If you live under a rock or have been absent from the internet for a couple of months you may have escaped the mass reviews of the Jackery portable power station from a selection of bloggers and vloggers. As a part of the UK launch of Jackery, we received a Jackery Explorer 240 and solar panel for our thoughts and review. We were upfront and honest about our review status and in the video I stated that I wouldn’t buy the 240, instead for me a Jackery Explorer 500 would suit my needs better.
If you missed our video review of the 240, here it is as a reminder.
So, to naturally follow on from that video, let me introduce the Jackery Explorer 500. A very similar product but with more oomph and a few other additions too. This 500 variant is over twice the power than the Jackery 240, with 2400 Lithium-ion battery cells inside, that have the capacity of 24Ah and can deliver 518Wh of electrical power. Just like the 240, power outputs range from USB, 12v and 230V AC. But because this power station is more powerful, there are some welcome additions, for instance, an extra 2.4A USB socket, making 3 USB sockets available for fast charging and 2 additional dedicated 12v outputs along-side the 12v car cigarette socket.
And of course, the mains outlet can now power devices up to 500w in power consumption. Twice the power means twice the weight compared to the 240, the Jackery Explorer 500 only weights 6Kg Thankfully its not twice the size, instead it measures up as 30 x 19 x 24cms. Which means it is easy to carry, so in every sense of the word this really is a portable power solution.
In the video I mentioned this would be the version I would buy, but why – what can I power now that I simply couldn’t on the 240? For me its not about powering bigger items, but powering them for longer. That said, I can now run more items at the same time which is perfect when I’m working on location.
For example, I have 3 big panel lights when interviewing people, I have sound equipment that needs re-charging and 2 cameras with many batteries, a laptop and a selection of kit that all require power of some sort. The Jackery can now power everything at the same time. And if the day is nice, I can replenish some of that used power by utilising the solar panel as well.
To date I have been using the Jackery Explorer 500 quite exhaustively, including powering some gadgets I have been sent for review. It has quietly performed flawlessly. However the device itself is not without fault.
It would be nice if Jackery could use a standard DC jack size on the 12v outlets. In fact it would be nice to know a bit more information about the sockets, for instance polarity, total power consumption etc. I fell down a rabbit hole to discover the plugs that are used are 6.5mm x 1.4mm and finding these plugs in the UK is not as easy as you might think. Another issue that I think will be addressed in future revisions of this product is utilising USB-C that can deliver up to 5A of charging power on USB-C compliant devices.
That aside, one feature that I found really useful and I think they should roll out on all the model variants is the neatly located SOS torch. I found it purely by accident on the Explorer 500, and it’s a bright LED torch that in an emergency can send S.O.S via light flashes. A nice touch, but the torch is immensely helpful.
Overwhelmingly, I really am very pleased with the Explorer 500, it has been flawless in providing me power when out and about. I have worked for a full 2 days on location without the need to recharge everything overnight, Which I can assure you is a military operation of chargers, extension leads and a pile of “to be charged” and “charged” batteries.
If you are interested in the Jackery explorer 500, click here :
The 100w Solar panel can be found here :
And if the Explorer 240 will suite your needs, that can be found here :
