UGreen PowerRoam 2200 Review
A flexible and powerful power station for those that need a lot of portable power.
Verdict
The 2048Wh battery and wide range of ports make the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 suitable for those who need a lot of power on the move. It’s a relatively efficient and quiet power station, handling devices of up to 3500W maximum. While you can get similar performance and capacity for less elsewhere, the UGreen PowerRoam 2200’s main advantage is its flexibility: the wheels, which make transport easy, can be removed, making this power station smaller when portability isn’t such an issue.
Pros
- Removable wheels
- Wide range of ports
- Highly expandable
Cons
- Can’t vary charge rate
Key Features
- CapacityThe main battery has a 2048Wh capacity, but the unit can be expanded with five battery packs up to a maximum of 12kWh.
- Power outputThere’s a maximum output of 2300W in regular mode, but U-Turbo mode can support devices up to 3500W.
Introduction
Having more capacity in a power station always seems like a good idea, but there’s a compromise: the larger the battery, the bigger and heavier the device. The UGreen PowerRoam 2200’s solution is to bundle the power station with a mountable set of wheels, so you can move it where it needs to go.
A wide range of outputs, decent power performance and expansion options make this a useful device for camping and other situations where a lot of power is required.
Design and features
- Detachable wheels
- Expandable up to 12kWh
- Useful range of ports
Pulling the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 out of its box, it’s a hefty lump at 25.5kg. Even with the two handles on the side, it’s not an easy power station to move around physically, and you wouldn’t want to carry it far.
Fortunately, UGreen also provides a clip-on trolley in the box, which gives you four chunky wheels for moving the power station around.
This design means you’ve got portability when you need it, but you can also ditch the wheels and save on space if you don’t need to move the UGreen PowerRoam 2200. That’s slightly more flexible than the Anker SOLIX F2000, which has wheels integrated into the body.
There’s also a neat cover in the box, which fits over the power station and has a flap that hides the telescopic handle.
The UGreen PowerRoam 2200 has a 2048Wh battery inside, the same as the SOLIX F2000, which is about enough power to handle around a quarter of an average home’s daily use. If you do need more power, there’s an expansion port, which allows up to five external batteries to be added up to a maximum capacity of 12kWh. That’s a lot of power if you need it, and considerably more than the 4096Wh maximum that the SOLIX F2000 supports.
There’s a good range of ports on this device. At the front are four USB-C ports (one 140W, one 100W, and two 45W), and two 22.5W USB-A ports. That should provide enough for the average family to charge phones, laptops and tablets. There’s a wide selection of DC outputs, including a standard car outlet.
Turn the device around and there are four UK power outlets, rated at a maximum of 2300W. They’re quite well-spaced, but the two left-hand sockets face the two right-hand ones, so odd-shaped adaptors may cause blockages, and you might want to travel with extension cables.
The front has a screen that shows the current charge percentage, plus the input power and charge time remaining and the output power and charge time left. While plugged in, power is passed through; in the event of a power cut, the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 acts as a UPS with a 20ms switchover time.
Via the PowerRoam app, you can control the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, toggling its DC and AC outlets, and keeping an eye on the power usage (in and out). There’s also UGreen’s U-Turbo that can be toggled on.
This reduces the voltage to support some devices up to 3500W; typically, you need devices that aren’t sensitive to voltage drops, such as kettles.
There’s also a Battery Preservation Mode, which stops the battery charging at 90% and turns off all outputs at 10%. This will let the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 last for longer, but at the expense of available capacity.
UGreen has provided a light on the front, which is useful if you need to see what you’re doing in front of the device. It has two brightness levels, and two modes of flashing, the first of which is a little too energetic.
Charging
- Charges from mains in 90 minutes
- Takes up to 1.2kW of solar input
Mains charging is limited to 2100W, and you can’t drop this should you be on a limited power supply. At this rate, the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 can be charged from flat to full in just over 90 minutes, which is pretty rapid.
Powered over the mains, I measured a total energy use of 2157kWh, which makes charging a healthy 94.95% efficient.
If you’re away from mains power then the PowerRoam 2200 can also be powered via solar, accepting up to 1.2kW of input. In optimum conditions, you could charge via solar in just a few hours.
Performance
- Can run devices up to 3500W
- Comparatively very efficient at mid-to-high loads
All power stations are tested in the same way under different loads. Starting with a 1kW load, I found that the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 provided a total of 1813Wh of power, making it 88.53% efficient. That’s a good turnaround and compares well to the competition. Some power is lost to run the internal systems and the inverter, which converts the DC power of the battery into AC power.
Pushing the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 with a 2kW load, power consumption dropped down to 85.01%, which is still good and shows that this power station can handle power output at its maximum rating.
I then turned on U-Boost and ran a fan heater and air conditioner at the same time. This dropped voltage to handle the load, although the output was still the maximum 2300W. However, this technology made the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 less efficient, delivering just 57.23% of its rated capacity.
I also found that, rather than gently powering off when the battery was flat, the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 tended to flash a warning at one or two per cent, cutting the AC outlets off with a beep.
When it is running at full load, the fans kick in, but they’re not terribly loud; certainly no worse than having a desktop PC running.
UGreen says the power station is rated for 3000 charge cycles until it reaches 80% capacity. Assuming a linear drop, this means that this device would provide 5529.80kWh of power, which works out to 36p per kWh of storage (not including the cost of generating the electricity). That’s not bad, but it’s about 3p per kWh more expensive than the Anker Solix FX2000 at standard prices.
At the time of the review, the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 was available for just £1399.99, which drops the price per kWh to just 25p. If you can find the power station at or around that price, then it’s a steal.
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Should you buy it?
You need flexibility and portability
This power station has a large battery and can be mounted on wheels when you need to travel or kept as a smaller unit for when you don’t.
You want lower running costs
For less money, you can buy rival power stations that have the same capacity and similar performance.
Final Thoughts
The main advantage that the UGreen PowerRoam 2200 has over its direct competition is its flexibility. If you want this power station to take up the minimum amount of room, you can detach the wheels; if you’re camping and need it to be portable, then the wheels go back on.
High-efficiency levels and a good range of ports help, but unless you can find a good deal, you can buy the Anker Solix F2000 for a few hundred pounds, which has the same rated capacity and similar performance figures, though with a bigger chassis with permanent wheels. Alternatively, if you don’t need wheels, the Ecoflow Delta 2 Max is generally cheaper still.
How we test
We test every battery station we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
We test with a variety of devices to see how long the battery will last.
We test different charging methods to see how quickly the battery can be topped up.
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FAQs
Yes, you can add up to five additional batteries for a total of 12kWh of power.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
