_1000 which is really good!.. but far away the EcoFlow River Pro is the more advanced in every aspect. I love it! 👍
Your speaking ability is worth commenting on, first of all.😁 I love to hear such well spoken narration over an interesting video. Thank you for this great video. 🌥️
I pulled the trigger and ordered the Ecoflow River Pro and extra battery. As I was undecided about the solar panel to buy, I am now researching that deeper. I liked the 160w Ecoflow but seems amiss to lose that 40w on the table since the River Pro can handle 200w total from solar. I want to get as close to that as I can. I am considering the Goal Zero Nomad 200 or the Bluetti SP200 200W Solar Panels. I still lose a tad since neither will give me a full 200 but closer than the 160w panel would from Ecoflow. Now to just decipher what connectors come with each. I think the Goal Zero has an Anderson connector or HPP and the Bluetti has the MC4. Something tells me the Ecoflow River Pro comes with a MC4 to XT60 adapter already? Maybe that will allow me to connect directly with that one. Goal Zero I guess I need an Anderson to XT60 adapter.
The Ecoflow includes the MC4 cable so you just need panels that you can adapt to that. You can also easily parallel connect a pair of panels, like two 120w to get there
Hi, today I got my additional battery and - of course - I had the same problem with the arrangement and this stiff cable. So here's my solution: I took off those little plastic caps on the four sides of the grip of the main unit. Unscrew them and deinstalled the grip. Afterwards screw them in again. They will fit even without the grip. So here you have now a nice platform to stack the additional battery on top of the main appliance. Looks good for me now. The cable is "a little bit" to long but it hides behind the stack.
Did you have issue with the external battery not being seen by the main unit? I just ordered this package from Costco and found a few videos that show that issue. It seems it's isolated to Costco purchases. The way I see it all the ones from Costco have older firmware which could be the issue
@@DoritosResidue i bought mine thru amazon, so no issues. But i updated the firmware before i plugged the external battery. Then every couple of months i upgrade firmware if needed.
First time on your channel. What a thorough review! I feel like I got a really close-up look at the Eco-Flow system. It looks like a really well thought out and engineered system. You took a lot of time reviewing all the key features. Nice production work on the video, great camera work and solid audio, something that others on RU-vid struggle disregard. Looking forward to watching more videos from your channel, Todd. Thank you.
Thank you so much, that’s really nice to hear. I do like to show the details and get a bit more close up so you can feel what it’s like. Also, I hate being on camera. I’m working on an Ecoflow’s Delta Max review as we speak so be sure to subscribe if interested.
Very helpful. Just beginning to outfit for overlanding and just dying with so many options. Thank you!! For my needs, this is going to be ideal, I think.
Thank you for the great review Todd! I'm seriously considering this product and only concerned whether it would have enough power for a Keurig k-mini plus which requires 1470W only during the heating cycle. My guess is with the x-boost it would handle it. Thoughts?
I actually don't think this will power that. The inverter is rated at 600W (Surge 1200W) total and in my tests it could handle up to ~700w for shorter periods and it will definitely trip at 1,400w. XBOOST is a bit misleading because it's still limited by the inverter's total power (600W) but it reduces the voltage to try and deliver more amperage so to handle that much power, it would be outputting around 50v and nothing will run at that level. Most appliances don't function well when it starts dropping below 100-110v and it can damage electronics. I'd suggest looking at the Delta 2 so you can run "real" appliances like the Keurig.
Excellent review in great detail. Was wondering in due time when the internal battery goes bad and needs a replacement. Can you just buy a new battery and swap it out or is this battery sealed inside the unit just wondering thank you in advance
Unfortunately I don' think any lithium power stations make it easy to swap battery packs because they tend to have unique cell configurations with the BMS closely matched to them. That's why I like to recommend LFP battery units now because they have a longer lifespan
This is a great review. I received my River Pro and extra battery this morning along with the 160 solar panel. I never was able to connect the extra battery, nor was I able to use the app. After a couple calls to Ecoflow, they admitted that there was a problem getting the main unit to recognize the extra battery. I was told I needed to upgrade the software but because I could never get the app to work, there was no way to get the units to work together. You should never be able to do more with the app than the main unit. This all goes back to Costco in the morning.
