GET THE RIVER 2: gohobo.io/river2 use code ECOFLOWAFF GET THE RIVER 2 MAX: gohobo.io/r2max use code ECOFLOWAFF Ecoflow's Website: gohobo.io/ecoflow code ECOFLOWAFF Update: Ecoflow says they've FIXED the UPS/EPS of the R2 Max in production!
100% professional review. Answering my questions immediately from the get-go making me feel confident in my purchase. I live in my car and currently it takes 4 to 5 hours to charge my power bank at the library and this quick charging is going to save me a ton of time and hassle. thank you!
I bought an EcoFlow River and I used it copiously on a 2wk RV vacation and love it. It saved my house battery. I still use it at home. In the rv I used it for my curling iron and as many as 7 things all at once. And I can carry it. I only recharged it once and it still had 53% charge left. For many uses it is just fine.
Perfect, You answered exactly my question on whether the River 2 could be used as a UPS. Much Thx. I had 3-4 Cyberpower UPS back-ups for the TV, Refrigerator and computer. They lose power totally after a year or 2. This is Great.
Good for Ecoflow to incorporate LiFePo4 in their smaller offerings. It's a little early on our west coast isn't it! Probably a little chilly in the desert this morning. Right now it's 8°C, 46°F in the Fraser Valley. Be good & safe today.
Thank you for another great review. These updates to the River series are what I have wanted. Thank you for demonstrating the pass through charging so well. It is nice to the charging power go up when you plug in the heater. It confirms the behavior I was hoping to see. I don’t trust that all units with pass through do it this way. Great work.
My jackery that I've had for nearly 3 years just recently died on me and I'm looking at getting a new product to replace it. Somehow I came across these guys and am planning on getting one of them.
I just had my River 2 delivered and, watching this, I’m glad I did….Very scientific and useful report….Actually, I wanted a slim power station for the car but none of them used LFP batteries.
19:54 I just picked up the Max unit today. According to the diagram in the user guide, it is the “LEFT” side A/C that works with UPS (or EPS as they word it). Not the right side. I will test out tomorrow at work and report back!
Great testing, Tom! 👍we are aware of the River 2 Max EPS feature issue and we have already fixed this on a mass production units, so all the River 2 Max that our users will receive will have a perfectly working EPS. Here is the video: th-cam.com/video/0HcLpAUuFo0/w-d-xo.html
Virtually any power station is EPS, which just stands for emergency power supply. I just tried an AC30 with two different things plugged in, and there was not even the slightest blink. I should hope the EPS is working perfectly!
I love these for UPS specifically. Sadly these don't implement UPS traditional features (or provide alternative, e.g., RESTful APIs) were even could be provided to the computer so you could act on power loss / battery level.
@@davidlt It was possible to connect to local API with old River but Ecoflow diabled that in latest firmware. I hope they reconsider to open that again otherwise i have to find something else.
Hi Tom, I watched your review with great interest, particularly the section where you test the River 2 Max in the EPS mode. I bought the UK version of the River 2 Max on 11th Nov 2022 and from my own testing it appears that when the unit is plugged in to a wall outlet, powered up and the AC outlet of the River 2 Max is enabled, the Live and Neutral connections between the wall socket and the output of River 2 Max somehow become transposed, which is obviously a dangerous condition for any fused, earthed appliance connected to the unit. I am wondering if this is the reason why your tests on the River 2 Max EPS function with your old laptop failed, since reversing of the polarity of the live and neutral (rather than just switching from incoming mains to inverter) to the laptop psu may result in discharging the psu when switching over to the Inverter output before restoring the power to the River 2 Max’s outlet. From my own testing it appears the live and neutral connection is in the correct orientation when running from the Inverter output. I have raised this with the EcoFlow help desk but their reply so far has been somewhat limited, by saying; “After confirmation by the engineer, your problem may be caused by the following reasons: 1. The EcoFlow machine is off-grid when it is not connected to the AC charging line, so the equipment is not grounded, and there is no distinction between L and N lines. 2. When the AC charging line is connected to the device and the user's AC line is grounded, the ground wire of the device will be connected to the ground wire of the power grid. At this time, L and N will be distinguished. In this case, after the L and N connections are reversed, if the user does not touch the metal conductive sheets of the L and N ports inside with his hands or through other metal objects, there will be no problem. 3. If your machine cannot be used normally because of the bypass mode, you can choose to return it.” I was wondering if you would be willing to do some further testing to see if this is the root cause of the poor EPS performance you observed.
I picked up a Bluetti EB3A and I love it! I was really hoping one of these would be a great supplement with two USB-C power delivery ports. Not having more than one power delivery ports makes me appreciate my Bluetti that much more. This is a shame. I sincerely hope Bluetti releases a new version of the EB55 and EB70 soon. 🤞
Since you’re reviewing more units with UPS switchover, can I suggest you upgrade to a better oscilloscope that can show exactly how fast the switchover is? You could use a 2 channel oscilloscope and trigger on when the wall power is shut off and see how many milliseconds the sine wave is disrupted for on the power station’s output.
