Goal Zero
Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC
The Sherpa 100AC is built to a rule, not a job: 94.7 watt-hours, under the airline limit, a real socket, two pounds. It finishes no scene, an afternoon asks a quarter more than it holds, and lost all seven head-to-heads. Few owners; one’s dumped its charge twice in a cold snap, swapped by Goal Zero inside a week.
95 Wh · 100 W · 2.1 lb · 500 cycles · 7 head-to-heads
682
Power Score · Device Hub
- 95 Wh
- capacity
- 100 W
- output
- 2.1 lb
- weight
- 500
- rated cycles
Should you buy it right now?
Fair price today: $250 is what it normally sells for. It clears 0 of 7 real-world jobs and wins 0 of 7 matchups.
Real-world jobs
0 of 7
Falls short on Weekend Camping, 8-Hour Blackout, CPAP Overnight, Remote Workday, Tailgate Party, Van Life Daily and Afternoon Off-Grid
Head-to-head record
0–7
7 adjudicated matchups
Verdicts by Wenny Zheng and the Test Desk·Figures computed 2026-09-07
01 · Six real-world jobs
What the Sherpa 100AC actually runs
The load profiles every comparison on the site is scored on, computed for this unit alone: energy needed against the usable tank after inverter losses, and whether the inverter holds and starts the biggest single load.
Weekend Camping
Falls short2 nights · Two nights off-grid with essential comfort
2,100Wh needed · 2609% of the tank · 2,020Wh short
Peak 75W: starts and holds
8-Hour Blackout
Falls short8 hours · Keep the essentials running through a night without power
1,645Wh needed · 2044% of the tank · 1,565Wh short
Peak 150W: starts and holds
CPAP Overnight
Falls short8 hours · Sleep therapy without interruption — the #1 medical use case
320Wh needed · 398% of the tank · 240Wh short
Peak 40W: starts and holds
Remote Workday
Falls short8 hours · Full work day off-grid without power anxiety
910Wh needed · 1131% of the tank · 830Wh short
Peak 60W: starts and holds
Tailgate Party
Falls short4 hours · Game day power for the crew
670Wh needed · 832% of the tank · 590Wh short
Peak 400W: cannot start
Van Life Daily
Falls short24 hours · A full day of mobile living — the ultimate endurance test
4,685Wh needed · 5820% of the tank · 4,605Wh short
Peak 150W: starts and holds
Afternoon Off-Grid
Falls shortan afternoon · Phones and a speaker at the park, beach, or campsite — the small-unit job description
100Wh needed · 124% of the tank · 20Wh short
Peak 30W: starts and holds
02 · Head-to-head record
0 wins in 7 written matchups
Every matchup is a full verdict scored on the six jobs above plus price, longevity and portability. This is the set shoppers search for, not a random sample.
Win share
0–7
- vs BLUETTI0–2
- vs Jackery0–2
- vs Anker0–1
- vs EcoFlow0–1
- vs Goal Zero0–1
losesSherpa 100AC vs BLUETTI Elite 10 Mini
13 searches reached this matchup
losesSherpa 100AC vs Goal Zero Sherpa 100PD
10 searches reached this matchup
losesSherpa 100AC vs BLUETTI Apex 300
9 searches reached this matchup
losesSherpa 100AC vs EcoFlow DELTA Pro
9 searches reached this matchup
losesSherpa 100AC vs Jackery Explorer 500
8 searches reached this matchup
losesSherpa 100AC vs Anker 535 PowerHouse
7 searches reached this matchup
03 · From the verdicts
Who it is for, and when a rival won instead
Each line is lifted from a written matchup where it decided the verdict, and links to the page it came from. Repeated across many matchups means it is the unit’s signature, not one author’s opinion.
Buy the Sherpa 100AC if…
You fly with a camera kit or a laptop and want a wall outlet in your bag when you land. At 94.7Wh it's under the carry-on ceiling and sold as airline-approved [B1].
Decided 3 matchups · read one →
You want one charger for the whole bag. It fills over the same 100W USB-C brick that charges the laptop, so there's no second wall wart to pack [A3].
Decided 2 matchups · read one →
The flyer who needs a carry-on-legal battery: at 94.7Wh the Sherpa clears the 100Wh airline limit [B1] and the 535 doesn't, full stop.
