Home Outage & BackupStart here
Best Solar Generators for Power Outages in 2026
Which battery actually gets your family through the night, which one is a waste of money, and how to tell the difference before you spend.
8 min read
Portable solar generators & home backup
The power went out. Now what?
Most backup power advice is written by people who have never opened a warm fridge and thrown out $300 of food. Work out what you actually need, buy once, and stop watching the forecast.
- Every review names what not to buy
- Runtimes calculated, never copied from a box
- Unverified claims are marked on the page
US 120V · Written for US homes
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If you only read one thing
In a hurry? Find your row and go. The details are below if you want them.
Best Overall
Most people, most outages
EcoFlow DELTA 2
1,024 Wh · 1,800W · 27 lb
Best Budget
Phones and a CPAP, nothing more
Anker SOLIX C300
288 Wh · 300W · 9.1 lb
Best for RV
Fits the bay, survives the road
Anker SOLIX C1000
1,056 Wh · 1,800W · 28.44 lb
Best Whole-Home
Well pump, furnace, 240V circuits
EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3
4,096 Wh · 4,000W · 113 lb
Specs unverified
What are you trying to protect?
Skip the spec sheets. Pick the thing that worries you and we'll tell you what actually covers it — including when the answer is "don't buy anything."
- A fridge full of foodFour hours before it starts going bad
- Someone here uses a CPAPCheaper to solve than you think
- We're on a wellNo power, no water. Read this first
- It gets dangerously hotThe honest answer about air conditioning
- I want the whole houseWhat that really costs, before you commit
- Just camping, honestlyMost people massively over-buy here
Your grid, not the average one
A Texas outage and a California shutoff are different problems with different answers. Most advice pretends otherwise.
- TexasERCOT is its own grid. Heat and ice, two different plans.
- CaliforniaPSPS is scheduled. That changes what you should buy.
- FloridaHurricane season, and why panels disappoint here.
- Puerto RicoWhere the outage is the baseline, not the exception.
Every region we cover
Stop guessing at watt-hours
Tick the things you need to keep running. Get a real number, the startup surge that decides whether a unit works at all, and three that can genuinely do it.
Free. No email required — your result appears before we ever mention one.
Start here
The long guides. Each answers a whole question rather than half of one.
Sizing & CalculatorsStart here
What Size Solar Generator Do I Need? (Free Calculator)
Skip the guesswork. Tick the things you need to keep running, get a real watt-hour number, and see which units can actually do it.
4 min read
Browse the site
Reviews
What each unit actually does when the lights go out, and who should skip it. Every review names at least one product you should not buy.
Comparisons
Two units, one winner, and an honest note about who the loser is still right for.
Guides
Watt-hours, transfer switches, cold weather, storage. The stuff nobody explains before you spend money.
Calculators
Work out what size you need from what you actually own, not from a marketing chart.
Quick Answers
One question, answered in the first two sentences, then the reasoning. No 900-word preamble before the point.
Latest
Your State's Grid
Backup Power for Alabama: Dixie Alley Tornadoes and Gulf Hurricanes
April 2011 put a million Alabamians in the dark after the worst tornado outbreak in a generation. Add Gulf hurricanes on the coast and summer heat everywhere, and here is the plan for a state that gets both.
3 min read
Your State's Grid
Backup Power for Colorado: Wildfire Shutoffs, Snow and the Front Range
Xcel started shutting off power on purpose in 2024 when the wind blows. Add spring snow, mountain lines and a state that runs on solar, and the Colorado plan looks different from anyone else's.
4 min read
Your State's Grid
Backup Power for Georgia: Atlanta Ice, Coastal Storms and Helene's Path
Atlanta shuts down on half an inch of ice, Savannah gets hurricanes, and Helene cut a line of destruction through the middle of the state. Georgia's outages come from three directions and here is the plan for each.
3 min read
Your State's Grid
Backup Power for Hawaii: Island Grids With Nowhere to Borrow From
Every island runs its own grid with no connection to anywhere else, electricity costs more than anywhere in the country, and the Maui fires showed what a wind-driven outage does. Hawaii backup is its own subject.
3 min read
Your State's Grid
Backup Power for Iowa: The 2020 Derecho and What It Taught the State
The August 2020 derecho was the costliest thunderstorm in US history, and it left Cedar Rapids dark for over a week with no warning. Iowa outages are wind in summer and ice in winter, and here is what covers both.
3 min read
Your State's Grid
Backup Power for Kentucky: The 2009 Ice Storm and the December Tornadoes
The January 2009 ice storm was the worst power outage in Kentucky history — weeks without power across the west. Then December 2021 tornadoes flattened Mayfield. Here is what a Kentucky household should own now.
3 min read
How we decide what to recommend
We name the product you shouldn't buy in every review, and who it's wrong for. We publish the cheapest thing that does the job, not the one that pays best. And any claim we haven't confirmed against the manufacturer's own documentation is marked on the page, so you can see exactly how solid each sentence is.