At CES earlier this year, Anker introduced the 535 Portable Power Station, the latest entrant in its PowerHouse lineup of large portable batteries for supporting electronic devices while camping, during power outages, and in other situations where you're off the grid.

anker 535 front
I've had a bit of time to test out the $500 Anker 535, and it delivers a handy set of connectivity options for charging up a variety of devices, and a decent charging capacity that can keep things going for quite a while.

The Anker 535 includes a 512 watt-hour battery, and it weighs in at a hefty 16.5 pounds (7.5 kg), so while it's not something you're going to want to carry with you on a hike, it's compact enough to be stored out of the way in your home or easily transported in a car.

While I haven't an opportunity to use the Anker 535 out on the road yet, I have been able to test it out around the house and it was comforting to know it was available during a couple of ice storms in my area over the winter, even though we ultimately experienced nothing more than a few power blips here and there.

So while I haven't needed the power station in a true off-the-grid scenario, I've used it quite a bit around the house for powering and charging up various devices, and it's worked very well.

There's a host of ports and outlets including four AC outlets supporting devices up to 500 watts, one USB-C port that supports fast charging at up to 60 watts, three USB-A ports, and one 12V vehicle-style outlet. An integrated light bar on the front of the unit helps to illuminate your surroundings while also making it easy to manage all of the devices you might be connecting to its ports.

anker 535 light
The power station comes with a 120-watt AC adapter, and it can also be recharged at 60 watts via its USB-C port. For even faster recharging (0 to 80% in about two and a half hours), you can connect via both methods simultaneously. It can also be recharged via a vehicle power port (though that will take significantly longer at just 12 watts), or via any 12V–28V solar panel charger equipped with an 8mm DC power connector.

On the front of the unit, there's an informative LED display that shows the current battery level in both percentage and a rougher pictorial display, and it reports real-time input and output wattages, as well as the estimated time to fully recharge or to power connected devices. A series of icons across the top of the display can illuminate to let you know what types of devices are currently connected and provide high- and low-temperature warnings.

I really like the amount of detail shown on the display, letting you know exactly which ports are currently active and giving you up-to-the-second data on input or output so you can tell how much battery life you have left or how long the station will take to recharge, or even just to have an understanding of how much power an individual device draws while charging.

A switch near the AC outlets let you turn a power-saving mode on and off. When turned on, the power station will automatically turn off once all connected devices are fully charged, saving battery. Turning it off will provide continuous, stable power for devices like CPAP machines that are running constantly while connected to the power station.

Anker says the 535 power station can fully charge a MacBook Air more than eight times or run a 40-watt CPAP machine for more than a full night's sleep, and while I didn't test those claims specifically, I did find it to offer plenty of power for the tasks I did test.

For example, fully recharging an iPad Air from the station's USB-C port took about an hour and a half and used approximately 6% of the power station's total capacity. I tested a variety of other devices from powering a room fan to recharging a cordless razor to running a HomePod and a lamp, all at the same time, and the Anker 535 had no problems keeping up.

Keep in mind that the 500-watt limit for the station means it won't be able to power some high-load devices like hot plates, toasters, hairdryers, and many larger household appliances.

anker 535 rear
The Anker 535 Portable Power Station is priced at $499.99, but the company has several other options available at a range of price points. The 521 model at 256 watt-hours has half the capacity of the 535, but it also comes at half the price, checking in at $249.99. It does also sacrifice some ports, checking in with two AC outlets instead of four, and two USB-A ports instead of three.

There's also an even smaller 511 model at 97-watt hours, normally priced at $219.99 and featuring a single 100-watt AC outlet, a 45-watt USB-C port, and two USB-A ports.

Finally, there's a pair of older models, the 389 watt-hour 533 model priced at $459.99 and the highest-capacity 545 model with 778 watt-hours of energy and priced at $699.99.