Great clear review and comparisons. The only thing I didn’t see you cover was cycle counts. Is there any way to know if the faster charging will decrease the unit’s lifespan? (Or do all lithium batteries pretty much do the same thing?)
I used to get hung up on cycle counts but I’ve come to realize that each company rates their cycles differently so it’s hard to compare. All these are lithium ion chemistry so I think they are roughly the same though battery quality will also contribute but that data is hard to come by. To maximize life just don’t cycle them too deeply and don’t fill them to 100%. I’m a fan of LiFePO4 because they offer much longer battery life and are safer but are a bit heavier.
Thank you very much for this review. You gave a lot of valuable technical information. My only nitpick is that the "wild display activity" during the heat gun test was probably the unit reacting poorly to the heat gun's power control circuitry. You probably can't get a proper load above 600w without triggering its surge/overload system. The reason the heat gun could run at such high power was because it was constantly going into and out of its surge algo, but never "timing out". This is probably bad for the unit. This is why the space heater couldn't run without the "x-boost" trickery enabled. Also, it is valuable to know that the companion application, at least according to the top Amazon one-star review, DOES NOT WORK if you do not have cell service. This is a significant problem for a product whose major use case is to be taken out into the sticks where the comforts of civilization might not follow, or when the comforts of civilization have failed you. Fortunately its basic functionality remains functional via the front panel, but losing the ability to configure the X- modes could become a problem. I plan to buy one, and personally will leave the fast charger disabled unless I want to take it on the go, where I will want to optimize my time with a gas generator running or when I have limited access to "shore" power. I'll also probably leave the voltage trickery feature enabled, as I want to see how it'll work with a 700w microwave oven. There is one last neat feature it supports according to the manual: UPS mode. If you turn on the AC outlets while plugged in, it'll shunt the incoming power to the outlets. Then if the incoming power goes out, it'll (after a ~30ms delay) start up its inverter and run your device on battery.
Any updates after owning this? The required cell service for app seems odd. Some versions of android require bluetooth to be used with location on. This might be the confusion? Otherwise bluetooth connection shouldn't require cell service. Or even Wi-Fi direct. Any update on this? Thanks.
This is $579 now on Amazon. BTW, X-Boost lowers the voltage output, which is fine for heaters, toasters, etc. But not for sensitive electronics. It would be nice if they put the expansion battery hookup in the same place as the main unit too.
542WHR from the AC inverter seems pretty low, Hobotech got 640WHR from the Bluetti EB70 AC inverter. This might sway my decision as that's 15% more capacity from the Bluetti.
I think both are good options. The biggest benefit of the EB70 is the LFP battery. The Ecoflow’s fast charging, better display, app, and the expansion are worth considering though.
The river pro is perfect for a one handed, lightweight unit that is good for medium sized appliances. If you need to run larger AC appliances you should go with the Delta Mini or Max.
Excellent review - thank you so much for all of the info provided. I do have one question. How does the fan noise compare to other generators? I've seen another review of this product where it sounded like maybe the fan noise was quite noticeable. But maybe that was just the guy's environment? I'm hoping to buy a generator to run and change multiple small devises - laptops, phone, monitor.. but I don't want a loud distracting fan noise. Thanks again!
Fans are pretty quiet and you only hear them under high loads or fast charging, otherwise it’s silent. Similar to a Goal Zero. Charger is much quieter than the Bluetti because it has a loud fan on the power brick that never shuts off plus the internal fans.
@@todd.parker thanks for the quick reply, our power has been unreliable lately. I have a 6000 watt gas generator but a solar would be nice too. Thought about buying a small quiet Honda gas generator but they are pricey for what you get. I like your Apple analogy for the generators.
Can the Pro charge the extra battery on its own? That way you’ll just take the main unit and leave the extra battery at the camp site. Hope to get a reply soon. Nice review!
Thanks for this video, Todd. I don't think I saw you comment on whether or not the River Pro can charge simultaneously via AC and solar. Do you know if that is possible? Thank you!
