Update and tl;dr. My review of the performance of these panels and their cost per watt still stands, but I can understand the 4 and 5 star reviews better. The company did contact me on their own for my feedback, and worked with me to design a system that met my specifications. The higher rating of this review reflects their customer service. After working with them a bit, I do have a system that is a better value and meets my specifications. You can read this review to understand what you get from the EcoFlow panels. Overall, these panels are for anybody who has limited space and doesn't mind the higher price tag. The integrated kickstand has worked very well for me, and this is a bonus: I don't have to use a rigid panel or construct some wacky stand out of PVC. The whole package stows easily and the kickstand works very well (it doesn't matter that the kickstand doesn't perfectly angle the panels). Still, you can expect only ~65% of the rated power from these panels (other off brands mentioned here deliver ~60% based on my reading of their reviews), making these relatively expensive. Also, I did look at many of the panels available on Amazon, and found that brands such as Bluetti and GoalZero, even if they perform as well as Renogy panels (>70% efficiency), are some of the most expensive on a $/watt basis. Off-brand panels have the disadvantage poor performance (60% of rated power); you can still save money but you'll have to carry more of them. For example, 2 Renogy 200 W panels are an excellent $/watt value if you have the space, but 2 AllPowers 200 W panels won't deliver the same power but are cheaper. If you can work with a flexible panel (I would consider these portable, not flexible), those can be very good values but suffer from needing to be installed somewhere. So, this review I think will help inform how you go about selecting panels to meet your needs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 4 and 5 star reviews are from the #vanlife crowd that wanted a good looking system, not by those who bought these as part of a system that was going to meet their needs. I live in my truck almost year round and have a system to power my computer and Starlink, as well as my fridge and phone. This is a real review.
I wanted external panels because I have limited roof space, and who wants to park in the sun just to charge their system? Up top I have a 100W flexible Renogy panel glued to a piece of corrugated plastic...mainly a supplemental source of power when I don't need a charge too bad or when I'm moving. The EcoFlow 160s were supposed to be the workhorses of my system. I got 2, connected in series with 10 ga cables to handle the amperage from these panels, feeding into a Victron 75/15 MPPT controller. I spent the extra money on the EcoFlow panels because we all know that the rated power isn't the real-world power. I expected that a premium panel would have less exaggeration, and the integrated kickstand was a bonus. In other words, I looked past the "cheap" panels expecting them to deliver less of their rated power than the EcoFlow panels. The screenshots are the monitoring reports from the Victron controllers running the Renogy panel vs the EcoFlow panels.
On days when my single Renogy panel...which I'll remind you, is flat mounted, doesn't get repositioned during the day to take advantage of the sun angle or avoid obstructions, and should suffer a greater heat penalty given it's installation...that panel consistently puts out 60-80W. So 60-80% of what Renogy promised they delivered, and I've seen it hit >90W. That's a $160 panel, easily hitting 75% of it's rated power, giving me a watt of power for $2.13.
On the same days, I go out and move my EcoFlow panels once mid-morning, once-late afternoon, and once in the evening to take advantage of the morning sun, changing their orientation and angle so that they are directly facing the sun and either flat (during mid-day) or angled (morning and afternoon). They have that kickstand (which for me has actually worked out okay) which helps get a good angle on the sun and should keep them cooler than a rooftop-mounted flexible panel. These panels should have a massive advantage over that Renogy panel, but I have never seen more than 208 W from a system that is rated for 320 W. That is 65% efficiency, giving me a cost per watt of $3.37. That makes these panels almost 60% more expensive for 15% less power.
I've heard the arguments and taken them into consideration...the rated power is under optimal conditions, you'll never see the rated power in real life, to get the rated power you need to be at 90 degrees to the sun (+/- 10 degrees), the panels won't perform as well once they heat up, and clouds and shadows and so on. These are all true, and when you are designing a system, you have to take into account that the rated power power is the power Bob in marketing says has to be on the box because everybody else is bloating their power ratings, and anybody who used an honest real-world number wouldn't sell a panel. EcoFlow looks to be one of the worst offenders, and I've gone back to my order several times to make sure I got the 160W panel and not the 110W panel. I'm also not in some oddball arctic desert place...these results hold true in Utah, Texas, New York, and everywhere in between over 2 months now. And even if I was doing something wrong, you can't explain away the EcoFlow's poor performance by any external factor when that Renogy panel (disadvantaged as it is by its installation) under the exact same conditions consistently and easily outperforms the EcoFlow panels every single time, every single day.
I would return these if I could. Renogy has a 200W system for $349 (that includes a charge controller). Let's say these only deliver 70% of their rated power...the cost comes out to $2.30 per watt. It's bigger, heavier, and I'd need more panels but it is a better value. Other random but similar panels, if they performed as poorly as EcoFlow, would come in at a similar cost per watt. Dokio has a panel that appears to be similar to EcoFlow in every way except that it doesn't have a kickstand, but comes out at a cost of $1.63 per watt if it only delivered 65% of its rated power. [Update: reading the reviews, these deliver more like 60% of their rated power.]
Aside from the poor performance, I'm now really concerned about the reviews (oddly 4+ stars) questioning the durability of these expensive panels. When I go to move them, yeah, they are hot. Like, wear gloves hot. And you hear the panels cracking and creaking in ways that say maybe these aren't going to hold up too well. How long until they crack or become unbonded, delivering another hit to their already weak performance? Again, that Dokio panel or a set of Renogy panels are looking more and more like a better value.
When you're looking at the Victron reports, yes, the EcoFlow panels deliver more total power...keep in mind they are moved several times so they see the sun at a better angle for the entire day; the Renogy panel maybe only gets a good angle on the sun for a few hours when the sun is almost directly overhead.
Also, FWIW, this review is based on my personal experience. EcoFlow did contact me and did not offer any technical support, but did provide some incentives to bring my system up to the performance I expected.
208JeD
Run Kodoz!
