The Best Power Outage Tools and Supplies | Reviews by Wirecutter

By Erica Ogg

Erica Ogg is an editor covering home office, games, cameras, and powering. She’s edited dozens of guides to working from home while working from home.

We added two new product categories to this guide.

A power outage can be a minor inconvenience, a threat to health and safety, or anything in between. But unlike the natural disasters that often precede them, blackouts aren’t relegated to specific regions the way earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornados are—just about everybody can experience one, especially now that extreme and unpredictable weather is pushing the limits of electrical grids.

A recent government report shows that U.S. electricity consumers averaged seven hours of power interruptions in 2021. Basic preparations for temporary blackouts aren’t expensive, so it’s generally worth it for most households to take a few precautionary measures—a surge protector to safeguard your media center, for example, and headlamps to keep your hands free in the dark. For longer blackouts, whether they last a few days during wildfire-prevention efforts in California or stretch more than a week after a tropical storm or hurricane, extra backup power can prevent food from spoiling, keep medical devices running, provide power for fans, light, or space heaters, and help phones, laptops, and tablets stay charged and connected to the outside world.

We have additional guides to general emergency preparedness and bug-out bags, as well as lists specific to readiness for hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, and winter storms. But this list covers all the best options for power and lighting—whether you’re preparing for a planned outage, anticipating the aftermath of a natural disaster, or looking to be ready for the next blip that affects your utility. That said, should a power outage leave you without adequate heating or cooling options for an extended period of time, be sure to seek out a shelter. If you want to learn about larger systems to keep your house running in an outage via solar power combined with battery storage, read our guide on how to pick a solar panel and battery backup system.

The quietest, lightest, and most powerful 2,200-watt generator we tested is easy to start, and the Bluetooth app makes monitoring its power input simple.

After we tested four 2,200-watt generators for our guide to portable generators, it was clear to us that the Honda EU2200i is the best. The EU2200i was the quietest, lightest, and most powerful generator we looked at—it even exceeded its listed capabilities and powered household items that caused the other generators to overload. Its distinguishing feature is its high-quality Honda engine, which is significantly larger than those of the other 2,200-watt-range generators we tested. Starting a gas engine can be frustrating, and that alone could keep someone from buying a generator, but only the EU2200i started on the first pull of the cord every single time we used it. In addition, you can easily monitor the EU2200i’s power output through a Bluetooth-connected app, so during an outage you can manage (and maximize) the generator’s operation from indoors. This is a relatively new feature that not many generators have. The EU2200i also has an onboard carbon monoxide detector that shuts the generator down if a concentration of the deadly gas gets too high, which can happen if the generator is running in an enclosed area. (And that’s why you should never run one of these indoors or even in your garage with the doors open.)

Honda generators have an excellent reputation and recognition in the industry as the gold standard, but the hitch is that this quality comes at a cost: The EU2200i is typically priced over $1,000, about $400 more than other gas options. But its ease of use and dependability make it worth the premium. Also, don’t forget that you’ll need a high quality extension cord in order to get all of that generated power into your home.

With great radio reception, NOAA early-warning notifications, and a hand crank that effectively revives it, the ER310 is a durable, compact radio that doubles as a flashlight and charging station.

Relying on cell phone service in any sort of disasters can have deadly consequences. The radio network was built to withstand disasters. A good emergency weather radio can tune in to AM/FM and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration channels (collectively known as the “weather band”) to keep you informed as well as entertained if the power goes out. The Midland ER310 offers better reception, a brighter flashlight, and more-effective charging options than other radios we tested, including the ability to charge from dead through solar power or hand-cranking. It can receive NOAA extreme-weather alerts, providing notifications that are both loud and readily visible so you won’t miss any warnings.

The ER310’s convenient size makes it comfortable to carry. It was also one of the few radios we tested that lived up to their crank-generating claims: We found that just one minute of cranking produced 10 minutes of radio time or a few minutes of flashlight use. Plus, its durable body can stand up to heavy rain or a drop onto a hard surface.

