(Last Updated On: October 3, 2020)

Portable power sources are devices that have power capabilities that go beyond just any normal power bank.

They’re meant for charging devices and powering once too as they have components such as DC ports and AC Outlets to power your appliances.

With that said, at Charger Harbor we have done reviews on a few portable power supplies such as the PowerHouse, Goal Zero Yeti 400, and the Jackery Power Pro that have all proved to be great devices when it comes to providing powerful and long-lasting power when you don’t have a stable source of it.

However, in this review, we’re going beyond the point of those portable power supplies because this Goal Zero Yeti 1250 Portable Power Station is the next step of power that you can take with you wherever you find it reliable for whenever you need to power and charge.

It boasts a lot more features than the power supplies that I have just mentioned and so many more features that you may even consider purchasing it.

Let’s see what this abominable snowman has to offer.

Similar Portable Power Stations:

Power

Power Capacity:

The power capacity of the Yeti 1250 is the highest that we’ve ever seen as it has an AGM Lead-Acid battery with a capacity of 1200Wh and that’s 360,000mAh.

This a lot of power that matches the powering and charging abilities that it has, because if it had a significantly lower capacity then it wouldn’t last very long if you were heavily using the power supply.

Lots of Variations for Output Power Capacity

Of course, the initial power capacity of 360,000mAh isn’t going to be what you’re going to be receiving, especially with a power supply that has so much powering and charging paths.

That’s because the power is going to go through a conversion rate and that is going to result in a lower Output power capacity that you’re able to use towards the devices that you use with the Yeti 1250.

Now, the conversion of power is going to change depending on your usage of the portable charger because if you’re using all 3 AC Outlet at the same time, then the conversion of power is going to be lower. After all, there is lots of power likely to be used.

On the flip side if you’re just charging USB devices such as your smartphones and tablets then that’s going to result in a better Output power capacity because there is less power being outputted.

In this review, we’re going to calculate the Output power capacity that you will most likely get when you’re using the Yeti 1250 moderately.

3.7 x 360,000 = 1,332,000 / 5 = 266,400

	Goal Zero Yeti 1250 Portable Power Station (Output Power Capacity = 266,400mAh)	Phone Capacity	Goal Zero Yeti 1250 Portable Power Station Left Over Capacity after One Charge Number of Full Charges for the Device
iPhone SE	266,400mAh	1,624mAh	264,776mAh Left Over 164.0 Full Charges
iPhone 6	266,400mAh	1,810mAh	264,590mAh Left Over 147.1 Full Charges
iPhone 6 Plus	266,400mAh	2,915mAh	263,485mAh Left Over 91.3 Full Charges
iPhone 6s	266,400mAh	1,715mAh	264,685mAh Left Over 155.3 Full Charges
iPhone 6s Plus	266,400mAh	2,750mAh	263,650mAh Left Over 96.8 Full Charges
Samsung Galaxy S6	266,400mAh	2,550mAh	263,850mAh Left Over 104.4 Full Charges
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge	266,400mAh	2,600mAh	263,800mAh Left Over 102.4 Full Charges
Samsung Galaxy S7	266,400mAh	3,000mAh	263,400mAh Left Over 88.8 Full Charges
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	266,400mAh	3,600mAh	262,800mAh Left Over 74 Full Charges
Apple iPad Mini 2	266,400mAh	6,470mAh	259,930mAh Left Over 41.1 Full Charges
Apple iPad Mini 4	266,400mAh	5,124mAh	261,276mAh Left Over 51.9 Full Charges

So if you’re using the Yeti 1250 portable power station moderately, it could result in an Output power capacity of 266,400mAh.

With that said, even that Output power capacity is somewhat unrealistic because you’re purchasing this power supply to use the AC Outlets, 12V, and DC Output ports. If that’s the case and you’re heavily using power, then the Output power capacity of 266,400mAh that we calculated could be significantly lower.

Let’s go over how this 266,400mAh power capacity can charge devices such as smartphones because even though you will be powering lots of appliances with this power supply, we think that you’re always going to be coming back to charge your USB chargeable devices.

Power Capacity for Smartphones is Endless

Smartphones can charge forever with this portable power station because just a single full charge from any smartphone is like a drop of water in the ocean for this Yeti 1250.

For example, an iPhone 7 with its 2,900mAh power capacity can charge to its full power 92 times, or an iPhone SE with its low 1,624mAh capacity can charge to full 164 times.

