Geneverse HomePower Two Pro review: Power to spare | digital trends

If Jackery is the Subaru of the world of portable power plants: rugged, capable and adventurous, Geneverse could be the Lexus: serious, reliable and luxurious. As the name implies, the HomePower line is intended less for off-grid campers to chill their craft beers, and more for families to make sure the milk doesn’t spoil the next time a storm hits.

Geneverse’s largest model, the HomePower Two Pro, packs a punch to promise “seven days of essential power.” While that number will obviously be different for each user, we found it to live up to its excellent promises of capacity and performance, and we’d be happy to have one stashed in the basement for the next big power outage.

Is that a Mac?

HomePower’s intended home habitat manifests itself in the clean, appliance-like design, almost reminiscent of the way Apple might design a power station. It has a minimalist, understated look that you probably wouldn’t mind leaving on your kitchen counter for a few days, unlike Jackery’s loud, open-air aesthetic or Anker’s alien look.

The flat top is a great place to rest your devices while you charge them, and the sturdy handles built into the sides won’t bend or creak—this thing is built like an anvil. We would appreciate wheels on our anvil though. At 61 pounds, the HomePower Pro Two is right on the limit of what many people will be able to comfortably (or safely) lift alone.

With a 2.4 kWh battery capacity, the HomePower Pro is the best in its class for a standalone power station of this size. The Anker 767 (2.0kW) and competing Jackery Solar Generator 2000 (2.2kWh) can’t touch it, and while the EcoFlow Delta Pro tops it at 3.6kWh, it’s also 99lbs, so it’s not really the same thing. . class. A 2200 watt output is on par with most units of this size and means the Geneverse will essentially power just about anything you can plug into a 20A household outlet.

Despite its impressive power, the HomePower Two Pro has few ports. We can excuse three AC outlets instead of the usual four – that’s easy to solve with a power strip – but the lack of a 12V car outlet is pretty unforgivable for a system of this size. RVers will also be disappointed by the lack of a 30A outlet, which the Anker 767 and Bluetti AC200MAX include. Neither port is strictly necessary for a home backup scenario, but it’s disappointing to see them omitted when cheaper models include them.

The heater is on

All those numbers mean nothing if the Geneverse can’t deliver when there’s no power, so to prove the Geneverse can deliver every bit of its claimed 2,200-watt output, we rounded up a rogue’s gallery of electricity hogs and left us we set to work plugging them in. When the HomePower Two Pro was unfazed by a 1,300-watt space heater running at full power, we tossed the caution aside and gave it a real torture test by also powering up a 1,500-watt heat gun.

Somehow, despite reading 2764 watts, nearly 600 more than it’s rated for, the Geneverse stayed strong for 30 seconds before shutting down. This isn’t a load you’d want to continuously expose the unit to, but it was impressive to see how long it would sweat over its limit.

To test its surge capability, we tried connecting the HomePower Two to a DeWalt 13-inch planer, a small pancake air compressor, and a DeWalt 12-inch miter saw that is known to trip the 20A circuit breakers in my garage at start up. While it handled the first two, the miter saw turned out to be too much – it caused an error and shut down the saw every time. Anker’s 767, by contrast, managed to handle it without a problem.

When it’s time to refuel, the Geneverse doesn’t mince words, punching around 1450 watts from the wall for full recharge times of less than two hours. That’s a hair lower than the 1500-watt rating, but it’s still impressive.

User interface and application

The Geneverse’s display is like almost every other powerhouse we’ve reviewed, which is a good thing. It’s a simple design (entrance on the left, exit on the right, carrying capacity on a central ring) that needs no reinvention.

Like most power stations in this price class, the Geneverse HomePower Two Pro comes with an iOS and Android app to control power when you’re not on the screen. You get the same information from the screen, plus some more advanced options that would be too difficult to program with buttons. For example, you can set timers to turn different circuits on and off at designated times, which could be useful for reducing standby power. You can also switch to a battery saving mode to extend battery life or monitor usage statistics.

The only notable omission is the ability to set a limit for charge wattage, which you’ll lose if you start blowing breakers with this monster’s 1450-watt charge rate. The next best thing is a “quiet mode”, which limits the input to around 530 watts and turns off the fans.

One maddening thing about the app: it connects via Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth. That means during a power outage where your router may go down, or when you’re camping, the app won’t connect. Competing apps from Anker and Bluetti use Bluetooth, which makes a lot more sense.

solar options

With two 8020 solar connectors (large DC barrel connectors) on the back, the HomePower Two Pro can handle up to 800W of combined solar input. That’s frankly more than you’ll probably be able to achieve with the accessories offered. Geneverse offers folding panels in flavors of 100 and 200 watts per panel. You’d need four of the latter to reach capacity—a $2,516 purchase.

That’s expensive even by stark standards for portable solar panels. A single 200-watt Geneverse panel costs $629, while Anker only charges $549 for their panel, and Bluetti charges $449. All three use monocrystalline cells and claim 23% efficiency, but competitors’ different connectors would prevent you from simply use a competitor panel with this power station unless you want to get adapters.

We’ll give Geneverse credit for staying ahead of the curve in its solar technology: It’s one of the few companies to offer bifacial solar panels, which can absorb light reflected from behind them, making them more efficient. Geneverse sent us a pair for evaluation, and we’ll provide an update on performance after further evaluation.

Power to spare, for a premium

If you need every drop of its best-in-class 2.4kWh capacity, the $2,499 Geneverse Homepower Pro Two is a capable and reliable home backup solution. You’re paying quite a premium to be at the top of capacity at this size, but the clean design and five-year warranty make it a little easier to swallow.

If you can live with just a fraction less capacity, there are other alternatives that offer more features for less money. The Jackery Explorer 2000 Pro brings a 12V DC outlet for $2,099, the Anker 767 brings a smarter design with wheels and a telescoping handle for $1,999, and both the EcoFlow Delta Max 2000 and Bluetti AC200MAX offer modular expandability for $1,599 and $1,699, respectively.

Editors’ Recommendations