Jackery Explorer 500 v2vs Goal Zero Yeti 500

Type these two names into a search bar and you’re asking about two machines that have left the shelf. Goal Zero’s Yeti 500X shows sold out on its own site. Its replacement, the sixth-generation Yeti 500, swaps the old NMC cells for lithium iron phosphate and moves from a two-year warranty to five. Jackery’s original Explorer 500 has dropped out of Jackery’s US lineup in favor of the Explorer 500 v2.

The current rematch is closer than the old one ever was: 512 watt-hours against 499, 500 watts continuous against 500, two AC outlets apiece, LFP on both sides. On the spec sheet they’re nearly the same box. The differences are in the manuals, and they cut in opposite directions.

Battery & cold weather: Jackery, on paper

About 13 watt-hours separates the two packs. That’s under 3%, roughly one phone charge. The cycle ratings look like a Jackery rout, 6,000 against 4,000, but the two companies measure to different finish lines.

The difference you’d actually notice at a campsite is temperature. Both units will discharge down to -4°F. Only one is rated to charge below freezing. Jackery’s manual gives a charging range of -4°F to 113°F, and the Yeti’s user guide starts at 32°F. Think of a frosty morning with the solar panel already out, or an unheated garage in January: the Yeti won’t take a charge until it warms up.

One caveat: the Jackery’s cold-charging figure is a manufacturer claim. Its own manual warns that charging power varies with temperature, and we found no independent test of it. The round goes to Jackery on the strength of the spec sheet.

Charging & solar: the Yeti ships in slow mode

3 hours How long a new Yeti 500 takes to charge from the wall as it ships. Goal Zero sets it to a 240 W Low mode at the factory. The advertised 90-minute charge only happens after you switch it to High.

Goal Zero is upfront about why: its user guide says slower charging keeps the unit cooler and quieter and maximizes battery life. But plenty of owners will never find the switch, which is a button combination: hold INFO, press AC once, then press AC again. In High mode the Yeti draws 500 W and fills in about 1.4 hours. OutdoorGearLab’s lab ran into the same default on the Yeti 700, the 500’s bigger sibling on the same platform, and timed 2.5 hours to full out of the box. The Jackery needs no setup. It charges to full in about 80 minutes, 0–80% in 52, straight out of the carton.

Solar is the bigger split. Both accept 200 W, but not from the same panels.

The Yeti takes back a little ground from a car socket, charging in 5 hours against the Jackery’s 6. Neither ships with the car cable.

Ports & app: the Yeti is the better-equipped box

Count the outputs and the Yeti has eight to the Jackery’s six. Both have the same two AC outlets and the same 100 W + 30 W pair of USB-C ports. The Yeti adds a second USB-A port and a 6 mm 12-volt barrel port beside its car socket. It also puts a flip-up cover over the port panel and carries an IPX4 rating for splashing water, though OutdoorGearLab found the same cover on the Yeti 700 doesn’t fully close and blocks the display. Jackery publishes no water-resistance rating for the 500 v2, but it does build in an LED light with an SOS mode, which the Yeti doesn’t have.

The bigger gap is software. The Yeti pairs over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with Goal Zero’s Power app. The app shows battery level, time to empty, input by source and battery health, and switches individual ports on and off from your phone. It’s also how firmware updates arrive. That channel proved its worth in August 2026, when Goal Zero fixed a CPSC recall of about 46,200 Yeti 3000X stations with overheating circuit boards through a firmware update pushed out over the app. The recall doesn’t cover the Yeti 500, but it shows what the channel is for.

The Explorer 500 v2 has no app, no Wi-Fi and no Bluetooth. T3’s reviewer also flagged that its small screen gives no time-remaining estimate, something the Yeti’s screen shows without a phone. The app does have one cost: Goal Zero’s support site advises switching off the Wi-Fi for camping trips with no network, because it slowly drains the battery while it searches for a connection.

Warranty fine print: same five years, different homework

Both boxes say “5-year warranty.” Goal Zero’s five years apply to every sixth-generation LFP Yeti, and registration isn’t required. A leftover Yeti 500X, if you find one on clearance, carries only two. Jackery’s five are three standard years plus two more if you register the unit.

The clause that matters more is maintenance.

In fairness to Jackery, it claims the v2 loses only about 5% of its charge over six months in storage, so the top-up is easy. It just has to happen on schedule. Otherwise the terms are alike: both warranties cover the original buyer only, and only for units bought from the brand or an authorized seller, so a secondhand unit carries nothing. The Yeti takes the round on terms, though not by a lot.

Price & weight: $140 and three and a half pounds

$0.70 vs $1.00 Street price per watt-hour: $359 for 512 Wh of Jackery against $499.95 for 499 Wh of Yeti.

The Yeti is holding at its $499.95 list at Goal Zero, with Scheels $4 under that. A December 2024 coupon deal took it to about $336, so it does get discounted, just not right now. The Explorer 500 v2 is $399 direct from Jackery and $359 at Amazon, Walmart and authorized dealers. That’s about $140 less for the same output and slightly more capacity.

The Jackery is also the lighter carry, 12.6 lb against 16.1. The Yeti weighs 28% more while holding 13 fewer watt-hours, a gap you feel on the walk from the car to the campsite. And if the Yeti’s $500 is already in the budget, Jackery’s own Explorer 600 v2 (640 Wh, the same 500 W output) lists at about that price.

Where they’re genuinely the same

Both are 500 W continuous, 1,000 W surge, pure sine wave, with two AC outlets, and 500 W means 500 W on both. In T3’s testing, an 800 W heater on its low setting pushed the Jackery’s inverter just past 700 W, and it cut out after 41 seconds. The surge rating is there to start motors, not to run kettles or hair dryers, on either unit. Both pass wall power through and switch to battery during an outage in under 20 ms (the Jackery in under 10). Both manufacturers say that isn’t fast enough for equipment that can’t tolerate any interruption. Both top out at 200 W of solar, neither is allowed on a plane, and both are made in China.

On efficiency, neither of these two has had an independent lab test we could find, but their closest siblings have. OutdoorGearLab measured the Yeti 700 delivering 83% of its rated capacity through the AC outlets, and the Explorer 1000 v2 delivering 85%. If the siblings are a guide, expect roughly 415–435 Wh of usable AC power from either one. Owner ratings are close too: 4.4 stars from 113 Amazon ratings for the Jackery, 4.6 from 62 for the Yeti. Both pools are small, and neither shows a pattern of complaints large enough to call.

The verdict

For most people: the Jackery Explorer 500 v2. It delivers the same 500 watts and the same half-kilowatt-hour for about $140 less, and it’s 3.5 pounds lighter. It charges at full speed out of the box, takes solar panels up to 60 volts, and is the only one of the two rated to charge below freezing. For a camp power station that rides in a trunk and tops up from a panel, that covers most of what matters.

Buy the Goal Zero Yeti 500 instead if you want the phone app for remote monitoring, per-port switching and firmware updates. Buy it too if the box will spend its life around spray and drizzle: a boat deck, a beach, a tailgate in the rain. Its IPX4 rating is the only water-resistance claim in this duel. It’s also the natural pick if you already own Goal Zero panels and Yeti-ready gear, or if it’s an emergency unit that sits in a closet between outages. There, a charge every 12 to 18 months is an easier schedule to keep than Jackery’s six. And if you do buy the Yeti, switch it to High mode the day it arrives.