The photographer or digital nomad topping up cameras, a laptop, and phones from a 2-lb brick that lives in a laptop bag [B2][B4], with 100W USB-C laptop charging and 15W wireless on tap [B2][B3].
A rival won when…
The buyer who intends to still own this in a decade. 3,500 rated cycles is 9.6 years of cycling it every single day, and it takes expansion batteries if the need grows.
Decided 2 matchups · read one →
The weekend camper or blackout-prepper running lights, a fan, a router, or a CPAP: the 535's 512Wh and 500W cover the low-draw nights, and its 3,000-cycle pack will still be doing it a decade in.
Anyone charging a laptop, phone, and a small AC device at a campsite who'd rather carry one 16.7-lb unit than ration a pocket battery.
You want the house to stay up through a working day without power. The Apex 300 covers the 1,645Wh eight-hour outage scenario with capacity left over, and it can act as a UPS so the router and the desktop never blink.
04 · Price history
What the Sherpa 100AC actually sells for
The number on the buy button, read twice a day, one point per day. Never the sticker, never a “was” price.
Read from goalzero.com twice a day since July 17 · 53 days
Carried on 100% of days tracked · dips reach $250
Built from the Sep 7, 5 AM UTC read.
$250
Usual price
100% of days tracked
$250
Best we've seen
September 7
$250
Today
at usual
$250
Highest seen
0 days above usual
How to read this
- Usual is the price the unit carried most of the time, tested for how long it held rather than how often we looked. A weekend promotion cannot move it.
- Best is the lowest price we have read on the store itself. Typed coupon codes, member-only prices and marketplace listings are not counted; anything applied automatically at checkout is.
- A gap in the line is a day we could not read a price. We never draw across one, and we never show the store’s own “was” price.
Method on the methodology page.
Share the numbers
Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC: usually $250, best $250 (Sep 7), today $250 on goalzero.com. Tracked twice a day since Jul 17. https://stationarena.com/products/goal-zero-sherpa-100ac#price-history
Alerts for the Sherpa 100AC
One email when it drops below $250, comes back in stock, or a newer model in this line appears. Nothing else.
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05 · Voices
What 3 owner reports say about the Sherpa 100AC
Owner reports are paraphrased from public YouTube comments and each links to its source; reviewer consensus is counted from cited excerpts, never quoted; our own verdicts are quoted. Specs on this page never come from any of them.
- 67%
- positive
- 2
- self-declared owners
- 0
- measured reports
- 2
- videos
- 42%
- Goal Zero norm
- 2019–2020
- reporting period
2 for, 1 against
tenure rarely stated
numbers, not impressions
2 channels
across 448 reports
2019-01-13 to 2020-06-13
Weighted read
56% positive weighted · corpus 51% · about typical
Raw counts reward whoever writes most, and people write when something breaks. Here each report is weighted by what the complaint costs a buyer (a failure outranks an app gripe) and by its evidence (a measured owner report outranks a shopper’s opinion), then compared with every report in the corpus.
- Failures, returns, support1 against · 1 for
- How it performs0 against · 0 for
- How it feels to use0 against · 1 for
The complaints that matter
- Dumped its power twice during a cold snap even though temps never fell below 50F. source ↗
By topic, against the Goal Zero norm
Bars count this unit’s reports; the tick is the share of positive reports for the same topic across every Goal Zero unit in the corpus.
- Weight & portability100% positive · brand 31%1
- Durability & failures0% positive · brand 37%1
- Support & warranty100% positive · brand 54%1
left: negative · right: positive
When the reports were made
What owners praise
What owners complain about
Durability & failuresowner
Dumped its power twice during a cold snap even though temps never fell below 50F.
DIY Solar Power with Will Prowsesource
Reviewer consensus
4/4 positive excerpts, 6 sources
Airline-legal 94.7Wh, a real 100W AC port, wireless charging, and 2-lb travel portability are the standout points.
campingsolar.us · matadornetwork.com · gearjunkie.com · shotkit.com · packandtrail.com · the-gadgeteer.com · researched 2026-07-10
Goal Zero, brand-wide
42% positive across 448 reports. The brand-wide complaint is price & value (77% negative); the brand-wide praise is build quality (69% positive).
From the test desk
“Buy the Elite 10 Mini unless you fly with it.”
