Anker SOLIX C300 DC Power Station (+Light) Review | The Perfect Camping Companion

0:00
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott, and I'm here today to give you a review of a different kind of portable power solution
0:18
This is from Anchor and their Solix brand. I've reviewed some of their full power stations before
0:24
but this is a little bit more focused product for those that don't really need an AC inverter to
0:29
run household items, but rather are looking for something that's going to power their phones
0:36
their tablets, you recharge things like that. And then also while camping, might enjoy having
0:41
a pop-up light like this that will allow them to maybe even hang it in the tent and to have
0:47
enough kind of a lantern light to illuminate things there. Big portable power stations are great
0:53
if you're trying to recreate your home, you know, while you're out camping or overlanding, but not
0:58
everybody wants to lug around 30 to 50 extra pounds. And so in this case, we have got a very compact
1:05
DC solution here. Ways only six pounds, but to give you a little bit of perspective, most of your
1:11
typical power banks that people will use for recharging their phones or tablets, they're anywhere
1:17
between 10 and 20,000 MAH. This is a full 90,000 MAH or 288 watt hour. So this is a powerful
1:27
device that is going to recharge a lot of those things many, many times. And at a price tag of
1:33
$240 or even less, if you get it discounted, it's also quite affordable. So is it worth buying
1:40
Well, let's dive in. Let's take a look. So right now, price is $239 here in Canada. It's also
1:48
just a little less than that in the United States right now. As noted, there's 288 watt hours
1:54
or 90,000 MAH of storage. This is LFP, high-end LFP cells inside here
2:02
You can get as much as 300 watts of output here through the various DC ports
2:07
Remember, there's no AC ports to plug in a typical cord. This is all going to be essentially USB-based
2:14
or cigarette lighter style as well. So there are three different stages of the lights
2:20
to the pop-up dome light here, and that's just layers of intensity
2:24
obviously you can easily put it up or down and when you're at its top point here
2:30
it runs at about three watts of drawn so it's going to last for a long time
2:36
with this kind of battery capacity now your charging is actually going to be done
2:41
obviously because this is not an AC device it's not going to be charged by just plugging something
2:46
typically into the wall but rather it is going to be charged via USBC
2:51
USBC to the ports here 140 watt kind of fast charge ports. And that's 140 watts in either direction. And so you can either
3:01
output up to 140 watts or you can take in up to 140 watts. But you can use two of those in
3:07
tandem to get as much as 280 watts fast charge. And that's using the power delivery 3.1 standard
3:14
A little bit more on that in my test in just a moment. You can also charge via the car input
3:19
what we used to call a cigarette lighter style. And then you can also charge via solar
3:24
and it is rated to receiving up to 100 watts at 32 volts of input from solar
3:31
And it's an XT60, very standard kind of input plug at this point
3:36
And I found that I had a very broad range of compatibility with my various solar panels
3:41
Unfortunately, there is no IP rating, and so don't expose it to the full elements
3:46
It, as noted, it weighs in at about 6 pounds or 2.8 kilograms
3:51
It has this built-in strap that makes it very nice and convenient for towing around
3:56
And even if you were kind of hiking, you could just tie this onto a backpack or something
4:02
It not going to balance particularly well But anyway it is flexible for bringing along in that sense Size here is 200 by 124 by 120 millimeters
4:14
I should note that there is also, if you're looking for an AC version, for about $60 to $70 more
4:20
you can get an AC version that has 300 watt output and it has a couple of AC ports on there
4:28
And so I'm focusing here on the DC version today. We've got a three-year warranty, and we also have Bluetooth-slash-W-Fi app control and monitoring
4:39
And I have found that Anchor is doing a good job with the apps here
4:42
There's lots of various options you can employ there, and of course the ability to monitor
4:47
I particularly enjoy this if I am maybe charging via solar. And so it just gives me an idea I can remotely monitor from my phone of when I can, you know, it's time to go out and get it
4:58
or if I need to move the solar panels to get a sense of, you know
5:03
maybe they're not an optimal placement for charging any longer. Now, let's talk about ports
5:09
Because it is focused on DC, there's a lot more ports here
5:13
And for example, I've had for years, I've got this Jackery Explorer 300
5:17
And because it is that combo of AC and USB, or AC and DC, I should say
5:24
when it comes to the DC ports as far as USB goes, there's only one
5:28
USBC port here and then two USBA ports. In this case, we've got a total of four different USBC ports
5:37
And so we have two of those highest standard 140 watt output or input USB ports
5:43
USBC ports. We have one USBC port that's rated at 100 watts. And then a final one that is
5:49
rated at 15 watts. We also have two USBA ports that are rated up to 12 watts of output. And then
5:57
the car charger slash cigarette lighter, it also can be an output and it can deliver up to 120 watts
6:04
there. There is no wireless charging pot on here, but obviously you've got lots of options for
6:10
wire charging. And obviously there is no AC input or output here. And again, that AC version is
