Head-to-head test
Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC vs Jackery Explorer 500
Only one of these clears the 100Wh airline limit, and if that isn't the thing you're buying, everything else on this page points at the Explorer 500.
Full profiles: Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC → · Jackery Explorer 500 →
Written by Wenny ZhengUpdated
Portable Power Tester, Station Arena Test Desk
$249.95 · direct from Goal Zero
Last checked 1 day ago. Prices move — check before you buy.
$359.00 · direct from Jackery
Last checked 14 days ago. Prices move — check before you buy.
Spec deltas
The Explorer 500 carries five and a half times the energy for $109 more (518Wh against 94.7Wh, $359 against $250), and it finishes exactly one of the six load profiles modelled below. The Sherpa 100AC finishes none of them. That reads like a rout, and on the scoreboard it is, but the scoreboard is measuring a job the Sherpa was never built to do.
What the Sherpa is built to do is fly. Its 94.7Wh sits under the 100Wh airline limitA1, it weighs 2.1 lbs, and it refills through the same 100W USB-C port that charges your laptop, so it travels without a wall brick of its ownA3. The Explorer weighs 13.3 lbs and holds 518Wh. There is no version of airport security where that is a carry-on.
So read the scenario board as a sizing chart rather than a contest. Five of the six profiles are out of reach for both units, and the sixth is out of reach for one. Knowing that up front will save you more money than picking the winner will.
What the Numbers Reveal
Each conclusion stated first — the numbers behind it on one line, the full analysis below.
continuous output
Run that same 43Wh charge against the Explorer's 440Wh usable and you get about ten. The count isn't the point. Ten is where you stop doing the arithmetic before you plug something in, and two is where you never stop doing it.
Sherpa 100AC: 94.7Wh nameplate, 80Wh usable after the flat 85% derate this page applies to every unitOne full laptop charge, 10% to 100% in 90 minutes, drew 45% of the Sherpa's batteryA3Explorer 500: 518Wh nameplate, 440Wh usable on the same derate
Why it mattersIf you're buying this to keep one laptop alive on the road, the Sherpa is genuinely enough. If you're buying it to stop thinking about power for a weekend, $109 fixes that ($359 against $250).
That single collision is the whole difference between these two outlets. The Explorer's 500W continuous swallows the tailgate's 400W draw without reaching for its 1,000W surge headroom, while the Sherpa's outlet is sized for laptop chargers, camera cradles and small lampsA1. Motors and heating elements aren't a close call on the Sherpa; they're a different appliance list.
Sherpa 100AC: 100W continuous output, 150W surge ceilingExplorer 500: 500W continuous, 1,000W surgeThe 8-Hour Blackout profile's largest single draw is 150W; the Tailgate Party profile's is 400W
Why it mattersIf anything on your shopping list has a compressor, a motor or a heating coil in it, the Sherpa is out regardless of what either unit costs.
solar input
Add the USB-C path and the Sherpa becomes the unit that tops up in the gaps of a day: a coffee stop, a car ride, a spare hour of sun. The Explorer needs a real block of the day, and a rated solar input is a ceiling that panels in actual weather don't reach, so five hours is the optimistic version of that block.
Sherpa 100AC: 60W maximum solar input against 94.7Wh capacityExplorer 500: 100W maximum solar input against 518Wh capacityThe Sherpa also takes a charge over its 100W USB-C port, from a laptop brick rather than a dedicated adapterA3
Why it mattersAnyone planning to live off a panel for days should buy neither of these and start with a panel bigger than either unit's input rating.
rated cycles
$5.28 against $0.87 isn't a gap you argue with, but it also isn't a gap that means anything if what you're buying is the airline limit. Nobody pays $2.64 a watt-hour by accident; they pay it for a pack that fits in a laptop bagA2. The figure that should actually change your order is which Explorer 500 the listing is selling, because the LiFePO4 v2 is a different longevity proposition from the lithium-ion originalB4.
