Anker Powerhouse 200 Rechargeable Generator REVIEW

Sometimes when you are traveling, portable battery packs just aren’t enough. As much as I love my numerous power banks, I do find them somewhat limiting. There have been several occasions where we’ve taken long car trips and I want to be able to work on my laptop. A laptop’s battery is only so long. So, what do you do? You can either get an inverter that will plug into your car’s DC power receptacle (cigarette lighter port) and only be able to use it in a car or you can invest in the Powerhouse 200 from Anker and use it everywhere.

DETAILS

The Powerhouse 200 is a portable, rechargeable generator that can be used to charge items using a car outlet, USB-A, USB-C, or and AC adapter. It’s perfect for fast charging needs for the on-the-go adventurer and for emergency uses such as a CPAP machine. It does tote a hefty price tag of around $350 (MSRP), but for everything it provides, it might just be worth it. The Powerhouse 200 has 57600 mAh of battery life to it. That is enough to recharge an iPhone XS almost 22 times. According to Anker’s product information, you should be able to get the following ‘hours of power’ from the following devices:

• CPAP: 2+ hours
• Fan: 12+ hours
• Mini-Fridge: 4+ hours
• Inflatable Mattress: 18+ times
• MacBook Pro (model not specified): 5+ charges
• Smartphone (model not specified): 12+ charges

The tiny beast was designed for use with home healthcare devices, outdoor adventures, and emergency preparedness. With that in mind, it has multiple inputs for recharging including solar, wall outlet, and USB-C power delivery. In addition to everything it offers, the Powerhouse 200 also provides an enormous amount of safety options. Something I want to mention is we tested it with my grandmothers home oxygen machine and it powered it with no problems. So if at some point she loses power we will be able to keep her breathing without pulling out a full sized gas powered generater.

• Input high-voltage protection
• Output high-voltage protection
• Input current regulation
• Automatic current matching
• Input short-circuit protection
• Device overcharge protection
• Static resistance
• Output short-circuit regulation
• Battery over discharge protection
• Output temperature control

Even though the Powerhouse 200 is a little heavy (~6 pounds), it’s compact enough to carry with you just about anywhere. It has a comfortable, flexible hand strap that makes it easy to carry. Because the ports are open to the elements, this isn’t what I would refer to as weatherproof, but because of it’s hefty exterior, I would say that it’s weather resistant.

SPECS

• Capacity: 57600mAh/218.8Wh
• Input: AC/Power Delivery
• USB Output: 5V=3A (15W)
• Power Delivery Output: 5V=3A, 9V=3A, 15V=2A, 20V=1.5A (30W)
• DC Output: 12V=5A
• AC Output: 110V, 0.9A, 60Hz, 100W
• AC Waveform: Pure Sine Wave
• Total Output: 130W Max
• Operating Temperature: 32°F-104°F / 0°C-40°C
• Recharging Temperature: 14°F-104°F / -10°C-40°C

USER EXPERIENCE

The Anker Powerhouse 200 came in a classic Anker-branded box. It comes with a standard AC power adapter and brick along with a Welcome Guide. The Welcome Guide is helpful, but a little confusing. It’s multilingual, which is wonderful, but Anker put all the languages together instead of separating them out. This confused me when I was reading through the instructions because the foreign languages caused some clutter on the pages of the guide. With that in mind, I’m going to include a very quick starting guide for the Powerhouse here. It will be in English, but you could always use Google Translate (or other program) to translate it to another language. The purpose of this is to provide the instructions in one group rather than broken up.

1. Charge your device. Select the output charging port you need for your device’s charging cable and plug it in.
2. Press on/off to initiate charging for that output port. NOTE: AC output port and DC output port cannot be used for charging at the same time.
3. When charging is completed, turn off each output port by pressing the on/off button for each port.
4. Recharge your Powerhouse by plugging it into a wall outlet or USB-C power delivery. NOTE: There is no need to press the USB-C on/off button in advance for recharging your Powerhouse.

Operation of the Powerhouse is pretty standard. You plug in your device and turn the port on. I do want to note that you have to make sure to turn the port off when you are done. The Powerhouse will not automatically turn off. I also want to mention that I was intrigued to find out that you can recharge the Powerhouse via solar energy. That, however, requires the PowerPort Solar Charger, which is sold separately from the Powerhouse.

I feel that the biggest selling point of this device is its portability. Yes, it’s six pounds, but it’s easy to carry. I don’t know that it would work out if I was going on a long hiking journey, but for a camping trip or road trip, it’s certainly worth the extra weight.

A couple of weeks ago, we took a trip to Nashville, Tennessee. As I packed the truck for the trip, I tossed the Powerhouse into the mix. Even though it was a shorter trip, I thought it would be worthwhile to have the generator along for the ride. As it turns out, I was smart to do so. Robyn remembered on the drive home (which is about 2.5 hours), that she had a report due for school. It had to be turned in by midnight that night and we would be on the road past that time. So, when she got her laptop out to work on it and discovered that it was nearly dead. Fortunately, I had packed the Powerhouse with us and so she plugged her laptop in and the generator took care of the rest. If we hadn’t had the Powerhouse with us, her report would have been late and her grade would have suffered.

On that same trip, I was able to charge my iPhone XS Max and her iPhone XS. She ended up using the DC power receptacle instead of the USB port because of the cable we had with us. Since she couldn’t use the DC output port and the AC port at the same time, I charged my phone after she was done with her computer. After 53 minutes, the phone had gained 67% battery power. That’s a charging rate of 1.26% per minute, with a much higher rate of charge than I normally get from standard power banks.

CONCLUSION

The Powerhouse 200 is an efficient, portable charging monster, it’s got a very sleek design and is super easy to carry. It’s perfect for travelers and adventurers alike. It can be used for many different devices and because it’s an Anker product, I believe it will last for a very long time. If you are constantly on the go or enjoy the occasional walk in the woods, I would recommend investing in this device so that you always have power.

For more information, visit anker.com
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Originally published at macsources.com on March 27, 2019.