6:17
available. It's a little bit more expensive. It's a little bigger. It's a little bit heavier. But if you're looking for an AC unit, obviously that's going to make a lot more sense than this
6:25
particular unit. So in terms of doing my test on the unit, a lot of the typical tests that I do
6:32
are testing really the power of the inverter, its ability to power different household devices
6:39
for example. So in this case, that obviously isn't the focus of this. And one of the maybe advantages
6:45
of the USBC protocol is that it's pretty carefully designed that you're not going to be able to
6:53
exceed output. And so if it's a device that can run off USBC, basically at the moment
6:58
there is pretty much every device that can be run off USBC. It can be powered from this device
7:04
And in fact, it is operating at the most current standards, the highest possible standard
7:10
And so you can output, again, up to 300 watts through its various outputs. And so if, you know
7:16
you happen to have a device, maybe they could run off of even two USBC inputs. And so up to a 280 watts
7:22
well, this unit is going to be able to do that. And so right now, I don't have anything that draws at that kind of level that is DC powered
7:30
But what I found is that charging all the typical things that I might charge if I were using this for camping, for example
7:38
So things like phones and my various cameras and tablets, there's no limit
7:43
I can hook up all of those things at the same time and charge them all simultaneously without any kind of issue
7:49
And in fact, there is a minimal hit to the battery. Recharging a typical camera battery
7:55
As with my various cameras, they're all roughly similar in the amount of draw
8:00
According to Solex, you could charge that camera battery up to 18 times
8:04
And so if you were going out camping for a weekend or even for a week
8:08
there a good chance that you would be able to repower multiple phones or tablets over the course of that time and have plenty of power to achieve that Where I actually had the most interesting aspects of my kind of testing
8:21
was on the actual charging via the USBC ports. Now, charging via solar, no issue. I was able to get
8:28
up and near that 100 watts of input without any problem. And it's my preferred way to charge
8:33
things like this anyway. But I wanted to test that capability for inputting
8:39
from the USBC because that is something that is unique and that I've never tried to charge one of these solely by a USBC
8:46
So I had, as you can see here, a variety of different bricks that I had available
8:50
The most powerful of one would output up to 100 watts. Then I had a couple of 60 watt bricks as well to attach to that
9:00
So what I found is that initially I was only able to achieve about 55 watts output
9:05
even from my 100 watt rated. I attached two different charging devices and I could get up to about 113 watts
9:12
So I was basically doubling, but the limits seemed to be at basically that 55 watt per input
9:18
And so then I hooked it up. Maybe the power brick was the limiting principle
9:23
And so I hooked it up to a power station that has rated outputs of 140 watts from USBC
9:30
And what I found is that I still had the same limit of 55 watts per input
9:35
And so I thought, well, maybe it is, maybe there's a problem with the cable itself
9:40
And so I pulled out the cable that came with this and it noted that it was rated up to 140 watts max
9:47
And sure enough, it seems like you also need to be careful about what cable you use if you want to get that maximum output
9:54
Not all USBC charge cables are created equally. So in this case, I hooked it up and I could achieve very near that 140 watts from just one input
10:02
And so I was operating about 135, 136 watts. So certainly with two of those type cables, you could charge much more quickly and it could achieve a full charge in about an hour and a half, roughly somewhere in that range, maybe a little bit less
10:21
And so overall, obviously, it does live up to the specification, but you're going to need multiple outputs that are able to achieving that 140 watt output and also the right kind of cable
10:32
And so I don't know that if you're in a rush that this is going to be your best option because a lot of the AC-based versions that charge via AC, they're able to suck juice a lot faster
10:44
And so that may be another way to go. But I would say that if you're planning to charge via solar in particular, or if you're not always going to be in a rush and you can use just one input, well, I had no problems charging because it's not a huge battery and it didn't take overly long to charge
11:00
So how about some things that I like? Well, I love the fact that it has tons of ports. It is much more focused than, say, this older Jackery 300 unit. The Jackery is trying to do multiple things, whereas this is focused really on one primary thing, and that's the DC side of things. And so there's a lot of different ports. You have the ability to hook up a lot of different things at the same time. Because it's outputting a lot of power, much more power than what most things that are going to be charged by a run off of USBC, I was able to be
11:31
to run everything just fine. For example, right now I am using my light on set is a small rig
11:37
RC60B light and I can run that off of this. Obviously, no problem. I can pull up to 100 watts
11:45
which is maximum it can draw and so I can achieve its optimum output. And so this can be very
11:50
useful for using even lighting in the field, for example, to charge it off of that. I found that
