Power outage kit — three budget tiers
The same job, three price points. What we recommend at $80, at $300, and at $1,200 — and the honest reasons to pick each.
Budget · ~$80
The minimum that actually works.
Black Diamond Spot 400 headlamp
Headlamps beat handhelds for every chore in the dark. AAA over rechargeable because you can buy them at any gas station.
Coleman Classic Rechargeable LED Lantern
Soft, glare-free light fills a room without blinding anyone. 800 lumens for ~5 hours.
Anker 325 PowerCore Essential 20K
Roughly four phone charges. Keep one in the kit, one in your bag, both topped up monthly. We swapped to the 325 after Anker recalled the 535 — same capacity, current production.
Mid · ~$300
The sweet spot. Buy once.
Goal Zero Yeti 500
Runs a CPAP overnight, charges laptops, keeps phones alive for days. Mid-tier sweet spot. New LiFePO4 chemistry runs cooler, lasts longer (~3,000 cycles vs ~500 on the older NMC Yeti 500X).
EcoFlow River 2 Pro
Recharges itself in under an hour off wall. Solar-ready. Quiet, no fumes, runs indoors.
Premium · ~$1,200
When stakes are high.
EcoFlow Delta Pro
Runs a refrigerator and the rest of a household for a day or more. Stackable to whole-home backup.
Honda EU2200i inverter generator
When you need real wattage for days, gas wins. Honda is the one. Store fuel safely.
How we pick
We buy and use most of what we recommend. We pick by function first, brand second. We don’t accept payment for placements. The affiliate links on this page are labeled with the “Where to buy” arrow — they earn The Backstop a small commission at no cost to you, and they did not change what we recommend or in what order.
For the system that turns this kit into a working two-week plan — what to cycle, when to charge, how to budget a refrigerator on a schedule — see the two weeks without grid power guide. The kit is what to buy. The guide is what to do with it.