Portable grill? Check. Properly packed cooler with lots of ice? Check. Bacon, burgers, and beer? Check, check, and double-check. Building a good tailgating loadout isn’t hard. But that’s why it’s worth it to go the extra mile and pack the things that’ll really level-up the experience for your friends and family. We’re talking portable fridges, go-anywhere smokers, and even a good, beefy portable power station.
No one leaves the house these days without at least their phone and, if they’re heading out to do something especially interesting, probably a tablet and a GoPro, too. All these gadgets demand serious power, so why not be the savior and make sure everyone in your tailgating squad has access to lots and lots of portable power? That’s exactly what you’ll get with any one of these best-selling portable power stations.
EcoFlow River 2 Pro
Reliable and powerful with a dead-simple design and plenty of ports—that’s EcoFlow’s River 2 Pro. The 768Wh capacity and 800-watt output are a good compromise for most tailgaters. It’s enough to keep the squad’s gear humming all day without being too big, cumbersome, or heavy to tote from the house to the parking lot and back again. EcoFlow’s proprietary X-Boost technology delivers surge output of up to 1,600 watts (no small feat for a portable power station that’s this small). But the best part is the sub-$500 price tag, which makes this arguably the best bang-for-your-buck value of any tailgating-friendly power station we tested over the last year.
Goal Zero Yeti 700
One of the OG portable solar solution brands, Goal Zero, is still among our favorites. Its latest Yeti 700 is a solid middle-ground portable power station that balances size, capacity, and output, making it perfect for weight-conscious tailgating loadouts. True to its name, it boasts a 677Wh capacity with a constant 600W AC power output and 1,000-watt surge potential. So, it’s plenty good for running just about any small to medium-sized gadget or appliance you might bring to the game. The LiFePO4 battery is designed to last more than 4,000 cycles, meaning you can use it daily for more than a decade. Bonus: It’s built tough enough to withstand dirt, dust, rain, mud, and errant margarita spills.
Bluetti AC200L Portable Power Station
If money is no object or you have serious power demands (or both), Bluetti delivers. Its AC200L is a 2,048Wh portable power station with the capability to charge just about anything, up to and including an entire travel trailer (we know because we’ve tried!). It’s beefy enough to deliver 2,400 watts of steady AC output with a 3,600-watt Power Lifting surge mode in case you need to run power tools, hairdryers, or a full-sized residential dishwasher in the parking lot. It charges lightning-fast (from 0-80% in about 45 minutes) and is even expandable up to a whopping 8,192Wh with the optional expansion battery packs.
Anker Solix C1000
If your power needs are a little tamer, a solid 1,000-watt-hour portable power station is a solid bet. It’s a just-right size that’s perfect for most tailgating power needs where people are most likely to be charging smaller gadgets like smartphones, tablets, and maybe digital cameras. Anker’s Solix C1000 (the little brother to the company’s whole-home-powering Solix F3800) is a great buy with a budget-friendly price that’s far more affordable than most in this weight class. It’s powerful enough to run up to 99% of appliances via 11 built-in ports, including six front-facing AC ports for easy, breezy charging. Plus, it powers up from zero to full in less than two hours!
Lion Energy Safari
There are plenty of me-too portable power station brands on the market. Frankly, most aren’t worth the money (and an increasing number could be downright dangerous). Lion Energy is a sleeper brand you may not have heard of, but we’ve been digging its rock-solid, wallet-friendly solar generators for years now. The latest version of its flagship Safari uses premium LiFePO4 batteries with 1,612Wh of capacity and a 3,000-watt inverter that’s designed to power just about any gadget or household appliance, from phone chargers to laptops to microwaves.
Runhood Rallye 600 Pro Swappable Portable Power Station
Runhood takes a decidedly different tack from every other portable power station on the market. Its Rallye 600 Pro uses a clever design that allows for hot-swapping the included energy “bars” for virtually endless power. This kit includes four individual bars that can be charged individually, used as individual power banks, and charged separately from the main power bank. So, you can use two in the power station itself, charge one on the side, and pass the fourth around so your tailgating crew can keep their gadgets topped up. Plus, the included solar panel keeps the station going throughout the day.
DJI Power 1000 Portable Power Station
You’ve no doubt heard of DJI’s game-changing drones, but you might not know that it recently jumped into the portable power station game. Its simply named Power 1000 ticks all our must-have feature boxes. That includes dual 140-watt, fast-charging USB-C ports, ultra-fast charging (from 0 to full in just over an hour), and a max output of 2,600 watts with a surge potential of 4,400 watts. That all adds up to a seriously capable portable power station for most tailgating needs.
Outdoor Tech Grizzly Portable Power Station
We get it: Portable power stations (especially the best ones) aren’t cheap. If you’re looking for a backup solution that’s a little lighter on the wallet, we love Outdoor Tech’s Grizzly. It’s smaller than every other model on our list here, so it’s compact and portable enough to toss in the back of your car or truck and pretty much forget about it until you need it. Once powered up, the 296Wh station packs enough juice to charge up most laptops about four times and even power a portable fridge for up to 12 hours. Add one of OT’s own Dawn Solar panels to keep all your essential gadgets humming all day long.
What size portable power station do I need for tailgating?
The short answer is: It depends. Understanding the right capacity and output of portable power stations for your needs is a lengthy topic worthy of its own dedicated post. It’s a big question, and the answer depends on a ton of factors. But, for the sake of simplicity:
- Small portable power stations: These typically include anything less than 500Wh, which should suffice for backup power for a small group looking to charge up pocket-sized devices like smartphones and small digital cameras while tailgating.
- Medium-sized portable power stations: Anything in the 500Wh-1,500Wh range can be considered “medium-sized.” This is plenty of power for a dozen or more people looking to top up their small to medium-sized gadgets during a full day of tailgating. Some are powerful enough to run cooking appliances like portable cookers and grills.
- Large portable power stations: We would consider any power station with more than 1,500Wh of capacity to be “large.” These are typically big, heavy (the best models have built-in wheels), and beefy enough to run just about any household appliances you can imagine, from portable refrigerators to high-powered blenders to air conditioners.
