Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 240, 240Wh Backup Lithium Battery, 110V/200W Pure Sine Wave AC Outlet, Solar Generator for Outdoors Camping Travelling and Emergencies. (Solar Panel Separate)

I bought this item 12/2/2019 and I really wanted to write a review even though I haven’t fully tested it yet. I will update this review once I do all the other things I want it to do. But for now here we go.I bought the Jackery 240 because we lost power for several days in NJ. I was tired of waiting for my husband to fix our broken gas generator. I wanted a rechargeable generator that can 12 volt appliances like little cooking thing or a low powered heater. I boiled eggs/heated food with a sterno cooking thing. It worked but I wanted other alternatives. I know there is a lot of other alternatives for cooking (like propane stuff, wood stove etc) and heat (I used Hot Hands all sizes) and the hubby has all these equipment. But I think he is saving all his equipment for the ultimate doomsday 0_0 and I’d have to ask permission to use them. So I’m like to heck with this I’m going to get my own stuff – something not too exorbitant and not a repeat of equipment he already has. I am supposed to be the helpless female (LOL) but I guess when you have kids (or when you’re tired of waiting to be rescued) you gonna help yourself. Ok that’s my lifestory don’t downgrade my review its down below LOLLLI have the Honeywell HeatBud 250 Watt Personal Ceramic Heater, Black (HCE100). This heater has a low setting – 170 watts and high setting 250 watts. I tested it on both settings and it works! Of course it would be silly of me to use it just for that purpose. As a previous reviewer said, the heater sucked the power off the Jackery and I think it ran between 60-90 minutes. I don’t remember because I was watching TV and then then it just turned off LOL. The Jackery didn’t give me any warning that it was low battery. I also charged other items on the Jackery for 10 minutes before I tested the Honeywell which Im sure drained it a bit but I’m pretty sure it was at least 60 minutes or more before the Jackery was empty. I don’t think I’ll be using the Jackery for heating purposes as that would be such a waste of power. Guess it’ll still be the Hot Hands scenario for heat! But it’s nice to see that the Jackery can power the Honeywell Heatbud heater. So if someone’s hands is close to frostbite I can power on my Honeywell for 90 mins of heat. I also tested a smaller Lasko heater (which I returned actually). The Lasko heater was advertised as 200 watts. It was totally brand new and on first use it was using 240 watts + and the Lasko kept turning on and off. That went on for about 5-10 mins. Then the Lasko began to stabilize and pulling a regular 200watts+ from the Jackery and stayed on. So my assumption was that at first use/brand new the Lasko was trying to heat itself up (??) My Honeywell Heatbud didn’t do that but then again the Honeywell Heatbud was not brand new. But anyway, I’m not too pleased with the Lasko especially as it doesn’t have the tip-over safety feature and lower heat settings. So if I *had* to use a heater with the Jackery it would be the Honeywell Heatbud.I bought a mini hotpot from Amazon that has two power settings 200 watt and 600 watt. I will update my review once I use it either tonight or over the weekend. I am curious to see if the 200 watt setting will work on the Jackery and how long it takes to boil water at the lower setting. I have a review for the mini hotpot somewhere in case you’re curious. But my plan is to use the mini hotpot to boil eggs/heat soups/coffee/chocolate milk for the family faster than the sterno stove (during power outages) and when we go on sporting events several days in a hotel – things like that.The next major test I did (which I would definitely be using the Jackery more this way than any other) was plugging in my Wagan Thermoelectric Cooler/Warmer in the DC outlet – cigarette lighter) My sons had a swim meet competition and we always have hot food cooked. I would use the Wagan to keep it warm for them. In the past I would power the Wagan with my Honda CR-V cigarette lighter. But whenever I turn my car off it cuts the power to the Wagan. Also, there is a warning that in order to avoid the Wagan from malfunctioning I must power off the Wagan then shut my car AND/OR plug the Wagan to the car before powering it on. So with the Jackery 240 I don’t need to worry about any of that! So at 100% I plugged in my Wagan and powered on the Jackery and the Wagan respectively about 730AM in the morning with my 3 already hot spaghetti inside. I never turned off the Wagan or the Jackery. About 5 hours or so later I checked on the Jackery and it was about 40% power remaining! Cool!Since using an electric cooler (and soon my Alpicool compressor fridge/freezer) is mostly what I’ll be using the Jackery for (as well as the mini hotpot if it works) – and the minor charging of other electronics I’d leave this review here for now. My husband uses a CPAP machine – Resmed Airsense 10. I read in the reviews that the Jackery can power this machine so that is cool. Although my husband says he can live without the CPAP since power outages (or vacations somewhere is temporary) I am unable to test this for myself. Since he gets mad if I nag him I won’t bother convincing him. But it’s good know that if need be the Jackery can power his CPAP machine if he ever decides to use it.In summary below are what I like, dislike, the items I used it for/tested with, final thoughts until my next update with other things I want to test it with.What I like:1. Seems durable and high quality - doesn’t look and feel like it will break easily2. Light and portable – carrying it around is no biggie for 5ft me3. 