Sherpa 100AC: $2.64 per watt-hour, 500 rated cyclesExplorer 500: $0.69 per watt-hour, 800 cycles rated to 80% remaining capacityB1The Explorer on this page is the original lithium-ion model; a v2 on LiFePO4 is rated for considerably more cyclesB4
Why it mattersIf cost per watt-hour is how you're deciding, you've already decided you want a power station. Buy the Explorer, and read the listing for the v2 before you check out.
The specific dimensions that decide these two units — everything else is a tie.
Portability & Form Factor
Selected because: 2.1 lbs against 13.3 lbs, and only the Sherpa's 94.7Wh clears the 100Wh airline limit. It's the one difference no price change can close.
weight
Weight is the wrong way into this section. Either unit rides in a car without anyone noticing, and the heavier one has a handle. The line that decides things is 94.7Wh, because it sits under 100Wh, and 100Wh is where a lithium battery stops being allowed in a carry-onA1.
That gives the Sherpa the only argument on this page that survives a price change. Drop the Explorer to any number you like and it still doesn't board the plane. Everything else here is negotiable. The airline limit isn't.
Runtime: Will It Power Your Gear?
Selected because: 94.7Wh against 518Wh settles what each unit can finish, and it settles it before output, ports or price get a say.
continuous output
Eighty watt-hours usable against 440. Both come from the same flat 85% haircut applied to every unit's nameplate, not from a measurement of either inverter, so read them as a consistent convention rather than a lab result. The ratio between them is the real finding.
What the convention can't tell you is that the two run out in different ways. The Explorer empties over hours on a 500W outlet. The Sherpa empties over not quite two laptop charges. Neither covers the 910Wh Remote Workday profile further down: the Explorer reaches about half of it (440Wh usable against 910Wh) and the Sherpa under a tenth (80Wh against 910Wh). If a full day of desk power away from a wall is the requirement, this page has no answer on it.
Your Life, Your Pick
Selected because: Five of the six modelled profiles are out of reach for both units, so this board is a sizing chart rather than a scoreboard.
Five of the six rows below end in "neither," and the numbers hiding behind that one word are not remotely alike. Van Life Daily leaves the Explorer 4,245Wh short. Weekend Camping leaves it 1,660Wh short. One of those is a different product category; the other is a bigger version of the same one, and only the second is worth shopping for.
The single row that resolves is CPAP Overnight, and it resolves on capacity rather than comfort: 320Wh needed, 440Wh usable on the Explorer, 120Wh spare. The Sherpa's 80Wh usable falls 240Wh short, which gets you about a quarter of a night. Before that spare 120Wh reassures anyone, note what it isn't: it isn't a second night. A CPAP user planning for an outage longer than one should be shopping above both of these.
Lifetime Value
Selected because: $2.64 per watt-hour against $0.69, and the cycle ratings (500 against 800) push those further apart instead of together.
cost / lifetime kWh
Two dollars sixty-four a watt-hour against sixty-nine cents. That's the sticker in its most honest form, and the rated cycles push it further apart rather than pulling it back: 94.7Wh across 500 cycles against 518Wh across 800 comes out at $5.28 per lifetime kWh versus $0.87. Both rest on rated counts, and the Explorer's 800 is rated to 80% remaining capacity rather than to failureB1.
One caveat on the years columns in this table: they count cycles, not energy. The Sherpa is credited a full cycle for emptying 94.7Wh and the Explorer for emptying 518Wh, so the two can post similar-looking lifespans while doing very different amounts of work. Read the cost per lifetime kWh instead. And if the Sherpa's number looks indefensible, remember what it's priced for. It isn't cheap watt-hours. It's the pack that goes through security.
What the Specs Don't Tell You
Selected because: Surge ceilings of 150W against 1,000W, and one published noise figure against a blank, are where the two units stop being comparable at all.
rated cycles
The surge card reads as a knock on the Sherpa's inverter, and it isn't quite that. A 1.5× ratio (150W peak on a 100W outlet) against 2× (1,000W on 500W) is a genuine difference in what will start, but it's a category difference rather than a quality one. Nobody engineers an airline-legal travel pack to catch a compressor's startup spike. Judge the Sherpa on whether 100W covers your list, not on the ratio.
