Our first time camping at the festival Chris had the foresight to make sure that I was comfortable in the hopes that I would enjoy the experience and want to do it again (that definitely worked out). One of our purchases to ensure my comfort was an air mattress. We borrowed our son’s power station to inflate it.
When we started our monthly excursions we borrowed the power supply again. When we packed up from our trip in November, we had a problem with starting the car. In attempting to get it to start, we killed the battery. Here we were all alone in an empty campground with a dead battery. We pulled out the power station, jumped the battery with it and were soon on our way. We decided to get our own power station.
We found the Black & Decker Portable Power Station for a great price on eBay. It is small, measuring 15.2 by 13 inches and 6 inches high, so fits in the truck without taking up a lot of space. It fits nicely under our small bedside table so we can charge our phones and speaker in the tent. It weighs about 20 pounds so I don’t know that I would want to carry it far, but it works perfectly for our style of camping. The unit features two AC ports, a DC port, and a USB port. It also has clamps to jump-start a car battery and an air compressor as well as a storage area. It uses a regular extension cord for charging (not included).
On our trip in August we plugged in the air mattress as usual, but this time the power station made a noise and the inverter stopped working. We could not turn it off and ended up turning on the air compressor just to kill the battery. We called the 800 number for information for replacement under the warranty. With Imagine Festival only a few weeks away we purchased a new one through Amazon to make sure we had it in time.
Unfortunately, when I attempted to inflate the air mattress the inverter on the new power station failed. Luckily, my son and his friend also had power stations with them so it worked out. I e-mailed Amazon and had a new power station waiting for us when we returned home (which worked just fine on last month’s trip).
The power stations do not last forever on a single charge. We arrived at the festival on Thursday, inflated two air mattresses, a sectional sofa and a lounge chair with an ottoman. We also charged phones and fans. The power ran out Saturday afternoon. Obviously, that will vary depending on how much you are using it. The owner’s manual explains how to charge the unit from a car battery (we have not used it that way) so it could probably be used successfully for a longer trip.
I am going to chalk our issues with the unit up to being a fluke as both issues were easily resolved and otherwise the power station has been wonderful. I will keep you updated with how it does in the future.
Cost on Amazon as of this writing $99.
Update 8/26/19: Since the writing of the original post we have managed to kill both of our power stations inflating the air mattress. We are getting a replacement for the one that is still under warranty but will make sure not to use it for inflation purposes.
Update 4/3/21: While the power station works well for inflating the tires and jump-starting the truck battery, the inverter does not work to effectively charge anything. We now use an EcoFlow power station instead.
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