“Buy the Sherpa 100PD unless you specifically need to plug something into a wall outlet.”
“Take the Apex 300 if your problem is one that either of these could plausibly solve, because the Sherpa 100AC solves none of them.”
06 · Where each number comes from
Spec sheet, in four cards
Every field carries its source: green is the manufacturer’s own document, blue was adjudicated after sources disagreed, grey is the catalogue as imported. Then compare it line by line with the units people actually weigh it against.
Battery
94.7
Capacity (Wh)
- ChemistryNMC
- Charging Cycles500
- Battery Expansion FeasibilityNo
Power out
100
Output (W)
- Surge Peak150W
- AC Outlets1
- 240V Outlets0
- 30A RV Outlets0
- 12V Car Outlets0
- USB-C Ports2
- USB-A Ports2
- USB-C Charging Outputs100W
Charging
60
Solar Input (W)
- Solar Input TypeStandard (8mm)
Living with it
2.1
Weight (lbs)
- UPSNo
- App ControlNo
- Warranty (Years)2
Compare it with
Sherpa 100AC vs
leads on 1 · trails on 7
| Spec | Sherpa 100AC | Elite 10 Mini | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Usual price | $250 | $119 ● | +$131 |
| Capacity (Wh) | 94.7 | 128 ● | -33.3 |
| Output (W) | 100 | 200 ● | -100 |
| Surge (W) | 150W | 300W ● | -150 |
| Rated cycles | 500 | 3000+ ● | -2500 |
| Solar input (W) | 60 | 100 ● | -40 |
| Weight (lb) | 2.1 ● | 3.97 | -1.9 |
| Noise (dB) | N/A | 45 | |
| AC outlets | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| USB-C ports | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Warranty (yr) | 2 | 3 ● | -1 |
| Chemistry | NMC | LiFePO4 | |
| UPS | No | Yes (<10ms) |
● marks the better figure where direction is clear. Price is each unit’s usual price.
Read the full verdict →08 · At its usual price
Cost of ownership
Cycle life is the manufacturer’s rating to 80% capacity; the lifetime figure is that rating times the nameplate capacity.
$2.64
per Wh
at $250
$5.28
per lifetime kWh
47 kWh over 500 cycles
1.4 yr
if cycled daily
5 yr at weekends only
2 yr
warranty
$125 per covered year
09 · From the matchups
Questions people ask
What's the real difference between the Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC and 100PD?
The 100AC has a 100W AC inverter with a 150W surge rating, so it can power anything with a standard wall plug; the 100PD drops that inverter entirely and charges only through USB-C and USB-A. Everything else — the 94.7Wh capacity, the 500-cycle life, the 2-year warranty — is identical. The 100AC also accepts up to 60W of solar versus the 100PD's 20W.
Can I take the Sherpa 100AC on a plane?
Yes, and that's most of the point of it. At 94.7Wh it sits 5.3Wh under the 100Wh limit airlines apply to lithium batteries in carry-on, and it's sold as airline-approved [B1]. The Apex 300, at 2,765Wh and 83.8 lbs, is not going anywhere near a cabin.
What's the difference between the Sherpa 100AC and the Sherpa 100PD?
The AC in the name is the AC outlet. The Sherpa 100PD is the USB-C-only variant of the same 94.7Wh pack and carries no AC inverter at all, so it can't run a wall plug. If the 100W AC port is why you're here, check the suffix on the listing before you check out. The two names are one letter apart and only one of them has an outlet on it.
Can the Sherpa 100AC run a CPAP overnight?
No. Our CPAP scenario needs 320Wh and the Sherpa holds 94.7Wh, or about 80Wh once you apply the flat 85% usable factor the load model puts on every unit. That's roughly a quarter of the night. The Apex 300 does the same night on 14% of its usable capacity, with one caution attached: it's rated at 45dB under load, so put it across the room rather than beside the bed.
Can the Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC run a CPAP overnight?
No. A CPAP night comes to 320Wh on our board and the Sherpa has about 80Wh usable, so it's 240Wh short and covers roughly a quarter of the night. The DELTA Pro finishes the same night having spent 10% of itself. If a CPAP is the reason you're shopping, the Sherpa isn't a candidate at any price.
Some links are affiliate links; they never change the price you pay or which price we show. Owner reports are paraphrased from public comments and link to their source.