The noise card is the one to read carefully, because it fires on an absence. The Explorer publishes 37dB and the Sherpa publishes nothing, and a blank is not a high number. It's a missing figure, and this page won't invent one. It also decides nothing here: the scenario where a fan two feet from your head matters is the overnight CPAP run, and the Sherpa's 80Wh usable can't cover that night's 320Wh whatever it sounds like.
Strengths & trade-offs
Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC
Strengths
- +Costs $109.1 less
- +Lighter by 11.2 lb
Trade-offs
- –Lacks smartphone app control for remote monitoring.
Jackery Explorer 500
Strengths
- +Larger battery capacity
- +Higher AC output
- +Faster solar charging
Trade-offs
- –Substantially more expensive (+$109.1) than the Sherpa 100AC.
- –Significantly heavier (+11.2 lbs), making it harder to move.
- –Lacks smartphone app control for remote monitoring.
Will It Power Your Gear?
Scenario math and per-appliance runtimes, modeled from the spec record.
Scenario verdicts
We ran the math on seven real-world scenarios. Here's which unit survives your actual life.
SCN-01 · 2 nights · needs 2,100Wh
Weekend Camping
Two nights off-grid with essential comfort
Neither unit
Neither. A 2,100Wh weekend runs 2,020Wh past the Sherpa and 1,660Wh past the Explorer, which makes this a wrong-shelf warning rather than a matchup. Two nights of lights, phones, a fan and a cooler wants a station well beyond either of these, and no amount of careful use closes a gap that size.
Battery budget usedlower = more headroom
LOAD Phone Charger 15W×6h · LED Lights 40W×8h · Box Fan 75W×14h · CPAP Machine 40W×16h
SCN-02 · 8 hours · needs 1,645Wh
8-Hour Blackout
Keep the essentials running through a night without power
Neither unit
Neither. The Explorer ends the evening 1,205Wh short of the 1,645Wh this profile needs, and the Sherpa 1,565Wh short. There's a second problem on the Sherpa worth naming: the profile's biggest single draw is 150W, which is exactly its surge ceiling and 50W past the 100W it holds continuously. Surge is a momentary allowance, not a run rating.
Battery budget usedlower = more headroom
LOAD Fridge 150W×8h · Router + Modem 20W×8h · LED Lights (4 bulbs) 40W×6h · Phone Charger 15W×3h
SCN-03 · 8 hours · needs 320Wh
CPAP Overnight
Sleep therapy without interruption — the #1 medical use case
Explorer 500
The Explorer 500 takes this one on capacity: 320Wh needed against 440Wh usable, leaving 120Wh spare. The Sherpa's 80Wh usable is 240Wh short, about a quarter of a night. One thing to know before that spare capacity reassures you, though. 120Wh is not a second night, so if the outage you're planning for runs longer than one, plan on recharging in the morning or buying larger.
Battery budget usedlower = more headroom
LOAD CPAP Machine 40W×8h
SCN-04 · 8 hours · needs 910Wh
Remote Workday
Full work day off-grid without power anxiety
Neither unit
Neither. A 910Wh workday leaves the Explorer 470Wh short and the Sherpa 830Wh short, so the Explorer reaches about half of it (440Wh usable against 910Wh) and the Sherpa under a tenth. The Sherpa will still keep a laptop topped up through a working day, which for plenty of people is the entire requirement. It just isn't this profile's requirement.
Battery budget usedlower = more headroom
LOAD Laptop 60W×8h · External Monitor 30W×8h · Router + Modem 20W×8h · Phone Charger 15W×2h
SCN-05 · 4 hours · needs 670Wh
Tailgate Party
Game day power for the crew
Neither unit
Neither, but for different reasons, which is worth separating. The Explorer starts everything here, since its 500W continuous outlet covers the profile's 400W peak, and then runs out 230Wh short of the 670Wh the afternoon needs. The Sherpa never gets that far: 400W is well past both its 100W continuous rating and its 150W surge ceiling. Closest call on the board, and still a miss.