Then if you’re charging higher capacity smartphones it won’t make very much of a difference because you’re able to charge a Galaxy S8 with its 3,000mAh battery capacity can charge 88 times to full power; even other larger smartphones like the Google Pixel XL that has a 3,450mAh capacity can charge to full power 77 times.

Overall, if you plan on charging smartphones with this power supply then it’s irrelevant having to worry about how many full charges you’re going to be getting because it’s a lot.

That said, we’re simply measuring the number of full charges that you’re able to get by just charging these devices only with the Yeti 1250 and nothing else.

Realistically, you would be getting less full power charges because you’re most likely going to be using powering and charging other devices at the same time; either way, you’d still be getting lots of full power charges.

Power Capacity for Tablets

Charging tablets with the Yeti 1250 holds no problems either.

Charging Mini tablets such as the iPad Mini 2 or Mini 4 is going to result in about 48 full charges. Then charging an iPad Air 2 can result in 36 full power charges.

Power Capacity for Laptops

Since this power supply has the capability for charging laptops, it’s also able to charge many laptops multiple times to their full power.

It’s going to depend on what laptop you own but for the most part, lots of laptops can change to their full power 10 times or more with this Yeti 1250 portable power supply.

Output Charging:

USB Ports:

There are 3 USB ports with this power supply and each of the USB ports has a charging speed of 5V/2.1A.

For the most part that is a good charging speed which is going to charge most smartphones and tablets at their max power.

With that said, none of the USB ports are using Quick Charge tech so if you have a Quick Charge compatible smartphone, then it’s not going to charge at its max charging speeds when you use the USB ports.

Even so, a 2.1 Amp charging speed is a lot better than just a single amp speed.

12V Outlet and Goal Zero DC Output Ports:

There’s a section that’s labeled as “12V” and that’s where you’re able to find the 12V Outlet which likes any other 12V outlet that you find in a car so you can use it with devices that you normally use with the one in your car but in this case, you’re using them with the Yeti 1250.

It has up to 12V/10A of power that you can use or you can look at it as having 120Watts output of power.

Then the other two ports next to the 12V outlet are DC Outputs that are compatible to use with Goal Zero products such as their lights.

It’s quite a bit odd that they didn’t just create universal DC Output ports that you can use with other appliances but it’s still something useful if you’re a heavy user of Goal Zero products.

Anderson Output:

The Anderson Output is a port that not many people are familiar with because there are not too many people that use it.

One of the most common uses of the Anderson Output is that it allows the passthrough of charge from a vehicle’s battery and then it goes through to one that is in a caravan.

To put it simply, you’re able to use the power from the Yeti 1250 to power the appliances within a vehicle rather than having the vehicle’s battery power the appliances such as lights and other things.

The Anderson Port has an Output power capability of 12V/33A; also known as 400Watts max power.

AC Outlets

One of the most useful parts of this Yeti 1250 is its usage of 3 AC Outlets so you can power 3 appliances at once and the continuous wattage amount is 1200Watts and it has a 1500Watt Surge Pure-Sine Wave capabilities.

So the AC Outlets on this Yeti 1250 portable power supply are basically like AC Outlets that are found in your own home; as you’re able to use a blender, power a fridge, or use a humidifier with the power that the AC Outlets have.

Just make sure that you know the power requirements for the devices that you plan on using the AC Outlets before purchasing because you don’t want to purchase the Yeti 1250 and later figure out that you’re not able to power the appliance that you planned on using with it.

Here’s the full power Output status of the AC Outlet portion: 110VAC 60Hz, 10A (1200W continuous, 1500W surge max)

Input Charging:

There are three main ways that you’re able to recharge the Yeti 1250 power supply.

Three Ways of Recharging the Yeti 1250:

AC and Solar

It uses 2 DC Input ports and there are two because you can either use the AC Adapter charger that that’s going to give you a charging speed of 16-48V/10A (160Watts) and that results in the power supply being able to charge to its full power in about 7-8 hours.

Then the other charging DC port can be used by a Solar charger and you can have the Yeti 1250 being recharged through Solar power.

However, it’s important to know that Solar recharging is going to result in longer recharging because you may not always have sunlight hitting your Solar Charger.

That is why you can use both the AC Adapter and the Solar panel recharging methods at the same time for maximum recharging efficiency.

Anderson Input

Then the third Input for recharging the Yeti 1250 is by using the Anderson Input port that you can use for recharging if you have a certain adapter to use it with.

If not, then you’re most likely going to be using the AC Adapter method or Solar charger method for recharging.

