Just picked one up and am so far quite impressed by it. I’m an old-school home power nut, having installed my first solar panels at age 13 in 1995. Back then, solar had just broken the $5/watt barrier and it was a big deal. I’ve had 600 watts worth of solar on my roof for the past ten years, but no actual system - just “guerrilla solar” utility intertie with the individual panel-mount intertie inverters plugged into an outlet in my shop. So they just offset my usage, but never actually “sell” back to the grid. It’s enough to knock about $15-20 off my bill every month. These are the same panels I saved up for and bought back in 1995, and their outputs have only decreased by an average of 8%. Pretty darn good. So I’ve been thinking about getting back into an actual solar home system, mainly for energy use offset and also for backup during outages in the winter (it gets very cold here). The electricals on my boiler pull a constant 166 watts when running, which is my only real concern other than phone and flashlight charging. I’ve been looking at these “portable power stations” (of various brands) over the past few years, wondering if they’re actually any good. After seeing a few reviews, I decided to go for the one featured in this video, as it was on sale for $499. I pulled two of my older frameless 100 watt solar panels out of storage to dedicate to charging the unit, and terminated the wire run in my basement with a fuse and a disconnect since that’s where the River will live in the winter. Temps down there average 58f over the cold season so it should do fine. With the boiler averaging 20 minutes of runtime per hour at 0°f, I should be able to get a solid 10-12 hours out of the River…and that’s only if I don’t make any changes to our heating strategy (which we will in the case of an outage - lower set temp, which means the boiler won’t operate for the first 6 hours due to the thermal mass of our home). In the end, this unit is perfect for dipping my toe back into the home power stuff - no batteries to lug around and maintain, no space taken up by inverters and cabling and disconnects, and easy enough for my kids to just turn it on, plug in the boiler, and it’s good to go. Perhaps someday I’ll step up to a multi-kilowatt version with the extra battery capacity and switch a few rooms of the house over to full-time solar power, then eventually the whole house. I really like the idea of these self-contained units, and the anxiety I felt over the Li-Ion chemistry’s relatively short life cycle rating has now been cured with the switch to LiFePo cells. All in all, I’m extremely happy with the River 2 Pro…looking forward to expanding my system in the future!

BY FAR and away the best review out there. You're gifted at this man

Love this little unit. It runs my BougeRV refrigerator freezer for 17 hours

Thank you for the real questions answered!!!. What can I bring camping and know what I can plug in, and for how long. The simple layman's answers.

this should be the official eco flow video. I wrote them that. thank you.

Impressive review

Thank you! I'm not sure if buying this one or the EcoFlow River 2 MAX. I need it for some lights set ups for interviews in national parks and other small stuff. We tried the EcoFlow River 2 Max thanks to a friend and it worked perfectly. it was just enough for our 2 hours interview and we still had most of the equipment changed so we were there an extra hour without issues. The 10 years battery life sounds like a good deal I think that the only thing that can't be easily tested XD

You do a better job of explaining ex-boost than most of the reviewers. But I think all reviewers need to make it crystal clear that you cannot use x boost with a refrigerator or you will damage it. The low voltage can cause the compressor to seriously overheat.

Thanks!

Nice thorough review, thank you. Only downside I see is that it doesn't have a built-in light. As far as I'm concerned, they should all have something built in. Seems like a great unit though

It’s also important to know how much power drain over time you have with measurements for both AC & DC output.

lol wouldn't be an OGA video without you throwin' somethin! :D

That extra wattage you’re seeing on the Ecoflow meter might be inverter consumption.

Finaly a real usage review ! Thank you without an hour of boring info which dumbs like me.wont understand 😂 thank you 🙏🏼

Live on a narrowboat. Would this sort me out for daily use for tv, phone charge etc if away from my mooring and power hook up on site?? How long possibly would it last before next charge? All new to me 😂

nice

Did you test it in below freezing temps? I purchased another brand power station and it shuts down at -1°C/30°F.

I'd like the app to connect over bluetooth. On android, when I go to BT pairing, add a device, I see the River 2 Pro device. I click it and the BT icon illuminates on the EC screen. But it never pairs. Any suggestions welcome. I can connect over wifi in the house.

Does it turn off if the product plugged in isn’t pulling power?

Is it possible to use it while charging by the solar panel ?

Hi how much is the 220w solar panel & does it come with the powerstation?

So how long to charge on the solar panel? It was cut out or cut off.

