Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus Review: Big Power, Bigger Expectations

If you’ve been looking at power stations for light to heavy home backup, you’ve probably come across the Anker SOLIX F3800. Its release was Anker’s first big step into the serious solar generator space. While it was certainly impressive, and we still recommend it regularly, it was not without its quirks.

Now, Anker is back with the release of the F3800 Plus, a second-gen update that promises to fix a few of the missteps they took with the design of the F3800. On top of that, it supposed to also push the power and performance of the original to even higher hights.

So, did Anker fix the problems with the original unit? Is the Plus version of the F3800 actually worth the extra money? And how does it stack up against other powerhouse options like the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Ultra?

Let’s break it all down.

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F3800 Plus Specs Overview: What’s New and What’s Not

Before we dive into the details and discuss where we think the F3800 Plus hit the money, and where we think it still fall could have been improved, let’s take a quick look at its specs and design:

• Weight: At 136 lbs, it does pass the “Tiny Baby Lift Test”, but you probably won’t want to carry it any considerable distance solo
• Battery Capacity: The 3,840Wh battery is expandable up to 53.8kWh
• AC Input:
  
  • 1,800W at 120V (via a standard AC wall plug)
  • 6,000W at 240V (via the generator adapter)
• Solar Input: 3,200W (this is a big improvement over the original F3800)
• AC Output: The 6,000W inverter supports 120V and 240V (via a L14-30 generator plug). Basically, the same as the original, but that’s totally fine since the inverter output was one of the first version’s best features
• The 30A “RV” Outlet: It’s actually only 25A outlet, but still useful for RVing and tiny homes
• Output Ports: 6 x 120V ports (three of them are UPS-enabled), 1 x 12V car socket, 3 x USB-C, 2 x USB-A
• Additional Connectivity: There are inputs for the Anker SOLIX Home Power Panel, the expansion batteries, and a dedicated smart generator port, which is new to the F3800 Plus
• App & Display: You get the same excellent Anker screen and app experience as before

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What We Like About the F3800 Plus

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s jump into the things we liked the most about this newer version of the F3800:

The Thoughtful and Surprisingly Portable Design:

Anker didn’t mess with the winning elements from the original F3800. You still get:

• Smooth caster wheels with locks, which is awesome on such a big boy
• The durable suitcase-style telescoping handle
• The hidden and sturdy handles for team lifts and carrying the unit
• Bump stops so you can lay it down gently
• Separated input and output ports on either side of the unit to help you avoid dealing with a confusing cable spaghetti

Just like the original, the F3800 Plus remains one of the most user-friendly and maneuverable large power stations—even if it is quite heavy.

The Improved Solar Input (Finally):

One of the original F3800’s most frustrating flaws was its theoretical 2,400W solar input that didn’t work unless you used Anker’s own low-voltage solar panels. When we tested this in the real-world, we could barely hit a solar input rate of 1,600W, which is just way below what you want to see in such a high-capacity beast.

Anker really addressed this issue with the F3800 Plus. You now get a true 3,200W solar input, which is compatible with normal MC4 solar panels. The connectors are proprietary, yes—but they work, and the voltage/amperage range is finally wide enough to match most high-quality solar setups.

To put it in less technical language, you can use pretty much any solar panels to charge it, and hit way faster charge speeds—huge wins for those looking to hook their power station up to a low-cost solar panel array.

It’s Much Quieter Than You’d Expect:

While it doesn’t match the whisper-quiet performance of the EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra, which remains one of the quietest power stations we’ve ever tested, the F3800 Plus is still surprisingly quiet, even when you’re really pushing it.

That’s another big plus for RV enthusiasts, those living the van-life, campers, those planning to use it in a workshop or office, or even those who just want to run this thing in their bedroom while sleeping during an outage.

The “30 Amp” Outlet Is Actually Useful:

Even though the 30A plug is technically 25A (more on that in a moment), we still like that Anker went this route instead of the 50A plug found on some systems. For the average user—especially those using it to power an RV, tiny home, or trailer—30A is a much more practical choice than a 50A output.

240V Generator Charging (With a Catch):

The F3800 Plus can charge at a ridiculously high 6,000W rate via the generator adapter cable—but only if you have two expansion batteries plugged in. With one battery, you’re limited to 4,500W. With just the main unit? Around 3,500W.

