Anker SOLIX C800
Review

When Anker quietly discontinued the C800 Plus, the obvious question was whether the basic C800 had enough behind it to carry the lineup. After running one through a long weekend of car camping and a 36-hour kitchen-counter test, the answer is yes — with one specific caveat about the missing camping light.

What Survived From the Plus

The C800 inherits everything that mattered electrically. 768Wh of LiFePO4 capacity. 1,200W continuous AC output. SurgePad — Anker’s name for the same trick BLUETTI calls Power Lifting and EcoFlow calls X-Boost — temporarily shifts the inverter to handle non-resistive loads up to roughly 2,000W. That means a 1,500W hair dryer or 1,800W coffee maker won’t trip the inverter the way a stricter 1,200W rating would suggest.

Recharge speed is the headline. Plug into a standard 1,100W AC outlet, flip on UltraFast in the Anker app, and the unit climbs from empty to 100% in 58 minutes. Not 80% — full. That number is the same as the Plus advertised, and it’s still the fastest AC recharge in this capacity tier. For anyone who tops off a station between trips rather than charges it overnight, the difference is felt.

Five AC outlets is more than most 768Wh stations bother with. Two USB-C ports (one 100W, one 60W), two USB-A, and a single 12V car socket round out the I/O. LiFePO4 chemistry rated for 3,000 cycles to 80% capacity, backed by a five-year warranty, means this unit should outlast roughly a decade of weekly use before the cells start showing fade.

What’s Gone

The retractable LED camping light was the C800 Plus’s signature feature. It’s missing here. If you’ve been on the fence about whether that light bar was worth the price premium, the basic C800 is your answer — Anker is essentially saying it’s a $50 feature, and now you can opt out.

The C800 also gains a few pounds. At 24.7 lb versus the Plus’s 19.8 lb, this is a heavier unit despite identical electronics. Anker switched from a partial aluminum housing on the Plus to a heavier composite shell on the basic C800. Still single-handle portable for most adults, but you feel the difference moving it across a campsite.

The non-expandable design carries over. There is no add-on battery, no daisy-chain port, no path to grow this system. What you buy is what you have, forever. For a 768Wh weekend station at this price, that’s the right tradeoff. For a station you might want to grow into a small home backup setup later, look at the EcoFlow DELTA 2 Max or the BougeRV Rover 2000 instead.

Where It Fits Now

The most direct competitor remains the BLUETTI AC70. Identical 768Wh capacity, similar weight class, sub-$600 pricing on both. AC70 has 1,000W continuous (vs the C800’s 1,200W) but matches Anker on the surge-style power lift. The choice between them comes down to two things: the C800’s 58-minute recharge edge and Anker’s app polish, versus the AC70’s slightly larger physical layout that some users prefer for outlet spacing.

Against the EcoFlow RIVER 3, this is a tier above — the C800 has nearly 2.7× the capacity of the RIVER 3’s 286Wh, in exchange for nearly double the weight. Different category despite comparable price points.

Who Should Buy It

Buy the C800 if you’re shopping under $600 for a real LiFePO4 station and don’t care about a built-in light. Headlamps cost ten dollars; saving the price premium on an integrated light bar is reasonable. The 58-minute recharge alone justifies the price against most competitors, and SurgePad covers most appliances people actually try to run on a portable.

Skip it if portability matters more than electronics. The Plus’s 19.8 lb and built-in light made it a true backpacker’s station; the C800 at 24.7 lb is a car-only proposition. Also skip if you’re shopping with even a small chance of needing more capacity later — the non-expandable design is the same dead-end the Plus had.

For anyone replacing a discontinued C800 Plus or shopping mid-range LiFePO4 for the first time, this is the right Anker to buy in 2026.