Willow and Hearth

Goal Zero is recalling 46,200 YETI 3000X portable power stations after the circuit board in the units was found to overheat, creating a fire and burn hazard, according to the CPSC’s recall notice. The fix is a free firmware update, but you have to install it — it doesn’t happen automatically.

Key Points

1. Roughly 46,200 units are affected, sold from May 2020 through August 2025 for about $3,000 each.
2. Goal Zero has received four reports of units catching fire, overheating, or smoking. No injuries have been reported.
3. The remedy is a free firmware update available through the Goal Zero app or by contacting the company directly.
4. Units were sold at REI stores, Costco.com, Backcountry.com, Goalzero.com, and other online retailers.

What’s Affected

• Product: Goal Zero YETI 3000X Portable Power Station
• Units: approximately 46,200
• Sold: May 2020 through August 2025
• Price: approximately $3,000
• Retailers: REI, Costco.com, Backcountry.com, Goalzero.com, and other online sellers

Stop using the power station immediately if you own one until you’ve installed the update. The CPSC says the overheating circuit board can pose a fire and burn hazard even when the unit isn’t actively charging something, which matters for anyone who keeps one of these charged and stored as emergency backup power — a common setup heading into hurricane season, when portable power stations see a seasonal sales spike as a generator alternative for keeping refrigerators, medical equipment, and communications devices running through an outage.

What Homeowners Should Do

1. Check whether your unit is a YETI 3000X model against the identification details on Goal Zero’s recall support page.
2. Stop using the power station until the firmware update is installed.
3. Install the free update through the Goal Zero smartphone app, or contact the company for help.
4. Call Goal Zero’s toll-free recall line at 888-794-6250 (9 a.m.–2 p.m. MT, Monday through Friday), email [email protected], or visit recallsupport.goalzero.com if the app isn’t an option.

The good news here is that this is a repair-in-place recall, not a return-and-refund one — you keep the unit, and the fix takes a few minutes once you’re in the app. The bad news is that a four-incident, zero-injury track record on a $3,000 device is exactly the kind of recall that’s easy to shrug off and forget, right up until a power station that’s been sitting untouched in a closet since a firmware notice you meant to deal with later decides to overheat while nobody’s watching it.