Essential Overland Gear Review: Anker Solix power station

Essential Overland Gear Review: Anker Solix power station

Nov 24, 2025

The Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 power station can be used for adventuring or as a backup power supply in a home, according to the manufacturer. Anker Solix reached out and provided GO New Mexico with the new model for a review.

“From home to the road, power without pause,” Anker Solix calls its power stations.

Here’s the good and not so good on the Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 as a mobile camping power source.

The good:

• It charges fast on AC. Plugged into a home wall socket, it took slightly more than an hour to reach full power from a 10% charge.
• It’s powerful. It will keep water warm overnight in close to freezing conditions, powering my five-gallon electric water heater. Usually, I can only use this heater when driving or on shore power. It was still at more than 70% capability after an overnight search for the northern lights at Cochiti Campground this month. It is great to wake up to hot water in your rig to wash up.
• It’s tough. I have used it as a step, and tossed it around both my campsite and van. I held it in place in the van using bungee cords.
• You can lug it around. Though it weighs about 40 pounds, heavy-duty handles make it possible, though not easy, to move it from a house for charging, to a van for use, to a picnic table to run outdoor cooking appliances. Unlike the ripped male model in a promotional video, I could not lug it around with one handle without hurting my aching old frame.
• An app lets you monitor battery life, and turn on and off plugs from your mobile phone.
• Low idle power usage. It doesn’t die if you just leave it on, waiting to be used at camp.
• Did I say powerful? It powers mini AC appliances one-at-a-time, such a kettle to boil water, a small blender, a small heater (for up to two hours), an electric blanket and more, as well as charging computers and phones. My AC inverter connected to my two 100AH Battle Born batteries can’t power these devices without overloading unless connected to shore power.
• It is perfect to use to take the chill out of a fall camping trip — without the burning smell of a diesel or gas powered heater.

“I love using a 12V heated blanket — perfect for my small terrier and for me in a chilly camper,” Juliette Rule of Anker Media Relations said in an email.

The Not So Good:

• A single, old-style USB port. Many of my essentials, like twinkle lights and an older iPhone, use a USB cable to charge.
• The AC plugins are too near the bottom of the battery for some of my cords, like my shore power 120 volt connector. It is hard to plug a three-prong cord into it if the 40-pound power station is in a normal position on the ground. Given that it has a lithium battery, it can be tilted and works in any orientation, and so larger plugs can be attached by turning the station on its side.
• With great power comes great responsibility, Spider-Man’s uncle says, and with batteries, power comes with weight and size. It is twice the size of my Jackery 500, but it has more than twice the power.
• Though promised in the future, it lacks a DC/DC charger to quickly charge it in a moving vehicle. The ability to charge it while driving would make it a perfect all-in-one replacement for a complicated self-built home battery system.

An Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 is on sale for as low as $699 with free shipping. It seems to be comparable to the Jackery Explorer 1000 v2 portable power station, that lists for $799 as well, that only uses Jackery’s proprietary solar panels. The bigger Jackery takes nearly two hours to fully charge on AC power. The Jackery 1000 is a little more than half the size of the Anker, at just less than 25 pounds.

Other companies such as Bluetti also offer power stations of the same price points and power.

Expect even better Black Friday deals on a power station. And each year, power stations become more powerful, useful and easy to use for AC and DC appliances.

What sets the Anker Solix C2000 Gen 2 apart: the speed of charging, the TT-30 port when you don’t have shore power and can’t or don’t want to run a noisy, stinky petrol chemical generator, and the ability to add an extra battery, doubling its power.

As soon as the DC/DC mobile charger is available, it will be many watts ahead of the others for the cost.