Review: Ecoflow River Pro, the best battery pack for campervans

The most frustrating part of travel for content creators? The lack of charging moments for electronics. Fortunately, Ecoflow River Pro has a solution for that!

In this review, we’re taking a deeper look at the Ecoflow River Pro power station, which we’ve been using ever since our road trip to Venice. Here are our in-depth findings! 

Ecoflow

Ecoflow is a company that was initially founded by developers of drone batteries to create a sustainable solution for generating smart, clean, and mobile power stations. Their first product hit the market in June 2017 after raising more than one million euros in funding from over 2300 backers through a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Since then, the company and its products have been known as the industry leaders for generating clean, quiet, and renewable power. Recently, in May 2020, they released the Ecoflow River Pro, which we had the opportunity of reviewing! 

Unique Features of the Ecoflow River Pro

As the industry leader of mobile power banks, the Ecoflow River Pro has several unique features that set it apart – We’ve highlighted the most interesting ones below!

720 Wh capacity

On their website, EcoFlow advertises their River Pro power station as a tiny powerhouse that can charge up to 10 devices simultaneously. On top of this, it can charge our Macbook over 13 times, our Sony A7III camera over 30 times, and our cell phone around 58 times.

This is obviously something we wanted to put to the test, which is why we took it along on our recent road trip to Venice. We used it for a week during this trip, charged all our electronics, and never had to power up the power station. We lost count tho. 

X-Boost Technology

Another unique feature, new to the Ecoflow River Pro, is the revolutionary X-boost technology which allows it to lower its voltage in order to power devices up to 1800 Watts. 

Thanks to this technology, you’re able to power up essential devices that require 1200W, such as hair dryers, refrigerators, and coffee machines. 

X-stream fast charge

One of the most unique technologies to the Ecoflow River Pro and one of its most valuable features is the X-Steam technology which allows you to recharge the Ecoflow River Pro power station from 0% to 80% in less than an hour. 

Ecoflow patented this technology which offers to fully charge the River Pro in just one and a half hours via AC power outlets or eight hours via the car charger. 

Various handy outlets

The RIVER Pro has been built with multiple outlet options so it can power up to 10 devices simultaneously:

• 2 AC (EU) outlets
• 1 DC outlet (car charger)
• 1 USB-C 100W
• 2 USB-A outlets
• Fast charging USB outlet

Bonus Features of the Ecoflow River Pro

Next to the unique features that distinguish the power station from its competitors, the Ecoflow River Pro has some other handy ‘bonus’ functionalities that are handy and make it an absolute must-have.

The Ecoflow App

The Ecoflow River Pro allows you to access a dedicated Phone App, which monitors the power station and keeps you up-to-date about its charging situation. At first sight, it’s a cool feature, but somehow it keeps forgetting our configuration … which is why we’ve never used it after installing it.

Sidenote: You’ll need to have the application installed for firmware updates. 

Less Safety Concerns

One of the main benefits for travelers to use the Ecoflow is that it’s smaller, quieter, and safer than a classic gas generator. The Ecoflow River Pro can also safely be used indoors (campervan, tent,…) without the fear of carbon monoxide gas poisoning.

Compact & portable

As briefly mentioned: the Ecoflow doesn’t use any fossil fuels and only weighs around 7.6 kilograms. This makes the design more compact and lighter in weight compared to its previous models or compared to diesel, petrol, or oil generators.

Easy to use

What we liked the most about the Ecoflow River Pro power station is the fact that it’s easy to use; you won’t need any technical skills or experience to use the system: just plug those electronics in and power on the Ecoflow River Pro!

Ecoflow Accessories

To further expand the functionalities of the River Pro, Ecoflow has released some accessories such as an external solar panel or extra battery capacities.

Ecoflow Solar panels

Ecoflow’s goal is to create a clean solution for mobile power stations, so it’s only logical to offer a solution that allows the power station to charge using solar panels.

Their 160W portable and foldable solar panel allows you to recharge the battery from 0% to 100% in four hours with bright sunlight.

Extra Ecoflow battery

While the River Pro had enough capacity to power our electronics for a week, there are certainly some adventurers out there who need even more power. That’s why Ecoflow has built an extra battery that extends the River Pro’s capacity from 720Wh to 1440Wh. 

This extra battery doubles not only the capacity but also the operating time.

Ecoflow River Pro compared to gas-powered generators?

It’s no secret that the Ecoflow River Pro is quieter, cheaper, and more sustainable compared to generators that use fossil fuels. The most significant advantage of the Ecoflow River Pro is that it’s portable and can be used inside tents and campervans because no fumes are being released.

The only downside compared to gas-powered generators is that most of these generators have a higher wattage and can last even longer: Something most consumers won’t even care about. 

In Summary

The EcoFlow RIVER Pro is a portable power station that doesn’t need any attention when it’s fully charged, making it the perfect power bank for content creators who love an adventure off the grid (such as a campervan road trip).

This power station proved to be extremely useful during our campervan road trip through Europe and will be a standard part of our adventures from now on.

Pros

• Lots of different outlets
• Very portable
• Charges fast
• Amazing Battery life

Cons

• It needs a firmware update after unboxing
• Application is not on point (yet)