Pecron has built a solid reputation as a budget-friendly power station brand, with products that often surprise us—in a good way.
In fact, we still think their E3600 Dual-Voltage Hub Bundle is one of the best deals out there right now. In fact, we’d probably say it's our most recommended way to get into serious portable power in 2025.
So naturally, when we saw they’d released the Pecron E300LFP, a compact unit with a really low price tag, we were hoping for the best. We figured that it would be an even more affordable alternative to the already budget-friendly EcoFlow River 3 and Anker SOLIX C300 units.
Unfortunately, things didn’t go as expected. After testing two separate E300 units here in The Lab, it’s safe to say this little guy didn’t live up to the hype. Let’s find out why.
Before we explain why we think this little guy was a miss, let’s cover the basics by taking a quick look at what it’s packing:
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Normally, we like to start off these reviews on a high note by discussing all of the things we liked about the piece of equipment we’re reviewing. Unfortunately, there was just way too many things we didn’t like with the Pecron E300 power station.
So, let’s get the ugly stuff out of the way first:
The biggest and most obvious dealbreaker with the Pecron E300 is the inverter performance.
During our testing, simply adding a second light to an already running load caused the inverter to dip and reboot. We’ve tested dozens of small units—even crappy, off-brand Amazon units—and we’ve never seen one behave this poorly.
This makes it unreliable for running basic loads, like laptop computers, routers, or anything else that you wouldn’t want to randomly shut down during an outage.
Next up: charging phones. The USB-A and USB-C ports struggled to charge newer iPhones, but managed older models fine.
Our iPhone 13 worked okay, but it refused to charge Tiny Baby’s brand-new iPhone 16 (this was with both of the units Pecron sent us, so it wasn’t just a faulty unit). Every other power station in The Lab, including the cheap, knock-off ones, charged the same phones without any issue.
That’s a red flag. When we reached out to Pecron about it, they said it must be an issue with the phone, or an odd setting—we’re not buying it.
The E300 uses 12W of power per hour just sitting with the inverter turned on. That’s what we call idle consumption, and 12W idling is actually not terrible in isolation, but with the E300 only having a 288Wh battery, that means it could fully drain in a little over one day without powering a thing.
Compare that to something like the Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus (which idles at 58W, but also has a battery with a 5,000Wh capacity) and it becomes clear this little unit is just not that efficient.
Why is Pecron still using different solar input ports on every model? This one uses an MC3 adapter, which meant we had to hunt around just to find a way to plug in one of the many different solar panels that we already own. Just switch to XT60 inputs like pretty much everyone else does. Please, Pecron—sort it out.
Despite the deal-breaking flaws, there are some things we really liked about the E300. If Pecron can fix the core performance issues in a future version, they’ve got a decent framework to build on.
It’s simple, but we love having a light built into a power station, especially on these smaller units. The light on the E300 is actually perfect. Rather than just a basic LED on the front of the unit, it’s side-mounted and designed to be used like a traditional flashlight.
Not only is it in a really convenient location, it can get really bright and includes an SOS mode. Hopefully, they equip more of their smaller units with this style of light.
Wireless charging is a smart use of space, especially on smaller units. Just drop your phone on top and go. It’s a nice addition, works well, and more companies should follow suit.
Despite its flaws, the unit feels really easy to use. The handle placement is good, the rubber feet protect it while also keeping it from sliding, and the ports are all on the front or one side.
There are no weird outlet layouts like we saw with the EcoFlow River 3 Plus, so that’s definitely another pro from the design perspective.
Finally—Pecron added a clip-on carrying case for your cables. Why don’t more brands do this? It’s a small but appreciated touch that makes mobile use easier and neater.
If you’re anything like us, keeping track of all of the cables you need is one of the most frustrating things about using power stations, so having them all in one place, and attached to the unit itself, is a game-changer.
If you’re in the market for a small, affordable power station, here are a few better options we’d recommend over the Pecron E300:
Even something like the OUPES Exodus 1200—another small unit that disappointed us in a few ways—still performed better than the E300 in key areas. That says a lot.
We wanted to love this little Pecron E300LFP unit. It’s light, affordable, has a perfect flashlight, a wireless charger, and it looks decent. But at the end of the day, if it can’t reliably run basic electronics or charge a phone, it’s not a power station we can feel comfortable recommending.
With that said, Pecron usually makes solid gear—like the Pecron E1000LFP or even the powerhouse E3600LFP. But the E300 feels rushed, underpowered, and poorly executed.
We’d love to see them go back to the drawing board and try again, because this category (small, affordable, and UPS-enabled units) is really practical for a lot of people.
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