Forbes Review: EcoFlow DELTA mini Portable Power Station

The kickoff of the Atlantic hurricane season is a stark reminder that power is not something we can take for granted. Anything from a storm to construction can knock out power to your home for hours or even days.

Having access to a reliable source of power can make life a lot less miserable during those times. The EcoFlow DELTA mini portable power station isn’t the sort of backup that is going to keep your refrigerator going for days without power, but it’s also relatively affordable and portable.

At $999 and with 882Wh of battery power on tap in a 24lb package, it’s insurance. If the lights go out, you’ll have the power you need to keep them on, charge your devices, and even run small appliances — but it won’t break the bank or take up a ton of space.

For those who require medical equipment like CPAP machines, a portable power station like the DELTA mini can even be a power outage life-saver.

The EcoFlow DELTA mini.

Setup

I tested a RIVER portable power station from EcoFlow in 2017 so I had an idea of what to expect. Battery technology has advanced considerably since then, but the DELTA mini has a distinct family resemblance, including a two-tone gray and black paint job, nicely integrated handles, a bright and useful LCD display, and plenty of output ports. It looks rugged and well-designed, including multiple air vents (with fans) visible behind grills.

One end houses the LCD display and USB ports. AC outlets are on the opposite end.

The DELTA mini is equipped with five AC outlets, four USB Type-A ports (two of those support fast-charging), USB-C, a 12V “car” port, and a pair of DC5521 ports. The top is covered with a matte gray pad that looks as though it might conceal a Qi wireless charge pad, but that is not the case. Still, that surface is useful for setting devices being charged safely out of the way.

You can plug the DELTA mini into an AC outlet for charging immediately (or into your car or solar panels for that matter) and use it standalone. Its built-in LCD display shows key information including percentage of battery charge remaining. However, if you connect to Wi-Fi and download the EcoFlow app (free account required), you get access to a lot more information and remote control capability.

You can even plug in a device like a TV while the DELTA mini remains plugged into a power outlet. The TV will be powered by passthrough power via the wall outlet, and if there is an outage, the DELTA mini will automatically kick in. This is almost like a UPS, but EcoFlow describes it more as an EPS (Emergency Power System) — rather than the 0ms switching of a UPS, the DELTA mini switches to providing power within 30ms. It would likely be fine with a home PC as well, but it’s not server-grade protection.

If you’re not a fan of apps and don’t care about UPS, for all intents and purposes its basic functionality is plug and play.

High Output

One of the big limitations of earlier generation portable power stations was their ceiling on maximum output. You could run equipment like fans without a problem, but high wattage devices like heaters or coffee makers were a no-no.

The DELTA Mini can pump out up to 1400W, so you can run those high draw devices, at least for a short time. It also has an X-Boost mode that can automatically kick that output up to 1800W without tripping the overload protection when used with devices like heaters.

X-Stream Fast Charging

The higher the capacity of a battery, the longer it tends to take to charge. The DELTA Mini is equipped with an 882Wh battery and that can take six or seven hours to charge with an AC outlet.

However, EcoFlow has incorporated X-Stream fast-charging, which you can activate using the app or a physical switch on the power station. Doing so cuts that charge time down to about 1.5 hours. There is a caveat, though. The high power draw of X-Stream (up to 900W) kept tripping the fuse on the power bar in my office. It also caused the power generator’s cooling fans to kick into action. On slow charge it was fine and also charged silently.

When plugged directly into an outlet on my deck, X-Stream worked as advertised albeit with occasional fan noise.

EcoFlow DELTA mini Key Specs:

882Wh NCM Li-ion battery with BMS system
Life cycle of 800 charges to 80% capacity
EcoFlow mobile app offers remote access and control
5 X AC outlets (1400W total with 2100W surge), pure sine wave
2 x USB Type-A 12W
2 x USB Type fast charge 18W
USB-C 100W
12V car charger output 126W
2 x DC5521 output
Integrated LCD display
Integrated AC charge speed switch
Wi-Fi connectivity
Built-in ventilation fans
Recharges via AC outlet (supports X-Stream fast charge), optional solar, or 12V car outlet
14.9 x 7.2 x 9.4-inches, weighs 23.6 lb
Includes AC charging cable, car charging cable, DC 5521 to DC 5525 cable
MSRP $999

What Can The EcoFlow DELTA mini Power or Charge?

The DELTA mini may be portable, but it is equipped to take on a wide range of charging and power needs. With the wide array of outputs and 1400W output, it can charge up to 12 devices simultaneously.

I didn’t go to that extreme in testing, but this portable performed well. It was able to run the 14-inch tabletop fan in my office for 11 hours. I charged my iPad Air from zero to 100% and that used 6% of the DELTA mini’s capacity — it should be able to fully charge that iPad about 16 or 17 times.

EcoFlow says the power station should keep a 40W CPAP machine going for about 13 hours. If you take it out to the yard or bush where electrical outlets may not be available, it can power a 1400W circular saw for 30 minutes.

Recommendation

Because it runs off a battery, the EcoFlow DELTA mini is completely safe to use indoors. Because it’s so portable, it can do double-duty for activities like camping or providing power in remote areas. It could even be used as a UPS. You can recharge it using optional solar panels for complete freedom from the grid. In short, this is a portable power station that serves as insurance and peace of mind from power disruption that doesn’t require a big investment in money or space.

Especially if you manage to pick one up the the $699 sale price EcoFlow was offering at time of publication.

If you’re looking for something more robust, a higher capacity power station that can keep your refrigerator or other household appliances running, stay tuned. I have a review of the full-sized EcoFlow Delta power station (as well as the company’s portable solar panels) coming shortly.

Disclosure: EcoFlow provided a DELTA mini for evaluation purposes but had no input into this review.