No. In fact, even a very large unit like the Delta Pro can only add a few miles of range to a car. For reference, the River Pro holds 0.7kwh of energy and I think even a small electric car like the Bolt is 65khw. I think even a basic level 1 charger needs 15-20A or 1,500w+ so the inverter in this couldn't run it and if it could, it would add enough energy to make a difference, maybe just a mile or two of range
We have the river max and love it it’s perfect for a weekend of camping , we used to on Saturday charge it in the suv while we ran to gas station or to get firewood but I recently picked up the 110w solar panel for it so I can’t wait to try it in the spring with that
Hi todd. I usually leave my charge at about 70 80% for storage. Would it hurt the batteries if i top it off to a 100 if ill be using it the nxt day? How low can i drain the power? Tnk u so much More power to your channel💪😊
This comment may be too old to be noticed... but I contacted ecoflow and they said if a River Pro had more than 200 W of solar coming in, it would shut off for safety. But your video shows it just maxex at 200 W?
My understanding is if there was a too much power (amps) it will just not use that power and max out. I don’t think it shuts down unless you exceed the voltage then all kinds of bad things can happen
Thank you for info. Had a portable lead acid unit that I gave away to a recycling concern. For home use most draw would be the expresso machine in early am. Am single with scant knowledge of electricity. My Toyota battery failed, at seven yrs old. Had to "jump start" and bought a new one. Will probably get one anyway as a backup for infrequent power outages.
Hey Todd. I reached out to Ecoflow regarding solar panel max wattage, voltage, etc and got a canned response that wasn't very helpful, so I was hoping to get your opinion. I just picked up the river pro and battery, and I was thinking about grabbing a single 250 watt 24v solar panel to use with my minivan, and based on my understanding that the River pro can only handle 12A max, the math 250w/24v clocks in at 10.416 amps and this should be ok to use, and based on your video whatever power I get will likely be hard limited at 200 watt. Does that sound like an ideal panel, or is it better to go with two smaller panels? I'm very new to this so I am being cautious, but my assumption was since you rarely get full wattage out of a panel anyway going for the 250 and letting the device limit would get me the best results.
I think that sounds like a great setup. You’re lucky to get 80% of rated output under ideal conditions, even lower if mounted flat on a roof so I think you’ll be fine. One vs. 2 panels is up to you but one might be less to mount
Great review! Thanks. How many watts is the Vornado heater? I have a small Duracraft heater with a thermostat that ranges from 800 - 1500 watts. Wondering if it could run on the lowest setting?
Problem with the heatgun is that its feeding back exzess energy so its clear why the power meter jumps around. In my house the light flickers if i use the heatgun not in the max power settings.
I have the Ecoflow River Pro. My issue is the extra battery being out of stock since I bought the River Pro 5 months ago. Any recommendations, or can I add on with a River mini or another River pro for extra power? I do not have a solar panel either so Im curious on using an alternative other than ecoflow if possible
Not sure if you timed more of the full-size fridge use but would love to know how many hours the River Pro with an external battery can power it for. My hope is to buy this exact set and via a 200 to 300-watt solar panel, keep a full-size fridge running for days. My fridge runs at 135watts during normal use and I figure a 200-watt solar panel should keep the River Pro at 100 during the day and then when the sun goes, the battery needs to power the fridge all night until the sun comes back the next day. My guess the River Pro alone should run at least 5 to 7 hours and another 5 to 7 from the external battery. If it can do 12 to 15 hours and I can juice the batteries up all day, maybe have endless fridge running when we lose power for 3 days.
I ran my fridge for about 4 hours and it was around 40% when I finished so I think ~6 hours is a good guess or 12 hours with the external battery. A 200 watt panel will realistically give you ~160 watts on a sunny day and you have 5-6 hours of useful light = 960 watt hours of power at best which means you won't be able to recharge this in one day, let alone run the fridge at the same time. If this uses 135w/h x 24h = 3,240wh/day so I think you'd need a much larger battery and at least double the solar to keep it going assuming sunny days. For off grid, you kind of want to have 2-3 days of power in case there is bad weather so having comfortable margins is good.
@@todd.parker Can I use more solar panels instead? I did a watt meter on my fridge all last summer... daily use was around average 2100wh/day for mine. Sometimes less, sometimes more. How much watts from Solar can the River Pro take? Maybe adding more solar can keep the fridge running and get the battery charged up to. I also have the Ryobi/Baja 700watt Propane, like you own, for cloudy days or if the River Pro can take 2 inputs, wonder if I can be doing solar and propane (120v from it) to charge River Pro quicker so it can handle the night load by itself.
