We bought this Jackery solar generator for a winter camping trip. I've only been camping a few times before, so I don't have much experience in it. On top of this, it was going to be a winter camping trip in Yosemite. That alone made my wife & dotter opt out of the trip. So, it was just me and our 6
year old boy out in the snow. I felt an immense sense of responsibility to keep him safe as we don't have the best gear. So I did a bunch of research on how to stay warm at night in the snowy weather. We bought a USB heating blanket, some rechargeable hand warmers, hot water bottles and chemical hand warmers. To power all our heating devices, lights and phones, we decided to pull the trigger and get a solar generator. When these things first came out, I immediately wanted one, until I saw the price tag. We don't get many power outtages & we don't do much outdoorsy activities, so it was hard to justify getting one. But times have changed since Covid, we started going on more road trips and now this recent camping trip (we're already getting ready for another road/camping trip in a few weeks). It started to make sense to get a power station. First the good. The Jackery arrived the day before our camping trip, so we didn't get a chance to play with it much. It was notable how quickly the Jackery 1000 pro (the pro is important) charged up when we first plugged it into the wall. It was when we used it at the camp site, that it made us realize what a game changer these power stations can be. Typically, camping meant no powered devices other than a few headlamps. But because we had a power station with us, we were able to power up some LED construction lights. Other people's camp sites were really dark, not ours, everyone was comfortably able to get around, cook and do stuff without relying on headlamps. On the first night, the Jackery was able to power the heating blanket through the night and only lost 30% doing so. All of our devices were charged and ready to go. With more than 50% left, we realized we could do a lot more with the Jackery. When it was time to charge the Jackery with the solar panels however, it was a bit disappointing. The solar panels really do need full & direct sunlight to even start charging. At camp, there was plenty of daylight, but not direct sunlight. With so many trees around, whenever there was a window of sunlight, we would lose it in a few minutes. So we couldn't get it to charge with solar during the trip, just a few minutes here and there. Once we got home, I set up the panels in our backyard. I left them out through the day while I went to work. This was in late November, so daylight is shorter, but we do still get some direct sunlight. I'm not sure how many hours of direct sunlight it got, but after leaving them out all day, we were able to charge 35%. In summer or better weather, I expect we can probably get 45 - 50% a day. Keep in mind, our backyard is not big and we're not monitoring or moving the panels around to catch as much light as possible. Jackery says it'll take about 9 hours of direct sunlight to get a full charge, so it sounds like we're getting 3-4 hours when we set it and forget it. I'm OK with this, it means we should get a pretty good charge in a day or two. In a lot of the review videos I saw, people were showing the panels generating near full power. But the reality is that you'll have to monitor and reposition the panels every hour or two to get the most out of them. And that's if you have adequate space and position to begin with. Because of this, we most likely will not be taking the panels out with us on the road or on trips, it's just not worth it. We'll just charge the Jackery in our car while we're on the road. We'll mostly be using the panels to charge the Jackery in our backyard, where we'll be familiar with its space and positions. Getting 30-50% a day is fine, because to prolong battery heath, it's not good to charge above 80% anyway. And it's not good to run batteries down below 20% either. So the panels will do fine keeping the Jackery charged without hurting the battery. Jackery says the 1000 pro can be charged 1000 cycles before losing 20% of its capacity. Keeping the battery between 20-80% will greatly help prolong the battery beyond the 1000 cycles. The competition of power stations has really heated up. We can see competitors consistently coming out with better technology and features. Jackery being an established company in this field, they're actually doing some catching up with some newer competitors. One example is our 1000 pro comes with a 3 year warranty while others come with a 5 year warranty. So Jackery offers a free 2 year extended warranty to cover the gap if you register online. I'm hoping that Jackery's next gen of products will see an updated battery chemistry. The main benefit will be to increase the lifespan of the batteries. 1000 cycles sounds like a lot, but these stations cost $1000 (don't pay full price for one, wait for one of their frequent sales or use a promo code from a review site) a pop. Some competitors offered models with less lifespan than Jackery and recently came out with new models that use new battery chemistry and their lifespan has greatly improved. So I hope this competition will push everyone to come out with better tech & features. Why do I care about the next gen stations if I already have a 1000 pro? Because I'm already starting to regret not going for the 2000 pro. The 1000 pro can power plenty of devices, enough to elevate a camping experience to a glamping experience. With the 1000W limit though, it means some of these devices can only be used at lower settings. Like hair dryers, they're typically 1000-1500W. So the 1000 pro can only use them on medium heat settings and with the turbo fan turned down to medium or high. We went with the 1000 pro because the Instant pot is 1000W and we want to be able to cook on the road. The 1000 pro can totally cook a meal with an instant pot, because it only draws 1000W to bring it to a boil and it's not even a continuous 1000W. Once the pot gets up to pressure, it uses much less power to maintain the heat and pressure. A 2000 pro would of course be able to prepare more meals, but we feel the 1000 pro will meet our cooking needs. Having a 2000 pro however, means we can power bigger devices or use more devices at their full power. I know I know, that's another $1000 more. But if the next gen 2000 pro would update the battery chemistry, maybe increase the capacity or draw power, then it might be worth the upgrade or addition. What I really like about Jackery is its simplicity. The display shows really clear and meaningful information, how much power is being drawn, how long the battery can sustain at this rate. How much power is going in during a charge and how long it will take to hit 100%. Everything is self explanatory. The pro series has some nice upgrades that are totally worth it. You get faster charge speed (2 vs 7 hrs), a longer warranty period, a built in transformer vs an external brick power supply, the aforementioned upgraded display and a better form factor with the fold away handle vs a fixed handle. Who is this for? This is a solar generator, not a complete off grid system. Unfortunately, Jackery does not offer expansion options or integration accessories. So you cannot hook it up to your home solar system and slap on expansion modules to store extra energy from your home panels. Jackery is more meant as an off grid back up system. Jackery is also great for road trips so you can bring some comforts of home with you on the road. Van lifers may be disappointed with the peripheral compatibilities of the Jackery. It's not meant to hook up with specialty or DIY connectors. Speaking of van life. More and more people are bringing along their power stations with them on the road and I'm really concerned about the security aspect. These things are portable, that means it's a portable $1000 just sitting in the car or whatever. I can't believe there isn't an anchor or something on these things to let users lock it down to the car. It's another reason why I don't think we'll ever take the solar panels on the road with us. Power stations are also not weather proof, I will never bring this with us to the beach. I don't like sand, it's coarse, rough, irritating, and gets everywhere. I don't want sand getting in the Jackery. I wish there could be a weather proof enclosure to allow these stations to work safely in weather. Overall, we're really happy with our Jackery 1000 pro. It's really elevated our camping and road trip experience. It's also created a new hobby of looking for devices that are under 1000W and perfectly suited for road use. This has been a long review and I really hope Jackery is listening to all the user feedback. Because this is a new and competitive market, there is so much untapped potential here. If these companies would keep making improvements, more and more people are going to see the value in owning one or more of these systems. On our Yosemite trip, we had several families bring their own power stations and our camp site was like a little community. We ran rice cookers, lights, instant pots and heating devices. Things I never associated with camping before. If our power were to go out, I feel so much better having a solar generator on hand. We could keep our fridge running, we could offer a little power and comfort to our neighbors. Even a 500W station would be great for emergencies.
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