11:57
the pop-up dome light is more than just a gimmick. One of the things that when I
12:01
I've done some camping in the past that I focused on getting was trying to find a good LED-based light
12:07
because a lot of the older style lanterns, they actually would use batteries that were quite expensive
12:14
you know, like C or D batteries. This is actually a great replacement for something like that in that it going to give you sufficient light to be useful within your tent And it portable enough that if you needed to walk say out to find some place to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night it bright enough to light your way
12:31
So I think it's bright enough to be useful. I appreciate the fact that this small unit does have that full Bluetooth and wireless compatibility
12:39
Again, great to monitor it in a variety of ways. The fact that it is small, light, and portable, even in relation to another very small unit like the Jackarie 3000, which weighs more, it's obviously larger
12:52
And this is just a more convenient form factor, in my opinion. So I appreciate that
12:58
I appreciate the fact that the USBC ports are delivering at the highest current level available
13:03
They're at the highest current standard for power delivery. And also, this is a very affordable price
13:08
So I appreciate that. How about things that I don't like? Well, I always am going to dock any unit like this that does not have an IP rating
13:17
for the simple reason that solar charging is done outdoors, camping is done outdoors
13:23
and these products that are kind of focused for this field, it seems to me that having some recognition of needing some degree of weather ceiling
13:31
would be a very valuable aspect of design. So I'll knock it on that
13:35
Considering the fact that you need to charge via USBC on this
13:39
I would have liked to have seen a little AC adapter included. Now, I recognize that could potentially raise the price a bit more
13:46
but there are people, some people will already have plenty of power bricks
13:50
But the thing is, is that this is a little bit more demanding if you're wanting to charge at a reasonable rate
13:55
Anchor does make a lot of different very good adapters like that
14:00
And so I would have liked to have seen them include one in the package
14:04
And, you know, maybe if the package costs $20 or $25 more
14:08
I think it might have been worthwhile because a lot of people could have used that adapter as well
14:14
So another little area of critique. My conclusion is this. Again, at this point, I've reviewed a lot of different portable power generators
14:23
and I think there's a lot of really cool things happening in the industry
14:27
But this struck me as being a really great idea, because it focuses on what a lot of people actually need rather than trying to do everything
14:35
And a lot of these units seem to be competing with trying to do as much as possible. possible. In this case, I think that there are people that want exactly what this unit is doing
14:44
And so that allows it to be smaller, lighter, cheaper, and more versatile than competing units
14:48
that also have an AC inverter. And if you do happen to want the AC inverter, they've got that
14:54
covered as well. There is a C-300 unit that has the AC inverter built into it. And it's really not that
15:01
much more. It's only about $60 more. I find that this is a really great value, particularly here in
15:07
Canada. Sometimes the difference between the U.S. price and the price here in Canada is really
15:12
inflated, but in this case, the Canadian price is fairly competitive, and so I think that it's a
15:18
great value. And when I look at something like the Explorer 300 or a replacement unit, there's a
15:25
240 unit that has replaced that, you know, a unit like this, it's over a pound heavier
15:31
it requires an external charging brick to charge it. It has only one USB
15:37
port rated at, and it's only rated at 60 watts. So this seems to fill that niche better and
15:43
cheaper. And so if you're looking for basically just something that maybe will give you some
15:48
camp lighting or in a power outage that's going to be able to charge your most basic devices
15:54
your phone, your tablet, things like that, your laptop, I think that this is a really valuable
15:59
little unit that does a lot of things really quite well. If you want more information
16:04
you can check out my description down below. And there, there are. are links where you can either research or buy. And so take a look at that. There's also
16:12
link to a brief text review that's on my website. As always, thanks for watching. Have a great
16:18
day and let the light in

Anker SOLIX C300 DC Power Station (+Light) Review | The Perfect Camping Companion

dustinabbott.net

Sigma 17-40mm F1.8 DC | ART (APS-C Review) The New Cult Classic?

Schneider-KREUZNACH x LK Samyang 14-24mm F2.8 FE Review | Impressive!

Nikon Z5II Review | Is This the Best Sub $2000 Camera?

Books Store app using MERN Stack || React Virtual Conference 2021

Python Tutorial - Databases - Code Sample: emaildb.py - (Part 61)

Boosting Productivity with .NET Source Generators

Extrude Feature in FreeCAD | FreeCAD Beginner Tutorial | Mechnexus |

Convert Mesh into Solid with 3D Printing Tools Workbench | FreeCAD Tutorial |

FreeCAD Part Modeling Tutorial 100

Some advice on why you should try #ttrpg games other than #dnd

Roll#dnd skill checks BEFORE roleplaying the outcome

investarters: analyzing a brick duplex investment deal

Up next in 10

Anker SOLIX C300 DC Power Station (+Light) Review | The Perfect Camping Companion

dustinabbott.net