EcoFlow RIVER 2 vs Jackery Explorer 300 Plus (2026): $60 and Two Hours Apart

These two are the units most people land on when they want a compact power station rather than something to lift with both hands. They’re closer than the marketing suggests — same 300 W inverter, same LiFePO4 chemistry, same 5-year warranty — and the things that separate them are unglamorous: an hour of charging and $60.

The short answer#

Buy the EcoFlow RIVER 2 unless you have a specific reason not to. It’s $60 cheaper, recharges in half the time, and gives you two AC outlets instead of one.

Buy the Jackery Explorer 300 Plus if you carry it. 288 Wh in 8.3 lbs is 35 watt-hours per pound — the best ratio in the class — and the extra 32 Wh is real. The two-hour recharge stops mattering if the unit charges overnight.

That’s the decision. The rest is the evidence.

Spec comparison#

Where they actually differ#

Recharge speed — the biggest gap#

60 minutes against 120. The RIVER 2 fills from empty in an hour; the Explorer 300 Plus takes two.

Whether that matters depends entirely on when you charge. Plugged in overnight, both are full by morning and the spec is irrelevant. Topping up from a vehicle outlet during a lunch stop, or from a campsite hookup for an hour before the power goes off, and the EcoFlow gives you a full battery where the Jackery gives you half.

This is the row to decide on, because it’s the only one where the gap is a factor of two.

Capacity — 32 Wh, and what it buys#

288 Wh against 256 Wh. The Jackery holds 12.5% more.

Translated into things you’d actually plug in, at 85% inverter efficiency:

	EcoFlow RIVER 2	Jackery Explorer 300 Plus
Usable output	218 Wh	245 Wh
Phone charges (15 Wh)	~14	~16
Laptop charges (60 Wh)	~3.6	~4.0
CPAP nights, no humidifier (100 Wh)	2.2	2.4

So the extra 32 Wh is roughly half a laptop charge, or a couple of extra phone top-ups. It’s a genuine difference and it is not worth $60 on its own — but combined with the weight advantage below, it’s the Jackery’s whole case.

Weight per watt-hour#

The RIVER 2 is lighter in absolute terms — 7.7 lbs against 8.3. But it also holds less, and the meaningful figure is the ratio:

Model	Capacity	Weight	Wh per lb
Jackery Explorer 300 Plus	288 Wh	8.3 lbs	35
EcoFlow RIVER 2	256 Wh	7.7 lbs	33

35 against 33. The Jackery carries more energy per pound than anything else in its class, which is exactly what you want from a unit that goes in a pack.

Outlets — one AC socket is a real constraint#

The RIVER 2 has two AC outlets; the Explorer 300 Plus has one.

On a 300 W inverter you’re never running two heavy things at once, so this isn’t about total draw. It’s about not having to unplug a laptop charger to plug in a camera battery. Over a weekend that’s a small, constant irritation.

The Jackery answers with more USB-C: two ports against the EcoFlow’s one, both capable of charging modern laptops directly. If most of your kit is USB-C, that partly cancels the outlet complaint.

Solar input#

110 W against 100 W — a 10% difference, which is close enough to call a tie. Both are low ceilings, and that is the real point.

Bought as solar generators — the bundle name for the same battery with panels in the box — neither unit accepts enough input to refill quickly. At the realistic 60–70% of a panel’s rating, a 100 W panel returns about 60–70 W, so the Jackery needs roughly four and a half hours of good sun to refill its 288 Wh. The RIVER 2’s slightly higher 110 W ceiling returns about 66–77 W and refills 256 Wh in about three and a half.

Pairing either with a larger panel wastes money: the charge controller simply caps at the ceiling. Buy a 100 W panel for either one.

Price per watt-hour#

Model	Capacity	MSRP	$/Wh
EcoFlow RIVER 2	256 Wh	$239	$0.93
Jackery Explorer 300 Plus	288 Wh	$299	$1.04

The EcoFlow is 11% cheaper per watt-hour, and $60 cheaper outright. In a class where the total spend is under $300, $60 is a fifth of the purchase.

