EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus Portable Power Station

The small unit that actually handles real appliances. 1200W of continuous output from a 286Wh battery, which is an unusual pairing and the reason to pick it. Most power stations near this size cap out around 300 to 600W and turn away anything with a heating element. At 1200W this one will run a small microwave, a coffee machine or a desk-sized appliance, though only in short bursts, because 286Wh is a modest tank. Think of it as the unit that says yes to more devices rather than the unit that runs them longest. If you need duration, the extra capacity comes from an EB300 battery bought separately, which takes the pack to 858Wh. The UPS switchover is under 10 milliseconds, so a desktop computer, a router or a home office setup plugged through it will not notice a mains cut at all. Cells are LiFePO4, rated for thousands of cycles rather than hundreds, and more tolerant of the temperatures a Dubai storeroom reaches in August. Nothing is installed and nothing is wired, so a tenant can use one without asking anybody.

• Runs 1000W-plus appliances that smaller units simply refuse
• Under 10ms switchover keeps a desktop or router running through a cut
• Grows to 858Wh later with an add-on battery instead of a second unit
• LiFePO4 cells rated for thousands of cycles, not hundreds