When it comes to portable power packs, there is very little differentiation that can really be done. It is basically just about being able to provide the power as advertised in a high-density design across a set of outputs. That is something all brands—both established and new—strive for. CTECHi with around 17 years of experience in the field is no different there.

Once you look past the basic numbers and closer at the employed battery technologies, you start seeing tangible differences. While many mainstream products employ Li-Ion chemistry with around 500 charging cycles, the CTECHi ST2000 instead opts for the higher-grade LiFePO4 variants that can handle up to 2000 cycles. For the normal consumer who takes their power pack on the road as a backup once a week or keeps it in the shed, even the lower number could translate into 10 years worth of use. Thus, where the CTECHi ST2000 really starts to shine is in regular scenarios with daily use, which tend to be more professional settings. And with that, pricing for products geared towards that setting tends to be higher than for general consumer products, but CTECHi intends to sell the ST2000 at far less than what we are used to seeing from brands like Jackery or Bluetti, which makes the unit really attractive from a financial perspective alone.

Looking at the mix of outputs, the ST2000 offers just as many AC plugs as the Jackery Explorer 2000, but fewer than the AC200P. On top of that, its maximum output for those is 1800 W, which is something the smaller Jackery Explorer 1500 also manages to deliver while being bested by both the AC200P 2000 at 2000 W and Explorer 2000 at 2200 W. That may be that dealbreaker difference to those who need short bursts of peak power output.

That said, the CTECHi ST2000 caters really well to those who want a big pack with its resulting delivery duration. With its eight USB ports and four DC outs, it is also more functional for the mainstream crowd than those looking to utilize it for their power tools on the job site, for example. Combined with the ST2000 fully charging in 2 hours out of the box, or even 1.5 hours with the right solar panel assembly, all while costing less than the competition, the lack of maximum AC output basically becomes a non-issue for the vast majority of users and their scenarios.