I’m surprised your unit did not overload!? Have you had any weird problems or issues post testing?

Can you run your fridge with this?

My new ecoflow River 2 Pro does not display AC watt input. ecoflow customer service ignores all my emails. Anyone know why this is happening?

Aggressive intro... I feel attacked.

You guys missed out I got the Black Friday

I'm very interested in this product. However, I do have some concerns... I'm wondering if I can continuously run a 60w dual zone fridge & 700w blender once per day? Also, I'm a bit upset that this model doesn't support simultaneous charging.

Has anyone had an issue with the output voltage display not showing when plugging in certain devices or appliances?

Can i use it on my TV?

No expansion battery's like the early reviews stated but I'm cool with that. This or the pecron 600lfp for me. I need a help deciding lol!

what about a frig. test that DUDE

Would you recommend this River 2 Pro or the Jackery 700 plus? They’re both $399 right now. Or is there another option in that range you’d recommend? Thanks!

Nice review. I am considering either this unit or the Bluetti EB70. Other than price difference...what are the pro and con of this vs the EB70? Your choice based on your experience...?

Started out with a River 2 and quickly realized...not enough capacity to last a day or two of Winter carCamping/ tentCamping: running two 50w (AC) heating pads, maybe a 200w (AC) micro heater and recharge iPad and phone. Would it make better sense to get two River 2 Pros (1536Wh) or one EF Delta 2 (1024Wh)?

I have one. Cheaply made. Mine is currently at their warehouse being repair. lol 😢

I am thinking of getting this but I need to travel with it on an airplane. I know Lithium Ion above 160wh are prohibited on a plane but are there any regulations banning LiFePo4 batteries? Or is LiFePo4 have the same concerns as Lithium Ion and the TSA will keep them banned? Thanks!

Can this be used to power a 1/3 HP sump pump when I lose power at home?

Add diesel heater to your test, the max capacity is kinda pointless, people rarely use the full capacity

Click output. It will change over. So you can turn the ac or dc from the app.

im just wondering, can one plug in a computer using these battery banks? cause i would really like to get one. that lasts like a couple of hours or so. just wondering. if its possible for me to hook a computer to a battery powerbank. and which is the best one if i were able to choose? im just wondering. since im looking for one.

I thought it could only handle 200 solar input How long will this thing power my iceco vl45

I thought I left a comment about powering a ham radio. Maybe I posted it on the wrong comment thread. Anyway, how do you think it would fare powering a power supply for a ham radio in the field, said radio putting out 100W max at around 21A for transmission. Thanks. (Edit: I DID leave said comment but on one of your Bluetti reviews. Doesn't matter too much now though because in large part thanks to you video here I just ordered a River 2 Pro, so here's hoping it can do what I want it to, as well as not crweate too much RFI. Thanks for an excellent test and review.

Cannu power a small microwave

Can it charge and discharge simultaneously?

Can i use it while its charging with the solar panel?

Greetings bro, did you get this unit with the 220watt bifacial solar panels ....if so, just wanna know if the panel is 220 watt on the front side or is it some kind of combination between the front and back side for 220 watt.?

Can you charge it off a normal generator in a pinch?

Can River 2 pro run my Everbilt sump pump 1/2 hp 120V 5.2 amp. thanks

Can it run a refrigerator in normal mode?

This outlet at 1 : 03 is actually an inlet

How much electricity did it cost to charge up your power station from 0 to 100%. Please tell me because it’s important. Thanks.

Has anyone has this problem. I have a 12v Socket car tire inflator...The one you connect to the AKA Cigarette Lighter port that comes with a 15 foot cord wire. When I attempt to use the Ecoflow River 2 Pro 12v Socket.... it doesn't work... Yes The power is turn on ...I do have light on the 12v Tire inflator ...but when I try turning on the compressor.....nothing happens. Anyone else seem to have this problem ....I tested on two compressor requires 150 watts 12v input for compressor.

Ecoflow is a Chinese company im wondering if they intentionally put bugs in their software to destroy these systems

Your review says 550 solar input, the Amazon listing says 220.

The inverter is using at least 10% to run and heat those devices. There's your 10% discrepancy.

Why it hasn't extendable battery?

Pecron LFP 600

price is too high

You botched the yard test solar panel result

I bought it after seeing the review. This product is full of bugs. Stay away from it. It refuses to connect to app, it doesn't charge via dc after 2 days of use, bad customer care and it doesn't come with a reset. This is a prototype at most.