We discuss the finer details of lots of portable power stations on this site; there are plenty of 5000+ watt-hour behemoths accurately reviewed to suit the energy-hungry power hogs. But for people who are accustomed to van-living and who like to get out to the great outdoors and take the comforts of the indoors with them, they don’t need a 60-pound solar generator kit. Small works well. Which leads me swiftly into the purpose of this post: reviewing the Ecoflow River Pro, a 720Wh power station that really excels for camping and recreational trips. It’s light, charges fast, and has great connections.

This power station has a small form factor, measuring just over 11 inches wide. But what’s really impressive is that it fits an impressive 10 outputs into that slender frame. Plus, what’s even more impressive is that with EcoFlow’s X-Boost technology, it can run appliances with a high 1800W power output. So if you’re a fan of Keurig coffee, it can handle the Keurig -Mini Plus, which runs at 1470W. One cup of coffee uses approximately 3% of the battery. Coffee off the grid, YUM.

Other appliances you may not of thought about running or charging include the battery for your electric mower. Or if you like to entertain, you can power a 15-amp speaker and plug in your electric guitar. Camp sites just gone electric!

The River series from Ecoflow sits in their first tier of products; these are the smallest capacity power stations they produce, ranging from the 256Wh River, which weighs half the size of this one, to the River 2 PRO, which is the highest capacity unit in the River series. They have pro and non-pro models. The next rung on the ladder features the Delta series, in which you will find the capable Delta Max and Pro models. You can get a complete rundown of the entire EcoFlow series here.

Appliance Run Times With The EcoFlow River Pro

• 120W Refrigerator: 4.5 hours
• 500W Blender: 1.2 hours
• 1000W Coffee Machine: 0.7 hours
• 110W 50in TV: 5 hours
• 1600W Hair Dryer: 0.7 hours
• 40W CPAP: 12 hours
• 10W Light: 22.2 hours (AC) 65.2 hours (DC)
• 65W Projector: 8 hours

PROS

• Can expand the battery
• Charges in 1.6 Hours With AC
• Charges in 4–8 hours with car socket; you can charge to destinations if you are travelling in the RV or car
• Can handle up to 1800W input
• can be charged with solar, AC, car, gas generators
• controlled via app
• nice intuitive display
• light and small form factor
• can charge an iPhone 13 over 50 times
• great for travel or camping—got a torch on the front
• battery can get to 80% within 60 minutes via AC charging
• can daisy chain in another River Pro battery and increase battery storage to 1440Wh
• X-Boost allows you to power appliances up to 1800W

CONS

• There is a known issue with extra batteries not recognizing the main unit, EcoFlow has acknowledged it and now says they have a solution for anyone who faces issues.
• Not all appliances will work on X-Boost; some have a higher wattage than 1800W or don’t work well with the X-Boost technology.
• AC sockets are very close to each other with the top of plug prongs aligned; if you have a protruding plug, it will be hard to get two in there
• Can monitor from the app, but can’t adjust anything or switch on battery saver modes, except for switching the AC and DC ports on and off.
• APP is fiddly to connect – like my wifi printer, the device can be hard to recognize. I really don’t think the app is well thought out; it’s more of an addon you will probably never use

EcoFlow River Pro Conclusion

In a world where technology has become an integral part of our everyday lives, the ability to power our devices—whether you live off-grid or, like my sister, are accustomed to van-living and travel where the work or the whim takes you; keeping up-and-running is more than just a luxury—it’s a necessity. All-in-all, the River PRO is a brilliant portable unit that can see you through off-grid camping trips and can act as an emergency generator to power your small devices and keep a fridge, CPAP, and chest freezer going for a short while. You will be able to draw power during outages, but the recharge times aren’t as optimistic as EcoFlow would suggest. Thankfully, the battery is not going to take long to charge because of the LFP chemistry.

The battery life cycles are certainly fine at 800+, and EcoFlow even says you will get up to 6500 cycles at up to 50% power. The River Pro can run appliances up to 1800W, but it will continuously output 600W, so you won’t be able to run high-powered appliances like air conditioning units as it would be overkill for the battery and not even start in a lot of cases. Your high-powered coffee machine will still run, though it may take 30 seconds longer. But who’s counting when you can take your coffee with you when you are far away from shops or you are too settled in your cabin to leave it’s peaceful confines?

But this is the drawback of smaller units: they are great at running small to medium-sized appliances but not so good at running larger household appliances and tools. But that is the name of the game with compact power stations; they trade portability for power. And the EcoFlow River PRO does an exceptional job at this end of the day, whether you want to keep your essential devices and appliances going so you can watch your laptop, iPad, have an outdoor cinema with your projector, and enjoy coffee for a few days whilst you are on the move.