Just ordered one of these because Amazon had an amazing sale for the river 2 plus 45watt solar panel for $170. I only need it to keep my Camco 350 somewhat cold when camping so I’m excited to see how it works. Thanks for the review!
What is the highest temperature you have seen? I’m interested in the River 2 because it may have the highest operating temperature rating I have ever seen, 45°C/113°F. I want to keep on the floor of my F150, to power my Engle 12V refrigerator; because my power point only stays on 50 minutes, after shutting off the truck. HoboTech please comment about using in a vehicle, in the summer.
I love how thorough you are in your testing. I do however keep asking myself about the DC outputs. Because many of the electronics today (probably even the old Dell laptop you tested with) actually take DC power from a "brick" transformer, is it possible to power the computer via one of the DC outputs? The questions become, how do you match the proper voltage to your devices and is there even a "switching time" for DC as that doesn't use the inverter? Think about all the power bricks that could be replaced with DC to DC connections from a device like this and it automatically becomes a UPS if the DC is coming right from the battery and doesn't need any switch over time.
I got an identical 73% AC efficiency out of the box but after a few full discharge/charge cycles it is up to just over 200Wh (about 80)%. Not bad for a 256Wh unit.
Thanks Hobotech, I purchase the River2 Max with your code. I needed something portable for outdoors. I also purchase my first hand gun 🔫 😎 can't wait to pick it up this Wednesday 🙌
Thanks for the review. I do like EcoFlow products, but don't care much for this case design. The unit is light enough for camping and hiking, but having the handle in the back and display on the front is just asking for trouble. Carrying it with the display facing down to the ground just begs someone to set it down on the front panel. And, setting it down on the front panel is going to messed up the display. Suggest putting a handle on one of the sides, so the unit weight is more balanced (even if it only weighs about 8 pounds). With a handle on the side, the display would face forward, or backward, when carrying it to a site, but not downward. Also, space is limited in a camper, so I look for items that are compact and easy to stow. Square off the back of the unit, put a strap handle on it that can also be converted to a shoulder strap, and you have a better unit for hiking to a site.
Thanks for the awesome review videos 👍👍 I bought a River 2 Max on offer a couple of days ago and have just run an AC capacity test running a small heater on 232w and a Power meter. I actually managed to get 90% efficiency (464Wh) so super pleased with that. Either they've made a big improvement with the firmware or ive got super lucky with mine 😀
Hey there. I've tested my River 2 Max unit as ups. and it works great. Probably there was a problem with firmware or an early model. I've connected router, monitor and laptop to the unit. No blinking at all after disable central power supply.
Thanks for the review. Bummer about the efficiency and charging limitations in these new models. Hopefully it's something they can fix in firmware because I was really looking forward to a small LFP EcoFlow.
Thank you Tom for your always honest reviews. Soon I'm going to dip my feet into these little sogens....although I might go with a Bluetti.... I can't believe the little one has a UPS for $209....that's pretty damn sick.
Love your channel my friend. You are by far the best channel for generators. Keep up the good work. I base all my buying decisions on your testing. I will pass on any eco flow products. Stick with Bluetti for now
My buddy bought a base model for his cabin and it works but has terrible flaws. When he runs a low voltage led light it strobes when he runs old tube lights its fine
11-4-2022 = Professor Hobo! Just received delivery of my new Ecoflow River 2 MAX. Wow awesome for sure. Thanks for the review, used your code and worked. Ecocoflow River 2 Max was shipped ground Fedex from California to NY. It arrived charged at 30% so I plugged it in to wall outlet, charging at + 600 watts! Will try it tomorrow on my three 100 watt HQST Solar Panels in parallel. Awesome i have the EB3A also, but this MAX blows it away!!! THANKS!!! U R Da Man!! :-) ### Surge FAILED ### I just tried powering my full size kitchen Frigidaire refrigerator This River 2 MAX clicked off and gave me an "OVERLOAD" error, I guess the 1000 surge for Max couldn't handle my Frigidaie's surge/peak (?) EB3A surge spec is 1200 watts max peak - Milin must be over 1000 + == I tested my refrig with my Kil-o-Watt meter and I caught a "1300 watt surge" on the meter! Damn, now all of my power stations are giving me an 'OVERLOAD' error on my Refrig! Damn... I Will have to watch for the River 2 PRO to come out and decide. :+( == I'm using my 45watt ac Dell laptop on the River 2 Max now, working fine, says 9 hours of run-time. Oh well... Thanks !
Glad to see the lfp batteries but I still think bluetti has them beat. Now to get goal zero caught up they seem to be about 5 years behind everyone else. But I will still keep building my own, 280ah eve cells are coming back down in price. Though not to discourage people from buying the prebuilts they are still good units.
The power boost feature is often mentioned better never fully discussed. What sort of appliances would power boost work on and be good for? What would be bad? Great review!
Excellent Review Professor, but I'm not sure about that background music. Do you get the feeling that EcoFlow was lapped by Bluetti and other products and are now just playing catch up?
