Whether you are camping or on the road, the two most important things for working remotely are:
1) Reliable Power
2) Camping Internet
Let’s talk about the best camping power supply.
Some of this article was written BEFORE I made any purchase. The initial draft was me really trying to determine what I wanted to buy. I have since added photos and additional information as I’ve gained experience working remotely while camping.
The options can be overwhelming, and the price tags are high. (Check out the Best Portable Power Stations 2024)
When choosing a power station to fuel your remote working, you’ll need to consider a few factors:
1) How much power do you need?
2) How will you recharge the power source?
3) How much can you afford?
4) How many reviews do you want to read?
5) Size (it matters, regardless of what your girlfriend tells you)
The Jackery 1000 is a great all-around power station. It will power you through a weekend or even longer with solar panels.
Note: Amazon does NOT allow you to return Jackery or other batteries due to the lithium battery. I highly recommend buying direct (and it's normally much cheaper than Amazon).
How Much Portable Power Do You Need for Working Remotely and Camping?
Most respectable portable supply companies provide estimates of how many times their battery packs can charge specific devices such as phones, laptops, blenders, mini fridges, and more.
The first step to determine the best power source for you is to a general idea of all the devices you are going to be using and need to power.
Use this power usage calculator by listing all your work/camp electronics to estimate your power consumption.
In my case, my laptop battery sucks. I get maybe 3-4 hours of work per charge.
If I need to work 40 hours in a week, that’s at least 10 charges excluding personal time such as writing this post.
I also have to charge my phone, Verizon Jetpack, and potentially other gadgets such as my camera and my Garmin Inreach.
If I’m 100% off the grid, I’d need 10 to 20 charges out of my portable battery/power station for a week-long trip. Most of my trips tend to be 3 to 10 days, so adjust your planning accordingly.
It’s also important to think realistically vs idealistically.
In my ideal world, I’m 100% off the grid, loving nature with great internet.
In reality, I’m normally driving every couple days and several power stations allow you to charge your power station from your car while driving so you don’t need as much power as you might think.
Also bedded in reality is that it’s sometimes convenient to grab a cheap motel room on some trips to shower and regroup. That offers a chance to convienently charge all devices including your portable power source(s).
We can all come up with a scenario where you need a battery pack to charge your life for weeks…
But I try not to base purchases on extreme exceptions.
So, what do you realistically need?
Are you trying leave for a trip on Wednesday night and work on the road Thursday and part of Friday? Or are you trying work on a one or two week road trip?
Camping Battery Supply Options And How To Decide
You can see my power station spreadsheet for a comparison or use Power Station Finder to search and compare.
The prices can range from $200 and $3,000+.
The good news is the prices continue to come down. For example, my Jackery 1000 was $1,000 in 2020 and can now be found on sale for around $700.
So here’s how I think about the decision:
- I need 15-20 charges per week
- I don’t work while backpacking, so 99% of the time I will be near my vehicle each night
- However, I don’t want to have to turn on my car just to charge it, seems like a waste.
- I want to rely on charging it at home with a wall outlet or using my vehicle while I’m driving to a different location
- I tend to stay in the same spot for 2-4 days, so I can maybe charge the power source 1 time while driving
- That gives me 2 charges (1 full charge to start with, and 1 full charge during the trip)
- If I take 20 laptop charges per week divided by 2 charges, I need a power source that is around 10 charges per full battery.
Obviously, this calculation doesn’t take into consideration the smaller devices, but it gets you to a starting point.
When I first started researching power sources, I immediately gravitated to the larger batteries without logically thinking through how much power is realistic.
How Will You Recharge Your Portable Camping Battery?
Another decision you need to make before buying a power source is knowing how you will power it.
Will you use solar panels? Your vehicle? Your home or a business?
If you plan to be in the same spot with no electricity for 2 weeks, you’ll have to figure out a way to charge it.
You could also buy a larger power source so you don’t need to recharge it fully. For example, I could simply buy the Goal Zero 3000 and be set for 99.9% of the trips I take and never worry about charging it on the road.
Solar panels take up space, add another point of failure, and you have to rely on mother nature.
Charging in your car makes sense if you’re driving to new locations each day or so, but doesn’t make sense if you’re going to hang out at a beach for a week.
You could try to mooch off Starbucks for a day and charge it, but I’m not sure how that would go.
You could go to a campground that has electricity or get a hotel for a night during the trip to spoil yourself and to charge up.
For my decision, car charging and glamping charging are realistic since I don’t tend to spend more than 2-3 days at the same location.
How Much Does a Camping Battery / Power Station Cost?
