Jackery Portable Power Station Gear Review

The Jackery Explorer 500 Portable Power Station and the Jackery SolarSaga 100W Solar Panel combine to elevate the typical car camping experience. These game-changing products work to charge your laptop, phone, iPad, mini-fridge, and more, granting the chance to make nature our office space. We quickly learned that these products make a great addition to the car camping experience and can be used to work remotely outdoors.

The Verdict

We can summarize our experience using the Jackery Portable Power Station and Solar Saga 100W Solar Panel with the following word: trailblazing. Gone are the days of rationing a power bank or two while out camping! Instead, the Jackery Portable Power Station allows for a creative work boost and for you to charge your electronics and use an air pump or mini-fridge while car camping. These two products work magic.

We headed to the woods for four days of car camping to test out this product. And the Jackery Portable Power Station exceeded our expectations by granting non-stop power, with the solar panels easing all worries about the battery draining. This stability allowed our kids to log into their school accounts on their iPads while we worked remotely. We think this technology is an absolute game-changer for fusing car camping with remote work. On top of that, this station can be used to plug in your air pump, mini-fridge, and other front-country camping necessities.

We enjoyed camping so much that we took the Jackery on another adventure. We travelled to a day-use area this time, swapping our home office space surrounded by bland four walls for trees and mountains. We brought a lunch, kettle, snacks, laptops, speakers, and phones, and worked while revelling in soaring, snow-capped peaks. The Jackery Portable Power Station paired with the Solar Saga 100W opens opportunities for mobility, ease, and a little more freedom for car camping and remote work.

Using Jackery to charge the laptop while in the outdoors

Overview

Take the Jackery Portable Power Station power station camping, in your RV, your van, or use it at home. It’s built to charge laptops, phones, iPads, plug-in your mini-fridge, TV, blender, air pump, etc. We paired our Jackery Explorer Power Station with the Jackery SolarSaga 100W Solar Panel, allowing us to charge it whenever we needed to. You can also refuel the power station via a car cigarette lighter or a regular socket.

When to use: When you need to recharge your computer, phone, iPad, or other items while camping or out in the wild.

Weight: The Jackery Portable Power Station weighs around 13lbs, while the Jackery SolarSaga 100W Solar Panel adds up to 10lbs.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Keeps you charged. A fully charged battery can:
• • 7.5 recharges of Macbook
  • 53 smartphone recharges
  • Run a car fridge for 39 hours
• Easy to charge. Use a car cigarette lighter to charge it while driving to your next destination, an outlet at home or a hotel, or use the incredible Jackery SolarSaga 100W Solar Panel. A standard wall plug takes 6.5 hrs to charge this product, a car charger or electric generator will have your power station ready to go in 7.5 hrs, and solar panels will power this product up in about 9 hrs, but that depends on the weather!
• Camp and work at the same time. Save your vacation days for a trip abroad and carry this Jackery Portable Power Station to blend working and camping into one. Or take it to a day-use area like we did and enjoy the added creative benefits of working in nature.
• User-friendly. Just use one wire to plug it into the solar panels—the trickiest part of the whole setup is you need to press the button to use one of the outlets for power to go there - which isn’t too hard!
• Portable. The handle and weight make it easy to carry. Even our kids could carry it!
• Everlasting. If you pair the power station with the solar panels, expect neverending charges throughout your outdoor adventure. We had no trouble keeping two laptops, two iPhones, and three iPads charged using the solar panels for four days.
• Practical. It has one AC socket, 3 USB sockets, and DC outlets.

It’s hard to think of cons for these products. The only thing we can think of is that it’s not practical for backcountry adventures—adding 13lbs, plus 10lbs if you take the solar panels to your backpack would not be ideal. But who needs electronics in the deep wild, anyways? Some may also find the cost daunting and unaffordable.

On another note, the Jackery Explorer 500 Portable Power Station worked ideally for a busy family of five trying to work and do school while camping. Still, some smaller power stations would work fine for those requiring less power. For example, a couple may find the Jackery Explorer 240 Portable Power Station as a better alternative. It charges your phone 24 times and your laptop twice.

If you need more power, it might benefit you to purchase the Jackery Explorer 1500 Portable Power Station, an expensive option but could be worthwhile, depending on your lifestyle. If you pair this with a solar charger, you might not even need a generator!

Jackery

Construction and materials

Built with a lithium-ion battery pack and a capacity of 518 watt-hours, the Jackery Explorer 500 Portable Power Station comes ready to charge your items and appliances. Then, to top it off, this game-changing product boosts various ports and outlets: one AC outlet, one carport, 3 USB-A ports, and 2 DC ports. So can you imagine working in front of a lake or a mountain-backed scenery without worrying whether your laptop or phone will die? It sounds so dreamy (and possible!).

Some other safety features include over-temperature protection, short circuit protection, overcharge protection, overpower protection, and over-voltage protection.

Meanwhile, the SolarSaga 100W Solar Panel comes with two kickstands and takes seconds to set up, a handle to ease mobility, high energy conversion, and it’s splash-proof!

Using Jackery while on a roadtrip

Conclusion

After spending a couple of days in the wild, we wondered how we ever survived without the Jackery Explorer 500 Portable Power Station and SolarSaga 100W Solar Panel? We love knowing that we can escape to nature without booking off work, meaning we can spend more days outside in the future. This product is fantastic and, although pricey, worth the investment if you’re someone who loves car camping or works remotely and loves to explore.

Jackery will launch the flagship new solar generator on Jackery Day 2022 through a global live stream at 8:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on May 12. So stay tuned for some possible new releases!

Jackery Day 2022 through a global live stream