Allpowers R600 Portable Power Station Review: Battery To Keep Alive

POSITIVES

✓ Compact Design

Actually quite small for battery size

✓ Fast Charging

0-100% in about an hour

✓ Variety of Ports

Disperses power between USB, AC and DC

NEGATIVES

✘ Weight

Might be heavy to transport for some

✘ Fan Noise

Fan does intermittently come on

Retail price: $269.99

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*Code expires 9/15/23

Disclaimer: ALLPOWERS sent us a unit of the R600 free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.

I kid you not, I was wrapping up this review when I learned that a hurricane was headed my way. That statement wouldn’t be too shocking if I lived in say Florida, but I live in Southern California. The golden state where it’s bright and sunny on Christmas Morning every year. Sure a little bit of rain is good for everyone, but Los Angeles is an absolute train wreck with our city’s infrastructure. A slight sprinkle for 30 minutes is enough to flood a freeway here. I’m not even exaggerating that much by saying that. City officials were bracing for power outages days before Hilary hit our region. Never one to miss an opportunity to test my technology, I charged up the R600 Portable Power Station ALLPOWERS sent us to review a few weeks ago and was on standby. What are the odds that the first hurricane to grace California in nearly a hundred years happens right when a battery company sends us a heavy duty lifesaver to test?

Keeping You Plugged

While I surmise many people will be looking at purchasing this portable battery for outdoorsy trips and camping, I found it to be reliable as an emergency source of power.

Now before we get too serious, Hilary turned out to be rather tame for us in my LA suburb. We’re very fortunate to only get moderate rainfall without losing power. A lot of neighboring communities had it much worse. That being said, this event did get me thinking about how I would use the R600 differently than what I originally was going to talk about in this review. While I surmise many people will be looking at purchasing this portable battery for outdoorsy trips and camping, I found it to be reliable as an emergency source of power. This station has a 299 Wh capacity that can output charges to 10 different plugs all at once. You’ll probably never do that, but that’s a lot of flexibility for an emergency power source. 

There’s 2 AC outputs, 2 USB-C outputs, 2 USB-A outputs, 2 DC outputs, 1 cigarette port, and a wireless charging mat to literally top the device off. All of this is contained in a compact rectangular box that has a folding handle to carry. I appreciate how ALLPOWERS sealed the outlets with a dust cover flap that closes to cover the ports. Even if you’re not using this in an outdoor setting that makes it susceptible to dirt and debris, storing it inside a garage exposed can also lead to moisture and other things getting in if there wasn’t a cover.    

Charging Traits

The R600 has an essential trait that makes it a reliable emergency battery and that is its standby time. This just doesn’t drain when idling. I tested this out by not touching the battery for an entire week and I came back to it on the exact charge percentage I had left it at. That means you can charge it up and leave it alone until you really need it without worrying about having to juice it up in a rush.

Actually, even if you did need to get it charged back to 100% in a rush, the R600 surprisingly charges up very quickly for something this big. It charges up from empty to full in roughly only one hour. The purchase actually comes with three ways to charge the battery included. The obvious way is with an AC 400W wall plug. There’s also a cable for an automobile’s 200W input. The final way to charge the battery up is to use a solar 300W input. That last one requires the purchase of portable solar panels. I didn’t test that out during my review as I don’t currently own panels, but I do intend to try this out one day.

All That Power

After using this for a while, I can envision this as the only source of power you would need for outdoor activities. ALLPOWERS has loaded the R600 with the essential battery tech such as high and low temperature protection, over charge and over discharge protection, over load protection, and short circuit and over current protection. Basically what that all means is that the portable power station is quite self-reliant to the point where the user can just plug and unplug when it is convenient for them. It’s pretty hassle free. I’ve been doing just that during my review process by plugging in PC’s, lamps, toasters, and a bunch of other electronics before walking away and coming back to check on the charge percentage. The battery station doesn’t even really get too warm when being used heavily.    

Here’s a range of electronics that I’ve used the R600 to power up during my time testing it. I plugged in my All-In-One ChromeBase and ran it non-stop off the power station for nearly 14 hours straight. That’s a good chunk of time to keep the computer alive in case of a long power outage. I streamed videos for the entire 14 hours of testing. If you were to preserve your usage to important matters, the R600 could stretch the potential access to your computer without electricity for days. The longest I’ve had a power outage last for was about 10 hours. There’s a solid amount of juice here for legitimate survival needs. Simple things like tablets and phones can be charged a handful of times over before draining the battery down to zero.

It also charges up those personal devices relatively fast. The Qi wireless charger charges at 15W with compatible devices. That’s on par with actual wireless chargers out in the market today.  

As a 600W AC inverter, laptops and computers are not the only things the portable power station could realistically keep powered. A combined 600W is enough power for some low-wattage appliances that you can take out with you. For example, you can plug your blender, a coffee machine, and various other cooking peripherals you may want to take out onto a camping trip with you. You could plausibly even charge up a form of transportation like an E-bike if it’s under 400W input. For the AC input, the max is capped at 400W. Through solar, it’s capped at 300W and through the car it is 200W max input. 

For obvious reasons, there are some downsides to having a battery like this. While it’s compact in size, there is a big battery inside which will naturally have some weight under it. At about 16 pounds in weight, I didn’t find it too heavy, especially when carried with the solid handle, but to some people it might not be easily transportable. The fan also regularly kicks in every few minutes to maintain a respectable temperature for the unit to operate. It isn’t obnoxious or distracting, but you’ll know it’s on. I also worry about how the station will hold up after a drop. While I haven’t actually dropped it, if I do use this for the outdoors, it’s bound to happen with transportation. It’s built pretty solidly together from what I can see, but I am carrying a huge battery around at the end of the day. One thing that did ease my worries about this are the slightly elevated rubberized feet on the bottom of the unit. They’re rock steady and keep the R600 in place. It did not move an inch from where I left it in my trunk while driving.    

Portable charging stations are a terrific investment for a bunch of reasons. We’re living in a modern technological world where everything requires electricity and a charge. It’s amazing how sophisticated and advanced these portable power stations have come over the years. The R600 is everything a reliable backup battery should be. It has the proper port distribution, enough power for realistic items, and it’s well designed in a compact body. I sincerely think it looks quite nice for a battery product. Even though Hurricane Hilary didn’t ravage my power grid, it did make me appreciate having backup resources for my home. I’m glad I had the ALLPOWERS R600 in my possession.  

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