If there’s an emergency alert in your area, the ER310’s built-in NOAA audible alarm and flashing display will make sure you notice. When the siren sounds and the lights begin blaring—it can be quite clamorous—you can press any button to switch the radio to your preferred (preprogrammed) NOAA weather channel to get the news.

If you fail to turn on the radio before a minute goes by, the weather memory indicator flashes every five seconds to let you know that an alert has been issued, and it continues to do so until you press any button to turn the notice off. So if you have hearing loss, or if you’re out of the house when the alarm goes off, you can still find out if some ugly conditions are headed your way.

The flashlight also has an SOS blinking pattern, and the radio has a button that sets off a high-pitched tone—beyond the range of human hearing—to attract the attention of rescue dogs if you’re really in distress.

In testing, this surge protector was one of the best at preventing damaging voltage levels from reaching the outlets and any plugged-in gear—a common threat when the power flickers off and back on. Plus, it safely stops all power once the protection wears out.

A surge protector won’t keep anything powered in a blackout, but it will protect your electronics when the grid blinks on and off, whether the effect lasts for a few seconds or a few days. When your power flickers, there’s a decent chance that the voltage—normally around 110 volts—is dropping or surging, and that can degrade or seriously damage your electronics. We tested surge protectors by sending a 5,000 V spike through them and measuring how much of that extra voltage got through to the other side, where your TV, computer, or stereo system would be plugged in.

In our guide, we recommend the Tripp Lite 12-Outlet Surge Protector for home offices and media centers because it proved to have some of the best and most trustworthy surge protection available at a reasonable price. All but the highest-end surge protectors wear out eventually, but unlike many bargain options that will power your gear unprotected, this Tripp Lite model will shut down completely when the protection is gone so you never put your electronics at risk. Four of the 12 outlets are generously spaced to accommodate large power bricks, and the 8-foot cord is long enough to work with setups that don’t have an outlet in the perfect spot.

With five outlets on battery backup and 10 outlets total, this uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can reliably keep your Wi-Fi network running for up to four hours in a blackout or keep your home-office setup powered long enough for you to save your work and shut down.

At home, you have two common ways to take advantage of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for short-term backup power. A UPS is basically a surge protector with a battery backup built in, and one can keep a computer workstation—including a desktop, a monitor, external hard drives and more—going for a few minutes when the power cuts off so that you can safely save your work and shut everything down. Or it can power a smaller load, such as a modem and a router, for an hour or more to keep your Internet or digital phone service online during a brief blackout. Following our 2021 testing, the CyberPower CP900AVR is our pick because it provides enough power output and battery capacity to back up a few small electronics (such as a modem, router, PC, external hard drive, or game server) during a blackout lasting up to four hours. The CyberPower is also reasonably affordable compared with the competition.

Able to charge even large phones like the iPhone 15 Pro Max or Google Pixel 8 Pro from empty to full twice over, this super-pocketable power bank offers the fastest charging and recharging speeds of any model we tested.

We recommend the Belkin Boost Charge Plus 10K as a reliable option for charging devices like phones and tablets during an outage. In addition to a USB-A output port, it has a USB-C Power Delivery port that enables charging (both input and output) up to 18.8 watts—nearly twice as much power as most models we’ve found with built-in cables. This means less time waiting around for your phone, and the power bank itself, to fully charge. About the size and shape of a bar of soap, the Belkin Boost Charge Plus 10K has a smooth yet grippy texture and easily stows in a pocket or a pouch. Be sure to keep it fully charged at all times so it’s ready for use when you need it.

This compact, lightweight portable battery can charge even the most power-hungry laptops while they’re in use.

If an outage happens during a workday, the Mophie Powerstation Pro AC offers more than 100 W of power output and enough capacity to bring a dead MacBook Air battery up to 90% charged—even during heavy use with the screen brightness turned up. It has a variety of output ports, including two USB-C Power Delivery (PD) ports, one USB-A ports, and an AC outlet.

