Ivation Portable Review

The Ivation is a small, straightforward, no-frills camp shower with a wider and more comfortable spray than most.

Comfort

If you're looking for a shower you can use outside that's nearly as comfortable as the one in your bathroom, the Ivation is a good option. It has a wide showerhead with evenly spaced holes that don't force the water out in little needles. It turns on and off with the simple click of a button on the pump housing (located in your bucket of water).

The battery pump provides non-adjustable, even, comfortable pressure that's strong enough to rinse off dirt and debris. Unlike many other camping showers that start out with strong pressure and fade to a trickle, the Ivation is steady. We repeatedly left this shower running for its entire battery life and are impressed by its consistent pressure throughout.

A lot of showers don't have a hands-free option and require you to purchase an extra pole or an entire tent to rig up your nozzle. We appreciate the simple dual setup that includes a hook or you could opt for the use of suction cups to put on the side of a van or trailer.

We would like to see a slightly longer hose, though. From the base of the hose on top of the pump to the center of the showerhead is just 6.5 feet. While this is plenty for children and dog washing, taller folks may be less enamored with having to stoop to avoid pulling the pump out of the water bucket. Our main tester is 5'4" and has no problems using the Ivation next to its bucket, but those 5'10" and over loudly wished for a longer hose.

Functionality

The Ivation has a 2.5-inch wide showerhead boasting 2.1 inches between its farthest holes, we measured this powerhouse pumping an impressive 1.2 gallons per minute.

While this is excellent for comfort, it does mean your bucket of water will drain rather quickly as you rinse. In fact, to bathe a 75-pound dog, we actually filled a 60-quart chest cooler just to be sure we had enough water. You're much more likely to run out of water before you run out of battery, as we clocked this shower averaging 52 minutes of continuous run time, but it will empty a 5-gallon bucket in about 4 minutes.

It does take a good chunk of time to charge back up again, though. The directions say 2-5 hours. But, we repeatedly needed just over 3 hours to fully recharge the Ivation. If you're out camping and recharging it using your car ports (which charge at a lower voltage), it will take longer. Fortunately, a switch from a red light to a blue light easily lets you know when your unit is fully charged.

And this shower doesn't do anything to the temperature of the water in your preferred receptacle. On the one hand, it's fairly easy to boil a few kettles of hot water in the campground to add to cold water, creating a pleasant temperature. On the other hand, if you don't have a method to heat water, you'll be stuck with whatever temperature you've got.

Ease of Set Up

Not all necessary items are included with the purchase of your Ivation Portable. It lacks both a bucket and a charging adapter. But, these are easy and fairly inexpensive to acquire. And, filling a bucket of water is far easier than many of the other models we tested, which often require a hose extension or special parts to fill the unit with water.

Unlike pretty much every item sold with a battery, the Ivation comes with clear and helpful directions that are short, to the point, and easy to follow. It directs assembly and even tells you how to take it apart to clean the filter. It's not bad to set up if you have all the pieces required, but in certain situations (like trying to cross 15 campsites lugging a 5-gallon bucket of water), it's less than ideal.

Durability

We found very few details regarding what the Ivation is made out of aside from its 2200 mAh Lithium battery. However, it isn't the sort of shower that could be backed over with your car. The hose isn't totally flimsy, but it easily squishes flat under the weight of a cooler lid and kinks if left folded overnight.

The orange plastic housing of the battery and pump is totally adequate but not particularly inspiring. Our biggest complaint with this shower is that it easily comes apart when you pick it up. We had a lot of trouble keeping the hose attached to the pump whenever we moved the handle, so we had to be very careful not to move it around too much. This also gave us concern that water may be able to leak into the unit, though we didn't experience this during testing.

To be thorough, we also scoured the internet for user complaints to see what other issues might pop up. Several people reported one of our fears — the plastic breaking — particularly around the attachment point for the showerhead. Numerous other people reported their unit stopped working after a time.

Portability

The Ivation shower alone is fairly lightweight and easy to keep in its box and tote around wherever you need it. It weighs just over 20 ounces (or a pound and a quarter).

However, it doesn't come with a carrying case, and it requires quite a few additional parts and pieces that, depending on what style you use, make it less portable. If paired with a lightweight solar panel for charging and a packable camping sink to hold water, it's fairly easy to pack along on a camping trip. But, if paired with a standard 5-gallon bucket, it's significantly more obnoxious to cart around.

Should You Buy the Ivation Portable?

The Ivation Portable is one of the smaller camping showers we tested, and might even be usable on a backpacking trip if you charge it ahead of time and don't mind a bit of extra weight. It's a very simple, straightforward, and no-frills camp shower that won't heat your water, but has good water pressure and is great for a rinse. If you're seeking a simple, affordable shower, the Ivation is a good option.

What Other Camping Showers Should You Consider?

While the Ivation is pretty affordable for a camp shower, there are other models in this price range that we enjoy a bit more. For just a little extra money, the Spopal 6000mAh Rechargeable has a similar design, but it's a bit more intuitive. Instead of floating in the water, like the Ivation, the Spopal suctions to the bottom of the bucket, which we found helpful for using every last drop we could. The Spopal also has a slightly longer hose for those who need the extra length, and four different spray modes that you can adjust right on the showerhead. Finally, we appreciate that we can see exactly how much battery life we have left on the unit. All told, if you can spare a bit more money, we think the upgrade is worth it.