When it comes to power stations for whole home backup power, two names always seem to come up — the Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus and the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra. These are two of the biggest plug-and-play power stations on the market, and both are capable of running large appliances, power tools, and even huge parts of your house during a power outage.
We’ve spent plenty of time testing both units in real-world situations. From powering compressors and refrigerators to running our full garage workshop, we’ve pushed these units as hard as we could. Both are incredibly capable, but depending on your setup, one of these so-called whole-home power stations might be the better buy.
Just like our other This or That comparisons, we’ll be breaking down their designs and features, key specifications, and how they performed in our real-world tests. We’ll do this category-by-category to see which one truly is the best portable home backup solution for the money.
Before jumping into performance and testing, let’s take a quick look at the side-by-side specs for these two big boys:
If you want to learn more about these two powerful units, you can read the full reviews we did about them:
➡️ Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus Power Station Review
➡️ EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra Power Station Review
Now that we’ve covered the basics, it’s worth pointing out that these are two high-quality power stations that we think would both do the trick for most home backup power needs. But for the purposes of this comparison, there can only be a winner, so let’s jump into it with our first round:
When you’re shopping for high-capacity power stations, battery size is often the first number that’s going to catch your eye.
The EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra starts with a massive 6,144Wh battery, which is more than enough to keep a standard refrigerator running for over two days straight. We’ll discuss scalability later, but the DELTA Ultra was pretty much designed to be expanded, so that 6,144 watt-hour battery capacity is just the starting point.
On the other hand, the Anker F3800 Plus, while powerful, comes in with a smaller 3,840Wh battery capacity. That’s nothing to sneeze at, and still comfortably classes this unit as a high-capacity power station, but we’re talking a difference of about 2,300Wh.
Over 2kWh is a big deal, especially if you’re planning for long-term off-grid power or emergency backup. It’s an easy point for this scalable EcoFlow power station.
In terms of raw output, both of these units are in a completely different league than your average portable power station.
The Anker F3800 Plus delivers 6,000W of continuous output, while the DELTA Pro Ultra pushes it even further to 7,200W. That extra 1,200W can make a difference if you’re running high-demand devices, like air conditioners, dryers, power tools, or multiple loads at the same time.
The fact a 6,000W inverter doesn’t win this round just goes to show how powerful these portable power stations really are. Point to EcoFlow.
Now, this is where things get interesting. Despite having a smaller inverter, the Anker F3800 Plus actually performed better in our surge testing. Even the original Anker F3800 that the "Plus-version" was built on crushed it when we tested it: Putting the Anker F3800 to the Test
In our high-load tests, the newer Anker F3800 Plus did even better. It handled the most demanding equipment we could throw at it, including a car lift and air compressor. It did all of this without tripping or overheating, even when operating near and past its maximum continuous output rating.
The DELTA Pro Ultra struggled a little more during those extreme spikes, which honestly surprised us. Don’t get us wrong, it’s still an incredibly powerful unit, but you can check out how it performed during these tests if you want to see for yourself: What Can the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra Handle?
So, while EcoFlow takes the continuous output power round, the F3800 Plus deserves it's own point when real-world surging is taken into consideration.
The Anker F3800 Plus can accept a solid 3,200W solar input, which is a big improvement over the previous generation of the F3800 platform, which could only solar charge at 2,400W (it's worth pointing out that the original F3800 power station is still a good option if you're on a budget).
However, the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra dominates this category with an enormous 5,600W solar input. It even gives you two connection modes for high or low voltage solar panel setups.
Even when you adjust for each unit’s battery size and consider how long it would take for each of them to fully charge with solar power, the EcoFlow DELTA Ultra still takes it.
Both units can pull 1,800W from a standard wall outlet, and both can be charged via 240V adapters for rapid charging through a 240V house plug or gas generator.
At first glance, it seems like this round should be a tie; however, the Anker F3800 Plus requires expansion batteries to reach its full 6,000W AC input potential, while the DELTA Pro Ultra can hit 6,000W with just the single battery and the main inverter unit.
That gives EcoFlow another edge in both convenience and fast charging.
When it comes to noise, EcoFlow wins this round without question.
The DELTA Pro Ultra is the quietest large power station we’ve ever tested. It was even silent when running at 6,000W. In fact, the only power station we’ve ever seen come anywhere close for quietness was the DJI Power 1000, which is a significantly smaller and less powerful unit.
The DELTA Pro Ultra’s cooling system relies heavily on passive heat sinks, which means the fans rarely need to kick in. But even when the fans are needed, you can barely hear them.
Now, the Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus isn’t a particularly loud unit, especially for its size, but it’s more noticeable than the DELTA Ultra. If you’re planning on keeping your power station inside your home or garage, you’ll barely notice the EcoFlow Ultra is on. For a massively powerful unit with a huge battery, that noise-free operation is incredibly impressive.