Battery budget usedlower = more headroom
LOAD Blender 400W×0.5h · LED TV (55") 80W×4h · Bluetooth Speaker 15W×4h · Phone Charger (×3) 45W×2h
SCN-06 · 24 hours · needs 4,685Wh
Van Life Daily
A full day of mobile living — the ultimate endurance test
Neither unit
Neither, and not remotely. This profile wants 4,685Wh a day; the Explorer is 4,245Wh short and the Sherpa 4,605Wh short. This is the row that shows the scale of the mismatch. Full-time van power is a wired system with its own bank and charging, and a portable unit in this size range isn't a smaller version of that, it's a different purchase.
Battery budget usedlower = more headroom
LOAD Mini-Fridge 150W×24h · Laptop 60W×4h · Phone Charger 15W×3h · LED Lights 40W×5h · Fan 75W×8h
SCN-07 · an afternoon · needs 100Wh
Afternoon Off-Grid
Phones and a speaker at the park, beach, or campsite — the small-unit job description
Explorer 500
The Sherpa 100AC doesn't finish — 80Wh usable against the 100Wh this needs leaves it 20Wh short, about 81% of the scenario covered. The Explorer 500 covers it with 340Wh to spare.
Battery budget usedlower = more headroom
LOAD Phone Charger (×2) 30W×2h · Bluetooth Speaker 10W×4h
The Load Test
RUNTIME = (Wh × 0.85) ÷ LOAD
None of the scenarios above exactly yours? Build it. Toggle what you'd plug in; both units are tested against the combined draw.
Essentials
Comfort & Convenience
High-Draw Appliances
Test duration
8h
Continuous draw
205W
Projected runtime
Only the Explorer 500 can start this 205W load.
$359 list · direct from Jackery
Modeled from the spec record — same math as the tables below. Methodology
Runtime by appliance
Real-world runtime estimates for common appliances, modeled at 85% inverter efficiency.¹
Essentials
The basics you need runningscale 0–29.4hComfort & Convenience
Makes off-grid life actually enjoyablescale 0–5.9hHigh-Draw Appliances
These reveal the real limits¹ Runtime = (capacity × 0.85) ÷ appliance watts. Within each group, all bars share one time scale (the group's longest runtime), so lengths are comparable across appliances; identical runtimes collapse into a single blue/orange bar. Actual runtime varies with battery age, temperature, and simultaneous loads — see methodology.
Conclusion
August 9, 2026
Verdict: the Explorer 500, on Power Score margin
Take the Explorer 500. It costs $109 more ($359 against $250) and returns five and a half times the energy (518Wh against 94.7Wh), five times the continuous output (500W against 100W), and the only scenario on this page that either unit actually finishes. The Sherpa isn't a smaller Explorer. It's a laptop-bag battery with an AC outlet on the sideA2, and its 94.7Wh sits under the 100Wh airline limitA1, which is the one thing the Explorer can never do at any price. If your requirement is that it goes in the carry-on, buy the Sherpa and stop reading. Everyone else is choosing between a power bank and a power station, and should buy the power station.
Editor-assigned confidence, based on cited owner research and spec analysis.
List prices as of August 9, 2026. The links below open Goal Zero's and Jackery's current prices.
$359.00 · direct from Jackery
Last checked 14 days ago. Prices move — check before you buy.
or check the Sherpa 100AC price$249.95 list
Written by Wenny Zheng, Portable Power Tester · Station Arena Test Desk · Updated August 9, 2026
Measured Data
Benchmark scores and the full spec record, side by side.
Benchmark scores
Not rated for both units (minimum threshold unmet): Apartment Balcony, Camping.
Full specifications
ᵈ Derived: price ÷ rated capacity. See the data behind our comparisons →
Comparison ToolAdd more power stations, side by sideOpen Tool →How these numbers are produced
Numeric verification
Every figure on this page traces to our spec database or arithmetic on it — no estimated numbers.
