Sherpa 100AC (2022) Review: The Most Powerful Battery You Can Still Fly With
Sherpa 100AC
If you find that having an AC outlet while on the go is necessary for your lifestyle, or could benefit from having a solar input, then the Sherpa 100AC is the ideal solution to that lifestyle. For all the features that it packs, it’s hard to beat the small, portable nature of this battery, especially for air travel. If you absolutely must have all the power backup you possibly can, the Sherpa 100AC is the best option out there.
The Sherpa 100AC from Goal Zero is laser-focused on getting you all the portable power you could need (including 110V AC output), while still coming in under the legal flying limit. Does that stifle what the Sherpa is capable of? Or does it unlock new possibilities? Will it be too much battery—or too little?
Accessories
Inside the box, you get the battery, along with a USB-C to USB-C cable. This can be used to both charge the battery, as well as charge other devices from the battery given its reversible nature.
As an optional extra, you can purchase the 65-watt USB charger, which offers fast charging capabilities to charge up the Sherpa in two hours.
The USB charger offers an additional USB-A port for multifunctional charging.
You could also pair the Sherpa with a Nomad 50 portable solar panel, which can fully recharge it in around three hours of optimal sunlight.
Sherpa 100AC Design
It is a lot smaller and lighter than I expected, coming in at 7.69 x 5.51 x 1.02 inches, and weighs only 2.1 lbs.
It feels high quality, with a predominantly aluminum case, with soft-touch rubber grips that keep it from shifting around on whatever surface you place it down on. On the bottom of the device, you’ll see some technical information along with a QR code to the user manual, which is a neat idea.
Inputs/Outputs
On the front of the device, we have a small display, which can be activated with the display button located to the left of the screen. The display has some vital information when it comes to operating the battery.
On the left, it shows the input power while charging, and on the right, it shows the total output sourced from the battery to your devices. In the middle of the display, you’ll see a percentage of battery life remaining on the Sherpa, along with the hours to empty which is super convenient if you’re not into doing a bunch of math.
You also have three additional buttons, each of which enables or disables the various power delivery outputs through USB, AC, and wireless charging.
At the front of the battery we have an array of both inputs and outputs. Moving from left to right we have two USB-C ports. The top USB-C port is both an input/output at up to 60W. The lower USB-C is also an input/output, with 60W input and up to 100W output. To the right of the USB-C ports are two USB-A port outputs, each at 12 watts.
On the right side of the display is a full-sized, 110v American AC socket, providing up to 100 watts max. That’s more enough for a laptop charger, but don’t try to plug in a toaster.
As mentioned before, there is also a wireless charger located conveniently at the top of the device making it simple to drop your phone or earbuds on and let them charge up while resting there at up to 15 watts.
On the rear of the battery, you’ll find a small fan that can kick into action from time to time.
Next to the fan, there is an 8mm solar charging input, suitable for a portable panel at 18-22v and 60-watt max. Further right are two slide switches that can be used to override the charge or discharge status of the USB-C ports. Since USB-C is bidirectional, and many devices are now capable of reverse charging, they can get confused as to whether they should give or receive power to the Sherpa. This switch gives you the ability to manually control that aspect, so if you’re in a situation where you want to use your phone battery to charge the Sherpa, you can do so with the flip of a switch. Although, I’ve had good success with just keeping these switches on auto.
Comparisons to The Previous Sherpa 100AC
You’ll find some notable performance boosts in this 2022 edition, including a 10-watt boost to the wireless charging capability, and the addition of a 100-watt USB-C output. It also has an improved, sleeker design with less crowded ports in the front. This does, however, come at the cost of the built-in cable storage compartments that the previous model had.
Setup/Operation
Setting up and using the Sherpa 100AC couldn’t be any easier. It comes out of the box with a decent charge, but it’s recommended that you charge up the Sherpa fully before use. After that, it’s as simple as taking it on the go, plugging in your favorite items, and enabling the outputs.
The Sherpa packs a 94.7 watt-hour (Wh) lithium-ion battery with a single-cell equivalent capacity of 25,600mAh. It features low battery protection and simultaneous recharge and discharge. Goal Zero claims that the battery can recharge a smartphone up to eight times, a tablet up to three times, and a laptop two times. Obviously, these figures will vary depending on the battery capacity of each of your products though, so they’re only a guide.
As a real-world example, my 16-inch M1 MacBook Pro packs a 100Wh battery, which is only marginally larger than the one inside the Sherpa. When my laptop battery was at 10% I pulled out the fully charged Sherpa 100AC, and plugged the Magsafe adapter directly into the 100-watt USB-C port on the Sherpa.
I could also have taken my entire power brick and plugged it into the AC output on the Sherpa, but since each outputs 100-watt max and the AC conversion would have resulted in some conversion efficiency losses, I opted for the direct connection. At this point, my Sherpa claimed one hour of life remaining, and the laptop was indicating two hours and twenty-four minutes until charged. After about 45 minutes, the temperature warning on the Sherpa comes on, but the fan has yet to kick in. Meanwhile, the laptop is up to about 65% charge. The fan turned on shortly after, then the battery died—leaving the laptop at a 73% charge with minor usage throughout charging.
The Sherpa definitely did a great job of giving me that extra boost, if I travel somewhere with a full laptop battery plus the Sherpa I’m confident I can get a full 12-hour day of heavy usage done. But, if you were hoping to have a battery that can recharge your most power-hungry devices over and over again, this one might let you down.
The Sherpa 100 falls into a strange spot in the market. It’s designed to be the biggest battery that you are legally allowed to bring onto an airplane, so the intent is definitely to have the Sherpa be your number-one travel companion. It’s not a huge battery that’s going to take you off the grid and power your appliances or recharge your most precious devices multiple days in a row. But, it’s also not a small battery that you can slip into your pocket or a small backpack compartment for that “just in case” scenario.
If you’re going to be lugging a portable battery around with you, that’s this size and shape, you’re going to want to have it for a specific reason. So what reason might that be? For me, it’s in the name: the AC output.
This is something that smaller, lightweight batteries just don’t have. As mentioned before, this output maxes out at 100 watts, so you’re not going to be able to just plug anything into it and have it run. Big appliances that suck power to perform harder tasks are not going to be compatible with this battery, so for that, you’re going to need to look to something bigger.
But, for less intense, more sustained power draws, this battery can power many things that you’d otherwise have to plug into a wall, and it can do so for up to a couple of hours.
I could see this battery being really great for string lights in an outdoor space where you might not have access to power. The same goes for a small outdoor TV or running a tower fan for a couple of hours on a hot day. It can even power my big video softbox for some time. To me, this seems to be the best use case for the Sherpa 100AC: simple, sustainable tasks outdoors where an outlet just isn’t accessible.
But, I would like to mention that the operating temperature for this device is between 32 and 104 degrees Fahrenheit. So, you will have to be mindful of what outdoor situations you’ll be using this battery for.
Is the Sherpa 100AC the Ultimate Travel Battery?
As I mentioned before, this battery falls in a strange place in the market. If you need to power some more demanding appliances, such as power tools, electric stovetops, and refrigerators, this won’t be the battery for you. If the AC output isn’t a necessity, and you’re just looking for something portable to charge up your phone, earbuds, or a laptop on the go, I’d highly recommend getting a smaller, more portable battery bank. Something like the Anchor PowerCore+ holds about the same amount of capacity, yet is much, much smaller, taking up only a slightly bigger footprint than a smartphone. You will lose that AC output, wireless charger, and solar input, but to me, those are good sacrifices when it comes to saving money, and saving space and weight in my travel bag.
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