You could definitely keep this going with the propane generator running for a few hours a day. The solar is limited to 200w max but if you ran the generator for 3 hours, it would get it back to full so you'd probably get by with solar + 3 hours of generator time per day if sunny. Keep in mind that this is 600w/1000peak so if you have an older fridge with larger surges, it may not work but I tested a very large fridge that is newer and it ran it fine.
@@todd.parker Yeh I went to Ecoflow website and see 200 max or they say qty 2 110w panels. That teamed with my Baja Propane I think I could input both at the same time for a semi-fast charge and may be able to make it happen. I may have to check one day to see if my fridge could run off the Baja even during surge to offer me glimpse into if this can work for me or not. Thanks for the help!
@Kam Will Yep. The nice thing is this seems to simply ignore the extra input instead of tripping an overload. They did a good job with limiting the car charger input as well, smart design.
Thanks for the review. Have you tested the efficiency of the unit? I have a River Pro + extra battery (1440wh total), I tried it with a 8w LED bulb ran for 12 hours (8w X 12 hrs = 96wh), however the unit shows 83% energy left (245wh consumed). I am wondering if anyone else is getting the same poor efficiency?
Thank you for a great review. If you combine with an expansion battery, does it handle a higher peak surge wattage? Meaning can it handle 1200 W x 2 (peak surge)? Or is the peak wattage limit still the same?
Great review that caught my attention. Been using Goal Zero from almost their beginning are made local and have wonderful customer service but since COVID thins different. Have old 350 battery which is now dead. Looking to replace. Have Goal Zero 150x2 & 1000 Yeti. But wife wants mid size. Have many Goal Zero solar panels, 20x2 and 8 hard panel Boulder 30s. Will these work? Does your review battery need to plugged in when not in use as Goal Zeros do? Paid $750 for old unit.
Your GZ panels will work with any solar generator, it's just a matter of getting the right adapter cables and keeping the voltage within the limits of the unit. For the Ecoflow, it' probably easiest to convert the 8mm panels to MC4, then connect them via the included MC4 cable. If you go with a Bluetti EB70, another good choice, it uses an 8mm input so you can just connect these directly. www.bluettipower.com/products/bluetti-eb70-716wh-700w-portable-power-station
Todd, if you needed to choose between the Ecoflow Delta, or the Ecoflow River Pro with the extra battery, which would you choose for home use? Talking simple battery back up for a CPAP and other comparable uses. But, may also be used to help power tools or a portable fridge/cooler for weekends out of the house. Thank you.
Since they are both similar prices, I might go for the Delta because the inverter is so much more powerful and it’s one box. Both would run that size appliance though.
*UPDATE LATE DEC 2022: I'm very happy with my River 600 purchase overall. I initially purchased only the River 600 unit itself, but found the battery drain rate unacceptably fast. 👎🏻 I then purchased the upgradable battery, which EcoFlow calls the "MAX" battery option, and I found this greatly improved my running time by doubling my battery capacity to 576 WHrs. The only two negatives I found is the horrible issues with being unable to properly configure the River 600 with the EcoFlow App to run online, to be able to perform any firmware upgrades ! This has been an enormously frustrating issue ! EcoFlow has upgraded its phone app several times, and during this period I have experienced the ability to properly configure my River 600 to do firmware updates with some versions of the app only to loose that ability with other, newer versions once again ! The firmware updates have greatly improved the unit to drain much more slowly and to have a quieter running internal fan blower for cooling. In retrospect, I think I should have purchased the 700 WHr "PRO" version of the River 600 from the get go. The larger battery capacity of the Pro version, along with its external battery option is a much better economy of operation then the "MAX" version I have. WARNING !: Be very careful of using the X-Boost Mode. The way this works is it ups the current and lowers the overall voltage down from your AC devices to as low as 85 Volts AC from spec 120 Volts AC to make this 600 Watt Solar Generator power an 1800 Watt AC device plugged into it. The problem, specifically, is that many devices do not function properly, and were not designed to operate this far out of standard AC Voltage specification. If you plug a big desktop PC, or a magnetic resonance cooktop into this solar genny in X-Boost mode, and there's a circuit which contains an ICC (Integrated Circuit Chip) in the device you have plugged into the AC inverter on the River 600, then this chip gets underpowered to make it run and you stand a good chance of frying the device you're powering completely ! I would suggest you only use X-Boost Mode for heaters, hair dryers, drills, but NOT computers, microwaves, refrigerators with compressors, or air conditioners, as these devices will run red hot and fry if they're underpowered and over currented. Turn off X-Boost mode when you plug in fine electronics into the AC inverter side of your River 600 series solar generator. In so doing, you may hit the 600 Watt operational limit sometimes, but you will avoid damaging your fine electronic AC devices.*
HELP PLEASE, i love your videos very clean and informative. I have a problem with my River Pro, when i try to charge from cigarette lighter. It shows like 15,20,35 watts then drops to 0. after two seconds, it it starts and drops again. its not charging my unit. My source is about 13,6 volts.
