Guillaume Hoarau, whom everyone calls "16", is the adventurer of Best Batteries. The nickname has nothing to do with geography: it comes from his openly admitted fondness for a certain lager whose name ends in 1664, which insiders happily shorten to "16". The team settled the matter long ago, it will be "16" on his badge as well as at the coffee machine.
As head of content and, officially, the site's publication manager, he sets the tone of the editorial line, approves the articles and keeps the whole thing consistent. A power bank specialist, he has put hundreds of them through their paces, from the tiniest models to fifty-thousand-milliamp-hour monsters. His method is unlike any other: rather than the laboratory, he chooses real life. He takes the units hiking, lends them to his children for their tablets and puts them through everyday abuse for weeks before writing a single line. The result: tests that talk about real use, actual weight in the backpack and usable runtime, not just numbers.
Convinced that honest content is what sets Best Batteries apart from ordinary shops, he constantly pushes the team to go further. His guides on choosing a power bank, taking batteries on a plane and portable solar panels are among the most-read pieces on the blog.
Away from the office, Guillaume lives his passion to the full. A fan of wild camping, hiking and travel, he is also hooked on prepping and survivalism. For a few years now he has been restoring an old farmhouse he dreams of making fully self-sufficient: already 100% energy-independent (solar, wind and storage batteries), and not far off for the rest. Needless to say, he tests solar power banks and power stations in the most real-world conditions imaginable. That sensibility makes him the natural writer for the site whenever a topic touches on autonomy, energy resilience or gear for getting by far from the grid.
The Jackery Explorer 300D drops the mains socket entirely and keeps only USB-C and 12 V. The technical bet pays off: 93 % of the advertised capacity is genuinely delivered, and the station stays silent even under sustained use. But one specific point about its carry cable deserves to be known before buying.
Published on August 30, 2026 by Guillaume
With a round-trip efficiency measured at 87 to 90 % across several independent tests, the Zendure SolarFlow 2400 Pro delivers on one of its most important promises, but documented firmware bugs and recurring Wi-Fi drops tarnish a dual DC and AC solar input that has not yet been verified at full combined power.
Published on August 29, 2026 by Guillaume
With two oversized MPPT inputs and an IP67 rating rare for this format, the EcoFlow Stream microinverter largely lives up to its promises, but its most advanced AI assistant is billed without this being disclosed, and the zero-injection mode can fail even with the recommended smart meter.
Published on August 29, 2026 by Guillaume
The only model in its comparison to offer a genuine off-grid backup output up to 1200 W, the Fossibot FBP1200 looks appealing on paper, but its announced 837 € in yearly savings doesn't line up with the manufacturer's own figures, and an electric kettle is enough to stall it.
Published on August 29, 2026 by Guillaume
With round-trip efficiency at 87.6% and a backup switchover in 15 to 20 ms, the Zendure SolarFlow 1600 AC+ delivers on the technical promises of its pure AC coupling, but its claimed "100% of inverters" compatibility has never been independently verified, and its software setup proves trickier than the hardware installation itself.
Published on August 29, 2026 by Guillaume
A solar power bank: genuinely useful or a marketing gimmick? We explain what solar top-up charging is really worth, which uses actually make sense, and how to pick the right model without falling for the false promises.
Published on July 23, 2026 by Guillaume
This compact 227 g power bank delivers a manufacturer-declared efficiency of 74 %, a value above average, but its simultaneous three-port charging drops to 15 W in total and its actual per-port output stays below the advertised 22.5 W.
Published on August 27, 2026 by Guillaume
This entry-level power bank delivers measured output below its advertised 18 W and has no USB-C output at all, but its own recharging keeps its promise and its capacity remains decent for the price, provided you do not trust the weight sometimes listed well below the real figure.
Published on August 27, 2026 by Guillaume
140 W advertised, a control display, and four ports to replace every charger in a bag. What that figure really means over time, how the power splits once all four ports are in use, and why the manufacturer's own spec sheet contradicts itself on its own weight.
Published on August 26, 2026 by Guillaume
The Zendure Ace 1500 is not a power station like the others: it is a conversion hub, sold without a battery, meant to be paired with additional AB1000 or AB2000 packs. Once set up, it provides a genuine automatic backup function during outages, but several points deserve clarification before you buy: its real output depends directly on how many batteries are connected, its on-grid mode feeds nothing back into the home network, and its IP31 housing limits it to sheltered use.
Published on August 26, 2026 by Guillaume
With 288 Wh, no mains socket, and a 140 W USB-C port whose measured efficiency sits close to 94 %, the EcoFlow Trail 300 DC fully commits to its all direct current design. But that efficiency is not uniform: on the 12 V car outlet, it drops to around 81 %, which tempers the promise of a 100 % DC architecture that is necessarily more efficient. Another point worth knowing before buying: this recent product (launched in August 2025) has not been the subject of any independent lab test found to date, in any language.
Published on August 26, 2026 by Guillaume
With 288 Wh, mains charging faster than advertised, and a 5-year warranty rare in its category, the Explorer 300 Plus is a well-designed little station. But one fact matters more than any of that: Jackery has officially discontinued this model, replaced by the Explorer 300 v2. What follows remains useful for anyone who finds one in stock or already owns one, but availability should be checked before any new purchase.
Published on August 25, 2026 by Guillaume
Updated on September 1, 2026