Note: Anker provided MacRumors with the 535 Portable Power Station for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Anker. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Tag: Anker

Top Rated Comments

CaptainV Avatar
47 months ago
Maybe an idea for Anker to sponsor some for Ukraine. They can use this greatly with all the power outages.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sanme Avatar
47 months ago
So cheap

Attachment Image
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
VCTGomes Avatar
47 months ago
Excellent for iPhone Mini's users.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jim001 Avatar
47 months ago

Can you explain why?
It is a different chemistry than the batteries you find in phones/laptops and much safer. You don't have to worry about this thing burning down your house because someone dropped it like you would with a regular lithium battery.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rooster ? Avatar
47 months ago





Best thing in that picture by far is the OG HomePod !!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
47 months ago

Maybe an idea for Anker to sponsor some for Ukraine. They can use this greatly with all the power outages.
Not too practical, because no ability to charge them up.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

M5 MacBook Pro

Apple Announces New 14-Inch MacBook Pro With M5 Chip

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:07 am PDT by
Apple today updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, which is also available in updated iPad Pro and Vision Pro models. In addition, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro can now be configured with up to 4TB of storage on Apple's online store, whereas the previous model maxed out at 2TB. However, the maximum amount of unified RAM available for this model remains 32GB. Like...
Apple iPad Pro hero M5

Apple Debuts New iPad Pro With M5 Chip, Faster Charging, and More

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple today announced the next-generation iPad Pro, featuring the custom-designed M5, C1X, and N1 chips. The M5 chip has up to a 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores. It features a next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerator in each core, allowing the new iPad Pro to deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance than the previous model, and a third-generation ray-tracing ...
apple oct 2024 mac tease

Apple Expected to Announce These Two to Three Products 'This Week'

Sunday October 12, 2025 7:05 am PDT by
Apple plans to announce new products "this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple's "Mac Your Calendars" teaser last October In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the products set to be updated this week include the iPad Pro, Vision Pro, and "likely" the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, with all three likely to receive a spec bump with Apple's next-generation M5 chip. Gurman...
maxresdefault

Here's Everything Apple Announced Today

Wednesday October 15, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We didn't get a second fall event this year, but Apple did unveil updated products with a series of press releases that went out today. The M5 chip made an appearance in new MacBook Pro, Vision Pro, and iPad Pro models. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up our coverage and highlighted the main feature changes for each device below. MacBook Pro M5...
joz macbook tease

Apple Teases Upcoming M5 MacBook Pro Launch: 'Something Powerful is Coming'

Tuesday October 14, 2025 11:59 am PDT by
Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak today teased the launch of an upcoming product, saying "something powerful is coming" on social media. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. A short animation accompanying Joswiak's teaser reveals a brief glimpse of a MacBook Pro along with the words "coming soon." The shape of the MacBook Pro is a V, which is the Roman numeral...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday October 14, 2025 8:43 am PDT by
Apple's AirPods Max have now been available for almost five years, so what do we know about the second-generation version? According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the new AirPods Max will be lighter than the current ones, but exactly how much is as yet known. The current AirPods Max weigh 0.85 pounds (386.2 grams), excluding the charging case, making it one of the heavier...
HomePod mini and Apple TV

Apple's Next Rumored Products: New HomePod Mini, Apple TV, and More

Thursday October 16, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple on Wednesday updated the 14-inch MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and Vision Pro with its next-generation M5 chip, but previous rumors have indicated that the company still plans to announce at least a few additional products before the end of the year. The following Apple products have at one point been rumored to be updated in 2025, although it is unclear if the timeframe for any of them has...
Vision Pro M5 Announcement

Apple Updates Vision Pro With M5 Chip, Dual Knit Band, and 120Hz Support

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:14 am PDT by
Apple today updated the Vision Pro headset with its next-generation M5 chip for faster performance, and a more comfortable Dual Knit Band. The M5 chip has a 10-core CPU, a 10-core GPU with Neural Accelerators, and a 16-core Neural Engine, and we have confirmed the Vision Pro still has 16GB of RAM. With the M5 chip, the Vision Pro offers faster performance and longer battery life compared...
macbook pro blue

Apple's M5 MacBook Pro Imminent: What to Expect

Tuesday October 14, 2025 4:35 pm PDT by
Apple is going to launch a new version of the MacBook Pro as soon as tomorrow, so we thought we'd go over what to expect from Apple's upcoming Mac. M5 Chip The MacBook Pro will be one of the first new devices to use the next-generation M5 chip, which will replace the M4 chip. The M5 is built on TSMC's more advanced 3-nanometer process, and it will bring speed and efficiency improvements. ...
MacBook Pro M5 Screen

New MacBook Pro Does Not Include a Charger in the Box in Europe

Wednesday October 15, 2025 6:59 am PDT by
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 chip does not include a charger in the box in European countries, including the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and others, according to Apple's online store. In the U.S. and all other countries outside of Europe, the new MacBook Pro comes with Apple's 70W USB-C Power Adapter, but European customers miss out....