Thanks for all the tests you do. eb3a is obvious competition, and this may be the best alternative. The advantages of River is 2lbs lighter. Bidrectional PD. They both have bad discharge capacity. My application would be for "bikepacking ebike". Expandable with lightweight powerbricks for capacity if needed. Fast charging is essential if a restaurant world/tour can support it. 54w-106w AC ebike chargers are the right load level. AC adapted kettles, 120w that bypass dc output deficiencies. These are the power outputs that will be used with these devices. Test at 50w, 100w, 120w for capacity measures. How does bidirectional PD work with power bricks? Is there a USB-PD adapter that will deliver 52v-54v? How efficient is the USB-PD port compared to other ports? A possible future is USB power delivery for appliances, or other expansion/pervasiveness. The "right" tests could still show poor energy delivery. But the tests have to be catered to how a small power station would be used. The 2lbs weight savings is a huge advantage. Flat top surface design is good for ebike rear rack fixing. Waterproofness is a major feature/value, the eb3a ignores.
@HOBOTECH When you tested the UPS functionality on the River 2 the battery was at 60% so the Inverter was active already. When you tested the River 2 Max as a UPS it was fully charged so the inverter was off and AC pass-through was in effect, needing time to switch form AC pass-through to inverter use. Please retest properly and let us know. Looking forward to buy the River 2 Pro when available again. Thanks for what you do. Update. Never mind, I see they fixed it anyway...
I have the River 2. After an update to 3.1.1.37 last night I have had power interruptions and now EPS Bypass mode doesn't seem to be working. Wondering if anyone else that has this unit has experienced any problems since the update or if I am having coincidental bad luck.
Ecoflow should challenge Bluetti to a break dancing competition! We can pull out some cardboard, and lights, sound system, DJ...all use their respective solar generators to see who is king...
At $599 I think they’re decent, but an average value. At the sale price it’s a serious option. With your code it’s a no brainer! Nobody can touch a 5 year warranty, all their features, premium name in the game, etc. for that price.
Hopefully Bluetti can get something to compete with it. Because EcoFlow has the perfect power station for me in the River 2 Pro, it's what I was looking for this past summer. Their app looks great, much better than Bluetti's in terms of features, though Bluetti's app is sufficient for me. The EB3A is working great for me as it is, still get to use my Goal Zero solar panels because it uses the 7909 plug. Could keep some of the portable Goal Zero panels I have for my EB3A and use the PV200 I bought with the River 2 Pro, just gotta get an adapter for MC4 to XT60.
@@TylerOstergaard wish someone would post that update -Im stuck between the max and the pro for home backup for outages (have a gas gen as well for large items) it seems odd that the pro would be 10% more efficient then the max
To be fair, the Ctechi GT200 with the larger 320wh lithium phosphate is better value for money than river 2, better quality with an aluminium body rather than plastic has quick charge usb, LED light, much nicer to hold carry handle and is far cheaper. I have two and looked at the bluetti eb3a and river 2 and jackery as well.
Was hoping they would match the EcoFlow R600 Pro. I have 2 and they are my favorite of all the EcoFlow products. Short kickstarter special and now unobtanium.
That’s Professor … these units are junk. Certainly not a Bluette or Vigorpool …, or even close. Lots of your other reviews across many brands confirm to avoid these units. Would not have expected these results but the Professor validated the outcome.
Just scored River 2 via your Amazon link. Was too good a deal to pass up. I was really considering a Mini but ended up with the 2 at the same price!! Thanks for the detailed explanation of what it does and what to expect when I get it.
For charging my e-mountain bike (2 wheel drive, 2 batteries) at the end of the day in hunting camp I am getting an ECO FLOW River 2 Pro and to charge it a 220 watt OFF GRID TREK solar "blanket". Both appear to be technically and quality wise at the top of their respective categories. I do wonder why the RIVER 2 series CANNOT use a 2nd backup battery. ?? That is why I want the extra juice of the very recently released RIVER 2 PRO.
So I am really like my River Max, I think they are the best of the ones I've tried. Right now, my huge Cheesegrater Mac Pro and giant Ultra widescreen 34 inch monitor, etc are running off it in UPS mode. I've tested it and the UPS mode works great. Interesting that the new max can't do it. I plugged it in just yesterday because of a storm that threatened power. Im with you...whats the point of a UPS that isn't a UPS?
Can you retest the River 2 Max? Since the firmware is probably update by now. Thanks for the reviews. You provide some very real world use information.
I’m debating these vs bluetti however I do not like the fact these do not support simultaneous discharge and charging. Although I can understand it does protect the battery life.
So I now have a River 2, but something peculiar happened. I connected an led lamp and was letting run down to zero. It slowly ran down to 20% and supposedly had approx 2 hours time left but it suddenly went to 0% and power shutoff. Thought I still had 2 hours remaining from the status readout, but practically dropped from 20% to 0% almost immediately. What gives?????
Great video. As far as use as a UPS goes, will these turn back on after they are completely drained? My use case is I connect my router and modem to one of these and go out of town. The power goes out and the River 2 (or River 2 Max) kick in, but then eventually deplete completely. When the power comes back on, will these restart? In other words, will my modem and router get power again as soon as the power comes back on, and will they also have backup power again once the River 2/River2 Max recharges? Thank you!
