JackeryPortable 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)

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.

This Jackery is a lifesaver. I use it daily, and it powers everything I need without ever draining my vehicle’s battery. It’s compact, reliable, and holds a charge like a champ. For anyone living on the road, camping, or just wanting backup power, this isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity.The best investment you’ll ever make in portable power—period.

Update 3/3/2020: This unit was not a free test product. I paid for this, and here is my honest opinion. Jackery sent me a replacement unit to replace a defective unit. I have built my own testing equipment to check on voltages, wattage and test capacities. This new unit performs just like I expected it to. The Jackery 500 has a regulated 12v DC output. That is very important, and the main reason for selecting the Jackery.When it arrived, I charged it fully, and then connected it to my DC powered fridge/freezer. My tester immediately showed that the 12v DC output is working on this unit. Under load, the Jackery is maintaining the 12v output even after 15 hours of powering the fridge/freezer. Which, by the way, the Jackery still had over 50% capacity, and my fridge/freezer did not error out once. I checked the AC output at over 280W load for 6 minutes with no problem. The USB ports worked fine as well. That is quality and reliability.I shut it down, and then took it to my garage to test the solar charging, It was connected to two 50W panels and the input varied, but I was able to see a 62W input at one point. I did not observer the input all day, however the unit fully charged by 5 PM when I checked on it. So, a little over 8 hours and it charged fully from around a 57% starting point.This is a great unit that performs like I expected it to. It is a great value for the price, and it beats out the competition in the same power class with its regulated 12v DC output. This now gets 5 stars form me. I will continue to test the unit for capacity and efficiency, and I don't expect to be disappointed.Update 2/20/20: I finally received an email from Jackery today. After two months of trying to get a defective unit replaced that has a DC output voltage problem. The DC regulated output did not work, and voltage constantly dropped during use causing failures and errors. This defect caused endless issues with DC devices that rely on a constant 12V. The Jackery has a regulated 12V DC output, and that is one of the reasons for purchasing it. The Jackery 500 is one of only a few power stations of this size and capacity, to my knowledge, having this feature. It is very important and shows quality in design and manufacture. Thank you to Jackery for finally reaching out to me, and now trying to resolve the issue. I am raising my rating to 4 stars. This is my last update, as this has gone on too long for me.Update 2/3/20: I did get a reply from Jackery. They did not address my issue at all, only to tell me that the 12V output was regulated. A two sentence reply. I had written them a detailed email with my issue, and they blew me off. So I now have to take other measures. Please keep in mind that you have been warned. If you have issues, you are out of luck and lots of money.Update 2/1/20 2 stars: Absolutely no contact from Jackery. Just a tip, these may be great products, but if you have an issue, your left out in the cold. Because this is a battery, there is no returning it. You get stuck with it as there is no customer service from Jackery either. I will just continue to try. If there are no further posts, consider this to be 1 star, you can imagine why. If by any luck Jackery contacts me, I will update. As of now, Jackery is dead for me.Update 1/24/20 3 stars: I finally got a call from Jackery. It wasn't support, as I guess they are all out of town. So I expressed my issue, and it is supposed to be handed off to someone who can help me. By the way, we did a reset, but my issue still persists. They will contact me at a later time. Let's hope! Meanwhile, I still have a paper weight.Original review 2 stars: I have been having issues with my Jackery 500 that is only 3 weeks old, and have attempted to contact them multiple times with no response at all. There is a telephone number that gets you absolutely nowhere, email that goes unanswered, and a website that is sparse in information. By the way, Jackery offers a 30 return policy on their products, but not if you order on Amazon. They only honor the free 30 day returns on their products bought directly from their website. So Amazon customers are treated differently. Jackery seems not to care about their Amazon customers, and obviously make it too difficult for customers to claim warranty issues.I warn all that want to purchase from Jackery, to reconsider. If you have any issues, and purchase Jackery products from Amazon, you have nowhere to turn for issues. Now I am stuck with a Jackery paper weight.