Where they’re identical#

Inverter. 300 W continuous, 600 W surge, both. Neither runs a kettle, a microwave, a hair dryer, or reliably a 12 V fridge — the compressor’s startup surge is what trips them, not the running draw. If you need appliance loads, neither of these is the answer and you want a 600 W unit instead.

Chemistry and cycle life. LiFePO4 rated 3,000+ cycles on both. At weekly use that’s over a decade before the pack drops to 80% of its original capacity.

Warranty. Five years from both.

CPAP suitability. Both run a CPAP on DC without the humidifier for two nights and change. Switch the heated humidifier on and both are out — draw goes from 10–15 W to 60–90 W, which is 500–700 Wh a night against their ~250 Wh of usable output. The CPAP guide works through why that happens and what capacity actually covers it.

Should you widen the shortlist?#

If either of these is on it, two other units at the same size deserve a look — because both double the inverter.

The RIVER 2 and Explorer 300 Plus share a 300 W ceiling, and that ceiling is what rules out every appliance. Two units in the same capacity band don’t have it:

	EcoFlow RIVER 2	Jackery Explorer 300 Plus	EcoFlow RIVER 3 Plus	BLUETTI EB3A
Capacity	256 Wh	288 Wh	286 Wh	268 Wh
Continuous	300 W	300 W	600 W	600 W
Weight	7.7 lbs	8.3 lbs	10.4 lbs	10.1 lbs
Expandable	No	No	to 858 Wh	No
Warranty	5 yr	5 yr	5 yr	2 yr
MSRP	$239	$299	$299	$299

The RIVER 3 Plus is the one to know about. Same $299 as the Jackery, same capacity class, but a 600 W inverter and the only expansion path in the category. If there’s any chance you’ll want to plug in something with a motor or a heating element, it makes both units on this page look under-specified.

What it costs you is weight: 10.4 lbs against 7.7 and 8.3. The whole class is covered in best small portable power stations.

Which is better for a CPAP?#

Effectively a tie, and both are travel units rather than backup units.

A CPAP without humidification draws 10–15 W, or roughly 100 Wh a night. Against usable output:

	Usable	Nights, humidifier off	Nights, humidifier on
EcoFlow RIVER 2	218 Wh	2.2	0.4
Jackery Explorer 300 Plus	245 Wh	2.4	0.4

Two nights either way, and neither finishes a single night with a heated humidifier running — that needs 500–700 Wh, which is a 1 kWh-class unit.

The tiebreaker is the outlet count rather than the capacity. The Jackery’s single AC socket is taken by the CPAP for the whole night, so nothing else charges while you sleep. The RIVER 2’s second socket means it can. Full arithmetic in how many watts does a CPAP use.

Which should you buy?#

Choose the EcoFlow RIVER 2 when:

• Price is a factor, which at this budget it usually is
• You charge between uses rather than overnight
• You want two AC outlets
• The unit travels in a vehicle, where 0.6 lbs is meaningless

Choose the Jackery Explorer 300 Plus when:

• You carry it — a pack, a walk-in site, a hike to the campsite
• You want the most capacity available under 300 Wh
• Your devices are USB-C and you’ll use the second port
• Overnight charging is your normal pattern

Choose neither when: you need to run anything with a motor or a heating element. Both stop at 300 W. Step up to a 600 W unit, or work out your actual load first with the calculator — it’s the cheapest way to avoid buying twice.

A note on price#

Both figures above are MSRP, and this category discounts 30–40% during major sale events. A $60 gap is exactly the kind that a single weekend promotion erases or reverses.

If you’re not in a hurry: decide which one fits from the rules above, then wait for that model’s next sale.

Related#

• Best small portable power stations — the whole sub-300 Wh class, including the 600 W options
• Jackery vs EcoFlow — the brands compared across every capacity class
• Best for camping — where the weight verdict applies
• What size do I need?