Nice scientific approach for review. Is it possible to use eco flow power station 512 W to charge the car battery in emergency ? If yes, comecting cable available with device or has to be customised? Clamp connections terminals at one end for batteries & other end at eco flow terminal type..?
Hi tom, I wondering if you're going to be reviewing the River 2 Pro anytime soon ? As always I enjoyed the review of the Ecoflow River 2 and the River Max. I need something with more power and now that Ecoflow uses LFP batteries I am interested in this product.
I’m disappointed with the watt rating shortcomings, lack of the flash light (it was a useful feature), and at-least if not both the small one should have wireless charging. Meh. Wood be better too if the inverter has more noise suppression on the output. Looking forward to the max review.
does anyone know if they ever did update the firmware to get the AC / DC capacity any higher than the 70 something percent capacity? that is pretty disappointing ..... I did see in the newest review of the PRO that the PRO is in the mid to high 80s - did these little ones improve with newer firmware?
ABOUT the River 2 Max UPS Test... the difference I saw, was the R2 Max was FULLY recharged and ZERO power was coming INTO the R2Max. I think if you got the R2Max down to 90% and it was fully charging, I think the UPS Test would of worked. I know it's kinda crazy, but at the same time, it kinda makes sense.
If you use the product to power a freezer or fridge then the slow transfer time is a non issue.. Having a the inverter running while connected to the wall only lowers the lifespan of the inverter.. Having a UPS is better, but as long as people know that it switches slowly, then its OK for some use cases...
What happens when the cells get "old"? Can they be replaced (then or sooner) with the better cells? Does the unit need to be sent to ecoflow for service? Or are the cells user-serviceable? Thanks...
I think you're supposed to just dump the unit. Also, as the prof often says, the inverter / charger / solar controller will probably break before the batteries get worn out. Hopefully when they do wear out (and assuming everything else still works), it should be well out of warranty, so you could try a cell replacement (maybe LFP will be more energy dense then, or you could put sodium-ion cells in it). I have a bunch of cheap crappy NMC sogens I got when a shop near me was selling off old stock. 3x 222wh / 200w ons and 2x 155wh / 100w ones. The latter two look like they can be easily taken apart, and probably just have a few cylindrical cells inside, so I might try "upgrading" them to LFP when they wear out. Probably making them much heavier and only with about 80wh capacity, but they have very bright flashlights on!
When you mentioned bi-directional is that the same as pass-through charging, whereby the unit can charge another device while concurrently being charged itself?
@@TheCarmacon 100%... why would you get this when the eb3a does everything the same and has a 600watt inverter... some development makes me shake my head when it's released months afterwards
GET THE RIVER 2: gohobo.io/river2 use code ECOFLOWAFF
GET THE RIVER 2 MAX: gohobo.io/r2max use code ECOFLOWAFF
Ecoflow's Website: gohobo.io/ecoflow code ECOFLOWAFF
Update: Ecoflow says they've FIXED the UPS/EPS of the R2 Max in production!
Pretty disappointed you didn't show us how long the laptop would run on the river 2 and what is was drawing when testing passthrough
Nice click bait with 3 packs in the thumbnail and u only test one at their request yeah i bet this will be unbiased
@@jamesclark4 You should cry more, that would help
100% professional review. Answering my questions immediately from the get-go making me feel confident in my purchase.
I live in my car and currently it takes 4 to 5 hours to charge my power bank at the library and this quick charging is going to save me a ton of time and hassle.
thank you!
I bought an EcoFlow River and I used it copiously on a 2wk RV vacation and love it. It saved my house battery. I still use it at home. In the rv I used it for my curling iron and as many as 7 things all at once. And I can carry it. I only recharged it once and it still had 53% charge left. For many uses it is just fine.
Perfect, You answered exactly my question on whether the River 2 could be used as a UPS. Much Thx. I had 3-4 Cyberpower UPS back-ups for the TV, Refrigerator and computer. They lose power totally after a year or 2. This is Great.
Good for Ecoflow to incorporate LiFePo4 in their smaller offerings. It's a little early on our west coast isn't it! Probably a little chilly in the desert this morning. Right now it's 8°C, 46°F in the Fraser Valley. Be good & safe today.
Thank you for another great review. These updates to the River series are what I have wanted. Thank you for demonstrating the pass through charging so well. It is nice to the charging power go up when you plug in the heater. It confirms the behavior I was hoping to see. I don’t trust that all units with pass through do it this way. Great work.
My jackery that I've had for nearly 3 years just recently died on me and I'm looking at getting a new product to replace it. Somehow I came across these guys and am planning on getting one of them.
I just had my River 2 delivered and, watching this, I’m glad I did….Very scientific and useful report….Actually, I wanted a slim power station for the car but none of them used LFP batteries.
19:54 I just picked up the Max unit today. According to the diagram in the user guide, it is the “LEFT” side A/C that works with UPS (or EPS as they word it). Not the right side. I will test out tomorrow at work and report back!
