EO Mini Pro 3 vs Pod Point Solo 3S: size or simplicity?

The £449 that buys you someone else's problem

On paper this looks like a straight price fight: the EO Mini Pro 3 at £550, the Pod Point Solo 3S at £999. But the EO's figure is the unit; the Pod Point's includes the installation. Once you add a standard £400–£600 fit-out to the EO, the real gap narrows considerably — and the argument shifts from cost to control.

The shortest version:

• EO Mini Pro 3 — the smallest charger you can put on a UK wall, sold as a unit; you arrange the electrician.
• Pod Point Solo 3S — a phone-call purchase. £999 installed, five-year warranty, Pod Point's installer on a date they choose.

What the EO actually offers for £550

Size, mostly. At 215 × 140 × 100 mm the EO Mini Pro 3 is the smallest mainstream charger in the UK — A5-sized, around 2.5 kg. If you're mounting beside a doorway, inside a narrow garage, or anywhere a standard unit would look clumsy, the EO removes a problem the others can't.

The specs list is fuller than the size suggests: a CT clamp for solar included, Ethernet alongside Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (a wired fallback that matters in detached garages), tariff presets for Octopus Go and EDF GoElectric. Power is 7.2kW, not the 7.4kW you'll find elsewhere — a rounding error in practice, a few extra minutes on a full charge.

The quiet structural advantage: the British Gas Hive Power+ variant credits back 25% of charging costs on the EV Power+ tariff. If British Gas is already your supplier, that cashback outweighs almost every other feature on this page. If it isn't, ignore it.

What £999 installed actually buys

Convenience, a longer warranty, and a brand with public-network scale behind it. The Pod Point Solo 3S is sold as a package — unit, fitting, five-year warranty, one phone call. For a buyer who finds the prospect of sourcing a separate installer off-putting, that's worth something.

The trade-off is rigid. You don't pick the electrician; Pod Point assigns one from their network the week of the install. You don't shop the fit-out around for a cheaper quote. And the charger itself, while competent, doesn't do anything special — basic Pod Point app, scheduled charging, adaptive load management, solar-compatible. There's no direct supplier API, so the tariff automation an Ohme Home Pro offers isn't in the mix.

The five-year warranty is the best thing about the package. On the EO you get three years.

Neither is the sharpest tool for tariffs

If your buying question is "which will save me most on Octopus Intelligent Go or Octopus Agile?", neither of these is the answer. Both offer scheduled charging against fixed windows — fine for Octopus Go or British Gas Electric Drivers, underpowered for half-hourly variable rates. The charger that talks properly to suppliers is the Ohme Home Pro at £535, and on any variable tariff it will pay its own way.

The EO's tariff presets get it partway there. The Pod Point doesn't pretend to.

For solar buyers, neither is the answer

The EO includes a CT clamp, which is more than Pod Point offers — but "basic solar diversion" is the right phrase. A buyer serious about matching charge to generation will get more from the Zappi GLO vs EO Mini Pro 3 comparison, where the PV-first argument is properly made.

The verdict

Buy the EO Mini Pro 3 if:

• Your wall dictates the size — nothing else fits
• You're a British Gas customer eligible for Hive Power+ cashback
• You're comfortable finding your own electrician

Buy the Pod Point Solo 3S if:

• You want one phone call, one price, one warranty
• The five-year cover matters more than hardware choice
• You don't want to manage the install

Given a blank wall and no supplier loyalty, neither would be our default — the Tesla Wall Connector at £478 is better hardware for Tesla owners, and the Hypervolt Home 3 Pro at £690 does more for £140 above the EO. The EO wins on a awkward wall or a British Gas bill. The Pod Point wins when the install itself is what's putting you off. On everything else, look elsewhere.