Our guide to the best portable laptop chargers also recommends the ChargeTech Portable Power Outlet 27K 4.0, and as of this writing, it’s about half the cost. The ChargeTech has the same port options as the Anker and even has a higher capacity (it was able to charge our test laptop 1.2 times), but it’s heavier than the Anker and not as sturdily built.

This giant battery offers lots of power in a portable, durable, easy-to-use package. Plus, it has more AC, USB-A, and USB-C ports than most portable power stations we’ve tested with output up to 1,000 W. You can safely use it indoors because it doesn’t emit exhaust, but it’s not as powerful or long-lasting as a gas generator.

A portable power station like the Jackery Explorer 1000 is a great option if you want to use your power source indoors—where the fumes of a gas generator are dangerous—and you need more power than a USB battery pack can provide. The Jackery Explorer 1000 is light enough for the average adult to lift and carry safely, yet it managed to run even the most power-hungry appliances in our tests, so it’s suitable for keeping most devices, such as a laptop, a CPAP machine, or even a small refrigerator running all day (or all night) long. We love its easy-to-read screen, which shows input/output wattage and how much power remains in reserve. Plus, it has more output ports—three AC, two USB-A, and two USB-C—than almost any other portable power station we’ve tested.

Our former top pick for a portable power station, the Ecoflow Delta, is an excellent choice if you want more port options than on the Explorer 1000, or if you intend to use your power station to run high-drain devices such as an air conditioner for shorter lengths of time. The Delta has six AC outlets (three more than the Explorer 1000), two USB-C ports, and four USB-A ports (two more than the Explorer 1000), and we measured its maximum output at 2,040 W (versus the Explorer 1000’s 1,370 W). However, it performed worse than our top pick in our run-time test, keeping our tabletop fan running for 11 hours and falling short of the Explorer 1000’s 14 hours despite having a higher capacity rating.

If you don’t have a generator or enough batteries on hand in a blackout, you can plug this small inverter into the 12 V socket in your car and use its AC outlets to run or charge small devices up to 300 W. It’s not an efficient way to make power, but it’s small and affordable.

In a true emergency, energy efficiency won’t be your number one concern, and that’s when a small inverter that plugs into your car’s 12 V outlet is a compact, clever option for backup power. The Bestek 300W MRI3011J2 Power Inverter turns the round, 12 V outlet in your car into two standard AC outlets capable of providing a total of 300 watts of power—so long as your car is running. Using your car’s engine like this isn’t fuel efficient in the slightest, but it could give you the chance to charge up anything you need—phones, laptops, a radio, or even a power station or battery packs to take inside—to make it through an extended power outage without a generator. Unlike our picks for power stations and generators, though, small and inexpensive inverters like this don’t put out pure sine wave power. That just means you shouldn’t run sensitive electronics (such as medical devices or AV equipment) or things with a motor (such as a fan) directly on the inverter.

This floating lantern can brighten up a room or charge your phone. But we found that the light quality was less warm than the competition.

Our readers have recommended that we review inflatable solar-powered lanterns, a category of products meant to illuminate surroundings and prevent unexpected encounters in the dark. These floating lights are equipped with a solar panel and a cable with which you can charge your phone.

We tested two models of these lanterns, the LuminAID Titan 2-in-1 Power Lantern and MPowerd Luci Base Light. We tossed them in our bathtub, charged them up in the sun, then turned them on to see how long it took to run out their batteries. We then froze them overnight and turned them on again the next day.

The LuminAid Titan came out on top, but just barely. The MPowerd Luci has a warm yellow light, and it's slightly brighter than the Titan. Seungah Jeong, the president and CEO of MPowerd, said that children love hugging their balloon-like Luci. But ultimately the Titan is easier to inflate, runs for longer, and has more varied brightness settings. You open it with a satisfying twist and can throw it directly in the water. This lantern has buttons that are easier to operate, with the addition of a very useful light that comes on when the solar panel is charging. The Titan also need less time to reach a full battery than the Luci. LuminAID has donated over 250,000 lights to either directly or through their nonprofit partners, according to the company website.

