If you are looking for a medium sized, portable power station, there are tons of options out there. That said, while the EBL does manages to provide a little bit of a different mix than most. From a design perspective it goes for function over form somewhat, with a boxy design that offers 45° angled corners which actually turns out to work quite well. At a cost of $399 it is quite affordable as well. While some may argue that something like a product packed tight with battery cells should be purchased from a well known brand, considering the fact that the core business of EBL is rechargeable batteries, it makes sense that they have the expertise to provide power stations as well.

Even so, some of the details of the unit, the solar panel and the bag, feel a bit cheap. The power brick, while perfectly functional, could be a better one. Or the solar panel cells, while they work, seem a bit more fragile and the unit isn't waterproof. And that universal one-size-fits-all bag only really feels like a cohesive accessory for the EBL Portable Power Station 1000, even though EBL markets it for all their units. Also, quite important in the outdoor environment would be a dust cover for at least the DC output.

However, focusing on the EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 500W, at the price it does manage to offer more than other brands in terms of output ports. With two grounded AC ports, four USB connectors and three DC outputs, there is a lot you may connect. The feature that you are shown the individual power draw of these three output types is going to be quite useful as well. On top of that, EBL has designed the embedded light quite nicely to provide a wide area of illumination instead of a focused, flashlight like implementation we have seen on other devices. Lastly, another nice feature is the 10 W wireless charging port up top which could mean that you don't have to go and hunt for the cable in your tent when chilling in front of a camp fire at night. While the unit does require a little extra interaction with a separate power button vs. potentially being a little smarter to detect any of the port groups being turned on, that is a small sacrifice to make considering the cost of the unit.

Concluding, the EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 500W doesn't break the bank, is comfortable to carry, has a useful set of connectivity and features and as such can be a budget choice! The biggest drawback may just be the limited warranty of one year, whereas most brands offer 24 months or more.

This recommendation excludes the Solar Panel and bag. Yes, the panel delivers power as expected, but doesn't offer any USB ports, comes with frustrating Velcro elements and less of a protective layer on the solar cells. A quick web search revealed numerous options at a lower cost that check off most of those boxes. The bag could give you that extra time to get to safety in the unlikely event of a fire, but unless you are getting the EBL Portable Power Station 1000, it will be too big for your unit. As such you may be better off finding a generic bag that better fits the EBL Portable Power Station Voyager 500W.