Although there are a bunch of other power stations in this price range that have a higher AC output and larger charge capacity, the Explorer 1000 Pro is unrivaled when it comes to solar charging. It won’t ever drain out as long as there’s sunshine.
Jackery Explorer 1000 Pro In-Depth Review
Portable power stations have become pretty popular in the last couple of years. And for a good reason too.
For starters, they’re much easier to operate than gas generators. And on top of that, power stations don’t burn gas to give you power, so they don’t pollute.
One of the companies that started the power station craze was Jackery.
How? That’s pretty simple, by releasing a great product.
Jackery released its first power station all the way back in 2016, and it became an instant hit. It provided hours of power for just about anything you could plug into it - and you could plug nearly anything you wanted into it.
To make things even sweeter, the station was super-quick to recharge.
But what about their latest power station - the Explorer 1000 Pro? Is it a worthwhile investment?
This power station's biggest selling point is it's incredibly fast recharge time. You can fully recharge this baby in within a day or two using nothing but solar energy.
But before I get into any more detail, let’s have a look at the key specs.
Key Specs
Key Specs | |
Weight | 25 lbs |
Capacity | 1002 Wh |
Maximum Discharge | 1000 W continuous, 2000 W peak |
Input | 1 AC Port, 2 DC8020 Ports |
Size | 13.4 x 10.3 x 10 inches |
Lifecycle | 80% capacity after 1000 recharge cycles |
Solar Charging | 800 W AC, 800 W DC |
AC Outputs | 3 NEMA 5-20R outlets |
USB Outputs | 2 18W USB-A, 2 100W USB C |
Safety features | BMS, Over Voltage Protection, Short Circuit Protection |
Design And Hardware
The Explorer 1000 comes with the standard Jackery color scheme - dark gray with bright orange accents.
As for the shape of the station, it’s your standard box design. Of course, Jackery engineers gave it their all to keep the design consistent with previous models as much as possible.
So, just like the previous Jackery models, the Explorer 1000 Pro comes with a pretty easy to use front panel. This is where you’ll find all the outputs as well as the light.
The charging ports are located on the other side of the power station just to keep things nice and tidy.
One simple feature I really like about the output ports is that each comes with a button you can press to enable/disable them.
When it comes to portability - this battery is as portable as it can get. The Explorer comes with a rubberized foldable grip, and since it’s only 25 pounds, you can easily lug it around with just one hand.
One thing I’m not particularly psyched about are the outputs. There aren’t as many outlets as there are on other power stations in this price range, but at least they’re all quality made.
The four USB ports you get are split between two 18 W USB-A and two 100 W USB-C ports. You also get three AC outlets that are grounded and compatible with 20-amp plugs.
There’s also a 12V car outlet which can be useful if you don’t want to buy new air pumps or heated blankets., but that's about it.
On the bright side, you get three-prong AC and 12V car cables along with the station. And if you buy the solar generator set, you’ll also get all the necessary cables to connect the panels to the station.
Another thing that’s a bit confusing about the Explorer is the type of cell it uses. Instead of LiFePO4 cells which are becoming ever more prevalent among these products, Jackery decided to stick with ternary cells.
Jackery is still using ternary lithium (NCM) instead of LiFePO4.
These cells are capable of churning 1000 watts of power continuously, but they degrade relatively quickly. After 1000 power cycles, their capacity will fall off as much as 20%. This is by far the biggest downside, or tradeoff when choosing NCM over LifePO4. However, the NCM choice does come with some upside as well.
Thanks to the higher density of NCM batteries, Jackery's products are lighter than all competitors, and since this product is designed for outdoor power, lightness is a key factor, perhaps even more important than the total number of power cycles.
The battery life is indeed shorter, but if we consider the frequency of typical user use, the battery life is actually not a great factor to the user experience, instead, the portability will play a role in every user use.
In addition, the low temperature performance of NCM is far better than LiFePO4, in North America, and especially in Canada, there is extreme cold weather. Here LiFePO4 performance will be greatly reduced, but NCM can ensure a continuous high performance output throughout the year.
Performance
While there are plenty of other power stations in this price bracket that can charge from the wall at above 1000w, the Explorer can only manage 800W.
With that said, Jackery really excels at solar charging rates. To be more precise, the Explorer manages the same 800-watt charge rate as you get from wall charging just on solar panels.
What this means for you is that you can recharge this station in less than two hours, no matter what method you use.
With that said, there is one annoyance with solar charging - and that’s the panel alignment. If they’re misaligned by even a little bit, it will nearly double the recharge time. While it’s far from fun keeping a vigil over your solar panels, it’s necessary if you want to minimize the recharge time.
This could be made so much less painful if Jakcery included sundials in their solar panels that allowed them to move with the Sun.
Another odd thing is that with a total output of just 1000 watts, the Explorer comes with three AC outlets of the NEMA 5-20R 20A variety. These plugs are commonly used for stuff that draws more than 2000 watts. At least you know they’re high-quality.
With all this said, you can comfortably charge your e-bike and your laptop at the same time with plenty of power left over for other amenities.
Off-Grid Performance
As long as you’re not planning on cooking anything, the Explorer 100 Pro is one hell of a power station.
Well, you can at least make coffee with it since there are plenty of low-voltage coffee makers. But if you plug in your run-of-the-mill hotplate, you’ll drain it in less than half an hour.
Thankfully, the Explorer is more than capable of recharging my e-bike.
I took my Aventon Aventure 2 for a camping trip, and I’m happy to report I managed to fully charge the battery and still have some charge left over for my other stuff.
Of course, it did take around 4 hours, so I don’t recommend you do that yourself. Instead, I recommend you use this power station just to top the battery off. I mean, who brings an e-bike with no charge on a camping trip?
When camping, I also recommend you take a look at Jackery's 100w/200w solar panels.
These are made with IBC solar cells, which can achieve better photoelectric conversion efficiency, up to 25% (the industry generally uses PERC, with a slightly lower conversion rate of 23%), have better power generation in low light environments, and better thermal resistance.
Jackery's PERC panels will have 5% more output than equivalent products in hot seasons.
Advice To Consumers
If you’re all about camping and enjoying the great outdoors, Jackery Explorer 1000 Pro is a smart buy - especially the solar generator bundle.
Sure, it can get annoying having to adjust the solar panels every half an hour, but at least you don’t have to drain your car’s battery.
Although the Explorer doesn’t feature the highest AC output or the biggest charge capacity when you factor in the solar panels, you get a solar-powered generator that never runs out of power (so long as there’s sunshine, at least).
A reward for those who read to the end..
As a special offer, for those of you who read this review to the end, here is a promotional code for 10-15% discount on Jackery's mobile power products:
CA-3000Pro-Blog
10-15% discount applied automatically at checkout on Jackery.ca's site. For Amazon.com use the built in coupon.