BigBlue CP500 portable power station first look: Compact, powerful and versatile, too

I liked the BigBlue CP500 portable power station as soon as I took it out of the box. It has a handy retractable lifting handle on the top, and the sides are shaped so you can easily carry it with two hands, too.

The BigBlue Cellpowa (CP) 500 is reasonably light at 7.8kg, but is sturdy and built well, and has a host of other useful features too.

The CP500 has a LiFepo4 battery which provides 537Wh of power which can be recharged up to 2000 times giving a battery life of 5.5 years if discharged and recharged every single day. BigBlue says that the power station will still retain 80% of its original capacity after all of these charges.

The CP500 has four ways of charging: solar power, AC current, your car battery, or by using USB type-C cables rated up to 60W. The power station can power up to 500W with maximum of 100W rated cables.

BigBlue also sells compact solar panels that work with the CP100 power station. Most of the solar panels I have tried for power stations are large and cumbersome and take up a huge amount of room in the car when travelling.

The

100W ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) folding solar panels

will deliver 24V/4.16A and can be positioned using kickstands to get the best angle from the sun.

Panels coated in ETFE film will transmit up to 95% of light to the charger. It was gloomy when I took the image of my setup so I could not squeeze any charge from the day.

The portable solar panels are rated IP65 which means they are dust-proof and splash-proof so can be used in the rain. They also have a useful cut out handle in the top of the panel for portability.

The BigBlue CP500 looks streamlined and stylish. On the back of the unit there is a light, powered by a switch underneath the light.

The light cycles through high and low luminosity and will flash SOS if required. The front has all of the ports and display indicators.

There is a cigarette lighter port rated at 12V/10A, two DC 5521 output ports running at 60W maximum and a button underneath to turn them on.

On the right hand side of the unit there are two AC 120V ports rated at 500W with a peak of 100W. Along the bottom of the unit are two 18W USB type-A ports and two PD USB 3.0 type-C ports rated at 60W.

These support simultaneous fast charge for up to four devices with no power shuffling and power reduction between ports. There is also a power button for the main unit.

Once switched on the LED shows charging and discharge rate in Watts, ports in use, and approximate time to empty the battery at current output Wattage.

You can recharge the unit up to 80% within two hours if you charge it using 60W Type-C and DC input simultaneously.

The CP500 power station is protected against over-charge, over-current, overheating, and short circuiting via its battery management system.

The BigBlue CP500 and

sub $200 portable solar panels

are certainly worth considering if you need power – and an efficient way to charge the unit when you are out and about for an extended period of time.