EO Mini Pro 3 vs Ohme ePod

The UK's two smallest chargers, separated by £24 and a cable

The EO Mini Pro 3 and the Ohme ePod share a pitch: mount something tiny on a tight wall and charge at 7 kW-ish overnight. The EO costs £523 and comes with a 5-metre tethered Type 2 cable. The Ohme costs £499, weighs 1.48 kg, and arrives without a cable at all — you supply your own, at £100–£200 extra.

• EO Mini Pro 3 — a compact tethered charger with Ethernet, solar CT clamp in the box, and schedule-based smart charging via the ev.energy app. £523.
• Ohme ePod — an untethered socket with direct tariff-API integration, built-in 4G, dynamic load balancing, and the same Ohme software platform as the Home Pro. £499 before you buy a cable.

That cable question reshapes the entire comparison.

The cable maths the sticker price hides

On paper, the ePod is £24 cheaper. In practice, a decent 5-metre Type 2 cable runs £100–£150; a 7.5-metre one closer to £180. Once you add that, the Ohme's total landed cost is £599–£699 — well above the EO's £523. If you already own a portable Type 2 cable from a granny-charger kit, the ePod's headline price holds. If you are starting from scratch, budget for the cable.

The flip side: an untethered socket means you take the cable with you. Handy for destination charging at hotels or friends' houses with a Type 2 socket. And if the cable wears out or a longer one is needed, you replace it without touching the charger. The EO's 5-metre tethered cable is fixed — adequate for most driveways, but not adjustable later.

Where the Ohme's software earns its keep

The real gap is not physical — it is in what happens after the charger is wired in. The ePod runs the same Ohme platform as the Ohme Home Pro: direct API links to Octopus Intelligent Go, Octopus Agile, and British Gas EV Power. On Intelligent Go, the charger slots your sessions into the cheapest half-hours automatically. On Agile, it chases 30-minute price drops you would never catch by setting a manual timer.

The EO Mini Pro 3 schedules, but it does not optimise. Through the ev.energy app — EO is retiring its own app, so this is the platform you are buying into — you can set a window for Octopus Go (00:30–05:30) or EDF GoElectric (23:00–06:00) and leave it. That works well on fixed-window tariffs. It does not work on Agile, where the price moves every half hour and a static schedule leaves money on the table.

If your tariff has a simple off-peak block and you set-and-forget, the EO does the job. If you are on — or planning to move to — a variable or API-managed tariff, the Ohme is the only one of these two that can follow the price.

Connectivity: Ethernet vs 4G

The EO offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet, with optional 4G. The Ohme has a built-in multi-network 4G SIM and nothing else — no Wi-Fi fallback. In a garage with solid broadband, the EO's Ethernet port is the more reliable connection. In a detached garage or a driveway where the router signal dies at the front door, the ePod's cellular connection works without any network fiddling. Check your phone signal at the intended mounting spot before ordering the Ohme; if you get one bar of 4G, it will be fine — if you get none, it will not.

Solar diversion: a draw, roughly

Both chargers support solar diversion via a CT clamp. The Ohme calls its modes Solar Boost and Solar Only; the EO includes the CT clamp in the box. Neither approaches the myenergi Zappi GLO's Eco+ for granularity — if solar is the primary reason you are buying a charger, that comparison lives on a different page. For light solar top-ups on a sunny afternoon, either unit here is adequate.

The verdict

Buy the EO Mini Pro 3 if:

• You want a tethered cable included for £523 with no extras to buy.
• Your wall is near the router and you value a wired Ethernet connection.
• You are on British Gas and can use the Hive Power+ 25% cashback — a structural saving no other charger replicates.

Buy the Ohme ePod if:

• You are on, or moving to, a variable or API-managed tariff — Intelligent Go, Agile, or similar.
• Your mounting position has mobile signal but poor Wi-Fi.
• You prefer an untethered socket and already own a Type 2 cable.

For most buyers picking between these two, the Ohme ePod is the better long-term investment. Its tariff integration recovers the cost of a separate cable within a year on most smart tariffs, and its software platform is not in the middle of a migration. The EO earns its place when the cable-in-the-box simplicity matters, or when the Hive Power+ deal applies. Outside those cases, the ePod's brain outweighs the EO's bundled lead. If you want the Ohme's software with a tethered cable and a screen, the Ohme Home Pro at £539 is the tidier package — and worth a look before you decide.