Owner claims
Statements about owner experience are cited to published reviews — see Sources & Research Notes below.
Runtime model
Runtime = (rated capacity × 0.85 inverter efficiency) ÷ device wattage. Solar recharge estimates assume panels deliver 70% of rated output. Cold weather, battery age, and stacked loads reduce real-world results.
Power Score
Computed from 14 published spec dimensions, weighted per use-case bench. Higher is better; a unit must meet a bench's minimum threshold to be rated.
See the full weight table and data sourcing on our methodology page →Class ranking (the star rating)
Each unit's star score is a category ranking, not customer reviews — no buyer opinions feed it. We score every station on size-independent quality (value, output, portability, endurance, ports, warranty, and more), then percentile-rank it against the other units in its capacity class, so a class-leading compact unit and a class-leading whole-home unit can both earn 5★. Here, Sherpa 100AC rates 3.3/5 (1st percentile of 22 Personal-class units), and Explorer 500 rates 3.3/5 (1st percentile of 20 Compact-class units).
How the class ranking is computed →Test Notes & Caveats
Hidden gotchas and advantages we spotted that you won't find on the product page.
Explorer 500: About Five Hours of Sun, at the Rated Ceiling
518Wh through a 100W maximum solar input is a little over five hours, and that figure assumes the panel actually delivers its rating: clear sky, right angle, cool panel. Real conditions take longer, and how much longer depends on your panel and your latitude rather than on the unit. Worth the contrast with the Sherpa: 94.7Wh through a 60W input is about an hour and a half on the same optimistic basis, which is the one area where the smaller pack has the easier life.
Surge: 150W Against 1,000W, and Why the Ratio Isn't the Story
The Explorer 500 holds 500W continuously and peaks at 1,000W. The Sherpa 100AC holds 100W and peaks at 150W. Scored as ratios that's 2× against 1.5×, and the higher ratio does absorb motor startup spikes better. The more useful reading is the absolute ceiling: 150W is a laptop charger, a camera cradle, a small lamp. Anything with a compressor or a heating element isn't a marginal call on the Sherpa, it's off the list, and that's a decision about what fits in a bag rather than a defect in the inverter.
Warranty: No Difference
Both units carry the same 2-year warranty, so coverage isn't a tiebreaker here. Worth saying because the per-dollar framing can suggest otherwise: the Sherpa 100AC works out at 8 years of cover per $1,000 spent against the Explorer 500's 5.6, but that spread is the price gap, not the terms.
One Published Noise Figure, One Blank
The Explorer 500 is rated at 37dB. The Sherpa 100AC publishes nothing, and a blank is not a high number. There's simply no figure to hold it to, and this page won't invent one. Before you weight that heavily, note where noise would actually decide something: the overnight CPAP run, and the Sherpa's 80Wh usable can't cover that night's 320Wh in any case. If you're buying for a bedroom, the missing figure is a reason to hunt for a hands-on report, not a reason to assume the worst.
Full record above — the Test Desk pick is the Explorer 500.
Check Explorer 500 price →or check the Sherpa 100AC priceOwnership Analysis
What happens after you buy — true cost of ownership, brand trust, and growth potential.
Lifetime value
Service lifeyears at one full cycle per day
Lifetime energy delivered
Cost per delivered kWh
│ warranty ends · Reaching the cycle rating means ~80% capacity remains — degraded, not dead.
Analyst note
The Sherpa 100AC is cheaper to buy, but the Explorer 500 is cheaper to own. At $0.87/kWh over its lifetime vs $5.28/kWh, the Explorer 500's higher cycle life and capacity make each dollar go further over the years.
