After teasing fans on social media (you should see some of the questions we’ve received about this!), EGO released some information about their new Nexus Escape power inverter.
The EGO Nexus Escape is a 150W inverter that works with the brand’s 56V Li-ion outdoor power tool battery packs.
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They say this about its capabilities:
[It can] power anything from a tablet and laptop while out and about, lamps in the house, even your TV and router in a power outage.
There is a single 120V AC outlet, and (2) USB plugs. The 120V AC outlet can deliver up to 1.25A of current. EGO has not yet responded to our request for more details about its features and capabilities.
Price: $100
Buy Now(bare tool via Home Depot)
A battery and charger are NOT included.
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If you don’t already have an EGO 56V cordless tool, you can buy a charger for as little as $70 (the better one is $100). A 2.0Ah battery is priced at $129, a 5.0Ah at $220, and a 7.5Ah battery is currently $359. EGO cordless outdoor power tool kits start at $199 (based on current listings).
First Thoughts
It doesn’t look to be weather-sealed. 1.25A at 120V?
As EGO advertised, that’ll keep your laptop powered, or some household lamps.
According to a quick internet search, a Sony 55″ TV has a power consumption of 139W. Different sources will have different power consumption rates, such as cable boxes, streaming devices, internet routers, or gaming systems. So while the device can power a TV, you might run into problems depending on the size.
What I’m alluding to is that 150W isn’t all that much.
I have been using Dewalt’s portable power station (and still love it!), which can deliver up to 1800W of power, and can handle peaks of up to 3600W. It’s larger and more expensive, but more versatile.
Several readers asked about whether the new EGO Escape Nexus inverter can power any corded power tools, and that’s unlikely. 1.25A might be enough for some very light duty tools, and maybe some efficient LED lights, but that’s about it.
EGO shows this as being more of a portable device charger or a very light backup.
Less of an “escape,” I see it more as a way to get portable USB charging power without a big investment. I imagine that most users are already bough into EGO’s system, and for them it makes sense. Why not put pricey EGO battery packs to use during off-seasons, or when away from your garden tools, and for less than it would cost to buy comparable all-in-one devices with built-in singular-purpose batteries?
EGO social media teasers said:
Our newest innovation will let you Escape the garage and use your EGO batteries to power more than just your lawn and garden tools.
I suppose this is where the wild “do you think it’ll power my…” questions I’ve received and seen have come from.
Looking at EGO social media, there are advertisements of this being a “Must Have.” I cannot possibly understand that – am I missing something?
Useful? Maybe. But I’m not at all excited about its modest capabilities.
We’ve been through a few multi-day blackouts in recent years, and 18V power tool USB adapters sufficed for keeping our smartphones and tablets charged. Would a 150W power source have helped with anything? Possibly, but it also would have been larger, heavier, and simply more cumbersome to move around.
I had a Dewalt 20V Max battery and USB adapter on my side table, charging my smartphone, and then my tablet. I couldn’t have done the same with this. There are smaller, lighter, and cheaper ways to get a battery-powered USB device charger.
The $100 price is decent, if you already have EGO batteries and a charger. If not, then you might be better off with a smaller device (for USB charging) or all-in-one system for AC inverter use.
The $499 Anker Powerhouse battery bank has a 120W max 110V outlet (as well as other connection types at other voltages), and 434Wh energy capacity. What’s the watt-hour capacity of an EGO battery pack? EGO’s 7.5Ah battery, currently $345 at Amazon, comes close. That brings the cost to $450 for EGO inverter and battery, and you still need a separate charger, AND the EGO lacks a lot of the Anker’s features.
There are several Goal Zero Yeti portable power stations, also in the $450+ price range, although there is also a smaller one still available at some retailers. There are numerous other battery-based power generators, such as this one, which offer all-in-one power sourcing.
The Goal Zero Yeti 400 has a 396 Wh lead acid battery, which will make it heavier, but has a 300W (600W surge) pure sine wave inverter.
