Anker 521 Portable Power Station, 256Wh Solar Generator (Sol (Open Box)

Buggy and doesn't match expected capacity... Already owning a Jackery 240, I chose this for my second power supply of this size because of its LiFEPO batteries and nifty front facing light, with the understanding it would be a little bigger and heavier due to battery chemistry but also have an extra 16 watt hours of power and all the safety/endurability improvements of that battery chemistry. After all, LiFE batteries last for several times as many charge/discharge cycles as standard lithium ion (like in the Jackery 240) and are more heat tolerant before they enter into a runaway reaction (i.e. overheat and spontaneously combust). It's way too early to confirm that this battery system can manage the 3,000 cycles that Anker claims and most other manufacturers only claim 2,500 cycles for theirs, but I like the warm white front facing LED lamp and still hope the unit will last a long time. I also hope that it's as durable as they claim, as that was another selling point. This is where my positive impressions end, unfortunately. Another task for this unit was to replace the Jackery 160 that I'd kept by my desk with my internet router and PC monitor plugged into it, serving as a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) so that short blackouts wouldn't disrupt my working remotely from home. For one of these units to do this they must have "pass through" charging, meaning that they can simultaneously charge or keep their internal batteries topped up while also powering whatever's plugged into them. Some lesser/older models don't have this feature, so if you use them to power something and then plug them in to recharge themselves, they'll shut off the power to whatever's plugged into them. Pass through is great for having instant backup power and/or using them to power things during rolling blackouts, as they can charge themselves during the periods when the power is on without you having to intervene. This provides much better peace of mind when you're using the device to run something critical in a power outage rather than just out camping. My two Jackerys work great for this and so does a Bluetti I also own. But with the Anker, regardless of whether I set power saving or "eco mode" on or off, it would cut the inverter intermittently when left plugged in. It does this to things powered via USB as well only, because there's no on/off for the USB outputs, they resume receiving power after a moment's pause. I thought I'd received a bad unit and returned it for a new one but the replacement behaves identically. And speaking of plugging it in, compared to the other portable power stations I own, this one's transformer is on the plug itself, gets quite hot and uses a thinner gauge cable between itself and the unit. Cheap. FYI: The input barrel plug is the same size as the ones for the Bluetti EB70S and Jackery 160 and 240 units. Still on that topic, you can indeed charge the Anker via both its charger and a USB-C cable, simultaneously. Using my iPad charger I managed to push the 62 watts from the AC adapter up to 77 combined. A more powerful USB-C charger pushed this over 100 watts. But one of the advantages of the LiFE chemistry is that it can charge faster, so why the cheap power supply that outputs the same as the Jackery 240 with its inferior battery chemistry in the first place? The up side of this is that you can charge it via USB-C if you lose the AC adapter or use a solar panel with only USB outputs. Finally, the capacity. It's bigger and heavier than the Jackery 240 and boasts 256 watt hours of capacity to the Jackery's 240 wh. Yet with them both fully charged and then used to power window fans drawing 49 watts each, why was the Anker showing 61% battery remaining when the Jackery was reporting 72% left? I guess that doesn't necessarily mean that they're lying about the unit's capacity, but if they're not then the inverter is definitely significantly less efficient in the Anker -- And if that's the case, why does it read the same outgoing wattage? So to wrap up: Compared to a $30 less expensive Jackery 240 with older battery tech it's bigger and heavier and doesn't work properly as a UPS. It claims to have over 6% greater battery capacity yet actually revealed itself to be 15% its lesser. With LiFE cells rated at 2,500 full charge/discharge cycles before they drop to 80% capacity vs. standard lithium ion batteries only having 500, I suppose they'll be capacity equals in 500-700ish full cycles. Son, I am disappoint. UPDATE 2022.12.29: A new fun thing about this is that it also now shows 100% for around half of a discharge cycle, then increments down to a bit below 50%, then suddenly cuts power and reports a flashing 1% remaining. Charging with both inputs it prematurely disables the USB input and shows 99% for a large portion of the charge cycle while the AC charging brick flirts with 160 F temps. They really just don't seem to have implemented anything properly and at this point I regret the purchase and have dropped my rating to one star -- And that's having paid less than what it's going for now, now that the $50 coupon is no longer available. UPDATE 2025.04.05 Aaaaand...It's dead. I've probably cycled this 100 times over the last few years, and today it continually tells me it has 100% battery but then flashes 1% when I try to use the power. Plugging a USB C cable in to charge it, it refuses to accept the charge because it apparently thinks it's fully charged already. The reset button on the back didn't do anything to remedy the situation. The battery cells may support 3,000 cycles, but the electronics sure don't. Fortunately, I still have the Bluetti power station that I mentioned in my first review. It's seen more usage than the Anker and works flawlessly to this day.