So yes, 6,000W is possible… but it takes a very specific (and not cheap) setup to unlock it. It’s unfortunate that there are set requirements, but the fact it’s possible with this improved version of the F3800 is pretty crazy.

What We Don’t Like

Now that we’ve sung Anker’s praises, let’s talk about the areas where we still think they didn’t quite nail it with this updated model:

The “30 Amp” Plug Isn’t Really a True 30A Port:

Technically, this is a 25A plug. For 6,000W at 240V, you need two legs of 3,000W at 120V—thus 25A.

That’s fine for many use cases, but if your RV or gear expects a full 30A, this might not deliver what it thinks it’s getting. This could lead to some hiccups and stuttering appliances. From our perspective, this really felt like a missed opportunity for Anker to go all in.

The Proprietary Solar Connectors:

Yes, they work. And yes, they technically include MC4 ends. But it’s still annoying that Anker dropped the more common XT-60 input found on the original F3800.

It means buying adapters, dealing with more cables, and worrying about breakage. Everyone else is trending toward simplicity—Anker just made things harder. With that said, the reasoning is that they snap-lock into place, so you don’t have to worry about your solar panels becoming disconnected accidentally, but it’s still a bit annoying.

The Somewhat Messy Expansion Battery Setup:

Unlike the stackable, stable expansion batteries you get on something like the EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra, Anker’s external batteries connect via long, floppy, and awkard cables. It works—but it’s not going to have that same clean look.

Plus, once you go beyond two batteries, the setup becomes bulky and awkward. For serious home backup, this could be a dealbreaker, especially if you’re limited on space.

Anker’s Solar Panel Pricing Is Still Outrageous:

You can find a high-quality bifacial 415W rigid panel for around $200, even with the recent tariff-related price increases.

For a similar Anker-branded 400W foldable solar panel? Around $800! Unless you’re 100% committed to brand loyalty, skip their panels. Use the MC4 ends and plug in your own for a fraction of the cost.

It’s not exactly a knock on the F3800 Plus, but it’s still super annoying that Anker won’t just get real with their prices. Even if it was just $100 more, we’d say that was okay, but nearly four times the price over a generic panel with the same wattage? Ridiculous.

Assessing the Design and Performance

We’re going to take a deeper dive into some real-world testing on this unit out at a later date (so, keep an eye out for that video and article), but overall—the Anker F3800 Plus is a solid upgrade.

It’s still very much a portable-first unit with legitimate light home backup potential. It’s not trying to replace your grid connection or be the type of thing you can run an entire house off the grid with full-time, but for most people—especially those with RVs, trailers, mobile workshops, or small cabins—it’s more than enough.

And we have to give Anker credit: they listened to consumer feedback, fixed the biggest pain point, and built a better power station. It’s not perfect, but it’s a meaningful improvement.

Pricing and Where to Buy

The F3800 Plus has an MSRP of $3,199, but it’s available for an early bird price of around $3,000 through Anker. Just make sure you use our discount code (THESOLARLABSOLIX) to get that lower price.

After you shave off $200 from the MSRP, you’re talking about roughly $300 more to go from the original F3800 to the F3800 Plus. We think that isn’t a bad deal at all, especially if you’re someone looking to really focus on solar charging the unit.

While you can certainly order it directly from Anker SOLIX, we’d actually recommend shopping through ShopSolar.com instead. This is because they usually have better prices and sales, and they also deliver solid customer support, which is supposed to be for life.

If you’re looking to lean into the solar side of things, they also offer bundle deals where they pair the F3800 Plus with much cheaper rigid solar panels than what you can buy through Anker. Plus, with our discount code (THELAB), you can knock 4% off the price of any purchase.

Our Final Verdict: Should You Buy It?

The Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus definitely isn’t a gimmick. The improvements they made actually fix some of the main problems we had with the original, like the underpowered solar input.

The update also adds enough features to justify the slight increase in cost, and it remains portable enough that we can confidently say it’s not just purely suitable for at-home use.

It won’t beat something like the DELTA Pro Ultra for legit full-home backup, but it doesn’t need to. For the right user, this is a very smart investment and a legit improvement on the already-impressive F3800 platform.