Delivers each lifetime kWh for $4.41 less — check the Explorer 500 price →
Brand trust
Goal Zero
Ecosystem
Focused — a compact current line (6th-gen Yeti and Yeti Pro series), the previous-gen X series now out of stock across every model on Goal Zero's own store (checked 2026-09-13: 200X, 500X, 1000X, 1500X, 3000X, 6000X, some listed only as open-box), so buying one new means finding retailer stock, Sherpa power banks for the under-100Wh tier, plus Alta coolers, Nomad/Ranger solar panels, and vehicle integration kits
Support
US-based company (Salt Lake City, owned by NRG Energy). Historically considered premium support, but 2025-2026 reports describe long wait times, unresponsive email communication, and tickets going unaddressed for weeks. The "premium support justifies premium pricing" argument is weakening.
Community
Small but loyal — strong following in overlanding and preparedness communities. Official community forums were recently shuttered, frustrating long-time users.
App experience
Rated 4.4/5 iOS (~1,200 ratings) but recent reviews skew negative — recurring connectivity issues, crashes, and stability problems.
Unique strength
Pioneer of the portable power market — strongest brand heritage. US-based company with ruggedized, weather-resistant designs (IP ratings vary by model). Integrated "Yeti-Ready" ecosystem with coolers, lights, and vehicle kits.
Worth knowing
Goal Zero's price position explains the Sherpa's $2.64 per watt-hour better than the Sherpa's spec sheet does. You're paying for a US-designed, ruggedised travel pack, and our brand assessment is that the old "premium price buys premium support" argument has weakened.
Jackery
Ecosystem
12-15+ models across Explorer (portable) and HomePower (home backup) series, plus SolarSaga panel ecosystem and innovative form factors
Support
US-based support but widely criticized. Reddit reports describe slow/dismissive responses, scripted AI agents, strict receipt requirements for warranty claims, and refurbished replacements for clearly defective units. Strongly recommended: buy from Costco or Amazon for return protection.
Community
Smallest community of the major brands — Reddit r/Jackery has ~2,000 members. YouTube presence is solid due to brand recognition.
App experience
Rated 2.3-3.3/5 iOS and Android — the weakest app experience of the major brands. Multiple confusing apps (Jackery app vs Jackery Home) and mandatory login even offline.
Unique strength
Highest brand recognition and widest retail distribution (Costco, Home Depot, Best Buy, Amazon). The "Toyota" of power stations — dependable, proven, wide availability. Innovative form factors like the Solar Gazebo and Solar Mars Bot.
Worth knowing
Jackery's real advantage in this matchup isn't the hardware, it's the shelf. Costco, Home Depot, Best Buy and Amazon all carry the line, and our brand assessment is that buying through a retailer with a generous return window is the sensible hedge on either brand.
Analyst note
Neither brand's service record is a reason to pick one over the other here, because our brand assessment flags support as a weak point on both sides. Buy from somewhere with a returns desk and the question largely stops mattering.
Growth path
Sherpa 100AC
FIXED CAPACITYFixed at 95Wh, with no expansion — so size it for your needs up front rather than planning to add capacity later.
Accepts up to 60W of solar. Limited to a single portable panel.
Limited ports. You'll likely need a power strip or splitter.
Explorer 500
FIXED CAPACITYFixed at 518Wh, with no expansion — so size it for your needs up front rather than planning to add capacity later.
Accepts up to 100W of solar. Limited to a single portable panel.
Limited ports. You'll likely need a power strip or splitter.
Realistic full solar rechargeat 70% of rated panel output — see methodology
Analyst note
Neither expands, and that's no knock on either — each is a complete unit at a fixed size. Buy the capacity that covers your needs now (the Explorer 500 gives you the larger ceiling); you can't add to either later.
What Owners Report
Patterns from published owner reports and long-term reviews — every claim cited to its source below.
Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC
There's no long-term ownership record for the Sherpa 100AC to draw on. What exists is four review-site write-ups, and they converge on the same three points: the 94.7Wh capacity clears the airline limitA1, the pack is small enough to live in a laptop bag and adds 15W wireless charging on topA2, and it both takes and delivers 100W over USB-CA3. Useful, but that's a product description more than a durability recordA4.
