The Piece of Kit That's Made It Easier for Me to Spend More Time Outside

We spent two months using the BLUETTI Elite 100 V2 everywhere from overnight van trips in the Wicklow Mountains to photography shoots and even a power cut at home. Here’s what we found.

*This article was produced in paid partnership with BLUETTI. As always, the experiences and opinions expressed are our own.

Even though we love the outdoors, we’re all guilty of putting barriers in the way of actually spending time outside.

We don't have enough time. We haven't planned anything. The weather doesn't look great. We need to charge our watch. Our phone is nearly dead. We need the laptop tomorrow. We haven't packed.

Sometimes, the difference between having an adventure and sitting at home is simply making the adventure as easy as possible.

Over the past couple of months, I've been experimenting with exactly that. The BLUETTI Elite 100 V2 has lived in the back of my car, and what I initially thought would predominantly be a piece of campervan kit has gradually become something I use for all sorts of things.

I've charged camera batteries on location for jobs, edited photos and videos from the van on my laptop, charged phones, made coffee in the mountains and, somewhat unexpectedly, used it to save the contents of our freezer during a power cut.

And I think that's what I've come to like most about having a portable power station.

It removes one more excuse not to go.

One Night in Wicklow

A recent Friday evening was probably the best example.

We finished work, packed the van and drove about half an hour into the Wicklow Mountains. There was no major plan and certainly no grand expedition. We just wanted to spend the night somewhere different.

Outdoor media can sometimes make adventure look like it needs to involve a meticulously planned trip to some far-flung location. But some of my favourite nights away have involved leaving home after work and being back again before lunchtime the following day.

This was one of those.

We parked up for the evening, plugged our lights into the Elite 100 V2 and made the van home for the night. I plugged in my laptop, which was flat after a day of working; we watched something before bed, charged our phones and kept the fridge running.

The next morning came the important test.

I brought our actual espresso machine from home.

There is obviously a point at which camping stops being camping, and bringing your home coffee machine into the Wicklow Mountains might be dangerously close to it. But I plugged it in, switched it on and made a proper coffee in the van.

Afterwards, we threw on our running gear, headed out into the Wicklow Mountains and eventually made our way towards Glendalough before grabbing a coffee and croissant on the drive home.

Despite powering the fridge, lights and laptop, charging our phones and running the coffee machine, we'd only used 20% of the battery.

So, what actually is the Elite 100 V2?

The BLUETTI Elite 100 V2 is essentially a very large rechargeable battery with enough output to do considerably more than charge your phone.

It has a 1,024Wh capacity and can deliver up to 1,800W of AC output, with nine outlets across AC, USB and DC connections. In practical terms, that means you're dealing with enough power to run many of the things you'd ordinarily plug into the wall at home rather than simply topping up small electronics.

BLUETTI estimates that a smartphone can be charged around 52 times from it. It can also power a fridge for an estimated 14.3 hours, although obviously real-world results will depend on the appliance and conditions.

In summary:

A laptop? No problem.

Camera batteries? Easy.

Fridge? Yep.

Coffee machine? Surprisingly, yes.

I've even run a bread maker from it!

Not Just for Camping

This has probably been the biggest surprise after two months.

I wanted a portable power station because I spend a lot of time outdoors and had seen them used in campervans and road-trip setups. But camping is now only one of the reasons I keep it in the car.

As a photographer and videographer, running out of power on location is a massive pain. Cameras, lights, phones, watches, and laptops all eventually need charging. Having a 1,024Wh battery sitting in the car means that, realistically, I don't have to worry about it anymore.

It's also changed how easily I can work remotely.

Rather than finding a café because my laptop is running low, I can work from the van, plug the laptop into the BLUETTI and continue editing. Depending on what I'm doing, there's enough capacity there for several days of laptop work before I need to find a mains socket.

That opens up some interesting possibilities for combining work with being outside.

Drive somewhere. Go for a run. Work from the van for a few hours. Move somewhere else.

It is a relatively small change, but it gives you considerably more flexibility over where you spend your day.

Then the Power Went Out

One of the most useful tests wasn't planned at all.

We had a power cut at home.

The first concern was the freezer, so I brought the BLUETTI inside and plugged it in. This highlighted something I hadn't really considered when looking at portable power stations primarily as outdoor equipment.

If you live somewhere rural, or anywhere prone to outages, this suddenly has another job for the other 300-odd days of the year when you aren't camping.

Charging It Is Surprisingly Quick

Something this big would be considerably less useful if you had to remember to charge it the day before every trip.

You don't.

From a mains supply, the Elite 100 V2 can reach 80% in around 45 minutes and 100% in approximately 70 minutes.

It also supports up to 1,000W DC input and can be charged using compatible solar panels, which becomes considerably more interesting for longer trips where access to mains electricity isn't guaranteed.

There Was a Learning Curve

It hasn't been completely plug-and-play.

When I first started using the Elite 100 V2, I had an issue getting it to accept AC charging properly. After some back-and-forth with BLUETTI's support team, they suggested enabling Grid Self-Adaptation Mode through the BLUETTI app.

That fixed the issue immediately, and I haven't had a problem since.

BLUETTI explained that the setting allows the unit to better accommodate variations in grid voltage or frequency.

It also reinforced something worth knowing before buying one of these: this isn't simply an oversized version of the little power bank you use to charge your phone.

Is It Actually Portable?

Technically, yes. But let's put "portable" into context. It is 11.5kg.

This is not something you're throwing into your hiking pack and carrying into the mountains.

For me, this is vehicle-based equipment.

It lives in the car. I carry it into the van, campsite, house, or wherever I'm working, and in that context the size-to-capacity ratio makes sense.

Do You Actually Need One?

At the time of writing, the Elite 100 V2 is available for around €549 on promotion. That's a significant amount of money to spend on a battery.

If your version of getting outside involves switching your phone off, putting it in your backpack and disappearing for the weekend, this is probably overkill.

If you're organised enough to charge everything before leaving, carry a couple of small power banks and rarely need electricity beyond your phone or watch, you probably don't need one either.

But increasingly, that's not how a lot of us experience the outdoors.

My phone is my navigation device, camera, communication tool and Google Maps when I'm driving. For work, I'm regularly carrying cameras, batteries and a laptop. In the van, I want to run lights and a fridge. Occasionally, I want an espresso machine!

If you're into van life, weekend camping, festivals, photography, road trips or remote working, or you live somewhere where power cuts aren't unusual, the proposition starts to look very different.

The battery itself is rated for more than 4,000 charge cycles before dropping to 80% of its original capacity, so it's designed as a longer-term piece of equipment rather than an oversized disposable power bank.

Removing the Barriers

I think we sometimes make adventure harder than it needs to be.

There's absolutely a place for carrying everything you need on your back, switching your phone off and properly getting away from it all.

But there is also something to be said for simply spending more time outside.

If having a fridge, some lights, a charged laptop and a good cup of coffee makes you more likely to leave the house on Friday evening and spend the night in the mountains, I'm all for it.

That's ultimately what I've taken away from two months with the Elite 100 V2.

I charge it at home, put it in the car and essentially stop thinking about battery life. I know I can work. I can charge my cameras. I can keep food cold. I can make the van comfortable for a night. And if the power goes out when I get home, I have a backup there too.

The best thing about having it with me isn't really the electricity.

It's the flexibility.

The BLUETTI Elite 100 V2 was provided to Outsider as part of a paid collaboration with BLUETTI. This review is based on approximately two months of real-world use.

Find out more about the BLUETTI Elite 100 V2