Energy Savvy Homes
Reviews and buying guides for backup batteries, transfer switches, smart thermostats and energy monitors. For whole-home backup we’d start with the Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus, or the EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 if a 240V well pump is on your list.
Home Battery Backup and Power Stations
Best Home Battery Backup Systems
A pick for whole-home backup, 240V well pumps, 240V on a smaller budget, expandable 120V, room-to-room use and short outages.
Best Portable Power Stations
The same six stations compared by weight and portability, from about 27 lb in one hand to 136.7 lb on wheels.
Whole-Home Battery Backup: Buying Guide
Sizing a battery against your panel, the three 240V units we cover, and which of them suits a motor load like a well pump.
Best Battery Backup for Small Homes
Four units for a condo or small house, from the 27 lb DELTA 3 Classic to the 3,840 Wh Elite 400, with fridge runtimes for each.
How Much Battery Backup Do I Need?
A five-step sizing method with a worked example: a fridge, router and lights need about 3,200 Wh of battery for one day.
Whole-Home Battery Backup for Townhouses
Indoor backup when the HOA bars a generator, with 240V options for a heat pump and the weights that matter on stairs.
Best UPS for Modem and Router
Two UPSs and one power station for keeping home internet up, plus how to read your network’s load from its adapter labels.
Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus Review
Our whole-home pick: 3,840 Wh and 6,000W at 120V or 240V, growing to 26.88 kWh with six add-on batteries.
EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 Review
4,096 Wh and 4,000W continuous at 120V or 240V. Its 8,000W surge rating, the only one published among our 240V picks, covers a well pump running up to 2,000W.
Bluetti Apex 300 Review
2,764.8 Wh and 3,840W at 120V or 240V, with a TT-30R outlet for an RV. For 240V loads that aren’t motors.
Jackery HomePower 2000 Plus v2 Review
2,048 Wh at 120V in a 41.45 lb unit, expandable to about 12 kWh with Jackery’s add-on packs.
Bluetti Elite 400 Review
3,840 Wh at 120V on two wheels and a telescoping handle. No add-on batteries.
EcoFlow DELTA 3 Classic Review
1,024 Wh at about 27 lb, the lightest unit we cover, and a wall outlet refills it in about an hour.
EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 vs. Anker SOLIX F3800 Plus
3,840 Wh and 6,000W continuous on the F3800 Plus against 4,096 Wh, 4,000W continuous and a published 8,000W surge on the DELTA Pro 3.
EcoFlow vs. Bluetti
Two EcoFlows and two Bluettis compared: the Apex 300 for 240V loads that aren’t motors, the DELTA Pro 3 for a 240V well pump, and the Elite 400 or the much lighter DELTA 3 Classic at 120V.
Jackery vs. EcoFlow
The Explorer 1000 v2 against the DELTA 3 Classic at about 1 kWh, and the HomePower 2000 Plus v2 against the DELTA Pro 3 for home backup.
Black Friday Power Station Deals
Six stations with the price we last checked next to a recent sale price and where it ran.
How Home Battery Backup Systems Work
What is inside a home battery, how it takes over in an outage, and what you need to connect one to your house.
Generator vs. Battery Backup
How far a battery’s 8 to 48 hours per charge gets you, when a generator’s runtime is worth its upkeep, and how a generator can recharge a battery.
Generator Transfer Switches
Best Generator Transfer Switches
Two 30A manual kits, a 50A switch, a panel interlock and an automatic switch, matched to the generator you own.
Manual vs. Automatic Transfer Switch
A manual kit, a panel interlock or an automatic switch, and which kind of generator each one is built for.
How to Size a Generator Transfer Switch
Matching your generator’s wattage to a switch’s amp rating and the number of circuits you need to run.
Smart Thermostats
Best Smart Thermostats
Two Ecobees and the Google Nest 4th gen, picked by smart home platform, Matter support, room sensors and air quality monitoring.
Ecobee Smart Thermostat Enhanced Review
Radar occupancy sensing, a Power Extender Kit for homes without a C-wire, and Ecobee’s up-to-26-percent savings claim.
Ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium Review
The Enhanced’s savings claim plus an air quality monitor, a SmartSensor in the box and a Siri or Alexa speaker.
Google Nest Learning Thermostat 4th Gen Review
Schedule learning and Matter support, the only Matter thermostat we cover, with Google’s up-to-31-percent claim.
Ecobee Enhanced vs Premium
What the Premium adds over the Enhanced, and whether you’d buy a SmartSensor anyway.
Ecobee vs Nest Thermostat
Room sensors on the Ecobees (plus air quality on the Premium), schedule learning and Matter on the Nest.
Whole Home Energy Monitors
Best Whole Home Energy Monitors
Two monitors that clamp onto two mains and 16 branch circuits inside your panel and show what each circuit draws.
Best Solar Monitoring Systems
Panel monitors that read solar production and grid import and export, including a pick for Home Assistant users.
Home Energy Monitoring Systems: How They Work
How clamp sensors, plug-in meters, smart meters and solar apps measure your home’s power, and what each one misses.
Sense Energy Monitor vs. Emporia Vue 3
Sense stopped selling its monitor at the end of 2025. What that means for owners, and the panel monitor we’d buy instead.
Best Energy Monitoring Smart Plugs
Plugs that measure what one device draws and costs, with Matter picks for Apple Home, Alexa and Google Home.
Emporia Vue 3 Review
Each circuit’s use in dollars at your utility rate, with free hourly history kept for the life of the device.
Refoss EM16P Review
Native Home Assistant support and monitoring that keeps running with its internet blocked at the router.
Emporia Vue 3 vs Refoss EM16P
The Vue 3 for dollar figures on every circuit; the EM16P if you run Home Assistant or want your readings kept off the cloud.
Recently Updated
How We Pick
Every pick comes from manufacturer specifications, manuals and help pages, plus live Amazon and brand-store listings, with the date we checked them on each page. We don’t test units hands-on. Our buying guides name a pick for each job rather than one overall winner.
We earn a commission when you buy through our links. The affiliate disclosure explains how that works, and the editorial policy covers sources and prices.