Backup power, worked out
Right-sized home backup power, matched to the outage you actually get.
A four-hour outage, a two-day outage and a six-day outage are three different purchases. We compute which one you are making from published specifications and real outage data, and we show the arithmetic so you can check it.
Everyone in this category says they tested twenty units. We have not tested any, and we say so. Here is what we do instead.
The same battery is an excellent camping purchase and a mediocre storm purchase. What you are buying for changes the answer more than any specification does.
Scenario
The core case: multi-day outages in bad weather. Sizing, kit list and three budget tiers.
Top pick: BLUETTI AC180
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $499.00 10% off
Scenario
Weight and silence outrank capacity. The RV air conditioner decides the whole purchase.
Top pick: Jackery Explorer 300
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $289.00 10% off
Scenario
Once air conditioning or an electric range is on the list, this is a project, not a purchase.
Top pick: DuroMax XP13000EH
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $1,499.00 13% off
Scenario
Planned shutoffs come with warning and last days - and an engine is the wrong answer in fire weather.
Top pick: EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $1,399.00 25% off
Scenario
Longer outages, no municipal water, and no nearby fuel. Why rural buys differently.
Top pick: Westinghouse WGen9500DF
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Scenario
Tools are surge loads with tiny duty cycles. Sizing, waveform, and the OSHA layer.
Top pick: Westinghouse WGen5300DF
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Scenario
Revenue per hour changes the math. Payment systems, stock, and what a lease allows.
Top pick: CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $274.95 13% off
Scenario
Venue rules first. Then: everything is small except the things that heat or cool.
Top pick: Anker SOLIX C1000
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $599.99 17% off
Scenario
Salt, motion and a closed cabin. Why marine use rewrites the usual advice.
Top pick: BLUETTI AC180
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $499.00 10% off
Scenario
An EV holds 20x a large power station. V2L, V2H, or neither - and most cars have neither.
Top pick: BLUETTI Elite 200 V2
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Scenario
Not a long outage - a daily budget, sized for the worst week of the year.
Top pick: Anker SOLIX F3800
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Scenario
Guests will not read a manual or start a generator. That rules out most of what works at home.
Top pick: EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $1,399.00 25% off
Scenario
A few hundred watts for the whole stack. The network is what everything else depends on.
Top pick: CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $274.95 13% off
Scenario
The opposite of sheltering in place. Portable, car-chargeable, and full before you go.
Top pick: EcoFlow RIVER 3 Max
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $399.00 15% off
Scenario
Water and ventilation do not pause. Some loads have hours of grace; some have minutes.
Top pick: Westinghouse WGen9500DF
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Scenario
The freezer and the door matter. The table saw does not. That changes the machine.
Top pick: Westinghouse WGen5300DF
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Scenario
Refrigeration overnight and cooking during service are two problems. Size them separately.
Top pick: Westinghouse WGen9500DF
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
The top pick from every roundup on the site, with the page it won on. Each one carries a stated reason to skip it.
Best for Power Outages
BLUETTI AC180
The most capacity-per-dollar in the 1kWh class, with the longest published cycle rating here.
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $499.00 10% off
Best for Home Backup
BLUETTI Elite 200 V2
2,073Wh and a 2,600W inverter — the only unit here with genuine headroom for two motors.
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Best under $500
EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus
286Wh with a 600W inverter and sub-10ms UPS switchover — it doubles as a proper UPS.
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Best for a Refrigerator
BLUETTI AC180
1,152Wh at 1,800W: about 6.5 hours of refrigerator at a 150W average draw after losses.
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $499.00 10% off
Best for CPAP
EcoFlow RIVER 2
256Wh at 7.7 lb with a full recharge in about an hour and 3,000+ cycles.
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $249.00 20% off
Best for RV
EcoFlow DELTA 3
1,024Wh and 1,800W with 500W of solar input and expansion to 5kWh.
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $699.00 10% off
Six categories and a scenario axis. Sizing is the one to read first — everything else depends on the number it produces.
Category
Silent, indoor-safe battery backup. The decision is capacity, and capacity comes from your outage length.
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Category
Unlimited runtime as long as you have fuel. Loud, outdoor-only, and the correct answer for multi-day outages.
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Category
The arithmetic that decides everything else: outage length, appliance load, runtime and running cost.
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Category
What an outage does to a house, and the order to fix it in. Starts before the buying decision.
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Category
Whole-house coverage that starts itself. Installer-mediated, so we cover the accessories and the honest costs.
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Category
A battery plus a recharge path. Worth it for multi-day outages, rarely worth it for short ones.
Open →Category
Cords, covers, cans, CO alarms and oil - the five items that decide whether the machine gets used.
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Category
Storm, camping, whole-home. Each has its own sizing math, kit list and budget tiers.
Open →The pages that carry the argument — each one sized against a real load list, with runtime and running cost computed rather than claimed.
Best for Power Outages
Battery backup ranked by the outage it covers, with fridge runtime computed rather than claimed.
Top pick: BLUETTI AC180
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $499.00 10% off
Best for Home Backup
Sized against a real critical-load list — fridge, furnace fan, sump pump — rather than against phones.
Top pick: BLUETTI Elite 200 V2
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Best for Hurricane Season
Sized for multi-day outages, with three days of fuel cost computed for each pick.
Top pick: Westinghouse WGen9500DF
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Best for Power Outages
Sized against a real critical-load list, with running cost computed from published fuel consumption.
Top pick: Westinghouse WGen5300DF
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026
Best Solar Generator
Battery plus panel, ranked by realistic daily harvest rather than by peak wattage.
Top pick: Anker SOLIX C1000
#ad how this is funded · price as of October 21, 2026 · $599.99 17% off
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It has never changed a ranking, and it cannot: every pick carries a stated reason to skip it, prices render only from a live data layer or not at all, and we publish no rating of our own because we run no test bench. The full disclosure, the editorial policy, and the method.