A versatile and long-lasting light source, this model is more ruggedly built, powerful, and bright than any other model we’ve tested.

Flashlights and headlamps have their places in an outage (and we’ll get to them next), but to get area lighting for things like cooking, eating, or just whiling away time with a board game, we recommend the UST 60-Day Duro Lantern. This is the brightest lantern we’ve tested and we like that it has a handle, so we could hang it off a hook or easily carry it around during an outage. It requires six D batteries, which is a bit of a drag, but, at the lowest setting, it can last for an astonishing 60 days. Knowing this extended runtime, we felt comfortable keeping it going on the kitchen counter at the low setting and then only bumping up to the higher settings for specific tasks that needed more light. UST also offers the smaller 30-Day Duro. It’s not as bright and it has a shorter battery life, but it only requires three D batteries. Some folks use candles for area lighting during a blackout, but both FEMA and the Red Cross recommend battery-powered lighting over candles in a power outage due to fire concerns (PDF).

The ThruNite offers high-end features at an entry-level price, with a wide range of brightness settings, an easy and versatile two-button interface, and an overall satisfying design.

Lanterns are great for area lighting, but they don’t have the portability or the concentrated beam of a flashlight. Our favorite flashlight is the ThruNite Archer 2A V3, and during a recent outage, senior staff writer Doug Mahoney used it to check his crawl space, scan the roof for fallen branches, get around the house, and, because the lowest setting can run for 15 days, he hung it in the bathroom overnight as a night light for his kids. The Archer 2A V3 is powered by two AA batteries and at the highest setting we were able to light up a tree 500 feet away.

Like many of the best flashlights, the Archer 2A V3 has a two-button interface that makes it easy to toggle through the brightness settings one-handed. It also shares a number of other features found on more-expensive lights: It doesn’t roll on a flat surface, it stands upright on its front end, it can survive a 1-meter drop or full immersion in water, and it has a momentary-on feature that turns the light on and off with a half-press of the rear button. Since this flashlight is fairly small and only comes in black and gray, consider affixing a bright piece of gaffer tape to the side to find it quickly if it's stored in a crowded junk drawer.

This headlamp is a comfortable, simple-to-navigate option for around-the-house use.

When you need to move around in the dark, a flashlight or lantern will get the job done, but a headlamp will let you use two hands, so even if it’s dark, you can haul in firewood, fiddle with the generator, or pull a branch off the driveway. We like the Vitchelo V800 because it’s simple to use and comes with a relatively low price tag. It’s not as bright as some, but the two-button interface—one controls a red light and one controls a white light—is easy to understand, especially during the stressful early stages of an outage when you’re trying to fully access the situation.

Other headlamps, like the brighter (and more expensive) Black Diamond Spot 400, have much more of a learning curve to fully grasp the interface. The Spot is a better option for a dedicated hiker or someone who regularly uses a headlamp, but we think the occasional user is better off with the Vitchelo. Plus, at less than $20, the Vitecho is much more budget-friendly, especially if it’s going to spend the majority of its time buried in the kitchen junk drawer.

This container holds about enough water for one person over the course of five days. It’s tough and easy to use, even when full of liquid. But even after a few rinses, the contents of the container still tasted slightly of plastic.

Out of the four water collapsible water containers we tested, the Wolverine Tuff Bottle 20L Container was, as the name suggests, the toughest. It was also the easiest to fill and maneuver. With water, the bag weighs about 40 pounds, which was the maximum amount we could carry easily with one hand. A different water container we tested busted open when we knocked it off a six-foot-high shelf, but the Wolverine Tuff Bottle has two layers of ultraviolet-resistant plastic that kept the sloshing water secure. We froze the container over the weekend and it didn’t leak when we filled it back up again. My experience is backed up by the ASTM International, a standards organization that did similar drop tests with varying heights and liquids (including antifreeze).

