Powerness Hiker U300 300W Portable Power Station Review

(Last Updated On: April 1, 2023)

Searching for a power station to buy is just like searching for a phone to buy; that’s because, at this point, there are so many competitors in this space, and there are so many different types of power stations. You have to consider the price of the power stations that you want, the battery it uses, what screen features, how it charges, capacity, wattage output, and many other things.

With all that said, if you’re in the market for a simple power station on the lower-capacity side, the good news is that you don’t have to search too much. Mini power stations are simpler to understand, and in this review, I’m looking at this Powerness Hiker U300 300W power station. This is a simple one that most people will find useful, so let’s take a closer look.

Power Capacity

This Powerness power station has a 296Wh capacity, which is a decent amount, but like with all my power station reviews, what matters most is the amount you can use. That is why I ran a DC and AC capacity test.

For the DC capacity test, I used a load tester with a DC cigarette lighter port and ran the load tester at about 120W until the power station reached 0%. After about 2.5 hours, I had a 286Wh capacity, which gave me about 96% DC capacity efficiency. So you can use nearly all of the original 296Wh on the DC side for this power station, which is excellent. This is one of the best efficiency I’ve seen from a power station.

For the AC capacity, I used a watt meter and ran a crockpot until the power station went from 100% to 0%, the same as the DC capacity test. I ended the AC capacity test with a 260Wh capacity, which gave me about 87% efficiency, which was also very good.

This power station has great capacity efficiency, and you get what you pay for. When it comes to how long you can use the capacity of this Powerness power station, that depends entirely on what you’re going to power with it. I can already tell that after running a 120W, the power station ran for 2.5 hours. So any appliances running 100W or lower will have a runtime of about three hours or more. You can power a fan for many hours and even a smaller TV.

Output Charging

Output power from this Powerness Hiker U300 power station fits into the size and capacity of the unit. The power station has two AC outlets, four charging ports, a single DC cigarette lighter port, and two DC 5521 ports.

I don’t have devices to test with the DC 5521 barrel ports, but they can output 60W each. The DC cigarette lighter port can output 120W, and when I did the DC capacity test, the load tester could pull 120W from it.

The charging ports include a single 60W USB-C Power Delivery port, a USB-A Quick Charge port with an 18W output, and two standard USB-A 12W ports. I tested the charging ports with a Lenovo laptop charging from the USB-C port and my Galaxy Note 9 charging from the USB-A Quick Charge port. My laptop could charge at its max speed with a 30W charging rate, and my Note 9 could fast charge from the USB-A Quick Charge port.

There is also a wireless charging pad at the top that has a 10W wireless charging speed.

The AC outlets can output 300W of Pure Sine Wave, and for my AC outlet test, I powered a large and mini crockpot at their high settings; this caused the power station to output about 350W, which went over the 300W continuous output of the AC outlets. I ran the Powerness power station for 10 minutes within the 350W output to see if it could handle it, and after 10 minutes, the power station was still running. So it seems this unit does not have a 300W hard limit, and you can use more power from it.

To see what would happen if I pushed the power station way over its limit, I powered a Lasko heater, and once the Powerness power station reached the 400W range, it automatically shut down. Overall, the AC outlets work great, and a 300W output will not power anything you want. Still, if you already have appliances in mind that are within the 300W or lower range, this Powerness U300 can power fans, coolers, and TVs and charge devices to their full power many times.

Recharging

The box with this power station includes an AC charging brick and a car charging cable. The car charger is the slowest way to recharge this power station, with a recharging speed of 45W.

The AC charging brick alone can recharge the power station at 70W. However, the best way to recharge this unit is to use the 60W USB-C port and the AC charging brick, which can recharge this power station at 120W.

Solar recharging is also available, and I was able to solar recharge this unit using Powerness’ very own 80W solar panel. I had the power station at about 5% and recharged it from the 80W panel from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm with great sun exposure on the panels, and I got the power station to about 56%. So you can recharge this power station using a solar panel, provided you have excellent sun exposure.

Size and Weight

The Powerness Hiker U300 power station is a mini one; the unit has a length of 8 inches and a width/height of 6 inches. The weight of the power station is 7 pounds.

All the functional parts of the unit are at the front except for the wireless charging, which can be found at the top of the power station.

Each section has its power buttons, so if you have to turn on the DC, charging ports, and AC outlets, you must press their power buttons to activate them. The LED flashlight at the front also has a button that lets you cycle from its low, high, and SOS modes.

The screen at the front of the power station is large, bright, and easy to read. The screen shows the remaining capacity, wattage output, estimated runtime, and what is activated on the power station.

However, one thing missing from the screen is the wattage input reading, which I found somewhat strange as most screens on power stations can show the recharging speed, but this one does not.

Build

This Powerness power station has the excellent build quality and is built just like most other power stations on the market, even from more well-known brands. So you must be careful not to expose this power station to water and not drop it. Their unit has an internal fan that changes speed and does a good job of keeping it cool.

	Powerness Hiker U300 300W Portable Power Station Specs
Power Capacity	296Wh
AC Ouput	300W
DC 5521 Output	60W
DC Cigarette Lighter Port	120W
USB-C Output	60W
USB-A Quick Charge Port	18W
Standard USB-A Port	12W
USB-C Recharging	60W
AC Recharging	70W
AC + USB-C Recharging	120W
Size	8.4 x 6.2 x 7.5 inches
Weight	7.7 Pounds

Conclusion

The Powerness Hiker U300 power station is an excellent choice for a small, inexpensive portable power source. The capacity efficiency is one of the best I’ve seen, and you can use a little more than the 300W max output of the power station. The only thing missing is LiFePO4 batteries, but since this is a mini-unit, I think it’s okay, and a wattage input reading would be excellent.