Jackery Portable Power Station Explorer 500, 518Wh Outdoor Solar Generator Mobile Lithium Battery Pack with 110V/500W AC Outlet for Home Use, Emergency Backup,Road Trip Camping (Solar Panel Optional)

I've been a car camper most of my life. And, those adventures have usually taken me and friends off road so there's no convenient electricity to power all our devices. My first solution was to install a Marine Battery in the diamond plate tool box mounted on a cargo carrier inserted in the trailer hitch. This battery was recharged through wiring to the alternator. Worked beautifully, supplied all the power I needed, but I couldn't take it with me on the trail.Needing to upgrade my vehicle recently, I decided to see what was available for 'portable' power, for those trips away from my vehicle rather than install the Marine Battery again. It didn't take me long to discover the plethora of choices available in portable batteries made for all of us who enjoy the outdoors or need extra power on the patio while we're BBQing.I studied for some time as there were many features of these new battery packs that one must consider for their particular needs. I wanted a unit with the greatest capacity I could find that also could be recharged through some kind of solar system, as our group is usually 2-6 people, all with iPhones, iPads and cameras. The other purpose I had for the battery was to power a small 12V fan inside my vehicle to keep my doggies cool during the warmer weather. (Yes, the windows are also open).After reading lots of reviews, I chose the Jackery Explorer 500 and will be adding the companion Portable Solar System for next summer's hikes. So far the Explorer 500 has more than surpassed our hopes of a well performing and adequate power source. I've been using it with the grand kids devices on short trips and for the doggie fan and it has been excellent. We've taken it to our primitive cabin, which has no electricity yet, but has our solar panels installed, and the Explorer 500 took care of our device needs all weekend.We are extremely delighted with Jackery's Explorer 500 and feel we have yet to know it's true capacity! If you need a lot of power then the Jackery Explorer 500 is the Model to choose. If not, Jackery has two smaller capacity units that are sure to please. I understand that an Explorer 300 is coming out in March as well!Rugged, durable, great capacity and performance, reasonably priced, super customer service! What more could you ask for??? Enjoy Jackery!JANUARY 2020 UPDATE: After purchasing this terrific Power Station from Jackery, I received a very personalized email from them asking how I was enjoying the unit and was there any questions they could answer. As you can see from my initial review, I've been extremely happy, even impressed with the easy of use and functionality of this unit. Knowing that I was a very satisfied customer, they asked if I'd be kind enough to write a detailed review.Within hours after my submission, I received a surprise email from the Jackery Team, thanking me for my honest review and was rewarded (which I had no idea was coming my way), with two unbelievable gifts: A Jackery Bar 6000mAh portable charger and A Jackery Giant+ 12000mAh portable charger!!! Pics are coming.Folks, Most sellers send us prewritten but sincere 'thank yous' for our purchases, nicely printed discount cards for our next purchase or, if we're lucky, perhaps a small physical token of appreciation. As a previous business owner myself, I can see that the Jackery Team have done their customer relations and marketing homework very well. To receive such high quality gifts as a bonus to my purchase is unprecedented! I honestly don't see how you can go wrong with Jackery's outstanding products and top notch customer service. Do yourself a BIG Favor and give them serious consideration if your in the market for these kinds of products!

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 1000, 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 500w 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.