Wolverine Tuff is a family business that started out making packaging for medical supplies, so they have some experience in containing high-stakes solvents, according to director of operations Reilly Wilkes. The Wolverine Tuff Bottle on Amazon comes with a red spout, but you can purchase other accessories—including a spout that fits a Sawyer water filter—on the Wolverine Tuff website. The company has collaborated with many charitable organizations in order to deliver 400,000 gallons of clean drinking water.

One downside to the Wolverine Tuff container: we noticed the water had a slight plastic aftertaste even after we washed the container out a few times. The WaterStorageCube Collapsible Water Container Bag retained less eau en plastique and is cheaper, although it has a shorter warranty, does not come with spigot, and lacks the transparent standards testing of the Wolverine Tuff container.

Water is usually the first item that FEMA brings to a storm-damaged area, according to Grant Brown, director of recreation and cultural affairs in Gulf Shores, Alabama. But water is also what you’ll miss the most if you don’t have it. Officials announce hurricane warnings at least 36 hours before the onset of the storm, which means you have time to store water for both drinking and other household activities like cleaning and flushing the toilet. In an emergency, experts recommend having at least one gallon of water per person per day for a minimum of three days. “There’s an old adage: The first 72 is on you,” says Brown, referring to the initial 72 hours after a storm.

While our water container recommendation is convenient to have around, you don’t need a specific tool in order to retain liquids. For “gray water,” which you can clean and flush the toilet with but not drink, you can close the drains on your tubs and sinks as you fill them up. One of our sources tipped us off to the existence of the WaterBOB, a plastic container that fits inside your tub, but we have not yet tested it.

You can fill up any water bottles you might have lying around with drinking water. Put them in your refrigerator and freezer (after checking that the materials are freeze-proof). Not only will this keep the water itself cool, the high specific heat capacity of water compared to air means that the inside of your fridge or freezer will warm up more slowly if the power goes out. Hurricanes usually happen in warm locales in the summer and fall. Even if the electricity stays running, you won’t regret having a cold drink as you head outside for cleanup duty.

Dixit is a simple storytelling card game with stunning art that people of all ages can learn and enjoy.

You need something to do while you charge your phone during a blackout. Switch on your lantern and gather your group around Dixit, an interactive picture card game that’s a snap to learn and play for both kids and adults.

As in Apples to Apples or other family-friendly games, the rules are simple and the stakes are low. One player is the storyteller and describes a card in their hand using a single word or phrase; the other players choose their best-matching card to submit secretly. All the submitted cards are then shuffled and revealed, and players vote on the best card that fits the prompt. Players get points for correctly guessing the storyteller’s card or for having other players guess their card. The game works for three to six players, and rounds take about 30 minutes. So if you or anyone in your group is anxious about when the power will come back on, Dixit can be an enjoyable distraction.

If you want some more distraction options or if Dixit doesn't sound intense enough for you, we have a whole host of games we love (including Wingspan and Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, both great for solo players), entries for new board gamers, and also games just for two-players, in case you're stuck with just your partner instead of a whole group.

Solar power combined with battery storage is rapidly becoming a mainstream disaster-preparedness choice, and Wirecutter senior staff editor Tim Heffernan spoke to more than a dozen installers, manufacturers, and industry experts for our guide on how to pick a solar panel and battery backup system. He discovered that there are too many variables for us to recommend a particular manufacturer or system, or that you should even definitely invest. But his guide does identify the key entry points to consider when starting your research.

This article was edited by Joshua Lyon and Harry Sawyers.

Erica Ogg

Erica Ogg is the senior editor responsible for home office, batteries and charging, cameras, and hobby and craft coverage at Wirecutter. She started as the updates editor in 2013, before we had senior editors—or even full-time staff. Prior to that, she was a reporter covering the consumer electronics and computing industries at CNET and GigaOm.

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