Laser NRGVault PV1500 review: An awkward balance
The NRGVault PV1500 from Laser is a solid balance between power and price, but is awkwardly shaped for transporting while camping.
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Pros
- Plug and play - no setup required
- Plenty of connection ports
- Reliable power supply
Cons
- Heavier than it looks
- Handle makes storage awkward
- LED lights are too bright at night
Portable power stations are all about balance. You need something that has enough juice to recharge your gadgets multiple times. You need something with enough ports to let you charge multiple things at once. You need it to actually be portable.
Laser’s PV1500 offers a nice balance of power, ports, and capacity for a portable power station. It does everything it needs to well, offering plenty of connections, both inputs and outputs, to take with you on a camping trip, or as a partner on a work site.
But the portability feels a bit awkward here. The integrated handle – while convenient for carrying – is awkward for packing away for a road trip. And the PV1500 feels heavier than it looks.
Still, it’s also one of the more affordable options on the market for its capacity, making it a solid option. Let’s see how it breaks down.
What is the PV1500 offering?
The NRGVault PV1500’s Lithium Iron Phosphate battery (LiFePO4) has a 1,288 Wh capacity and a maximum output of 1500 W. That output is enough to power a range of small appliances, especially given it can handle a startup surge to 2000 W.
There’s no shortage of output ports to use that power with, either. The front of the PV1500 has four 240 V AC power ports, plus four USB-A ports and two 100W USB-C ports.
There’s also a pair of DC power outputs (The 5521 type, if that means anything to you), plus a car cigarette lighter style 12V DC port as well.
That makes a total of 13 different outputs, which is pretty impressive. The only real consideration with so many ports is that you have to share the 1500W across all ports, so you can’t exceed a total of 1500W across connections.
To charge the PV1500, there are three options. The quickest and most effective option is charging via the included AC cable from your home’s electricity. But there is also a 12V DC input, as well as a solar charging input port.
Controlling the power station is fairly simple. There’s a dedicated button to turn the entire unit on or off, with additional buttons to power the different connection types: USB, AC or DC.
You can power multiple areas simultaneously, like charging your laptop through the AC ports and your phone via USB-C.
Central to all the ports on the front of the PV1500 is the LCD. This screen offers a huge amount of information, from the amount of power coming in to the station, the amount being pumped out, the current capacity and the remaining time the unit’s batteries will last.
What does the PV1500 do well?
The NRGVault promises power, and it delivers power. With its plethora of ports and 1500 W output, it was effortless to keep my gadgets powered up.
The 1500 W output wasn’t quite enough to power the Ninja Woodfire grill, so it’s not going to solve for all use cases. But it certainly offered enough juice to recharge a bunch of phones simultaneously.
I couldn’t test the DC or solar input charging methods (these require additional cables that don’t come in the box), but charging the unit is pretty quick over AC. Laser claims it’ll charge from flat in under two hours over AC, which matches my experience.
The battery is rated to last for 2,500 cycles to 80%, which means after it’s been recharged 2500 times, it will still offer 80% of its capacity. This is solid, and should give you years of usage before you need to think about replacing it. It's not as impressive as the 4,000 cycles of the EcoFlow Delta Pro 3, but it's also a lot cheaper. There’s a 36-month warranty as well.
What could the PV1500 improve?
While the battery performance was great, the design of the PV1500 was a source of frustration.
The power station’s handle, while convenient for moving the device, makes it awkward to pack in and around. If you are looking for a unit to squeeze into your car for a camping trip, the fact the handle sticks up above the rest of the unit makes it difficult to pack around.
It’s also heavy. Weight is to be expected in a portable power station, but the PV1500 feels heavier than it looks. At 15.8 kg, it’s not easy to move around, and you may want to consider a lighter option, like the Bluetti AC2A if you need to carry your power station around a lot.
The LCD can be a bit difficult to read in full sunlight, but that’s a minor quibble.
More challenging is that each output button has a blue LED light to show when it is working, which can get quite bright in the dark. If you intended to have this in a tent, charging your phone overnight, it would be very, very distracting.
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Verdict
Impossibly easy to use, with plenty of power and an abundance of ports, the NRGVault PV1500 is a solid power station option.
But its design makes it a bit awkward for packing away as a camping accessory. It’s maybe better suited as a backup for a tradesperson, or in a caravan where it doesn’t need to be moved around too often.
Given its RRP of $1,499, it offers an excellent balance between price and power. It’s a bit heavy and awkward, but if you can manage that, the ease of connection and numerous connection options make this a solid purchase.