I've got a low wattage electric heater that this can power. Also got an electric blanket with a car cigarette plug on it, one for the vehicle and one at home for emergencies.
When comparing it to Blueetti for me big downside for me is I need at least 30v input for my solar panels. Which even my blueeti 50s is capable of. Also comparing cycle life of the bluettis that is a big plus for the blueetti. But you did a good job showing the other advantages this unit has. Too bad for me this unit don't work
Great video. When you were running your refrigerator, was that in normal or X-Boost mode? Also, you mentioned "resistive heat." Not an electronics guy here, what does that mean when running a refrigerator vs a heat gun? I get the heat gun but is the refrigerator equal resistive heat? Thanks.
I had X-Boost off unless I was testing the feature because I wasn’t sure how unhappy it would make certain appliances so it ran my fridge ok with it off. Resistive heat would be a space heater, hair dryer, heat gun, etc. The fridge isn’t resistive, it’s inductive and the main challenge there is there is a brief peak when the compressor kicks on but it handled it fine.
Hi Todd, Great video thanks alot for the detailed information. Im thinking of purchasing one very soon. Do you believe it could power a bread maker machine with max 550w ?
@@todd.parker sounds great. I'm not very tech savvy but your videos have helped me alot to understand the basic functions. I'm in South Australia so we get alot of sun throughout the year, the 220w solar bifacial panel will work great with the 720 generator. Thanks again still got alot of your videos to watch. 👍
About the add on battery...... how is a $400 battery any better than using a spare car battery. Seems as the $400 EF battery is about 60 amp hours. A car battery of that size is less than $100. The spare car battery can power the EF and do other things too. What am I missing? Looks cool? Matches the Solar Gen?
A few things. A typical car battery is lead acid chemistry which is cheaper but will wear out faster and can only be discharged to ~50% so the capacity is half what the aH make it seem like. They are also super heavy. You can’t mix battery chemistries so you can’t just hook up a lead acid cell to this, you can only use the extra battery. It’s cool to have but you might be better off with a smaller Delta if you need more capacity. If you want a cheap way to extend the capacity, you can use any 12v car battery and hook the car adapter up that via ring terminals to a female cigarette adapter to pull 100w to the River Pro. To charge it, you’d need to use an external battery charger
Mine is out of warranty and I want to bump up to the Larger River 2 for its replacement, now what can I do with the extra battery while I wait to find a good deal on a used River Pro.
Thanks so much for the wonderful video! Lots of great, useful info and your delivery is smooth as butter! I was wondering what the advantage is of getting this setup vs. the Delta. In our use case, the grid is to the point where we have rolling blackouts every year. I’m not looking to power everything when we lose power. Instead, we’ll transfer the most important food and meds to a smaller fridge, power lights and our devices.
I think the main advantage of the river pro is if you want some thing portable and don’t need a large inverter. The capacity with the extra battery is a little bigger than a Delta also. But if you can afford it the Delta is a much more capable unit with a much larger inverter so for your use case I’d probably go with a Delta. On sale at REI now - www.rei.com/product/197018/ecoflow-delta-portable-power-station
Great review. I am considering this to connect as a ups for my 1/3 hp sump pump, could take it out once in a while when needed for something else. I am a little concerned though about the x-boost, which may be needed with an electric motor startup. Another negative is that it doesn't run off of the extra battery first and it doesn't appear to have a way to charge the extra battery separate.
