iTWire - You need an EcoFlow next-gen RIVER 2 portable power station, and here's...

Friday, 07 April 2023 16:31

You need an EcoFlow next-gen RIVER 2 portable power station, and here's why Featured

Every now and then something comes along which is a genuine must-have, that can benefit you over and over. Energy solutions company, EcoFlow, has launched its new RIVER 2 series of portable power stations, precisely one such thing. Here's what it is and why you need it.

iTWire previously looked at the EcoFlow RIVER range of portable power chargers and found them superbly useful, and truly a must-have for anybody who needs serious power on the go or as a backup in their own home for outages. Its successor, the RIVER 2, is now out and if you rely on electricity, you really need to check it out.

To be clear, these are not simple USB-based power banks that you can carry in your pocket and potentially charge your phone twice over; the EcoFlow RIVER 2 range brings much larger capacity and is adorned with power outlets that cover AC, DC, USB, and wireless charging. The smallest model, the EcoFlow RIVER 2, can charge your phone 19 times over yet weighs only 3.5kg. Its bigger brother, the EcoFlow RIVER 2 Pro, will charge your phone a whopping 57 times. In between, the EcoFlow RIVER 2 Max provides 38 recharges.

Now, imagine instead you're camping over a long weekend - such as this Easter - and your family and friends are with you. With one RIVER 2 device, you can keep all your phones and tablets charged across the entire weekend.

Phones are well and good, and something we can all relate to, but that’s only scratching the surface. The RIVER 2 has power sockets for you to plug in your car fridge, a pressure cooker, a refrigerator, and a PC - if it plugs into a power point then it plugs into the RIVER 2. You can run a typical 500W PC for almost an hour and a half on the RIVER 2 Max. Or, you could plug in a 110W 50” TV and watch TV for close to six hours.

Sure, you could watch TV while camping, but what all this really means is the EcoFlow RIVER 2 range gives you options, flexibility, security, and safety.

This is especially important if you have medical equipment; for instance, you can power a 40W CPAP machine for five hours on the smallest model, and three times that on the largest. That’s valuable peace of mind ensuring a consistent electricity source no matter if your home experiences a power outage.

In fact, iTWire has been using a RIVER 2 Max ourselves. We've used it to keep children happy during long car rides and days visiting grandparents, ensuring mobile devices last the distance. We’ve used it at a drive-in theatre to power a portable radio without any risk of flattening the car battery.

And, significantly, when we lost power right before dinner time last weekend the RIVER 2 Max came to the rescue. With a few extension leads and power boards, we could run the refrigerator, microwave, and some lamps as well as the Internet router and a TV afterwards, until power was restored. It was the comfiest power outage I’ve ever experienced.

It's easy for a technical site like iTWire to simply rattle off the technical specs for equipment that comes our way - and I will list them below - but numbers only tell you part of the story. In reality, the RIVER 2 devices are not simply portable power stations; they are quality-of-life enhancements that bring you and your family or business greater confidence and choice. You can be sure you have power when you need it - perhaps even saving a life; you can be sure you are protected against unexpected circumstances and add modern conveniences to your outdoor adventures. You can do things you wouldn't have thought of before such as having a family movie night outside.

Let's check out the specs:

The RIVER 2 builds on the previous EcoFlow RIVER stations with a longer-lasting LFP battery with 80%+ capacity after 3000 cycles, and industry-leading X-Boost technology that recharges faster than ever before. The battery has over 10 years of life in it.

As with its predecessor, you can charge the RIVER 2 devices with your home electricity and a standard power cable, but it also features a combo input that allows you to charge it from a car or a solar panel. The cable is included, and the solar panel is available separately or in a combo bundle. Happily, sunlight is abundant in Australia so a solar panel is a wise investment and absolutely maximises your charging capabilities out in the wild. iTWire has also been using the EcoFlow 110W solar panel which works with the RIVER 2 range, of course, but also other EcoFlow models, using a standard and consistent interface. What’s more, they’re chainable so you can link multiple solar panels in parallel.

The solar panel is really nifty and thoughtfully designed. Yes, it collects solar power - as it should - but EcoFlow has also made it fold up easily, included a kickstand to help you stand it up, and provided an elegant padded carrying case to help you transport it safely. Further, it’s waterproof so you don’t need to take it down and put it up again should you find yourself in bad weather. Other, higher-power, models are available too.

Moreover, EcoFlow, the company itself, lives by its commitment to making eco-friendly energy solutions easier to access than ever before; the standard RIVER 2 model retails for $649, while the largest model, the RIVER 2 Pro, retails for $1,399. The EcoFlow solar panel retails for $499. You will see the value of your investment over and over again.

Additionally, EcoFlow has also donated portable power stations to help in real crisis situations. After the 2021 Texas snowstorms triggered wide-scale power outages, EcoFlow donated every single portable power station in its Texas warehouse to the Houston Food Bank. In 2020 EcoFlow donated more than a thousand to the makeshift hospitals set up in Wuhan, supporting vital medical equipment.

For my money, the EcoFlow RIVER 2 range is a wise purchase that every home should have. Knowing your purchase goes to humanitarian causes as well as R&D is the icing on top.

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