Great testing, Tom! 👍we are aware of the River 2 Max EPS feature issue and we have already fixed this on a mass production units, so all the River 2 Max that our users will receive will have a perfectly working EPS. Here is the video: th-cam.com/video/0HcLpAUuFo0/w-d-xo.html
Virtually any power station is EPS, which just stands for emergency power supply. I just tried an AC30 with two different things plugged in, and there was not even the slightest blink. I should hope the EPS is working perfectly!
I love these for UPS specifically. Sadly these don't implement UPS traditional features (or provide alternative, e.g., RESTful APIs) were even could be provided to the computer so you could act on power loss / battery level.
@@davidlt It was possible to connect to local API with old River but Ecoflow diabled that in latest firmware.
I hope they reconsider to open that again otherwise i have to find something else.
Yeah except the solar collector is extra, AND Customer service is off shore...
Hi Tom, I watched your review with great interest, particularly the section where you test the River 2 Max in the EPS mode. I bought the UK version of the River 2 Max on 11th Nov 2022 and from my own testing it appears that when the unit is plugged in to a wall outlet, powered up and the AC outlet of the River 2 Max is enabled, the Live and Neutral connections between the wall socket and the output of River 2 Max somehow become transposed, which is obviously a dangerous condition for any fused, earthed appliance connected to the unit. I am wondering if this is the reason why your tests on the River 2 Max EPS function with your old laptop failed, since reversing of the polarity of the live and neutral (rather than just switching from incoming mains to inverter) to the laptop psu may result in discharging the psu when switching over to the Inverter output before restoring the power to the River 2 Max’s outlet. From my own testing it appears the live and neutral connection is in the correct orientation when running from the Inverter output. I have raised this with the EcoFlow help desk but their reply so far has been somewhat limited, by saying;
“After confirmation by the engineer, your problem may be caused by the following reasons:
1. The EcoFlow machine is off-grid when it is not connected to the AC charging line, so the equipment is not grounded, and there is no distinction between L and N lines.
2. When the AC charging line is connected to the device and the user's AC line is grounded, the ground wire of the device will be connected to the ground wire of the power grid. At this time, L and N will be distinguished. In this case, after the L and N connections are reversed, if the user does not touch the metal conductive sheets of the L and N ports inside with his hands or through other metal objects, there will be no problem.
3. If your machine cannot be used normally because of the bypass mode, you can choose to return it.”
I was wondering if you would be willing to do some further testing to see if this is the root cause of the poor EPS performance you observed.
I picked up a Bluetti EB3A and I love it! I was really hoping one of these would be a great supplement with two USB-C power delivery ports. Not having more than one power delivery ports makes me appreciate my Bluetti that much more. This is a shame. I sincerely hope Bluetti releases a new version of the EB55 and EB70 soon. 🤞
That EB70s display panel kills me.
Hello! Does your EB3A make some noise (fan) while connected in UPS mode?
I just use one of the outlet extenders with 3 to 1 outlets, 2 USB C, and a USB A... Under $10
Since you’re reviewing more units with UPS switchover, can I suggest you upgrade to a better oscilloscope that can show exactly how fast the switchover is? You could use a 2 channel oscilloscope and trigger on when the wall power is shut off and see how many milliseconds the sine wave is disrupted for on the power station’s output.
Just ordered one of these because Amazon had an amazing sale for the river 2 plus 45watt solar panel for $170. I only need it to keep my Camco 350 somewhat cold when camping so I’m excited to see how it works. Thanks for the review!
thanks for checking the ups function test. This is very important for my consideration.
Ecoflow posted they'll fix the EPS on the Max version.
Same
You rock! I think the laptop test for the UPS test was what sold me on this product. Thank you!
Your my go to guy when it comes to solar generators very detailed reviews great job
Thanks for the quality review. I just purchased the River 2 Max and this review gives me confidence. I will now have power in my man shed!!
I like that when I use the App and clicking on the battery, it shows its temperature! 🔋👍
What is the highest temperature you have seen? I’m interested in the River 2 because it may have the highest operating temperature rating I have ever seen, 45°C/113°F. I want to keep on the floor of my F150, to power my Engle 12V refrigerator; because my power point only stays on 50 minutes, after shutting off the truck. HoboTech please comment about using in a vehicle, in the summer.
I like seeing grounded outlets. Might consider these for a computer UPS if the switchover gets a bit shorter.
Thanks for the discount code. Used it to buy a River 2 yesterday.
I love how thorough you are in your testing. I do however keep asking myself about the DC outputs. Because many of the electronics today (probably even the old Dell laptop you tested with) actually take DC power from a "brick" transformer, is it possible to power the computer via one of the DC outputs? The questions become, how do you match the proper voltage to your devices and is there even a "switching time" for DC as that doesn't use the inverter?
Think about all the power bricks that could be replaced with DC to DC connections from a device like this and it automatically becomes a UPS if the DC is coming right from the battery and doesn't need any switch over time.
Mr Hobotech, you the man. Thank you so much for these reviews! I have purchased in the past on your product codes. Thanks!
Used your link with discount code. Ordered for UPS feature. In NC 212.93 with tax. Thanks for the info!