I don’t think xboost works for most situations so only plan on running 600-700w appliances with this. After a firmware update and some fiddling, the internal and external batteries now discharge at roughly the same rate. You’re right that the extra battery can’t be charged or discharged by itself, would be nice.
Thanks for the great review. Can you simultaneously charge via solar and AC? I ask because my vehicle has a 400w AC port that I can use when I'm parked, otherwise it's 100w while I'm driving. I'm wondering if I could I use my 100w/400w AC port on my car, and combine that with a 200w solar panel to charge even faster.
If I listened correctly, its internally regulated to accept 200 watts of "DC in", and there is a reason why you can only charge a lithium ion battery at a certain rate....... have you ever spent any time around RC cars? So in short (haha pun intebded), I think your overall charge rate is internally regulated.
Great informative video. I have a question. I'm planning to use the River Pro for emergency home backup. Do you know if it's recommended to have the unit plugged on to AC? Thanks
It works like a standard UPS for common items. Or you can just leave it unplugged like mine and will hold a full charge and not lose any charge sitting on my desk. We do sometimes use it for power outages for TV, router, few lights etc.
great review ... delayed my entry into portable gen market and glad I did .. quick question ( being that having coffee on road is big reason ) - was that espresso machine a 600 watt unit more or less ? I'd like to know I can run one without stressing unit .. thanks
The Nespresso Citiz is rated to use 1710W of electricity which is odd because this never tripped the unit. Definitely look for something in the 600-800w ranger safety
Bought an Eco flow River plus 600 watt 1800 surge on sale at home depot yesterday for 268 bux after tax. I think I'm going to buy another one and one spare battery.
Thanks !! This was the best review I've seen !! I was going to order a Jackery & heard about the River Pro & this was a great to see the different things it does.. thanks again!!
thanks for this awesome review!! I have a question regarding the DC output. I am a bit worried about the 10A limit, will it be enough to power my van? I'll have a small fridge (around 60W), a vent, a webasto heater and led lights. Can I plug some of these to the barrel connectors, does it then count towards the 10A limit? thank you a lot for any help! cheers
Nice review thank you. When I charge my Eco Flow Pro to 50%, it discharges itself in a day to 0%, although there is no load. That seems wrong to me, could you think why this happens? Thanks.
That does seem quite high but the inverter on the Pro is huge so maybe it uses a lot of power on standby. I assume you have the AC and maybe DC ports on? Here is some rough data of other units after 26 hours of running with AC and DC on: EB150 - 4 bars (25%, 375wh) - 14.4 AC200 - 22% (78%, 1572wh) - 60.5w/h Delta Max - 78% (22%, 444wh) - 5.5w/h River Pro - 84% (15%, 216wh) - 8.3w/h Yeti 1000 - 77% (15%, 137wh) - 5.3w/h
Well done. Very detailed and informative review. Question: -1- in the app, can you turn on/off the input and output? besides the light/AC/DC, etc? 2- can you charge it with car and AC at the same time? or with USB-C? 3- Have you tried charging with 12v car outlet or car inverter to see if it takes the same amount of time (as fast) to charge up to 80% and 100%? Thanks
You can control the AC, DC, and light in the app but not the input. I think you can charge it from AC + solar/car at once. Car charging us limited to 100w so it takes about 7-8 hours to charge in your car.
@@todd.parker Thanks for the info. Would you by any chance be able to confirm for sure if i can charge it AC AND car at the same time? I'm trying to see if I'll be ok with leaving both AC and 12v connected at the same time
@@amirf1962 I just tested this and I couldn’t see an increase when plugging both in so it doesn’t seem additive but you can definitely leave them both plugged in and if AC is off, it charges from the battery. Once AC goes on, it seems to favor that because it’s 600w vs 100w.
Hello, great video. When you plugged the Nespresso, did you use both batteries? Because with only the River Pro I could´t use my Dolce Gusto, another brand of coffee machine 🤷♂️.
Hard to say without knowing how much power it uses. Find that out in watts, multiply by 2 (hours) to calculate the watt hours you need and that will tell you how big a battery. My guess is the River Pro would handle it
The main difference is the Delta has a much bigger inverter and is a good choice for things like a Keurig. The River Pro has a smaller inverter and it would be a stretch to run a Keurig. If you can afford the Delta, I think you’d like it but the River is good for smaller AC applicable like laptops and TVs
Excellent review, thanks so much! I bought mine a couple months ago after watching your video. So far so good, except I can't get the EcoFlow to pair with my iPhone via Bluetooth (but can connect over WiFi). I didn't buy the extra battery, but I think a better design would be a stackable locking mechanism, kind of like connecting two lego blocks.
