TL;DR: Jackery power stations excel for boondocking. Carrie found the Solar Generator 300 great for tent camping, Alyssa loved the Solar Generator 500 for car camping, while Megan raved about the Solar Generator 1000 for RV camping. Highly recommended for off-grid power needs.
Jackery products are such a useful tool for boondocking. No matter your preferred way to travel, they have something that fits every need. We sent a few members of our marketing team out into the wild with Jackery Power Stations, and here's what they had to say:
Carrie tested the Jackery Solar Generator 300 while tent camping and found it useful for charging devices.
Alyssa tested the Jackery Solar Generator 500 while car camping and praised its capacity and versatility.
Megan tested the Jackery Solar Generator 1000 while RV camping and was impressed by its power and performance.
The Jackery portable power stations are highly recommended for boondocking and provide a convenient off-grid power solution for various camping needs.
Carrie Tested the Jackery Solar Generator 300 (Explorer 300 + SolarSaga 100W) while Tent Camping
My husband and I spent two years RVing across North America. During that time we got pretty good at boondocking but always struggled with charging our laptops and phones, especially at night. We had solar panels and a generator but didn’t like to run our generator much as it was pretty noisy. I read about the Jackery products and actually had one sitting in my Amazon cart until we decided to stop full-time RVing and sold our rig.
We’re still searching for our next rig but in the meantime, we’re tent camping around Colorado. So, now was the perfect time to try out that Jackery I always wanted! We spent Father’s Day weekend with my father-in-law in Paonia, CO for our first tent camping adventure. It was pretty warm during the day, so I was grateful to have our Jackery powering our little fan (especially because it rained and we had to spend some time in the tent during the day). We were also able to use the Jackery to charge my father-in-law’s hearing aid, all of our phones, and recharge our battery-operated fan/light. As you can see from the picture, we plugged the hearing aids right into the solar panel while it was charging our Jackery.
As for charging the Jackery with the solar panel, we saw great results. While charging the battery would output 26 watts to power our fan while pulling in 25 watts from the solar panel. It was a cloudy day too, so the panel pulling 25% of its capacity was pretty good. And at only a 1% charge, the plug section was still usable.
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Overall, we were very pleased with our Jackery. It was exactly what we needed to get through the weekend comfortably with all our electronics charged.
Alyssa Tested the Jackery Solar Generator 500 (Explorer 500 + SolarSaga 100W) while Car Camping
After several years of RV camping and tent camping, my husband and I finally landed on converting the back of our Honda CRV into a basic needs camper. Being grizzly-proof in northern Montana is important, but having all of the same amenities as our home really isn’t. Off to work we went- we built a platform bed that fits a full-sized mattress and elevated it onto two drawers that work as (left side) our kitchen and (right side) extra storage.
That said, there are a few luxuries that we like to have when we’re off-grid. Our morning breakfast shake (the ultimate luxury), charged devices, and (when it’s warm) our electric air pump for our inflatable paddleboard (the DC plug was absolutely crucial). Ever hand-pumped one of those? That alone will have you buying a Jackery. I won’t lie, I’m also the kind of person that keeps a travel hair straightener to make sure that my braids are straight. All of these things were perfect for the Jackery 500. We never even really tipped the scale for its capacity.
The first trip that we took the Jackery on was early summer outside of Glacier National Park. It wasn’t too cold but it certainly wasn’t very hot either. Before we left on our adventure, we made sure to charge the Jackery fully and left the solar panel at home. We were only going to be away for a few days so we were going to put this thing to the test. Turns out that you can use the battery to make your morning shake (twice), adjust your flyaways, pump air into your water vessel, charge your phone, and still have 95% battery life at the end of the day. What a luxury!
I did some extensive research before plugging the blender into the Jackery, I certainly didn’t want to overload it on our first outing. We have a small, single-serve Magic Bullet and it was nothing for the unit. That said, always check your devices against the capacity of the unit. The blender functionality was our #1 reason for bringing home the 500 over the other offerings.
All this said space is VERY important to us, the most important thing. The Jackery took up no room at all, as it lived in the front seat the entire time that we were camping.
We were so pleased with our experience. Gone are the days of extensive egg breakfasts every morning. Is there anyone out there that actually enjoys off-grid dishwashing? Maybe one day Jackery will unveil a dishwasher that connects to the 500 and when that day comes, I won’t leave the woods.
Megan Tested the Jackery Solar Generator 1000 (Explorer 1000 + SolarSaga 100W) while RV Camping
When my husband and I first decided to start boondocking in our 25 ft travel trailer, a portable power station wasn’t exactly top of mind as a “must buy”. Truthfully, we weren’t really boondockers and I didn’t have any immediate plans to be. How would I charge my iPhone or keep the ice maker going if we were off-grid? Randomly one day I heard about Jackery through a traveling RV family I was following on Instagram. Then like wildfire, it was being shared by more and more RVers. It wasn’t long before it quickly moved to the top of my wish list.
Finally, after 3 short years of waiting to purchase a Jackery, this Summer I was able to get the Explorer 1000 to take on our camping adventures. The first true test? A busy holiday weekend at one of Oklahoma’s most popular State Parks. Before we left our house I charged the unit to 100% and loaded up the solar panels, just in case. As luck would have it we did end up using the solar panels and even in the Oklahoma winds they did a fantastic job!
We are an RVing family and when we’re all camping together, 4 rigs in total, we’re outside almost from sunrise to sunset. The Jackery allowed us to charge multiple smartphones, a laptop, kindle e-reader, and even powered my favorite RV electronic, our ice maker. After not quite 2 days the Jackery had only used a little over 25% of the battery before I plugged in the solar panels to charge back up. To say I was surprised at how much this the Explorer 1000 can power would be an understatement.
With everything this unit offers, you truly can have a wonderful boondocking experience with no worries about powering most electronics you’d use on a daily basis. The multiple charging ports and 3 AC outlets are more than enough room to charge multiple items at once. When comparing models, the Explorer 1000 is not as lightweight as the smaller solar generators, but it is still a manageable unit coming in right at 22 lbs. We had no issues storing the Jackery and solar panels in our travel trailer while we were camping. After seeing how well the Jackery performed for 4 days, I have loaded it up for every camping trip since. I did enjoy the nice comments from neighbors about our campground patio lights, of course plugged into the Jackery.
So what’s our next adventure with the Explorer 1000? I’m looking forward to visiting new (to us) Harvest Hosts locations as the summer heat moves out and the fall foliage moves in. Maybe we’ll even take the suggestion from Jackery to power our electric blanket while we boondock overnight! Overall, I couldn’t be happier with this Jackery solar generator and the best part? There is no noisy generator running behind our RV.
Harvest Hosts is a unique RV camping membership that offers self-contained RVers unlimited overnight stays at 9,600+ unique locations across North America with no camping fees. Stay at farms, wineries, breweries, museums, golf courses, attractions, and other one-of-a-kind destinations while enjoying memorable travel experiences and the peace of mind that comes with knowing a safe place to stay is always nearby.