Both of these units are packed with output and input ports, but there are some key differences.
The Anker F3800 Plus includes six 120V outlets, two USB-As, two USB-Cs, and a 12V car socket. It also has a 30A plug, but it only delivers around 25A, so it’s not a true 30-amp plug.
On the other hand, the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra, offers four 120V outlets, two USB-As, two USB-Cs, as well as a true 30A outlet, which is ideal for RVs and higher current applications.
The extra two 120V plugs and the 12V car port on the F3800 Plus are really handy features to have, but we think the EcoFlow’s true 30A output gives it the upper hand for heavy-duty users.
Again, even though Anker includes more standard outlets, these are power stations aimed at whole-home backup power, so the 30A plug should be able to deliver a full 30-amps. It’s an important enough feature to earn the DELTA Pro Ultra the point.
When you’re using a power station as a home backup power system, the UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) feature is going to be a big deal.
The Anker F3800 Plus takes the lead on this front. Out of its six AC 120V outlets, three remain active when the UPS kicks in, compared to only two on the EcoFlow DELTA Ultra.
For anyone relying on this as an automatic emergency power source for key devices, that’s a huge advantage. Anker SOLIX wins a point!
We think the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra has a more refined, home-friendly look. It’s sleek and minimalist, with a really modern-looking stackable design. Meanwhile, the Anker F3800 Plus goes for a bulkier, industrial design. So, in terms of pure looks, we’d probably give it to EcoFlow.
However, when it comes to actually moving these units around, the Anker power station wins big. It features large rear wheels, an extendable suitcase-style handle, durable caster wheels, and fold-away team-lift handles for two-person carrying.
Where the F3800 Plus design makes it fairly easy for a single person to transport the unit, the DELTA Pro Ultra has to be disassembled before you move it. The inverter and detachable battery must be carried separately, and they’re really heavy, so you'll probably need two people.
The DELTA Ultra also sits really low to the ground and has a wide body, while the F3800 Plus has a vertical layout, which means it almost stands like a large speaker. You can easily just drag it behind you using the extendable handle, instead of having to bend down and push it, like you have to do with the DELTA Ultra.
If portability matters to you, this one’s easy.
If you’re planning to scale your power system into something massive, both brands offer serious expandability.
The Anker F3800 Plus scales up to 53.8kWh, which is already crazy, but the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra can go all the way up to 90kWh.
Even though few users will ever hit those numbers, the potential is incredibly impressive, so EcoFlow wins this round for future-proofing. If you’re aiming for whole home backup, or want to use a power station for building out a large-scale solar power system you can take with you if you move, it’s a no-brainer.
We’ve mystery-shopped both brands multiple times, and the results are consistent: Anker’s customer support is significantly better than EcoFlow’s. In fact, we’d probably say Anker SOLIX has the best customer support of any power station company right now. Check it out for yourself: A Review of Anker’s Customer Support
EcoFlow makes incredible hardware, but their after-sale support has been hit-or-miss. Given they’re one of the biggest power station brands in the entire world, it’s actually pretty disappointing how mediocre their support is. Anker, on the other hand, is responsive and quick to help.
At the time of testing, the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra sells for about $4,699, while the Anker F3800 Plus is $2,799. That’s a major difference, but here’s where things get really interesting.
When you add Anker’s expansion battery, your total battery capacity jumps to 7,680Wh, which is more than the capacity for a non-expanded DELTA Pro Ultra. For the F3800 Plus and an expansion battery, the total price also comes to about $4,499 (about $200 cheaper).
That also means the Anker delivers a lower price per watt-hour (about $0.59) compared to EcoFlow’s (around $0.76). Adding an expansion battery also boosts the F3800 Plus’s AC charging speed to 4,500W, which is another nice bonus when you're expanding it.
So, for anyone considering one of these two units for full-home backup, the F3800 Plus with its expansion battery is the smarter bang-for-your-buck buy.
Both of these high-capacity power stations are absolute monsters in their own right. The EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra edges ahead overall thanks to its larger inverter, quieter operation, and higher solar input.
But the Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s more portable and offers better surge performance. It also has a cheaper up-front price, and it delivers outstanding value when paired with the expansion battery.
If you’re building a home backup power system and want maximum expandability and the quietest operation available, go with EcoFlow. If you want a more affordable, portable powerhouse with incredible functionality, the Anker F3800 Plus is your best bet.
Either way, you’re getting one of the most advanced plug-and-play solar power stations on the market today. Both of these powerful solar generators are excellent solutions for emergency power, off-grid living, and reliable home backup energy, so you can’t really go wrong.
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