Todd, excellent review and comparison. The newer Yeti 1500X has a better standing with the regulated 12v and the enhanced (built in) charging speeds, but not as fast as the Eco Flow and they don't currently offer expansion batts for the 1500X. The Eco Flow looks like a great set up. The only thing I would like to see is a way to make the extra batteries chainable since you can't charge them unless they're connect to the main power station (Just like Goal Zero). I supposed you could just buy and keep a several extra River Pro batteries on hand. Maybe Yeti is panning to follow suit and switch from Lead Acid to Lithium for their expandable batteries. I'm sure Yeti will let us know soon enough. Take care.
I wish you could chain multiple batteries too. At least you could buy a few expansion batteries and cycle through them if you needed to, like you said. For the size and capability, this is hard to beat but let's hope all these upstarts get Goal Zero to level up quick.
I like the fact you could use after market MCA solar panels. I like jackary but not crazy about them trying to steer everyone toward their proprietary panels at x3 the cost per watt.
Another question please I connected both of the batteries with the inverter to the 110-120 volt plug to a small refrigerator (set at 37F degrees) that when on (it cycles on and off) it uses about 45 watts. I used a Kilowatt device to measure the wattage over a 24 hour period. It said I used .27 kilowatts or 270 watts over a 24 hour period. The 2 batteries were at 86% when I started and after the 24 hour period it was reading 47%, so that is 39% of the two batteries. So if both units are 700 watts that's 1400 watts minus about 15% for actual usable watts that leaves 1190 watts I used about 464 watts or 39% of the 1190 watts (86% to 47%)./ Or is that 15% I'm deducting is that already accounting for the inverter? But the 24 hour watt measurement was .27 kilowatts or 270 watts. So where did the other 194 watts go (464 watts minus 270 watts)? Can that be all because of the inverter? That seems alot. It means if plugged into the wall it would have used only 270 watts but plugged into the 2 ecoflows it needed 42% more energy the 464 watts? I must be close using the 2 batteries actual power about 1190 watts and I used 39% of that. Lastly, I have now connected the batteries that are now at 47% to the 12 volt output on this same small 12 volt refrigerator. I would imagine that the 12 volt during the same period would use much less wattage since their is no inverter that is working, correct? And how much less do you think it might be?
In general, you only get about 80% of the energy capacity back through AC. In my .2C test in this video you can see the actual % I measured. That is inverter loss + battery loss. With DC you should get higher efficiency but I don’t have good tools to measure that so check out Hobotech’s review. With some Bluetti products, they are less efficient than AC because of the regulated output circuitry.
@@todd.parker I did a 24 hour test with the 12 volt it used 26% of the two batteries or 309.4 wats in 24 hours. So in used the Kilowatt meter .27 Kilowatts or 270 watts with the AC (kilowatt) the inverter used 39% or 464 watts (a loss of 42% verses the same 24 hours the 12 volt it used 309.4 watts or 26 % , or a loss of only 13%. It proves that the 12 volt (if given a choice) is the only way to go.
I just purchased this unit with the extra battery for a total of $699. If you are a Costco member it is worth checking their site online. They often have great deals!
Lol I just purchased the same package a few hours ago also. It's such a killer deal I couldn't pass it up. It's even cheaper than buying refurbished direct from ecoflows eBay store. Only issue is I just found a lot of people that bought this costo package have issue with the extra battery not being read by the main unit. There is a few videos floating around yt about it. Hopefully we don't have the same issue.
@@DoritosResidue If you install the app, pair the main unit with the app, then update the software it will recognize the additional battery. I called the customer service line and received good support resolving this issue.
