EcoFlow River 3 series is the portable battery I’ve been waiting for to level up my portable power options at home and on the go. This power station goes far beyond your typical USB battery pack, with more capacity, power, and versatility—including regular AC outlets.
It’s built not just for charging phones and tablets, but for keeping essential devices powered, including small appliances and entertainment systems, running smoothly, even during an outage. With 245Wh of capacity, support for up to 600 watts via X-Boost, and a full range of outputs, the River 3 is equipped to handle a diverse set of power needs.
Add in its intuitive design, smart app with WiFi, easy-to-read display, and solar charging capability, and you’ve got a reliable power source for everyday use and emergency situations alike.
Use cases
The EcoFlow River 3 is a portable power station designed to provide reliable electricity for a wide range of devices and small appliances. It offers flexibility for various real-world needs—from camping and outdoor movie nights to home automation and acting as a UPS or backup during power outages.

While it can technically fit in a backpack, it’s more comparable in size to a large tissue box and weighs 7.7 pounds, making it manageable to carry with its built-in handle. With a 245Wh capacity and output ranging from 300 to 600 watts, the River 3 is versatile enough to meet most power demands.
Plus, the EcoFlow app provides control and insight into connected devices, allowing for useful automation options. The battery life will vary by use case, but it could power a laptop and monitor for almost a complete workday, or a WiFi router for up to 35 hours, or a TV entertainment center for a couple hours, or even a CPAP machine all night.
Features
The EcoFlow River 3 is equipped with a 245Wh battery, which offers a good balance of capacity and portability. It provides a continuous output of 300W with a surge capability up to 600W using EcoFlow’s X-Boost technology.
Built with a durable LiFePO4 battery, it can withstand up to 3,000 charge cycles before dropping to 80% of its original capacity, giving it a longer lifespan than many comparable power stations. It can switch from power to battery in under 20ms, offering uninterrupted power and making it a good UPS.
River 3 has six outputs for charging devices: 2 AC plugs, a 12v car outlet, 2 USB-A ports, and a USB-C PD port that supports fast charging up to 100 watts. The easy-to-read LCD screen displays the essentials: battery percentage, time remaining, power draw in watts, and charging speed.
There’s an accompanying EcoFlow app that enhances the experience by allowing you to monitor and control the unit over WiFi, offering features like charging limits, battery health checks, automations, and a mix of customizations.
River 3 isn’t just flexible with output options, it offers different options to get power in and charge its battery. While you unfortunately can’t charge this 245Wh battery with USB-C, you can charge it with a standard computer power cord or a car charger, both are included.

You can even charge it with solar up to 110W. It charges fast, too. It will go from 0-100% in 1 hour with AC power and will completely charge in under 3 hours with solar or a car charger.
The EcoFlow River 3’s battery pack is IP54-rated, meaning it has limited protection against dust ingress and is resistant to water splashes from any direction. However, this rating applies only to the battery pack itself—not the entire unit—so caution should be used to avoid exposing the control panel or ports to water.
My Experience
I initially wanted River 3 as a battery backup for my internet and router. This way if the power goes out, I’d still have WiFi without my internet even shutting temporarily. I quickly realized the handiness of having a battery that can power most anything.
If you’ve ever needed to power temporarily and don’t have an accessible outlet, River 3 helps. This is especially true outside, like for an outdoor movie night. You’ll have no issues powering TVs, projectors, speakers, or lights. You may even be able to power some power tools or their batteries.
The app is a breeze to set up, and I appreciated being able to monitor everything from my phone. I also appreciate that the app isn’t required. River 3 is beautifully plug & play and you don’t have to worry about pairing or registration. That said, it’s worth downloading the app, updating the software, and going through the personalizations to make River 3 work the way you want. The app also lets you see power draw by the port type. Unfortunately, you can’t see power draw from the individual ports, but you can separate USB-C from USB-A, for example. It’s been interesting to see how much power various USB-C devices consume, or any device for that matter.
River 3 excelled at powering my office and living room devices, but it struggles more in the kitchen and garage with power-hungry appliances like my blender, toaster, and instant pot. I was hoping it would be able to charge my plug-in hybrid electric car, but sadly it could not. It works nicely with power strips; you can easily use one to power up an office’s worth of devices. Using it as a UPS, I confirmed that the 20ms switchover was fast enough to keep my desktop PC running when I cut the power. The 100W USB-C port makes this the fastest USB-C charger we own, but a second or third USB-C port would have been nice too.
Solar charging was a big selling point for us. If you need to be off-the-grid, River 3 has to be one of the cheapest and easiest ways to store solar power. We were able to charge River 3 fully with our portable solar panels in just half an afternoon of sunlight.
There’s a built-in fan for charging and heavy loads, but it doesn’t get much louder than a laptop fan and didn’t bother us at all.
River 3 vs River 3 Plus

We had the opportunity to go hands-on with the beefier and more powerful River 3 Plus too. It outperforms River 3 in almost every category except the two that may matter most: price and portability. To that effect, River 3 Plus comes with more battery, more ports, more power output, more screen, and even a light. That said, we found the extra 2.5 pounds and larger footprint puts it over the edge for easy portable. River 3 weighs a pound less than a gallon of milk and takes a touch of care and muscle. The couple extra pounds on River 3 Plus requires you to be more thoughtful and strategic with how you clutch it and move it.
Ultimately, River 3 is something every house could benefit from having around in case of emergency, while River 3 Plus is better if you know exactly what you’ll be using it for. The portability and price of River 3 makes a big difference. That said, if you have more power-hungry devices, then the 600 to 1200W output can make all the difference. The River 3 Plus can also stack an additional battery for a total of 858Wh.
Bottom Line
EcoFlow River 3 is the perfect way for households to dip their toes into portable backup power. It provides safety and convenience in a small, intuitive package that’s well priced. As with any batteries, you want confidence in the brand name, which EcoFlow certainly offers.
The EcoFlow River 3 stands out as an affordable, compact, and versatile portable power station, offering 245Wh of capacity, X-Boost support up to 600W, and a range of output options, including AC outlets and a 100W USB-C port. While it excels in powering essential devices and small appliances for everyday use or emergencies, its limited USB-C ports and partial water resistance are minor drawbacks compared to its overall value and functionality at under $200.
The EcoFlow River 3 ranges in price from $169 to $239 on Amazon, this is great pricing, especially considering the built-in Wi-Fi and app that turns this into a smart battery and power solution. If a 245Wh battery with 300W-600W of output isn’t enough for you then the EcoFlow River 3 Plus is a great option.