Best portable power station 2022: Solar

Jackery was founded in California in 2012 by an ex-Apple engineer, and it soon established itself as one of the leading names in outdoor power generation – and with good reason. The stylish black-and-orange Jackery explorer 1000 is the best all-round portable power station we’ve tested.

The hefty 1,000W power output can comfortably handle recharging high-draw tech such as laptops and phones dozens of times over, but it's also got enough capacity for running larger home appliances such as refrigerators for 10-14 hours – all while remaining portable at just 10kg.

There is a plethora of connections – from USB ports to a pair of standard three-pin plug sockets – to ensure complete compatibility with electronics inside and outside the home. A pure-sine wave converter replicates the alternating current of the UK power grid, meaning appliances will behave just as they would if they were plugged into the mains. This conversion comes at the expense of efficiency, but the Jackery explorer 1000 is one of the more efficient generators on the market.

The explorer 1000 can be bought as part of the Jackery solar generator 1000 package (£1,637.99, Jackery.com), a fully off-grid solution that includes two 100W solar panels capable of recharging the station to full. This takes as little as eight hours in direct Californian sunshine, but in the UK it might take days.