I got an identical 73% AC efficiency out of the box but after a few full discharge/charge cycles it is up to just over 200Wh (about 80)%. Not bad for a 256Wh unit.
Thanks Hobotech, I purchase the River2 Max with your code. I needed something portable for outdoors.
I also purchase my first hand gun 🔫 😎 can't wait to pick it up this Wednesday 🙌
Thanks again for the honest review of the River 2. It's a smart move that they used LFP batteries which lasts longer.
Thanks for the review. I do like EcoFlow products, but don't care much for this case design. The unit is light enough for camping and hiking, but having the handle in the back and display on the front is just asking for trouble. Carrying it with the display facing down to the ground just begs someone to set it down on the front panel. And, setting it down on the front panel is going to messed up the display. Suggest putting a handle on one of the sides, so the unit weight is more balanced (even if it only weighs about 8 pounds). With a handle on the side, the display would face forward, or backward, when carrying it to a site, but not downward. Also, space is limited in a camper, so I look for items that are compact and easy to stow. Square off the back of the unit, put a strap handle on it that can also be converted to a shoulder strap, and you have a better unit for hiking to a site.
I agree.
Thanks for the awesome review videos 👍👍 I bought a River 2 Max on offer a couple of days ago and have just run an AC capacity test running a small heater on 232w and a Power meter. I actually managed to get 90% efficiency (464Wh) so super pleased with that. Either they've made a big improvement with the firmware or ive got super lucky with mine 😀
Been reading, listening, searching. No more, thank you!
Hey there. I've tested my River 2 Max unit as ups. and it works great. Probably there was a problem with firmware or an early model. I've connected router, monitor and laptop to the unit. No blinking at all after disable central power supply.
Outstanding review. My EcoFliw River Max should arrive this week. Thanks for sharing 👍
Finally a small Eco flow unit that I'm actually interested in.
"quadruple fisting" - Professor Hobo
This channel has gotten real dark real fast. 🤣
Got a feeling he was a Metal Head back in the day.
Sounds good. I'm already covered in this area. Thanks for the review.
Awesome video! Great tests and info! Totally love the vibe of the video and the background music
I like that Ecoflow used LFP batteries. It will definitely last a long time.
My Ecoflow river 2 was powering my PlayStation 4 as a ups and unplugged the river 2 from the wall and still charged it
Thanks for the review. Bummer about the efficiency and charging limitations in these new models. Hopefully it's something they can fix in firmware because I was really looking forward to a small LFP EcoFlow.
Thank you Tom for your always honest reviews. Soon I'm going to dip my feet into these little sogens....although I might go with a Bluetti....
I can't believe the little one has a UPS for $209....that's pretty damn sick.
Love your channel my friend. You are by far the best channel for generators. Keep up the good work. I base all my buying decisions on your testing. I will pass on any eco flow products. Stick with Bluetti for now
My buddy bought a base model for his cabin and it works but has terrible flaws. When he runs a low voltage led light it strobes when he runs old tube lights its fine
Curious on your review after one year, i just ordered this on sale $169 so excited for it to come in
11-4-2022 = Professor Hobo! Just received delivery of my new Ecoflow River 2 MAX. Wow awesome for sure. Thanks for the review, used your code and worked. Ecocoflow River 2 Max was shipped ground Fedex from California to NY. It arrived charged at 30% so I plugged it in to wall outlet, charging at + 600 watts! Will try it tomorrow on my three 100 watt HQST Solar Panels in parallel. Awesome i have the EB3A also, but this MAX blows it away!!! THANKS!!! U R Da Man!! :-) ### Surge FAILED ### I just tried powering my full size kitchen Frigidaire refrigerator This River 2 MAX clicked off and gave me an "OVERLOAD" error, I guess the 1000 surge for Max couldn't handle my Frigidaie's surge/peak (?) EB3A surge spec is 1200 watts max peak - Milin must be over 1000 + == I tested my refrig with my Kil-o-Watt meter and I caught a "1300 watt surge" on the meter! Damn, now all of my power stations are giving me an 'OVERLOAD' error on my Refrig! Damn... I Will have to watch for the River 2 PRO to come out and decide. :+( == I'm using my 45watt ac Dell laptop on the River 2 Max now, working fine, says 9 hours of run-time. Oh well... Thanks !
I really love the UPS feature.
Glad to see the lfp batteries but I still think bluetti has them beat. Now to get goal zero caught up they seem to be about 5 years behind everyone else. But I will still keep building my own, 280ah eve cells are coming back down in price. Though not to discourage people from buying the prebuilts they are still good units.
The power boost feature is often mentioned better never fully discussed. What sort of appliances would power boost work on and be good for? What would be bad? Great review!
Bad for anything with a compressor or computer chip.
Excellent Review Professor, but I'm not sure about that background music. Do you get the feeling that EcoFlow was lapped by Bluetti and other products and are now just playing catch up?
I watched for the review, subscribed for the outro
Thanks for all the tests you do. eb3a is obvious competition, and this may be the best alternative. The advantages of River is 2lbs lighter. Bidrectional PD. They both have bad discharge capacity.