If you’re trying to fly under the radar, I doubt you want to try and get reimbursed from your employer for a power source, so the cost does matter.
Even though working from HOME is more acceptable due to covid, working from the WOODS is not seen as the same.
Prices tend to range from $200 for a few laptop charges to $3,000 to power your minifridge while making smoothies with a small army of blenders.
Goal Zero even has a few versions that are above $3,000 that are so big they come with wheels to drag it around.
If you’re trying to charge laptops, phones, cameras, etc for a week, expect to spend between $600 to $1,200.
My Decision
As scattered up above, my decision is based on a few factors:
- I tend to travel no more than 7 days at a time with most trips being 3-5
- I tend to have access to my vehicle and drive to more than 1 location on trips (ie: car charging is must)
- I need something that charges a laptop about 10 times (I talk in these terms because it’s easier than spewing out voltage numbers)
- I am risk averse and want a backup power source
- I’m not sure how I feel about solar panels (feeling good now that I bought some!), although they are a good option for my state (Utah).
- My laptop is old and needs a standard plug (not just USB)
- Reliability and warranty important. After reading hundreds of reviews, it seems the power storage industry produces more duds than The Hershey Company.
and the winner is…..
The Jackery Explorer 1000 Portable Power Station
The Jackery 1000 is a great all-around power station. It will power you through a weekend or even longer with solar panels.
Note: Amazon does NOT allow you to return Jackery or other batteries due to the lithium battery. I highly recommend buying direct (and it's normally much cheaper than Amazon).
It had 150+ Amazon reviews to help make the decision.
If I didn’t do so much “non-work” on my computer, such as writing this article, I could have opted for the Explorer 500 which gets you around 7 charges and is sitting right at $500.
The Pros:
2 Year Warranty
Charges laptop up to 12 times
I could also blend anything into mush with a 13 hour blender usage
“Limited-Time Special $100 savings
Cons:
I could have bought a new laptop to replace my shitty laptop for the $899 final price!
I’m sure others will come up as I use it
Other Options
Ecoflow is the best Jackery alternative based on the specs, but my first-hand experience with it is limited.
Bluetti’s Power Station was a close third. I discovered Jackery first (basically from a bad Goal Zero review) and didn’t see enough of a reason why Bluetti was different (and lacked as many reviews).
Renogy had the Phoenix Portable Solar Generator with bilt-in 20W Solar Panel that was on the low end of my requirements, but the price and the built in solar panels were interesting. However, it was out of stock when I was making this decision.
Goal Zero seemed to have 50% reviews of what I’ll say is a “bad experience” such as the battery not working after a few months or not charging properly. (2021)
Newpowa only had one model and seemed to be more solar panel focused as a company and had no reviews on their product.
Rockpals had a super annoying spinner popup that showed up on EVERY page while I was browsing their website. Their about page uses stock photos of people doing weird poses in the office that is 100% not their staff. From the name to the generic-ness of their information, it almost seems like a someone private labeling a product from a manufacturer. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but I fear the support would be bad. Read my detailed Jackery vs Rockpals comparison.
They also explain their name “RockPals” as this: The brand name “Rockpals” comes from the combination of word “Rock” and “pals” ……. Yeah, no shit.
The Backup Power Source
I went with the Omnicharge Ultimate as my backup. It’s small, great for day trips or working outside, and has great reviews. Related: Omnicharge Ultimate Review: My Experience After a Year.
It only charges a laptop up to 2 times, but it’s pretty small and compact for what it does.
That’s enough for a day of work at a local park or as a backup if my Jackery runs out of battery.
The Backup Bonus
Omnicharge had a buy one get the Omni Mobile 25600 for free. The ultimate “we have super high profit margins” deal.
It can charge a smartphone up to 8 times. I’ll actually use this for my smaller devices including my phone, WIFI device, and my Garmin Inreach.
Conclusion
Whenever I plan to spend more than a few hundred dollars, I tend to do my “3 day rule” to make it less impulsive and to “sleep on it” a few times before making the final decision.
In this case, I flip flopped several times between the Jackery 500 and 1000.
If this site ever takes off, I’ll buy a bunch of these to test out. But until then, I had to do 100% online research, so don’t necessarily take this as a comprehensive recommendation.
Go through my thought process and see what makes sense for you!
The Jackery 1000 is a great all-around power station. It will power you through a weekend or even longer with solar panels.
Note: Amazon does NOT allow you to return Jackery or other batteries due to the lithium battery. I highly recommend buying direct (and it's normally much cheaper than Amazon).
