A few weeks ago, I headed up North to an area around Timmins, Ontario to spend a few days in the woods with my Dad and some other friends and family.

Usually, we run power to our small camp and a single trailer from a gas generator, so I was interested to see how much the F3000 could replace that. While it worked great, it was beaten out by two elements. First off, I couldn’t recharge it without using the generator, and secondly, it was pouring rain, and this isn’t rated to get that wet.

That said, when we did use it, it was fantastic, delivering uninterrupted power for around nine and a half hours, which was impressive. However, considering the battery weighs 100 pounds and is tricky to transport, I would have loved it to last a little longer. Our camp has five lights and two regular outlets that people use to charge phones. Perhaps we could replace some of the bulbs with more efficient LEDs, but as it stands, the camp draws around 200-250 watts to run all that equipment. Had we used the battery to run the power tools on the day we fixed the roof, it would have drained even quicker.

This simply means that you need to be mindful of your energy consumption when using this battery. For instance, it can run a fridge for around 48 hours if it’s only doing a fridge. Ideally, this unit, with its large size, is probably better suited for being used around your home or on weekend camping trips in a trailer. If you used minimal lighting and just ran a small trailer fridge, it would be perfect. However, being in a trailer is key here, so ideally, you can just leave the battery in one place the whole time.

While we were camping, my brother-in-law Riley got a call on the second day that the power had gone out at his house at about 8pm, and only my sister and their 11-month-old daughter were home. So while he did his best to teach her how to use their backup generator, you could hear Moira’s frustration over the phone. After the call, Riley was all of a sudden a lot more jealous of my giant battery. If it were at his house, it would have been super easy for my sister to plug in a few things stress-free to get enough power to run the essentials for a day or two.

If you do plan to use the battery as an emergency backup, you can use it as an uninterrupted power supply to keep it topped up all the time. If you want to store it, Anker recommends running the battery through a complete cycle every three months to maintain its health. You can also hook it into existing solar systems. I have an uncle with a small solar system at his fishing camp in Quebec, and he only stores 2,000 watt-hours of energy in his batteries since the panels recharge them each day. Something like this would have been a great option when he was building out his system, especially because, in a pinch, you can move it around.

I guess I should address the size directly now. It’s enormous and has large wheels on the back, similar to those on a cooler, allowing you to roll it around. However, at 100 pounds, it’s not easy to carry. My fiancé was unable to lift it, and I even struggled to carry it because of its unwieldy size. It can be done, but even loading it and unloading it into a car is a pain in the ass. If you’re looking for a portable large battery, consider something with 1,000-2,000 watt-hours, such as the DJI battery I recently tested, or a smaller Anker option.

However, if you need more ports, the F3000 has it all. There are four 120-volt outlets, a single 240-volt plug for camper hookups, and four USB ports. Two of these are USB-C, and the other two are normal USB-A. There is also a 12-volt car socket and a DC port. To recharge, there are also a few options. You can use solar panels, regular 120-volt home outlets, your car charger, or even an EV charger to quickly top up on the road. That said, I just charged at home and I was able to power up the large battery in around two hours.

Overall, this is a really heavy-duty battery, but I would have loved to have had some way to actually make it waterproof, so it could withstand rain if it needed to be outside. At this price ($3,899) and weight, I think that would be really helpful. That said, it didn’t let me down, and it comes with all the bells and whistles most people will need from a battery of this calibre.