My application would be for "bikepacking ebike". Expandable with lightweight powerbricks for capacity if needed. Fast charging is essential if a restaurant world/tour can support it. 54w-106w AC ebike chargers are the right load level. AC adapted kettles, 120w that bypass dc output deficiencies. These are the power outputs that will be used with these devices. Test at 50w, 100w, 120w for capacity measures. How does bidirectional PD work with power bricks? Is there a USB-PD adapter that will deliver 52v-54v? How efficient is the USB-PD port compared to other ports? A possible future is USB power delivery for appliances, or other expansion/pervasiveness.
The "right" tests could still show poor energy delivery. But the tests have to be catered to how a small power station would be used. The 2lbs weight savings is a huge advantage. Flat top surface design is good for ebike rear rack fixing. Waterproofness is a major feature/value, the eb3a ignores.
Did you buy one of these and how is it?
@HOBOTECH When you tested the UPS functionality on the River 2 the battery was at 60% so the Inverter was active already. When you tested the River 2 Max as a UPS it was fully charged so the inverter was off and AC pass-through was in effect, needing time to switch form AC pass-through to inverter use. Please retest properly and let us know. Looking forward to buy the River 2 Pro when available again. Thanks for what you do. Update. Never mind, I see they fixed it anyway...
Excellent explanation Thanks for taking your time to share such an amazing video with us
I have the River 2. After an update to 3.1.1.37 last night I have had power interruptions and now EPS Bypass mode doesn't seem to be working. Wondering if anyone else that has this unit has experienced any problems since the update or if I am having coincidental bad luck.
I would love to test out Ecoflow's new 400 watt Rigid Panels
Ecoflow should challenge Bluetti to a break dancing competition! We can pull out some cardboard, and lights, sound system, DJ...all use their respective solar generators to see who is king...
And about support. When you have problems. I prefer a company who keeps his worths then 1 who sells and when you have a problem nobody is home!
At $599 I think they’re decent, but an average value. At the sale price it’s a serious option. With your code it’s a no brainer! Nobody can touch a 5 year warranty, all their features, premium name in the game, etc. for that price.
❤ the quadruple 👊 👊👊👊. Still waiting on the Finger BANG BANG!
18:45 The River 2 Max fails the UPS test. No Bueno. Thanks for the review!
Solid UPS testing. Nice job.
Eager to see the River 2 Pro! Hoping to see that soon!
Hopefully Bluetti can get something to compete with it. Because EcoFlow has the perfect power station for me in the River 2 Pro, it's what I was looking for this past summer. Their app looks great, much better than Bluetti's in terms of features, though Bluetti's app is sufficient for me. The EB3A is working great for me as it is, still get to use my Goal Zero solar panels because it uses the 7909 plug. Could keep some of the portable Goal Zero panels I have for my EB3A and use the PV200 I bought with the River 2 Pro, just gotta get an adapter for MC4 to XT60.
it would be awesome if you can test the discharge % again it seems that others are getting around 80-85% now with different firmware
ever get an answer on that??? wondering why the pro does so much better.
@@anonimous596 i didn't and good question i've got one now and it seems to do fine but i haven't don't extensive tests so it still might be an issue
@@TylerOstergaard wish someone would post that update -Im stuck between the max and the pro for home backup for outages (have a gas gen as well for large items) it seems odd that the pro would be 10% more efficient then the max
checked my river 2 max (EU version, 230v) - relay in it is fast and able to keep my laptop without battery on
To be fair, the Ctechi GT200 with the larger 320wh lithium phosphate is better value for money than river 2, better quality with an aluminium body rather than plastic has quick charge usb, LED light, much nicer to hold carry handle and is far cheaper. I have two and looked at the bluetti eb3a and river 2 and jackery as well.
General rule of thumb - don't ride the limits of specs. Stay about 10% under and problems decrease significantly.
Was hoping they would match the EcoFlow R600 Pro. I have 2 and they are my favorite of all the EcoFlow products. Short kickstarter special and now unobtanium.
hopefully they fix the efficiency issue because 74% is pretty horrendous. ideally you'd want 85-90 percent.
The outro tune slaps!
That’s Professor … these units are junk. Certainly not a Bluette or Vigorpool …, or even close. Lots of your other reviews across many brands confirm to avoid these units. Would not have expected these results but the Professor validated the outcome.
Just scored River 2 via your Amazon link. Was too good a deal to pass up. I was really considering a Mini but ended up with the 2 at the same price!!
Thanks for the detailed explanation of what it does and what to expect when I get it.
I love the Office Music in the Background, lol
Thanks for the discount code !!!
For charging my e-mountain bike (2 wheel drive, 2 batteries) at the end of the day in hunting camp I am getting an ECO FLOW River 2 Pro and to charge it a 220 watt OFF GRID TREK solar "blanket". Both appear to be technically and quality wise at the top of their respective categories.
I do wonder why the RIVER 2 series CANNOT use a 2nd backup battery. ?? That is why I want the extra juice of the very recently released RIVER 2 PRO.
