For those wondering, the BLUETTI AC200P can absolutely handle a typical gaming PC, with my current setup using an Intel i9-9900K and NVIDIA RTX 3070 plus a few other bits and bobs giving me well over 1.5 hours of gaming before I felt I should probably switch back to AC mains power. My past experiences with a UPS involved the likes of the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD pure sinewave 1500VA, where the run time was on the order of a few minutes under typical load—never once did I contemplate doing anything other than exiting all running programs, saving active files, and shutting down the system. That older UPS was also bought in the US for an apartment complex with less than ideal wiring, so the pure sine wave output also helped. With the BLUETTI AC200P, the pure sine wave aspect is only one of several features that makes this overkill for such a UPS applications. There is also a peak surge rating of 4800 W in case you are worried, and nothing I plugged into the unit triggered OCP/OVP aside from the ubiquitous hair dryer as well as several items I had plugged in simultaneously. You will even then have the buzzer trigger give you some time to alleviate the stress put on the power station after power output has risen to 2000 W—it will only turn off in worst-case scenarios.

Using it at home only is doable, but really only makes sense if you pair it with the solar panels to get over the AC mains charging and inverter losses. Really long extension cables are available, so you may have the AC200P indoors in the shade with the solar panels wherever you want them. That means you are at the point where considering this instead of something like a Tesla Powerwall may make sense. That having been said, the comparison to the Powerwall should be the gargantuan BLUETTI EP500/500 Pro that provides 5100 Wh, relies on the same LFP chemistry, and is still portable. Also, the EP500 comes in at under half the cost of the Powerwall, which uses a nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry.

I should mention that some of my complaints about the AC200P have been addressed by BLUETTI announcing a successor just as I was testing it, with the AC200 MAX having swappable battery pack support in addition to Bluetooth monitoring with a mobile app, higher maximum output, and individual outputs. Even the solar power input massively increased, and there are a few other quality of life improvements to where you should perhaps hold off on buying the AC200P in favor of the AC200 MAX if this interests you. The B230 expansion battery pack now supports the AC200P as well, which helps further. There's an even bigger AC300 with a 3000 Wh/3000 W rating, and it is modular for multiple units to be added for up to a whopping 24.6 kWh/6000 W, definitely making it a home storage solution at that point. That scalability is quite intriguing since it allows users to add modules as per need and budget alike. It's looking to be a far more flexible system, but the cost is still going to be an issue in many regions, and there's no excuse for having the same 2-year warranty. It's still a unique piece of technology that competes with offerings from much larger companies at a much lower cost, so if anything, I do think the upcoming scalability with those would have probably resulted in our innovation award at the very least.