Anker 521 Portable Power Station Upgraded with LiFePO4 Battery, 256Wh 6-Port PowerHouse, 300W (Peak 600W) Solar Generator (Solar Panel Optional), 2 AC Outlets, 60W USB-C PD Output, Outdoor GeneratorClimatePartner certified

Dateline: A Silent House, 1:25 AM. The power is out. The grid, that fragile, humming web we all depend on, has finally given up the ghost. The neighborhood is plunged into a sudden, medieval darkness. The silence is deafening, broken only by the frantic, internal monologue of a man whose digital nervous system has just been severed. The phone is dying. The laptop is a useless brick. The world has shrunk to the size of a single, dark room.This is the moment of truth. The moment that separates the prepared from the pathetic. And in my corner, sits a quiet, unassuming grey and black box: the Anker 521 Portable Power Station. This is not a generator. A generator is a loud, stinking, gas-guzzling beast that screams your desperation to the entire county. No, this is something else entirely. This is a silent, solid-state brick of pure, unadulterated electric potential.At its heart is a LiFePO4 battery, a name that sounds like a mineral mined on a hostile moon. And it has the constitution to match. This isn't the fragile, temperamental battery chemistry of a cheap power bank. This is the hardened, long-haul stuff, built for a decade of abuse and a thousand cycles of life and death. It’s the kind of reliable core you want when the lights go out for real.You press the button, and the little screen glows to life, a calm, rational display of numbers in a world gone mad. It tells you how much juice you have left, a beautiful, concrete percentage of hope. And then you see the ports. It’s a beautiful, multi-pronged solution to the problem of a dead world. Two proper AC outlets, the kind you find in a wall, ready to accept a lamp or a laptop charger. A 60W USB-C port that funnels power into a dying MacBook with the ferocity of a firehose. A whole suite of USB-A ports for the lesser-but-still-vital gear.The phone gets plugged in. The smartwatch. The rechargeable lantern. The laptop. One by one, their tiny charging lights blink on, small constellations of defiance against the oppressive darkness. The house is still black, but my little corner of it is alive. I have a communications hub. I have light. I have a connection to the world outside my unlit window.I’ve dragged this box into the wilderness, a willing companion on camping trips where it kept the music playing and the cameras charged, a silent workhorse in the middle of nowhere. It has weathered every storm, both literal and figurative.The Anker 521 is more than a battery. It’s a plan. It's a small, portable declaration of independence from a fickle and unreliable power grid. It’s the quiet confidence of knowing that when everything else goes dark, you have a 256 watt-hour box of pure, life-giving electricity, waiting patiently to be unleashed. It’s not just a power station; it’s a peace of mind you can carry by a handle.

I am thoroughly impressed. I accidentally left mine in a field for three weeks, through two bad storms. It was on its side, and in a slight amount of mud. And you know what? After cleaning it a bit, it works just fine. Somehow. Not at all an intended feature, I think, and you certainly wouldn't want to use it in the rain, but wow.

This thing is fantastic. I use it almost on a daily basis while I'm working to charge my laptop and in my older model Jeep XJ when I don't have enough power source outlets to charge everything. Depending on the usage and what you're charging, I can go 1-2 weeks before recharging the Anker.

