Anker SOLIX C2000 Review: Is This 50% Off Power Station Worth It?

Anker sent us the SOLIX C2000 Gen 2 power station and PS400 solar panel last fall, and we’ve had a good chance to put both through their paces across a couple of different situations, with the help of friends and family.

We actually got to test the C2000 before summer even arrived. During a couple of power outages late in the winter, it kept our fridge running for a day or two without breaking a sweat. It’s got plenty of ports and plugs to keep all your devices topped up (USB-C x 3; USB-A x 1), and the fact that it’s portable makes it way more practical than it sounds for something packing this much capacity. Gas or diesel generators are a thing of the past nowadays.

Here’s how the C2000 (on the bottom) compares to the smaller C1000 sitting on top:

At 41.7 lbs, it’s about 25% lighter than comparable 2kWh units on the market, and its compact footprint means it doesn’t take over your entire trunk or garage corner.

The C2000 puts out 2,400W of rated power with a 4,000W peak, which means it can handle most window and RV air conditioners alongside your other devices without flinching. Charging it back up is where the C2000 is impressive. Plug it into AC power and you’re looking at 80% in 45 minutes and a full charge in under an hour, which is nice and fast.

If you’re on the road, the alternator charging option gets you to 100% in about three hours, which is eight times faster than a standard car socket, according to Anker. There are six ways to recharge in total, including solar, so you’re rarely stuck without options.

Now that camping season is basically here, one of our friends had a chance to pair it with the PS400 solar panel, and it delivers. One panel was enough to fully recharge the C2000 in a single day, which exceeded their expectations. The PS400 pulls that off thanks to its monocrystalline cells and 23% conversion efficiency, which is meaningfully better than the 15% you get from a lot of panels in this price range. It’s also IP67 waterproof, so a rainy camping weekend isn’t a problem. The panel is hefty and feels real durable.

The panel itself is big, no getting around that. The adjustable kickstand (they can be a bit flimsy as they are just snapped in place, making for compact legs) gives you four angle options, 30, 40, 50, and 80 degrees, so you can chase the sun through the day and maximize output regardless of the season. Just make sure you’ve got the space for it at your campsite.

The C2000 runs on LFP battery chemistry, rated for 4,000 cycles to 80% capacity, which translates to roughly a decade of regular use. Idle power draw sits at just 9W, which helps stretch runtime further. If you ever need more capacity, you can expand up to 4kWh by adding a single expansion battery, enough to run a dual-door fridge for up to 64 hours.

A few minor gripes worth mentioning: there’s no built-in LED light (which is super useful at night), which is a small but noticeable omission for camping use, and the output ports are exposed rather than covered, so you’ll want to be thoughtful about where you set it up in wet or dusty conditions. We wish there was a built in wireless charging spot at the top for smartphones. But sometimes you can’t have it all.

Right now the Anker SOLIX C2000 is on sale for $999 CAD, at 50% off its regular price (it launched for $1,999 last fall), and the PS400 panel is also $999 CAD on Amazon.ca. We’ll be lending both out to friends and family all summer, as everyone keeps asking to try it. If you’re camping regularly or living off-grid, this combo is hard to beat, if it’s within your budget. But the free power you’ll get from the sun will eventually help lower and pay for the cost over time.