So I am really like my River Max, I think they are the best of the ones I've tried. Right now, my huge Cheesegrater Mac Pro and giant Ultra widescreen 34 inch monitor, etc are running off it in UPS mode. I've tested it and the UPS mode works great. Interesting that the new max can't do it. I plugged it in just yesterday because of a storm that threatened power. Im with you...whats the point of a UPS that isn't a UPS?
Teardown!
1:48 if you reduce the voltage, fewer amps flow, full stop
Please test out Yoshino Power Station Solid State Batteries!!! reported as the ultimate battery and portable power station!!!
It does charge faster than the previous River.
Wow! I'll be waiting for the pro
@The Tired Horizon sure I'm looking to but that too lol
I agree that the wall charging is pretty fast. Fully charged in an hour.
All you need to know about River 2 is here lol. Thanks
Specs and price-wise, how do they compare to the bluetti $240 eb3a and $500 70s?
Watch the video...
Thanks for being real
Can you retest the River 2 Max? Since the firmware is probably update by now. Thanks for the reviews. You provide some very real world use information.
I’m debating these vs bluetti however I do not like the fact these do not support simultaneous discharge and charging. Although I can understand it does protect the battery life.
It is just an incredible video. Thank you!
Great, Honest review. Excellent video
So I now have a River 2, but something peculiar happened. I connected an led lamp and was letting run down to zero. It slowly ran down to 20% and supposedly had approx 2 hours time left but it suddenly went to 0% and power shutoff. Thought I still had 2 hours remaining from the status readout, but practically dropped from 20% to 0% almost immediately. What gives?????
Great video. As far as use as a UPS goes, will these turn back on after they are completely drained? My use case is I connect my router and modem to one of these and go out of town. The power goes out and the River 2 (or River 2 Max) kick in, but then eventually deplete completely. When the power comes back on, will these restart? In other words, will my modem and router get power again as soon as the power comes back on, and will they also have backup power again once the River 2/River2 Max recharges? Thank you!
Nice scientific approach for review.
Is it possible to use eco flow power station 512 W to charge the car battery in emergency ?
If yes, comecting cable available with device or has to be customised?
Clamp connections terminals at one end for batteries & other end at eco flow terminal type..?
Hi tom, I wondering if you're going to be reviewing the River 2 Pro anytime soon ? As always I enjoyed the review of the Ecoflow River 2 and the River Max. I need something with more power and now that Ecoflow uses LFP batteries I am interested in this product.
Thank you for the information
I’m disappointed with the watt rating shortcomings, lack of the flash light (it was a useful feature), and at-least if not both the small one should have wireless charging. Meh. Wood be better too if the inverter has more noise suppression on the output. Looking forward to the max review.
Brilliant video any suggestions on What one to get the Anker 521 or river 2
That's cause it's probably an EPS as stated on their website and not a UPS. So it didn't fail. Only good for laptops. Not desktops
EPS is a made up term. It simply means "We didn't want to spend the money to make it switch faster". Apparently it was fixed since.
does anyone know if they ever did update the firmware to get the AC / DC capacity any higher than the 70 something percent capacity? that is pretty disappointing ..... I did see in the newest review of the PRO that the PRO is in the mid to high 80s - did these little ones improve with newer firmware?
ABOUT the River 2 Max UPS Test... the difference I saw, was the R2 Max was FULLY recharged and ZERO power was coming INTO the R2Max. I think if you got the R2Max down to 90% and it was fully charging, I think the UPS Test would of worked. I know it's kinda crazy, but at the same time, it kinda makes sense.
That's not it. It had a flaw that Ecoflow reportedly fixed.
If you use the product to power a freezer or fridge then the slow transfer time is a non issue..
Having a the inverter running while connected to the wall only lowers the lifespan of the inverter..
Having a UPS is better, but as long as people know that it switches slowly, then its OK for some use cases...
What happens when the cells get "old"? Can they be replaced (then or sooner) with the better cells? Does the unit need to be sent to ecoflow for service? Or are the cells user-serviceable? Thanks...
I think you're supposed to just dump the unit. Also, as the prof often says, the inverter / charger / solar controller will probably break before the batteries get worn out.
Hopefully when they do wear out (and assuming everything else still works), it should be well out of warranty, so you could try a cell replacement (maybe LFP will be more energy dense then, or you could put sodium-ion cells in it). I have a bunch of cheap crappy NMC sogens I got when a shop near me was selling off old stock. 3x 222wh / 200w ons and 2x 155wh / 100w ones. The latter two look like they can be easily taken apart, and probably just have a few cylindrical cells inside, so I might try "upgrading" them to LFP when they wear out. Probably making them much heavier and only with about 80wh capacity, but they have very bright flashlights on!
When you mentioned bi-directional is that the same as pass-through charging, whereby the unit can charge another device while concurrently being charged itself?
Bi-directional USB charging is not related to pass through charging.
did you ever do a sustained load test on the River 2 Max?
So the Bluetti eb3a is still better being that it will go up to 600watts inverter?
@@TheCarmacon 100%... why would you get this when the eb3a does everything the same and has a 600watt inverter... some development makes me shake my head when it's released months afterwards