The one genuinely hands-on data point is worth having. A reviewer took a laptop from 10% to 100% in 90 minutes and watched it consume 45% of the Sherpa's chargeA3. That's measured rather than claimed, and it's the closest thing here to knowing what the pack does in a bag on a Tuesday. Nothing in the record touches fan behaviour, cold-weather charging, or how the cells hold up past the first couple of yearsA1A2A3A4.
“A 94.7Wh power bank — under the 100Wh FAA flight limit, so it's airline-approved — with a 100W AC port for laptop chargers, camera cradles, or small lamps.”
Sources
campingsolar.us · matadornetwork.com · gearjunkie.com · shotkit.com · packandtrail.com · the-gadgeteer.com
Jackery Explorer 500
The Explorer 500's record is thin too, and it's complicated by a second unit wearing the same name. The entries describe 518Wh and 500W on traditional lithium-ion cells rated to 80% capacity after 800 cyclesB1, and about 13 lbsB2, which is a spec sheet written out in prose. The most useful thing in it is a warning rather than a review: there's a v2 built on LiFePO4 and rated for considerably more cycles, and it is not the unit on this pageB4.
None of it is a durability report. No multi-year accounts, no failure patterns, no one describing what the pack felt like on its four hundredth cycleB1B2B3B4. If longevity is what you're paying for, the honest position is that 800 cycles is a manufacturer ratingB1 and nobody in this record has tested it.
“518Wh capacity with a 500W output, on traditional lithium-ion cells — Jackery rates 80% capacity retention after 800 cycles.”
Sources
backuppowerhub.com · jackery.com · greencitizen.com · poweredportablesolar.com · batteryessence.com
Sources & Research Notes
Every owner claim in this report is traceable to a published source. The bracketed references above resolve here.
Recurring owner themes
- Airline-legal 94.7Wh, a real 100W AC port, wireless charging, and 2-lb travel portability are the standout points. [Sherpa 100AC · 3 entries]
- Affordable, portable Jackery entry unit, but on older lithium-ion chemistry with limited cycle life vs newer LFP models. [Explorer 500 · 3 entries]
- A1
“A 94.7Wh power bank — under the 100Wh FAA flight limit, so it's airline-approved — with a 100W AC port for laptop chargers, camera cradles, or small lamps.”
campingsolar.us / matadornetwork.com — Sherpa 100AC review · 2026 · [positive]
- A2
“Weighs just 2 lbs and adds best-in-class 15W wireless charging; a tiny, elegant unit that fits in a laptop bag.”
gearjunkie.com / shotkit.com — Sherpa 100AC review · 2026 · [positive]
- A3
“Its 100W USB-C port charged a laptop from 10% to 100% in 90 minutes, drawing 45% from the Sherpa's battery, and it recharges from a USB-C source with no separate wall plug.”
packandtrail.com — Sherpa 100AC review · 2026 · [positive]
- A4
“A versatile travel power pack for cameras, laptops, and phones — ideal for digital nomads and outdoor creatives.”
the-gadgeteer.com — Sherpa 100AC review · 2026 · [positive]
- B1
“518Wh capacity with a 500W output, on traditional lithium-ion cells — Jackery rates 80% capacity retention after 800 cycles.”
backuppowerhub.com / jackery.com — Explorer 500 review · 2026 · [mixed]
- B2
“Weighs about 13 lbs — a compact, portable unit.”
greencitizen.com / poweredportablesolar.com — Explorer 500 review · 2026 · [positive]
- B3
“The 518Wh capacity at $449 is the most affordable entry into Jackery's reliable ecosystem — good for weekend warriors and occasional users.”
backuppowerhub.com — Explorer 500 review · 2026 · [positive]
- B4
“An older lithium-ion unit; the newer Explorer 500 v2 uses LiFePO4 rated for far more cycles, offering significantly better longevity.”
batteryessence.com / backuppowerhub.com — Explorer 500 v2 review · 2026 · [mixed]
Research compiled August 9, 2026.
