DJI isn’t the first name that springs to mind when it comes to giant batteries—quite the opposite, in fact—because the batteries that go into the company’s drones have to be as small and light as possible. But all that time spent finding the right balance between weight, size, flight time, and charging speed has prepared the company to enter the powerhouse market with the new battery. and smaller .

DJI’s approach to portable power stations is unique, as I learned when testing the flagship Power 1000. It features a powerful 2200W inverter, which is unmatched in such a small package, and also packs a modest 1024Wh battery made from safe and long-lasting LFP cells. It’s also one of the first power stations to ship with a pair of 140W USB-C PD 3.1 outputs.

And to keep things as small and portable as possible, it forgoes other inputs and outputs that you’ll find standard on most power stations. Instead, DJI has developed a versatile “Smart DC” or SDC port that lets you add more I/O via proprietary adapters. But those SDC ports can also charge a selection of DJI’s own drones faster than anything else currently on the market.

The big question I have is for whom is that? Only owners of compatible DJI drones or anyone looking to purchase an all-purpose powerhouse?

If you place the Power 1000 in a fully equipped solar generatorthen you’ll need to buy a lot of proprietary DJI cables. You’ll need a $59 cable that connects to a clunky MPPT solar controller if you want to charge the Power 1000 using solar power, or a $49 cable to charge it while driving using your car’s 12V cigarette lighter. You’ll also need to buy $22 cables if you want to add 12V DC outputs to the power station. These include a car charger port for running things like a portable fridge, an XT60 connector for running an RV’s lights, or an RC plane charger.

You’ll then need to purchase a $19 cable to fast-charge the Intelligent Flight Batteries of DJI’s compatible Matrice 30 series, Air 3, Mavic 3 series, or Inspire 3 drones. I tested my Power 1000 review unit with a DJI Air 3 because the batteries of the other drone DJI sent me to test – a Mini 3 Pro – aren’t compatible with DJI’s SDC ports.

Charging the Air 3’s battery with the Power 1000 has one main advantage over other DJI charging solutions: speed. Unfortunately, charging with the SDC cable is limited to just one battery at a time, as DJI does not yet offer a multi-battery charging hub compatible with DJI’s own SDC port. You can, of course, purchase a second SDC cable for $19.

In my testing, both SDC ports charge the Air 3’s battery at up to 124W according to the Power 1000 display, just under the 125W DJI claims. However, it only reaches this maximum charge rate for a short time, which is to be expected. Charging from 0 to 90 percent took 34 minutes, but the next 10 percent took another 19 minutes, or 53 minutes to charge from 0 to full – nine minutes longer than the That’s still better than the 70 minutes it takes with DJI’s 100W USB-C charger.

I like that the Power 1000 displays the drone battery level in real time with two decimal places accuracy!

DJI says its other compatible drones can make better use of the Power 1000’s SDC ports. The Mavic 3, for example, can pull up to 150W, while the Inspire 3 can pull up to 200W and the Matrice 30 series can pull up to 230W, easily outperforming DJI’s own USB-C fast chargers. The SDC ports can handle up to 400W input and 240W output.

Speaking of USB-C, DJI’s Power 1000 is one of the first power stations to ship with two USB-C PD 3.1 ports and supports a maximum output of 140W per port when using compatible PD 3.1 devices and cables that meet the Extended Power Range (EPR) specification. I was able to test this with a random white label power bank purchased from Amazon as you can see in the picture above. Unfortunately, these USB-C ports are output only, so they cannot be used to charge the power station.

The inverter is impressive and is designed to power most household appliances, including microwaves, space heaters and window air conditioners – albeit briefly. It is rated at 2200W “stable power” or 2600W for “thirty seconds”. In my testing, I managed to get a steady 2400W for about one to two minutes (with two hair dryers) before the unit shut down properly with a warning message on the display. I was then able to run the hair dryers continuously at 2000W for a full five minutes before turning them off.

Charging the Power 1000 from an AC outlet has its own quirks. A switch on the front lets you set the charging speed to 1200W or 600W. The fan is whisper quiet even at that maximum charging rate—I measured just 26dB from a meter away, a little more than the 23dB quoted in the marketing materials. DJI says it charges to 80 percent in about 50 minutes, or 70 minutes to reach 100 percent—and that’s almost exactly what I saw, give or take two minutes.

I should note, however, that the Power 1000 seems to have a tight temperature band for that 1200W maximum charge rate. I’ve seen it regularly throttle charging down to 900W after an intense testing session, which makes sense, but also after sitting unused in a room that was only 17 degrees Celsius for several hours.

• DJI’s SDC to MPPT solar adapter has a theoretical input power of 400W. However, the controller’s input voltage range is only 12-30V, too low for connection a single portable 400W panel This typically produces at least 40V and could damage the power station. DJI’s own Power 1000 solar packs come with 100W panels to reduce the risk of “overvoltage.”
• If the inverter is left on, it will drain the fully charged battery in about two days according to my tests. By default, it will shut down after 30 minutes if no load is detected.
• You can combine SDC charging inputs for faster charging. For example, it can be charged via solar and your car’s cigarette lighter at the same time.
• However, you cannot charge from AC inputs and SDC inputs at the same time.
• The Power 1000 can be used as a UPS in locations where power outages occur frequently.
• There’s no iOS or Android app for remotely controlling or monitoring the Power 1000’s ports, but there is a Mac or Windows app for managing firmware updates—a process I found tedious the first time I did it on my MacBook.
• Although generally very quiet, the fans produce a loud 46 dB under heavy load, but quickly turn down once the load is removed.
• The display is informative and generally easy to read both indoors and outdoors.

If you’re a professional content creator who already owns one of the DJI drones that can utilize the Power 1000’s (or Power 500’s) fast-charging feature, then there’s little reason to look elsewhere for a new charging station, especially if you’re just looking to charge a simple mobile studio.

However, if you’re looking for a general-purpose power station with plenty of solar power that’s ready for anything, you should probably look elsewhere. While the Power 1000 can certainly expand its choice of inputs and outputs thanks to those versatile SDC connectors, nobody wants to manage all those dongles and risk getting caught out in the outback after losing a cable that’s only sold by a single company.

The Power 1000 costs $599 without the SDC adapter. This is more expensive than the and slightly cheaper than the both of which have all the inputs and outputs you need from similarly sized batteries, but can’t match DJI’s incredible ability to provide 2200W of sustained AC power.

All photos by Thomas Ricker / The Verge