A number of our readers will remember that a few months back, we reviewed the full range of charging solutions from Jackery.
We covered the Jackery Solar Generators 240, 500 and 1000 – all of them are brilliant, but are somewhat limited to what ports they have.
After our reviews were published, EcoFlow got in touch and invited us to review their top spec EcoFlow Delta Max, which seems on first glance to tick a lot of boxes.
The Delta Max has a 2016Wh battery, which allows for an output of up to 3000w. This is more than the capacity of the Jackery 1000, which comes with a 1002wh battery and can power up to 1000w of power.
With the extra power comes the hope of better connectivity, and the EcoFlow doesn't disappoint in this regard.
On the side of the EcoFlow, you will find a large array of ports which gives something for everyone.
On the USB side of the EcoFlow, there are two USB-A ports which provide 12w maximum power. You will also find two USB-A ports that provide fast charge USB 3.0 power at 18w max.
The USB side finishes off with 2 USB Type C ports that provide 100W of power.
A quick note on the USB side, the main display is on this side and is better than the Jackery, it's clearer than the latter, providing input and output watts, battery% remaining and what's more, it tells you at the current time how long you have left with your current power usage.
Moving round to the opposite side, you will find 4 UK mains plug sockets as well as a 12v car socket. The plugs are all Pure Sine Wave, which means it will be compatible with all devices (subject to power requirements of course). Some cheaper inverters provide a Modified Sine Wave output, which can be less kind to devices, making them run hotter and potentially wear out quicker.
Charging devices is a doddle with the EcoFlow. Plug in your cables, hit to button and your devices start charging. In 30 minutes of charging, the EcoFlow lost around 1% and charged a phone with a 5000mah battery from 0 to 40% and a Surface Go laptop from 70 to 91%. Prior to this test, we also plugged in another 14 inch laptop, a Pixel phone, a camera and a 20000mah battery pack and, as you can see, plenty of capacity left for other items.
We have enjoyed our time with the new EcoFlow Delta Max, taking it to various events across the country and we have found it useful for keeping cameras and computers charged up. We would have no troubles taking this to a model railway exhibition to keep model trains running and not having to worry about power.
Other benefits of this system and the power available, is if you have a railway workshop but not many power sources, this would be great to keep your work progressing.
All of this power means it is rather heavy – if you have a motorhome or caravan, you definitely need to bear this in mind for your weights. The unit weighs in at 22kgs – however – having said all of this, the EcoFlow's trick up its sleeve is that its power adapter for charging is built into the system, whereas it is separate on some of its competitors, like the Jackery products.
Speaking of charging the unit – this is fast to charge, its X-Stream charge can charge the unit at up to 2000w, meaning you can charge from 0 – 80% in just an hour, great for a quick charge when needed.
You can also charge from solar panels, which are sold separately through EcoFlow. We would have liked to have seen an adapter for the Jackery solar panels, but at the time of writing, we couldn't obtain one, so haven't tested the solar charging option.
As a side note, using the ports on the side of the Delta Max – you can combine the Delta Max power station with two additional batteries for increased storage up to 6048wh.
In conclusion, this new power pack from EcoFlow is super, it really is like taking a generator away with you, without the noisy engine (a slight fan noise when under load but nothing we would lose sleep over).
There are so many options for charging your devices here, allowing you to pick and choose when to charge and how you want them charging.
Here in the UK, the EcoFlow Delta Max is available from EcoFlow directly for £1999 – quite the amount to spend, but the connectivity options and its maximum power output means it covers most use case scenarios.
You can buy the EcoFlow Delta Max for £1,999 on Amazon UK or through EcoFlow's website.
RailAdvent would like to thank EcoFlow for sending us the Delta Max for review
This article appears to be a news item but is actually an advertisement, although claiming to be a “review”. Did Rail Advent get paid for this?
Hi Chris,
No, we didnt receive any payment for this review, ,as mentioned in the piece, the product was provided for review, just like we have had railway dvds and books for review. The smaller power stations are partiularly useful for charging cameras when out and about, what made this larger unit of interest to us was the power delivery USB ports for charging laptops, without the need to carry around laptop chargers alongside the power source itself.
Hope this help,
Alan