The EGO inverter does look to be a reasonably good value for light outdoors or power backup needs – IF you already bough into their 56V Li-ion tool system. If you’re in that camp, this gives you portable power with just a $100 investment.
This also isn’t the corded tool power source that a lot of people thought it could or would be. Maybe EGO is just testing the waters, and something better will follow?
Looking at the response on social media, aside from the one guy who’s praising it as a “Must Have,” there are bound to be disappointed folks who were hoping for something else. One person hoped for it to be a cordless pressure washer. Another wished for a cordless wet/dry vac. Another, a worm drive circular saw.
Lastly, there’s an on/off button on the top of the inverter, but is there a battery fuel gauge anywhere?
As an aside, Chervon, EGO’s parent company, acquired Skil and Skilsaw from Bosch two years ago. Do you think we’ll start seeing some synergistic developments between the two brands?
EGO, if you’re reading this, please add a 12V DC port and some weather sealing, and improve its operating temperature so that it can be used below 32°F. Do all of that, and you’ll attract a lot of telescope users. Add a clamp and ensure it delivers a pure sine wave output, and you’ll attract a lot of photographers and maybe even videographers! Bump up the power output of the next version, even if it requires (2) battery packs, and you’ll make corded tool users happy.
For all you EGO 56V lawn and garden tool users out there – will you buy one?
Price: $100
Buy Now(bare tool via Home Depot)
Nathan
If I recall correctly the Ego batteries have a fuel gage but it’s been a while since i Picked one up.
I don’t have Ego equipment I chose the echo58V isnstead but I looked hard at them.
It’s a great idea and for the hiker/camper that just wants to power osme lights and charge up a real tablet or laptop this would work pretty well.
56V at 4 ah which I think is their big battery – would have 224Wh give or take. If you use a modern laptop – non gaming laptop – you’ll pull through the AC cord somewhere between 65 and 80W based on the spec on the brick.
SO you’d have let’s say 3 hours to use continuous + whatever the battery of the unit tolerates on it’s own. so say 7 hours. And it would still probably run some basic LED lamp/lantern for a few hours.
Maybe run some efficient fan for a few hours at night?
on the sinewave would it really need that with such a low power rating? only sensitive electronics would care and you wouldn’t necessarily run that out on a camp out. Would you?
Greg
the ego battery’s fuel gauge isn’t very good, you get either green or red, and you’ll see green no matter if it’s partially charged or fully charged.
Mike
The new batteries have a 5 segment LED gauge.
Ryan Jacob
I have mixed feelings about this. It’s really too bad that they didn’t make one that had higher load capacity. You may be right that they are testing the water with this, but Ego’s batteries would be great for a system like Dewalt has. If they were to come out with one similar to what Dewalt has, I’d probably buy it in a heartbeat. A single 5.0 Ego battery would provide you with 280 wh of power, and a 7.5 would be 420 wh.
As far as buying extra batteries, it’s probably acutally cheaper to buy the tool kit. I have the 5.0 battery which came with my backpack blower, which was $299 when i bought it, but have seen it as low as $259 as a kit. I’ve also seen the Ego backpack blower with the 7.5 ah battery as cheap is $299. It’s a shame that you can buy an entire kit cheaper than you can just the battery.
Michael Veach
many times the same goes for other brands.
Ryan Jacob
I know! And I don’t understand that! That makes these things throw away devices which is a shame.
Tim E.
I agree with both of the other wishes for new ego tools. A cordless pressure washer would be fantastic, I keep looking to see if the ryobi 36V one overseas has become widely available enough that someone has it up for sale to ship to the US, right now the prices are super inflated since it’s still so new, and very very very few people would ship it to the US (without a battery of course).
The cordless vacuum would also be nice, particularly a larger one like a 12-16 gallon one. I’d also love to see a similar large shop vac in flexvolt, but right now the closest we have is Ryobi’s 6 gallon one, which is admittedly awesome. But I’d like to see a cordless one with larger capacity and more power, it would be nice for dragging all around a house to vacuum out gutters or other cases where running a cord is annoying. Or if you’re inside doing demo in a room without power, and would otherwise have to have the door open to get a power cord in for a corded vac.
