What is it?
The clue’s in the name, really – it’s a portable power station. The Bluetti Elite 100 V2 features a 1024Wh lithium-ion phosphate battery packaged in a neat housing featuring nine power outlets to keep various devices charged on the move. It’s ideal for myriad uses, including off-grid camping or as an emergency backup for power outages.
The power outlets comprise a pair of USB-A ports, two AC three-pin plugs, 100w and 140W USB-C ports, a cigarette lighter-style port, and two DC5521 connections. A decent-sized LCD display gives information, including the state of charge and the current power inputs and outputs.
The whole thing is 320mm wide, 215mm deep and 250mm tall, and weighs about 11.5kg. It takes an hour and 10 minutes to fully charge from empty, but if you're short on time, it takes only 45 minutes to charge to 80%. Bluetti gives a battery life expectancy of 10 years, which is on par with rivals.
Is it any good?
In our time testing the Elite 100 V2, it’s gotten on with the job without revealing any obvious flaws. There’s some noise from a cooling fan when the unit is being recharged, but the rest of the time, it’s nearly silent, so we’ve been able to have it running on a camping trip while sleeping without being disturbed.
At 11.5kg, it’s reasonably easy to lug around, and the ‘hidden’ handle that sits flush with the top of the unit makes for compact overall proportions, thus easy storage. It’s a neater solution than units from Jackery, which feature a handle that protrudes significantly from the top.
The power outputs are spread out in such a way that it’s easy to have multiple devices plugged in at once without any issues. And although the three-pin sockets are on top of one another, the top one is upside-down, allowing both to be used simultaneously, even with the bulkiest of plugs.
You should have no problem keeping a whole family’s worth of devices charged on a weekend camping trip – fully charging a smartphone only reduced the unit by about 1%. We’ve used it with myriad products plugged in, including laptops, an e-bike charger and even a motorcycle trickle charger.
For even better off-grid camping potential, there’s a solar input, and it’s possible to buy a bundle including the power station and a set of panels, although we haven’t tested any of these yet. The cheapest of these adds £140 to the price.
We had a brief try of the smartphone app, which quickly connected and clearly displayed various information, including the amount of time until full discharge based on current usage, and the recharge time when plugged into the mains.
Should you buy it?
With an RRP of £899 listed on the manufacturer’s website, the Bluetti Elite 100 V2 sounds expensive, but that price is worth ignoring when it’s actually being sold for a far more reasonable £399.
For that price, it’s well worth it. If you’re a keen camper, it’ll open up the possibility of visiting more off-grid sites with no power hook-ups, without having to bring a load of power banks. And the rest of the time, it’s a handy thing to have around the house for power outages, or perhaps if you temporarily need power in a hard-to-reach part of your property.
