Method

We rank for the job, not for the press photo.

A 2 kWh box that can’t start your fridge is a paperweight, however good it looks in the render. This page is the rubric behind every money page — read it once and you’ll know exactly what our rankings can and cannot promise you.

What “review” means on a new site

Let's be plain about what we did and didn't do, because this is the page where sites usually start lying. We do not have a warehouse of long-term teardowns, and we won't invent one. What we do have is the slower kind of work: manufacturer electrical ratings read closely, the failure modes buyers actually report — surge, open-circuit voltage, transfer-switch wiring — and the constraints of each category. When we haven't run a unit through a season, we say so on the page. Street prices are copied from the US product page on a dated check, currently August 26, 2026, and they move with sales. A crossed-out compare-at price is what the manufacturer showed that day. Not a promise it comes back.

Every named Jackery, BLUETTI, and Anker SOLIX SKU carries the official product photograph from the manufacturer page, committed under src/assets/products/. The lifestyle photos — the garage, the basement, the kitchen, the driveway — are mood, and they never stand in for a product shot. If we can't get a clean official image, we don't feature the SKU, full stop. That's why you won't find a named HomePower, AC500, Explorer 1000, or F2000 card here, and it's a trade we'd make again.

Ranking factors

1. The job. Fridge + network, medical devices, a 240 V well pump, and whole-home HVAC are four different purchases. A page that crowns one “best solar generator” for all four is selling a trophy, not a machine.
2. Continuous watts vs surge. Compressors and well pumps care about the first second. When a manufacturer page lists conflicting surge numbers, we leave the cell blank instead of picking the larger one.
3. Usable watt-hours. Nameplate capacity is not the same as a 90% discharge on LiFePO4. We still quote nameplate, because that's what the cart shows — but the runtime estimates in our copy stay conservative.
4. Expandability and 120/240 V. A station that stays 120 V cannot feed a split-phase dryer, whatever the marketing says. Extra battery packs count only when they're a real SKU, not a coming-soon slide.
5. Recharge paths. Wall AC, alternator, and portable panels with a Voc the station will actually accept. Series-wiring random blankets is how charge controllers die.
6. Support and warranty. A four-figure brick needs parts and firmware, not just a glossy app. We prefer brands with a US product page and a phone number a human will pick up.
7. Program quality. We feature 30-day-cookie brands (Jackery, BLUETTI, Anker SOLIX). We do not feature EcoFlow while the cookie is a 7-day risk.
8. Photography and sourcing. Official product photograph, specs and street prices dated, and unknown cells left blank — the em dash in our tables is a finding, not a gap.

Who a page is for

Every money page carries a who-it's-for and who-should-skip pair, because the kindest thing a review can do is tell you to leave. When a $4,000 station is the wrong tool for your house, we say so and point you at whole-house generators or a smaller power station instead. If we got a number wrong, tell us at contact — corrections are part of the method, not an embarrassment to it. The money side lives at the affiliate disclosure.