Last updated on September 17th, 2021 at 02:55 pm
I recently received an Ecoflow River Max portable power station for review. I like it, and I think you might like it as well, especially if you boondock in your RV.
The River Max is the same unit as the River with an additional battery pack that nearly doubles the capacity. Mine came out of the box with the battery pack already installed, and if you didn’t know, you wouldn’t know it was two parts.
There are many YouTube reviews of the River and River Max which explain the technical details, so I’m just going to tell you what I like best about it.
Here are some of the features I like:
Using a 120v wall outlet, the River Max recharges from 0-80% within one hour, one of the fastest recharging rates on the market. Charging to 100% takes another hour, but that’s still way faster than many other power stations. And, the icing on the cake, there is no power brick. It just uses a power cord.
The Ecoflow River Max portable power station has a lot of power ports. Starting with 12 volts, the Max has a Standard car power/lighter outlet and two 5mm barrel ports.
There are two standard ports for USB charging, one Fast Charge port and one USB-C 100w port. The USB-C port is hard to find on the brands.
Need 120v AC power? The River Max has a 576-watt inverter connected to 3 outlets. As long as you don’t exceed the inverter’s 576 watts, you can use all three outlets simultaneously. For example, the average laptop computer charger is around 45 watts. So you could charge three, and the Max wouldn’t break a sweat.
The display is large and provides a lot of information about the Max in operation. Here’s a list of indicators:
- Remaining Charge/Discharge Time
- Battery Level
- Battery Percentage
- High-Temperature Warning
- Low-Temperature Warning
- Overload Warning
- Active Power Ports (12v, USB, 120v AC)
- Fan On
- Power Input (charging)
- Power Output
It is Bluetooth-enabled. At first, I thought this was just marketing wow-factor, but it’s not. Installing the app on your phone allows you to monitor the status of the River Max remotely. For example, if you are charging the Max outside on solar, you can be inside and check the state of charge from your phone. The Bluetooth app also lets you turn on/off the power ports and built-in light, which could be helpful. And, it is just fun to play with it. At least for a while.
The Ecoflow River Max portable power station is handy. Weighing just 17 pounds, the Riverflo Max is about as easy to grab as an extension cord (if you can find one) and powers most things a camper needs. When you’re away from grid power, it can often eliminate the need for a generator or at least reduce generator run-time.
Ecoflow provides several cables to make connecting the Max convenient.
- 4.5′ AC power cord for charging
- MC4 to XT-60 solar charging adapter cable
- Lighter/12v power plug to XT-60 – for charging the Max while driving
- Male barrel to Male Barrel 12v cable
- USB-C Male to Male cable
- USB-A to apple lightning and USB-micro cable
Other brands charge you extra for some of these cables.
I haven’t used it a lot outside of testing all the features, but I really like it, and I am looking forward to using it around the house and on the road.