The 150W is about the same as you get out of a higher end inverter for your cigarette lighter, so anything you might use that for. I agree a 12V outlet would be useful, run like the little car compressors and inner tube inflators that otherwise plug into a cigarette socket. I would have hoped that they could get at least 300-400 watts out of a single battery on an AC outlet, that would really open up the low power implements that could be run (larger TVs, less efficient lights and fans, a monitor and router in addition to your laptop, …). Maybe this is a prelude to making a power station similar to the DeWalt that uses two batteries and can provide job site level power.
Flotsam
I like where they are going with this. It would make some 110 VAC tools usable out in the field which would be great. But if your intent as a manufacturer is to sell more tools then maybe not much of a priority.
Not being weather tight is a bit of a miss in my opinion although I don’t think their chargers are meant for outside use I am certain their batteries are!
Blythe
Did I miss it or can this be used as a charger for the battery?
dmitry
That’s really neat. Are there any devices like these that work with smaller batteries (like Ryobi or something)? Like one of the commenters mentioned this would be great for camping. Also ideal would be if the inverter could charge it from the 12v socket!
mattd
pretty much every company has a usb adapter that you can slap on an 18v battery. I have seen makita (both 12v and 18v ones), ridgid 18v ones, dewalt 18v ones, and milwaukee (both 12v and 18v ones) . And after some googling it looks like there is one made for ryobi as well by a third party. they don’t output 120v but tbh you don’t really need that when camping.
dmitry
120v would be pretty sweet for certain applications. Anyway, I didn’t know this was a thing. Thanks for letting me know, I ogtta do some googling!
RCWard
EGO makes the best lawn and garden cordless power equipment out there. I have the string trimmer, hedge trimmer and blower. I have no desire to buy this converter whether made my EGO or anyone else. So while it’s a nice little product I won’t be buying it at this time.
Michael Veach
I agree. their yard equipment are great but this is underwhelming.
Travis
Not impressed. Too low on the current side. 1.25 amps just isn’t useful for much. The DeWalt power station is a much better approach and useful across a huge array of applications.
NewtonsApple
Hrm, would be much more interesting if it was like the Dewalt. This setup is not small for the wattage it can support.
It should also be able to charge, not very convenient if you need a separate charger.
Framer joe
Great value if your into EGO ope……ego makes the best cordless ope available
mattd
I think these would be super handy for tailgating if you have a couple of them, you would need 1 for the tv, and another for whatever devise you hook up to it. how much power does an xbox/playstation draw?
Michael Veach
you can get a 2kw generator with usb ports and 65db noise rating for under $ 500.
ToolOfTheTrade
Seems awfully weak for a power inverter. And how many of those items can it power simultaneously? I only see one plug. They could have at least put a full receptacle on it. I don’t own any of their equipment, but I don’t waste my time or concern myself with going green either, but they’re batteries are expensive.
Brian M
I don’t see why anyone is even mentioning Dewalt’s inverter, that’s comparing an apple to an orange seed. This is for low wattage uses and a clever way to make use of a battery a lot of people only use once a month or less at certain times a year. The Dewalt is meant as a jobsite inverter meanwhile this (Ego inverter) is a person’s personal, mobile inverter. The Ego inverter is for a fan, radio, tv for camping, tailgating, parties, the beach, lake, etc..
Rob
Absolute failure of engineering on Ego’s part (surprising for them…I have a few of their outdoor tools…solid stuff). Only 150W and a square wave output, not true sine-wave, adds insult to injury. Anything not a shaded-pole motor, universal motor without speed control, or pure resistive load (light bulb) is going to be very unhappy with the crude square-wave output. 1970 wants it’s technology back. Solution: Just head over to Amazon and buy a 48V true sine wave inverter. The 40V-60V input voltage range of most “48V” inverters matches the Ego 56V battery packs perfectly. Try again Ego… 🙁