Who Should Buy Which
Buy the Sherpa 100AC if you…
- →You fly with your work. 94.7Wh clears the airline limitA1, so it goes in the carry-on alongside the laptop and the camera bodies, and nothing with more capacity does.
- →Your entire power problem is one laptop and a phone, one day away from a wall outlet. A full laptop refill costs 45% of the packA3, and that's the job it does without complaint.
- →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 packA3.
Buy the Explorer 500 if you…
- →You want a weekend of small loads without counting: lights, phones, a laptop or two, a fan on the picnic table. 440Wh usable is roughly ten laptop refills at the 45% per charge one reviewer measuredA3.
- →You need an outlet that starts things rather than trickles into them. 500W continuous with 1,000W of surge covers the 400W peak in the Tailgate Party profile; 100W doesn't come close.
- →You're buying watt-hours and want them cheap: 69 cents each against $2.64, and $0.87 per lifetime kWh against $5.28.
If neither fits
If your list includes a fridge, a space heater, a coffee maker, or a full working day away from a wall, close this tab. The Remote Workday profile needs 910Wh and the Explorer reaches about half of it; Weekend Camping needs 2,100Wh and leaves it 1,660Wh short. That's not a near miss you can plan your way around. It's a whole size class up, and you'll spend less time agonising if you start there instead of here.
The Bottom Line
Buy the Explorer 500. $109 more ($359 against $250) buys 518Wh against 94.7Wh and a 500W outlet against a 100W one, and it's the only one of the two that finishes any scenario on this page. The cost per watt-hour says the same thing from the other end: 69 cents against $2.64.
The Sherpa's case is narrow, and it's real. If 94.7Wh under the airline limitA1 is the specification you're genuinely shopping for, nothing in the Explorer's numbers helps you, and the Sherpa is a well-made version of a different thing. For everyone else, the board below is a sizing chart, five of its six rows say neither, and the Explorer is the one that at least gets onto the chart.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers drawn from the spec record and cited owner research.
Can I take the Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC on a plane?
Yes, and that's the point of it. Its 94.7Wh sits under the 100Wh airline limit, so it travels in a carry-on. The Jackery Explorer 500's 518Wh is far past that line. If flying is your use case, the Explorer isn't a pricier option or a cheaper one, it simply isn't an option.
Is the Jackery Explorer 500 worth $109 more than the Sherpa 100AC?
For almost everyone, yes. $359 against $250 buys 518Wh instead of 94.7Wh and a 500W outlet instead of a 100W one, which is the difference between charging your devices and running them. The exception is the traveller who needs to stay under the airline limit. No amount of extra capacity helps if the unit can't come with you.
How long will the Sherpa 100AC keep my laptop going?
Not quite two full charges. A reviewer took a laptop from 10% to 100% in 90 minutes and it drew 45% of the pack, so call it 43Wh a charge against the Sherpa's 80Wh usable. It refills over the same 100W USB-C port, so a laptop brick or a car adapter puts it back without extra kit.
Am I buying the original Explorer 500 or the v2?
Check the listing before you order, because they aren't the same battery. The unit on this page is the original, on traditional lithium-ion cells rated to 80% capacity after 800 cycles. There's a v2 built on LiFePO4 and rated for considerably more cycles, and if longevity is what you're paying for, that distinction matters more than the price gap between these two units.
Neither one covers an 8-hour blackout, so what size should I actually buy?
The blackout profile here needs 1,645Wh. The Explorer finishes 1,205Wh short of it and the Sherpa 1,565Wh short, and choosing between the two changes nothing about that. If whole-evening backup is the requirement, shop a size class up. If you only need phones and a router alive until the lights come back, the Explorer's 440Wh usable is the sensible one of these two.
Where to buy
Goal Zero Sherpa 100AC
$249.95
$249.95 · direct from Goal Zero
Last checked 1 day ago. Prices move — check before you buy.
Jackery Explorer 500Pick
$359.00
$359.00 · direct from Jackery
Last checked 14 days ago. Prices move — check before you buy.
Prices may vary by retailer and are subject to change.