Geneverse HomePower Two Pro review: energy saving

If the Jackery is the Subaru of the portable powerhouse world – rugged, capable and adventurous – the Geneverse may be the Lexus – stable, reliable and luxurious. As the name suggests, the HomePower series is less for off-the-grid campers to cool their microbreweries and more for families to make sure milk doesn’t go bad the next time a storm hits.

Geneverse’s largest model, the HomePower Two Pro, has a large capacity and promises “seven days of substantial power.” While this number will obviously vary for each user, we found it lives up to its lofty promises of capacity and performance, and we’ll be happy to have it in the basement for the next big outage.

Is it a Mac?

The HomePower’s intended home habitat is shown by its clean, appliance-like design, which is almost reminiscent of how Apple might design a power station. It has a minimalistic, understated look that you probably wouldn’t mind leaving on your kitchen counter for a few days, unlike the Jackery’s stark exterior aesthetic or the Anker’s alien look.

The flat cover makes the perfect spot to rest your gadgets as you charge them, and the rugged handles built into the side don’t bend or groan – this thing is built like an anvil. We would appreciate wheels on our anvil, though. At 61kg, the HomePower Pro Two is right at the limit of what many people will be able to comfortably (or safely) lift on their own.

With a battery capacity of 2.4 kWh, the HomePower Pro is at the top of its class for a stand-alone power station of this size. The competing Anker 767 (2.0kW) and Jackery Solar Generator 2000 (2.2kWh) can’t touch it, and while the EcoFlow Delta Pro bests it at 3.6kWh, it also weighs 99lbs, so it’s not really the same class. The 2,200 watt output is on par with most units of this size and means the Geneverse will power virtually anything you can plug into a 20A household socket.

Despite its impressive power, the HomePower Two Pro appears open on the ports. We can justify three AC outlets instead of the usual four – that’s easily solved with a power strip – but the lack of a 12V car outlet is pretty inexcusable for a system this size. RVers will also be disappointed by the lack of a 30A outlet, which the Anker 767 and Bluetti AC200MAX both have. Neither port is absolutely necessary for a home backup scenario, but it’s disappointing to see them omitted when cheaper models include them.

The heating is on

All those numbers mean nothing if the Geneverse can’t perform when the power is down, so to prove that the Geneverse can deliver every bit of its claimed 2,200 watts, we rounded up a collection of rogue electric hogs and started putting them on in the socket. in. When the HomePower Two Pro wasn’t deterred by a 1,300-watt heater running high, we threw caution to the wind and gave it a real torture test by also hitting a 1,500-watt heat gun.

Somehow, despite measuring 2,764 watts, nearly 600 more than it’s rated for, the Geneverse held on strong for 30 seconds before finally shutting down. That’s not a load you’d want to constantly expose the unit to, but it was impressive to see how long it would sweat it past its limit.

To test its surge capability, we tried hooking up the HomePower Two to a DeWalt 13-inch planer, a small pancake air compressor, and a DeWalt 12-inch miter saw that has been known to trip the 20A breakers in my garage on startup. While handling the first two, the miter saw proved to be too much – it would error out and shut the saw down every time. In contrast, Anker’s 767 managed to handle it without any problems.

When it’s time to fuel up, the Geneverse isn’t fooled, punching around 1,450 watts from the wall for total recharge times under two hours. That’s a hair below the 1,500-watt rating, but still impressive.

User interface and application

The Geneverse’s display is like almost every other power station we’ve ever reviewed, which is a good thing. It’s a simple arrangement (inlet on the left, outlet on the right, charging capacity in center ring) that doesn’t need reinvention.

Like most power stations in this price range, the Geneverse HomePower Two Pro comes with an iOS and Android app to keep the power away when you’re away from the screen. You get all the same information from the screen, plus some more advanced options that would be very difficult to program with buttons. For example, you can set timers to turn different circuits on and off at set times, which could be useful for reducing standby power consumption. You can also switch to battery saver mode to extend battery life or monitor usage statistics.

The only notable omission is the ability to set an upper limit for charging power, which you’ll lose if you start opening switches at this monster’s 1,450-watt charging rate. The next best thing is a “quiet mode”, which limits the input to about 530 watts and turns off the fans.

One crazy thing about the app: it connects via Wi-Fi, not Bluetooth. This means that during a power outage where your router might get knocked out or when you’re camping, the app won’t connect. Competing apps from Anker and Bluetti use Bluetooth, which makes a lot more sense.

Solar options

With two 8020 solar connectors (large DC barrel connectors) on the back, the HomePower Two Pro can handle up to 800W of combined solar power. That’s honestly more than you’ll likely be able to achieve with the accessories on offer. Geneverse offers foldable panels in flavors of 100 and 200 watts per panel. You’ll need four of the latter to hit capacity – a $2,516 purchase.

This is expensive even by the improved standards of portable solar panels. A single Geneverse 200-watt panel costs $629, while Anker only charges $549 for its panel and Bluetti charges $449. All three use monocrystalline cells and claim 23% efficiency, but the different connectors on the competitors would prevent you from simply using a competing panel with this power station, unless you want to get into adapters.

We’ll give Geneverse credit for staying on the cutting edge of their solar technology — they’re one of the few companies that offer double-sided solar panels, which can absorb light reflected from behind them, making them more efficient. Geneverse sent us a pair to evaluate, and we’ll provide an update on performance after a more thorough evaluation.

Power saving, for a premium

If you need every drop of its best-in-class 2.4 kWh capacity, the $2,499 Geneverse Homepower Pro Two is a capable and reliable home backup solution. You’re paying a hefty premium for top-end capacity at this size, but the clean design and five-year warranty make it a little easier to swallow.

If you can live with just a fraction less capacity, a number of other alternatives offer more features for less money. The Jackery Explorer 2000 Pro brings 12V DC output for $2,099, the Anker 767 brings a smarter design with wheels and a telescoping handle for $1,999, and both the EcoFlow Delta Max 2000 and Bluetti AC200MAX offer modular expandability for 9, 9, 1 $.5 respectively.

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