12V DC outlet works (I heard that it gives the max power even when battery is low) it worked well with my 12volt thermo electric cooler4. You can power and charge the machine at the same time (haven’t check this yet)5. Bought it at the lower price during an Amazon Lightning Deal (yay!)What I dislike:1. Wish it had a USB-C outlet (that’s what my tablet and phone use)2. Slow charging – in the AC outlet I saw it pulls in 39 wattsFinal Thoughts:This is my first “solar” generator. But I did research a lot - or should I say Amazon reviews and Youtube research LOL. Jackery seemed to come up as being reliable and not too expensive like Goalzero. Maybe just maybe if I did the whole off grid living and conversion van life I would get Goalzero 1000 as well but I’m not. And I don’t want to throw my money away. The consensus seems that Jackery is a solid brand and worth it.I plan to keep my Jackery 240 in my car as I drive 64 miles one way to work. I like the Jackery 240 so much that I may just buy the 500 watt version if it goes on sale again. It’s back to $500 right now. But anyway, I’m still researching and maybe I’m getting carried away. But I want the ability to higher wattage appliances and/or charge a lot more. I like the previous reviewers advice of having two of these. Since they recharge slowly one can be used while the other is recharging – perfect! But $$$. I usually like to get two powerful items. But the 240 is only 6 lbs while the 500 is 13 lbs. So I think it’s a wise decision for me to have a Jackery 240 and Jackery 500. Now if they come out with a Jackery 1000 I might get that instead. Jackery are you coming out with a 1000???I recently purchased a Rockpals 100 watt folding solar panel which should be delivered today. (Yep I’m getting carried away!!!) I want to be able to charge my Jackery 240 while I’m at lunch by putting it on the roof of my car. I did not get the Jackery branded solar panels because it was too expensive for me. The Jackery 60 watt panel – though it went on sale – can only charge the Jackery alone. The Jackery 100 watt panel - which I REALLY liked and wanted to get since it can power other things as well - was $299! Since I plan to buy another Jackery (either 500 or 1000 if they make it in the future) I need to purchase wisely.Appliances I tested with:1. Honeywell Heatbud2. Honeywell Desktop Air Purifier3. Wagan Thermoelectric Warmer/Cooler (using 12v, didn’t try the AC plug)4. Android Tablets & Phones5. Rav Battery Bank6. Rechargeable Flashlights & LampsAppliances I will test with soon:1. Coolio Thermoelectric Warmer/Cooler2. Alpicool C20 Fridge & Freezer3. Rockpals 100 Watt Folding Solar Panel4. Acer Chromebook5. Dell Laptop6. Modem & Router

Okay, I will start out by saying I am a U.S Service-member with over twenty years of Honorable service. With that being said I’ve done multiple tours to almost every desert in the Middle East, tours in tropical environments, tours in some pretty secluded off grid undisclosed locations. I only put this out there because I’ve had the pleasure of being a Jackery customer for years and years and the Jackery 240 portable power station, , the Jackery Solar Saga 60w tri-fold panels, and the small Jackery portable chargers were compact and lightweight enough to fit into my pack with ease and leave me room for the other essentials. Imagine being in the middle of nowhere and have a weeks worth of power at your fingertips for recharges, lights, portable fans, small burner for coffee and cooking. Then being able to say it never failed you, always recharged quickly, and has been through the worlds harshest conditions and environments, yet functions like the day you pulled it out of the box. So this began my Jackery passion. Which led me to purchase the Jackery 500. Everything I’ve said above applies to the 500 ten fold folks. Being Military my pay isn’t great so I’ve had to accumulate these items over the course of years, however never have I had to justify spending the money to my wife, as long as I said the word Jackery. Because she’s used the items as well here at home guard. My son plays Football and daughter plays soccer in the Nevada desert just miles away from where the annual Burning Man event is held. Hot dry desert climate, no trees for shade, just direct unrelenting heat. This genius woman, the love of my life used our Jackery Portable power stations to run dual fans, and a small refrigerated trucker cooler during daytime practices in a pop up sunshade tent, all neatly placed in one of those little soccer mom wheeled totes, and a folding low loveseat chair. Talk about super mom, with lots of friends who also wanted to stay cool. Then when night fell and the kids weren’t finished with practice, my lovely wife handed over the Jackery 500 to the coaches who then plugged LED lights into it and lit up the field for the kids giving us an extra hour or two to practice without the heat. This convinced her to give me permission to buy the SolarSaga 100w panels. Money was tight but she gave me the go ahead and we’ve never looked back and haven’t got an ounce of regret or buyers remorse for a single product. But this review is neither for the the Jackery 240, the Jackery 500, the SolarSaga 100w or 60w panels. It’s not even for the Jackery portable chargers. This review is to let you know, the day the Jackery 1000w Portable Power Station became available we did not hesitate for a second to buy it. With the stories we heard from friends about California and Washington power outages, the Covid-19 Pandemic, and any one of the many RV trips we take into Gods country to get away from it all for a few weeks, we both agreed this was the best thing for our family. Why use heavy loud generators, carry fuel, deal with all that monotonous nonsense, when you could literally live off the Jackery Families products. I say Family because over the years I’ve had multiple email contacts and numerous phone calls with them, and every interaction was amazing. Courteous, professional, and the products are literally second to none. The Jackery 1000 is my newest addition and there’s nothing I can say about it that the 240 or 500 don’t already represent. Twice the power, twice the life, multiple solar panel options, can recharge through car, wall, or good ol sunshine. I could get technical and go down the path as some of these reviewers do, but you anyone can read the box. I can sum everything the box says by just telling you that these products, put out by this amazing company, can enhance anyone’s life, save somebodies life, and will probably last your the rest of yours. It’s a no brainer for us. I’ve purchased every product so far with a smile knowing its perfect and the people handing it to me care enough to treat you as if you were family.