One of the best parts of the Yeti 1250 is that you can recharge it while you’re using it, so it’s capable of Pass-Through Charging; that way, you don’t have to worry about it running out of power.

Jackery Power Pro 500Wh Portable Power Station

Design

Size and Weight:

The part that you’re going to find the most inconvenient about the Goal Zero Yeti 1250 is its size and weight because this is simply something that you can’t take lightly when you want it to be portable. As its power capacity has made it very large and heavy.

It has a length of 11 inches, a width of 16 inches, and a thickness of 14.5 inches. The weight of the power supply is 103 pounds.

So if you’ve gotta be ready to move some weight around when you get this power supply because it’s really heavy and we’re talking about having to use your legs to pick this power supply up off the ground.

This thing is no joke when you want to move it somewhere.

Functional Components:

On the functional side of things, the Yeti 1250 is very easy to use because it has all of its functional parts right in front where they’re easy to see and use.

Each separate group of charging and powering has its label divided into their own space.

This makes it easier to tell what is what. Also, each of the Output options has its button and once you press the button it activates that certain powering or charging spot.

So if you press the button above AC Outlet, the light for that button turns on to show that the AC Outlets have been activated and are now ready to use.

The same is true for when you use the USB ports and also for the Anderson PowerPole port and 12V Outlets too. Just the press of a button and you’re on your way to however you want to use the power supply.

Above the powering options is where there’s an LCD screen and you can press the display button to turn it on.

The LCD screen shows you the Input power in Watts when the power supply is being recharged and it also shows the Output power in Watts for when you’re using the Output ports. The center is where it shows the power capacity that is left to use with the Yeti 1250 and it shows the capacity in increments of 20%.

The capacity goes:

• Full
• 80
• 60
• 40
• 20

At the top is where there are two handles and at the center is where there’s a small hatch where you can place the AC Adapter for recharging the Yeti 1250 and any other cables that you may want to store close to it.

Build

Structure and Material:

The build quality of the Yeti 1250 is held very strong and we realize that it’s made of plastic everywhere but how it’s held together is what makes it very strong as it’s held together by large screws and there are large plates that hold everything together.

Rather than just small pieces that would make things brittle.

As for functional parts of the Yeti 1250, they are great to use because they have a high quality feel with every use.

Tech:

On the tech side, the Yeti 1250 keeps things safe and secure by being able to monitor the status of the battery and how many Watts are being outputted so it knows when to shut itself off if you were to go beyond the point of its max output power.

Reliability

This is as reliable as it gets because the Yeti 1250 has a very high power capacity that can charge smartphones, tablets, laptops, and a whole bunch of other devices to their max power multiple times over.

It doesn’t just stop there though, as the power supply has lots of Output capabilities to power your devices at the same time.

One of the most useful powering factors that it has is its use of 3 AC Outlets and the max power of 1,200Watts is basically like using an AC Outlet in your home.

The only unreliable thing about the Yeti 1250 is its insanely large size and heavyweight of 103 pounds.

You can’t expect to pick this up with just a single hand. Instead, you’re going to need to use your legs and Deadlift this power supply off the ground.

Goal Zero Yeti 400 Portable Power Station

Summary:

Power:

It has lots of power to go around and many powering/charging options to keep you covered.

Design:

It’s very easy to use as it has a button to activate each space of Output and an LCD that shows its power capacity and Output/Input power that is being used.

Build:

On the build side of things, the Goal Zero is a powerful power supply that is held together by quite a lot of screws and a tech system that can keep everything stable.

Reliability:

It’s reliable in basically every way except for its large size and heavyweight.

More Portable Power Supply Reviews

Specs of the Goal Zero Yeti 1250 Portable Power Station:

• Power Capacity: 360,000mAh
• Output:

USB Ports:  Each: 5V/2.1A

12V Outlet: 12V/10A (120Watts)

Goal Zero DC Output Ports: 12V/10A (120Watts)

Anderson Port: 12V/33A (400Watts)

AC Outlets: 110VAC 60Hz, 10A (1200W continuous, 1500W surge max)

• Input:            Recharging Speed – 16-48V/10A (160Watts)

AC Adapter

Solar Charger

Anderson Input port

• LED Power Indicators: LCD Display
• Size: 11 x 16 x 14.5 inches
• Weight: 103 Pounds

Conclusion:

This Goal Zero 1250 Power Station is one of the best power stations out on the market as it has lots of powerful capabilities to charge your devices beyond the times that you’d expect and it can charge powerful appliances that other portable power supplies can’t.

This is truly able to power some of the most demanding of devices that we use and it does a great job at it.