EcoFlow River – Modular Portable Power Station Review


HIGHLIGHTS

  • 600W Power Capacity
  • 288Wh Base Battery Capacity
  • 1200W Surge Capacity
  • Modular Design
  • Expandable Battery
  • 0 to 80% Charging in 1 Hour
  • MPPT Solar Panel Support

As you may be knowing, portable power stations are becoming more and more popular lately. We have featured more than 5 battery stations here on G for Gadget. Also, power stations aren’t new to me and I personally own a couple of these, the biggest one being Ecoflow’s new Delta Pro, read my review here. From my experience, the newer power stations are significantly more feature-packed than the older ones. They have a cool design and are super small. Today, I am gonna introduce you to a super cool and compact power station called R600 by Ecoflow.

Update: Ecoflow River 600 is now just called Ecoflow River. The design and features are the same.

Ecoflow has a good reputation in the industry for producing some of the highest-quality power stations. Apart from Delta Pro, I also tested their budget-friendly Delta 1300 model while I was at CES2020 and I can say that it beats most of the competition in the same price range. Even though Delta 1300 is good, it is not very compact. This is where their latest model, the River series rises.

Ecoflow R600 Features

R600 has a ton of cool features that most traditional power stations lack. Some of the important features include the following,

Power Rating

Ecoflow R600 is a 600W portable power station with a battery capacity of 288Wh and a surge capacity of 1200W which is out of this world. To clarify things, the battery capacity defines how long a device can run on this station while the surge capacity defines the maximum power (in watts) it can provide. Both are important in their own ways.

ecoflow R600 display

For example, if you have a 100W TV, R600 can power it for almost 3 hours. If you have a 600W microwave oven, the battery only lasts for 30 minutes or so. Similarly, having a huge surge is always good. For example, if you have a drilling machine that requires 1200W power, River 600 power station can easily drive it, at least for a few seconds if not minutes.

 

 

You can control R600 wirelessly via their mobile app

Expandable Battery

Moving further, R600 has a modular design, which means you can connect external batteries to increase the capacity or couple two R600 to double the capacity. Also, River has different versions including River Max, River Pro, etc based on the battery capacity.

Charging

Unlike many traditional power stations, River supports fast charging. It can recharge from 0 to 80% in 1 hour. This may not be significant in the first look but when you are traveling in a car or RV, you have very limited time to recharge the power station (typically at your motel). Having a fast charging really helps in such cases. On average River can charge fully in around 1.6 hours which is crazy.

Solar Panel Support

Ecoflow River battery station supports a maximum of 200W solar panels. It utilizes MPPT charging technology for maximum efficiency. You can use any solar panel, I recommend a foldable one for traveling. A 200W panel can fully recharge River in around 2 hours (provided perfect sunlight)

Ports

EF River features almost every port you can think of

  • 3x AC Outlet Ports
  • 3x USB A Ports (one of them supports fast charging)
  • 100W USB C Port
  • 12V DC Output
  • 12V Car Outlet
  • Solar/Car Input
  • X Stream AC Input

R600 Power Station Hands On Review

Also, note that there is an international version too. It supports 220-240V 50Hz AC outlets that are used in most of the places including Europe, India, etc.

River Performance

Ecoflow River 600 portable generator can power almost any home appliance including TV, Oven, Rice Cooker, Kettle, Coffee maker, and whatnot. The following table gives you an idea of it. Note that the numbers are approximate and may differ significantly in various cases.

Ecoflow R600 Performance

**Correction: Instant pot, microwave oven and electric kettle cannot work. The table will be corrected soon.

Takeaways

If you are looking for a mid-level power station that can drive almost any home appliance, look no further than R600. This battery station is super portable so you can easily carry it with you, it is so so affordable and has a ton of cool features including modularity and fast charging. Just watch the video below and I bet you cannot find a negative in the product.

Update: It’s been more than 6 months since I started using River 600 and it is working flawlessly even today. I’ve had no issues whatsoever. The power station is also available on Amazon here.

FEATURES

  • 600W Power Capacity
  • 288Wh Base Battery Capacity
  • 1200W Surge Capacity
  • Modular Design
  • Expandable Battery
  • 0 to 80% Charging in 1 Hour
  • MPPT Solar Panel Support
Editor's Rating
4.9 / 5 Ratings
Coolness5
Usefulness4.8
Price5
Editor's QuoteIf you watch the video on their page, you can't resist buying it
Editor's Rating
4.9 / 5 Ratings
Coolness5
Usefulness4.8
Price5
Editor's QuoteIf you watch the video on their page, you can't resist buying it