Initial Review:I have been looking for a smaller "solar generator" that will be used daily to transfer solar power from my big, fixed, LFP battery - the later sits in my basement connected to panels on the side of my house.Key features needed were easy to carry, relatively fast charging, pass-through charging, PD output - plus the standard AC, 12V, and USB outputs. The Anker fit all of these plus the LFP battery is an advantage for a unit that will get cycled many times a week.I've had it for a week now, and it does basically do what I want, but it has limitations. The biggest is the lack of a real "off" mode: if I fully charge it and leave it in economy mode with all ports off it still uses 1 to 2% per day. My EcoFlow units and Jackery units have a true off and drop by less than that in a week. For that alone it drops 2 stars.More minor concerns:1. Max AC ouput is only 200W, so I can't run anything needing more than that. Many units, even with the relatively small battery in this unit, can put out more than that.2. The max power input is about 65W (by solar, AC, or PD); yes, I can get around that by combining solar/AC with PD input, but I wish I could use higher solar input so I could get full advantage from at least a 100W panel.Note that when looking at the solar input side I couldn't find anything about the max input voltage - while you can use a panel providing more current than the max input (it will only take what it can use) excess voltage can fry a unit. I looked in the manual and on the Web site and couldn't find anything. I sent an email to support, asking for the max VOC allowed, and their response was I could use a "any (12V-28V) solar charger with DC 7909 Male connector" - not a great response as a solar charger typically has a controller, which would conflict with the one in the unit, and there are lots of MC4 to DC7909 adapters available (and no mention that the voltage that matters is the VOC). Still, it means I can use my "12V" panels that have VOCs from 18V to 25V (a have a few panels) without problem.So, for my purpose the unit is fine for what I paid ($209) but others may be better for your needs.Final note: many focus on the 3000 cycles of the LFP over the 500+ cycles of a typical NMC unit, but for most this is irrelevant. Few will go through a charge cycle more than twice a week, which means 104 cycles a year or 5+ years to reach that 500 cycles, and even then, the battery doesn't die at 500 cycles, it just drops to 80% of the original capacity. Don't buy one just because it has LFP unless you charge through a cycle more than twice a week.Update: I tried to charge it by solar for the first time today. I tried two different panels, both of which work with my Jackery 240, and neither worked with this unit. In one case, the jack that was tight in the Jacker wobbled in the Anker, so it may be a connector issue with both. I've contacted tech support.I also saw some odd behavior with AC output yesterday: I tried to top up my EcoFlow unit from 75% to 80% for storage, plugging it in to the Anker. The EcoFlow was set to slow charge mode, so it should have pulled well under 200W, yet it just sat there clicking, unable to pull enough power to start. I was able to charge it with the 12V outlet from the Anker, but need to test the AC output more; maybe the EcoFlow pulled more than expected to start charging by AC.Update 5/21. I can't charge this with solar. Tech support said I need a 7909 connector, not the 8mm one which is pretty standard - and they don't sell a cable for solar charging or have one to recommend. I bought an 8mm to 7909 adapter and tried that today: doesn't fit. So, the Anker is going back.So much potential here, from a company that is normally great, but this one product is flawed.Update 5/30. After a lot of communication with Anker tech support, they provided one of their solar panels to try. It is a nice panel and works well with their unit and with my EcoFlow unit. I think that the solar charging issue I have comes down to an oddity with the connector, and if you have the right adapter the unit charges well with solar (within the limits of the 65W max input). Their panel comes with the adapter, and I assume that such adapters will be more readily available soon.So, if you don't need solar charging or either buy their panel or find the right adapter, it is a good unit. Not perfect because of the 65W solar limit and 200W max output, but pretty good, and it comes with great tech support. So my, my review goes up to 4 stars.Update Sept 19, 2022: The unit has been in use daily, primarily to top up my phone, tablet, and similar things, plus to top up tool batteries by DC or AC output. Working fine. I did some capacity tests with a 70W bulb and was pleased to see that it has a pretty efficient AC inverter, with low power loss. Another positive: with the right adapter cable, I can reliably charge this at 65W by solar, in addition to DC and AC.But a big negative: the display cannot track low power/USB usage. If all I do is use it for topping up phones and tablets by USB all week, it will stay at 99% and then switch off at zero. I don't see the same with problem with AC usage. (Recalibrating by a full charge, drain until power off, and a full charge, makes no difference.) Not a huge issue for me: when it dies unexpectedly from USB use I'll just use another battery unit while this one is being charged, but it is a problem.

Bought this for a camping trip. It did everything we needed it to do. Battery life lasted pretty long. I definitely would recommend this product to other people.

Really easy to use and it comes with a 5-year warranty, which is a great bonus. The overall quality is solid—it feels durable and looks really sleek. The light is surprisingly bright, and I love that it includes an energy saver button. The solar kit is a bit pricey, so we’ll have to save up for that part, but it’s definitely worth considering down the line. Overall, a great product and I’d highly recommend it!