Here at CNET, we've tested nearly 140 portable power stations and counting in our Louisville, Kentucky, testing lab. Some of the qualifications we use to help us determine the best portable power stations are capacity, charging time and and charging options. The Anker Solix C1000 Gen 2 is the latest model from Anker to attempt to tick all three boxes.
The Solix C1000 can recharge to 100% in 49 minutes.
The standout feature here is Anker's HyperFlash technology, which it says allows the power station to do a full recharge to 100% in 49 minutes while plugged into a standard wall outlet. This works as long as UltraFast Charge Mode is enabled in the app. If true, this is significantly faster than the first-generation C1000 and notably even better than the EcoFlow River 3, our best small portable power station, which managed to charge to full in 1 hour during our testing and the Bluetti AC70 (full charge in 1.5 hours). It also beats out the DJI Power 500 (100% charge in 70 minutes) and the Bluetti HandsFree 2 backpack power station (80% in 45 minutes).
The battery itself has a 1,024-watt-hour capacity (2,000 watts), putting it on par with some of our other top picks, including the Jackery Explorer 1000 Plus, though we'll actually have to put it through its paces in the lab to see how it fares for sure. It comes with UL-1778 certification and has less than 10 milliseconds UPS switchover, so it should work for CPAPs, Wi-Fi and more sensitive electronics.
The C1000 Gen 2 has less than 10 milliseconds switchover, making it more suitable for more sensitive electronics.
In other specs, you're looking at 2,000-watt AC output and support up to 3,000 watts with SurgePad. Anker says it's capable of powering laptops and refrigerators, running a fridge for 4.7 hours, a microwave for 1.3 hours and a TV for 7.5 hours. You get LifePo4 cells that should be good for 4,000 discharge cycles, which Anker estimates should last a decade.
The entire unit weighs 24.9 pounds and is 14% smaller and 11% lighter than Anker's previous generation. It also comes with tons of input and output options. You can find 2,000-watt AC plugs, two 140-watt USB-C ports, one 15-watt USB-C port, one 12-watt USB-A, and one 120-watt car cigarette output. It supports 600-watt solar input to recharge off-grid. The one downside is that there isn't a battery capacity expansion as many other portable power stations offer, including our favorites from EcoFlow.
The C1000 Gen 2 should work with most electronics, including microwaves, minifridges, ACs and others.
Price and availability
The Solix C1000 Gen 2 will be available on Anker Solix's website starting Tuesday. At full price, it'll cost $799, but at launch, you can get it for $429 if you register by Sept. 8.