Great vid. I'd purchased before viewing, so it's great to see I've made a good choice having considered Goal Zero, Jackery, Bluetti and even Anker. A new install for my small van. I've picked a couple of Renogy's 175W flexi solar panels with a VOC of 23.9V. In the UK I hope that's enough to approach 200W and I'm pleased the unit self-regulates any excess on the occasional sunny day. I guess the spare battery gets charged through the main unit? I'm not so clear on that. Later I might install a 'traditional' power set-up in this van, routing the solar panels to a fixed battery. I guess the best way to charge the Ecoflow Pro in that scenario is simply the DC plug, but wonder if that 'banana'(?) cable could be used somehow? Anyone got experience of that set-up? I'd really like to know. I came quite late to power stations having spent hours researching van installs. They seem perfect for my needs: running a Mobicool, charging phones, batteries and lights. And when I'm not in the van I can take it to the allotment :)
You can connect this 2 panels in parallel to stay within the solar charging limits. It will charge the external battery once the main battery is full, yep. I think this will work well for you as long as you don’t have AC appliances that draw more than 600-700w, it’s a great unit
I've improved my design (I think). I'm using a couple of DIN rail mounted Hager changeovers and some rail mounted Wago terminals to switch the feed of the solar panels. Both to Ecoflow and none to onboard, one to Ecoflow and one to onboard, or both to onboard. I can then set the system based on charge state and weather. The enclosure will also have space for a couple of isolators. I will blog when completed if anyone's interested.
On the amazon reviews many customers complain that it does not hold a charge - even when not in use the battery drains from 100% to less than 50% in a few days... Did yo test any of the units for well they hold a charge over time? I am still evaluating systems and would appreciate the additional information
I haven’t seen that in my unit. All these should be charged to 80% then turned off for storage or there will be standby losses but I’ve found this unit to be quite good in this area. My Bluetti AC200P drains to 0 in about 3 days with no ports on and I bet this would take weeks to do that
@@todd.parker thank you very much for the prompt response I really appreciate the details of your reviews and enjoy your channel very much found it by accident but plan to stick around
Hello again Todd. I hope you don't mind me asking one more Question. I was having difficulty locating a single 250 w 24v panel for this so I started eyeballing a couple 120w panels on Amazon from Newpowa to run in parallel. The title says "120w 24v designed for 24v charge system but looking at the description it shows "Maximum power (Pmax): 120W Voltage at Pmax (Vmp):34.0V Current at Pmax (Imp): 3.52A." Does that imply that these are actually 34v panels and not appropriate for the River Pro? Seems strange that they throw 24v up everywhere but would then be 34 instead.
Can I ask if the DC output is a regulated 12V? I need to power an outdoor fridge, and my current Nitecore NPS 600 drops voltage when the capacity falls below 50%.
Hey Todd, thank you for the great review. Until now the 800 cycle times were a deal-breaker for me. As I learned from your video, the quit charging disables the X-Stream charge function. Do you have a figure or guess how this affects the expected cycle times, if only charged in "quit charching" mode. Many thanks in advance and Greetings from Germany
Hi. It's hard to say but with this battery chemistry, they are usually rated at ~800 cycles even with slower charging so I don't know if Ecoflow is already being fairly generous with cycle count with their fast charging but my hunch is this will be a lot gentler on the battery so you can expect a longer life.
@@todd.parker Great review - thanks (just ordered one here in NZ). As a newcomer to these sorts of generators what upper and lower charging levels would you recommend for longevity of battery(cycles)?
Hi. I have to ask. With the extra battery discharging the main unit 1st. Is that not bad for the battery life ? Bc i want to buy the extra battery but if its hurting the main battery on the long run what is the point. I have seen poeple saying to never discharge LI batterys.
It tries to keep the main and extra battery equalized. What hurts a battery is when you cycle it to zero or hold it at 100% but shuffling power around at the middle charge level is probably not a big deal at all. This is much better than draining one battery to 0% then dipping into the other.
I am considering using this as an uninterrupeted power supply for my Starlink Satellite system and main computer and leaving it plugged in all the time. I live in a rural setting and can lose power for an hour or so. Will that reduce the life of the unit ? Any other thoughts ? I also have several deep cycle marine batteries and if I am understanding the DC charging correctly I could recharge the unit with those using the DC port, is this correct ?
If you use this as a UPS, the AC just flows directly to the appliance so I don't think it would cause much wear and tear. That said, you'd want to adjust the max state of charge to 60-80% to prevent the battery being at 100% the whole time for longevity. Yes, you can use a 12v battery to trickle charge this at 100w but you can't connect that and solar at the same time since they both use the same port
