Ecoflow River Pro power station $429

Guys - insane deal if you’re looking for a power station.

https://www.costco.com/ecoflow-river-pro-portable-power-station.product.100716905.html

 

I just got mine delivered today. I will be returning the Massimo 500, also from Costco, as it does not have a regulated 12v output so my fridge would shut off after the voltage fell below 11V.

 

That's the exact scenario I found myself in. Why the hell does Massimo offer a battery that isn't fully compatible with their fridge? This Ecoflow deal blows the Massimo unit out of the water. Same price but much more Wh.

 

Supposedly available until 6/20, but with a "until supplies last" caveat. We're getting so close to my "pull-the-trigger" point on these but I think I decided to hold off. I'm somewhat convinced (ok, hopeful) that by next summer we should see these with LiPo chemistry for the same price or less. Are you listening Ecoflow/Costco?

 

FYI The kickstarter for this power station was 768Wh with LiFePO4 Cells rated for 3,500+ cycles to 80% but when they went to retail it switched to lithium ion.

Ecoflow states 80% capacity at 800 discharge cycles. That is complete discharges. For my use case I am using it for 5-6 days per month and most likely not discharging it to below 50% state of charge, and not using the fast charge function very often if ever.
Powering my fridge on HI in HOT weather; 50W at 25% duty cycle, so call that 300Wh per day.
If I work remotely it is only for one day of a trip so that is 9 hrs at 50W or 450Wh.
It will almost always be simultaneously be charging via 100W of solar at and actual rate of 75-80W so during the day it will most likely never get below 70% and be back up to 100% by dusk.
Running the fridge overnight will use another 120Wh so it will be at or above 80% in the morning.
At these discharge rates it is one full discharge cycle with the fridge all day and the laptop 9 hrs, and 40% for just the fridge for 24 hrs.
Taking a 3 day trip with one day of laptop use is two discharge cycles with some cell phone and lantern charging thrown in.
That is 4 cycles for two trips per month.
48 cycles per year
800 cycles = 16 years to 80% capacity.

I will not worry about lost capacity for at least 10 years, and I can always add the additional battery.

 

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I fully agree. If you need one (or even just really really want one) now, this is a smoking deal. I merely want one and can wait until next year fairly easily (I bought a knockoff yeti cooler over the winter and it's meeting my weekend needs just fine; next spring summer will be longer trips where I don't wanna deal with soggy food). And hopefully by then the LiFePO4 will be standard, because even if I don't need it, it's a bonus ;-)

 

Last summer over some long weekends Fri-Mon (3 nights) in high 90s weather. I went through 80-100lbs of ice. I was using 1 Coleman 100 qt xtreme 5 day cooler, and and 1 Igloo 70 qt Max Cold cooler. Kept them in the shade. Some food packed vacuum sealed and frozen. One for food only opend 3 times a day, one for drinks (beer, wine, water) in and out all day. In April Costco had the Massimo CX50 on sale for $269 and in May the Massimo 500W power bank for $339, returned it for reasons stated above.

 

If I didn't know better, I'd think you guys were trying to talk me into a cooler and power bank.

 

But in all seriousness buy what you need for your use case, or buy whatever you want if you can afford it.

 

For what it's worth, I *just* decided to pull the trigger and now it's gone :-(

 

Still have it with the extra battery on sale!