If you have the money for an EcoFlow Delta 2, you should probably own one. The battery capacity is massive, it's almost entirely idiot-proof (unless you drop it), and there are more ports than you will ever need. Plus, it'll charge (pretty quickly, all things considered) via solar, in case the Eskom poo really does hit the windmill.
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Price
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Ease of use
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Battery
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Practicality
As this review is being written, South Africa is sliding deeper and deeper into the depression that’s known as load shedding. Products like the EcoFlow Delta 2 — that is, high-capacity battery backups — are increasingly becoming essential purchases rather than just nice-to-haves.
The tricky bit about choosing what backup option to choose is navigating the capacity/price graph. Is it worth spending R5,000 on a battery backup? Can you get away with less than a thousand Rand? Or should you drop a mighty R25,000, the RRP of the Delta 2, in order to keep some of your electronics running? Actually, if you can afford one of these weighty blocks, you should own one. Winter is coming.
Solid as a brick
The EcoFlow Delta 2 comes in a compact, neatly-packed box along with every cable and connection you could possibly need. It doesn’t ship with the solar panels you can connect to the unit in order to top it up but that’s about all you don’t get.
The battery itself is as easy to set up as any tech we’ve ever seen. Extract from the box, press the power button, activate the bank you’d like to access and… that’s it. There’s no app required (but it’s an option), there’s no WiFi connection, and you don’t even have to charge it for the first use (though you probably should).
There are two carry handles that make handling its twelve-kilogram weight a breeze, though you still don’t want to drop the sturdy plastic casing on your toes. Not only is it potentially disastrous for the lithium iron phosphate battery inside the Delta 2, but the small bones in your feet won’t appreciate it either.
Any port in a blackout?
We’re not here for the aesthetics (which are staid but reassuring) or the ports (which are numerous)… Actually, we’re definitely here for the ports. Four USB-A slots live on the front end, above the power button. Dual USB-C PowerDelivery ports surround the on/off for that bank of ports. Turning the EcoFlow Delta 2 on or off requires a long-press on the sedate little beige circle.
Around the other end, there’s an on/off for the mains plugs. Two Type D (three-prong) and two Type C (two-prong) outlets are available, and there’s a secondary 12-volt output in case you want to power some camping equipment during the blackout. All told, you can directly run thirteen different devices at once, assuming you have enough of the different types to fill up every power. And the Delta 2 has the capacity to keep almost everything running for quite some time.
Alright, pardner… draw!
That’s not an exaggeration. The EcoFlow Delta 2’s battery is a massive 1,024Wh number that accounts for its twelve-kilo weight. The company reckons it’ll run a washing machine for a few hours and we believe the claim. Users can draw up to 1,800 watts of power from this battery at once, with startup draw supporting up to 2,700 watts. Technically, you can boil a kettle using this thing (try that using a basic solar system — actually, don’t) but it’s an awful waste of that capacity when you could power… everything else instead.
A power draw that could crush lesser batteries in less than an hour is handled for ages by EcoFlow’s monster power bank. And it does so largely silently. The only way you’ll know it’s working is that whatever is connected is still operating. Even the LCD readout shuts down after a short time so it just kinda… sits there, magically emitting electricity.
And, once it’s depleted, it’ll get back up to speed in minutes. It’ll top up in a little over an hour (the company claims 80% in 50 minutes, which is about right). What with Stage 6 roaming the land, re-upping your backup in a hurry is now an essential feature. It’s present here. About the only thing we couldn’t experience is its long-term performance. EcoFlow says that it’ll handle 3,000 charges (to 80%) in its lifetime. We’ll have to take their word for it.
EcoFlow Delta 2 verdict
The greatest obstacle to owning the EcoFlow Delta 2 is the price tag. R25,000 is a substantial chunk of a home solar installation. It’s also the cost of two decent generators (plus enough petrol to keep them going for a while). But it’s packing a massive capacity, it’s almost soundless (unless it’s charging), and it’s unobtrusive enough that you’ll barely know that it’s there. There’s just a lovely stream of electrons making your TV and Xbox go while the rest of the suburb is sitting in the dark wondering if the power’s ever coming back. Is it worth 25 grand? That’s up to you and your bank account. But not sitting in the dark for hours at a time certainly has a value attached to it.