EO Mini Pro 3 vs Sync Energy Wall Charger 2: size or cable?

The £188 question

Two compact wallboxes with solar diversion, three-year warranties, and smart apps. The EO Mini Pro 3 costs £550. The Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 costs £362. That's £188 between them, and the question is whether the EO's two distinctive things — its size and its British Gas partnership — matter enough to justify the premium.

For most buyers, they won't.

• EO Mini Pro 3 — the smallest proper charger on the UK market. Pay the premium for the footprint or the Hive Power+ cashback; otherwise don't.
• Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 — more charger than the price suggests. 7.5-metre cable, PEN protection, IP65 + IK10, solar diversion included.

What the EO is actually selling

The EO Mini Pro 3 is 215 × 140 × 100 mm. That's A5-sized, and it is the reason to buy it. If your wall is narrow, recessed, flanked by a door, or shared with a meter cabinet, the EO will fit where a Hypervolt Home 3 Pro or even the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 (305 × 201 × 115 mm) will not. That's a real constraint, and for the people it applies to, the EO is often the only answer.

The second reason is British Gas. The Hive Power+ variant of the EO credits back 25% of charging costs on the matching EV Power+ tariff — a structural discount no other charger replicates. If you're already a British Gas customer and planning to stay, the £188 gap over the Sync is recovered in not long.

Outside those two cases, the EO is a £550 charger doing what a £362 charger already does. The 7.2kW output is marginally slower than the Sync's 7.4kW. The solar diversion is basic. The three-year warranty is average. The app is fine but no better than Sync's.

What £362 actually buys

The Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 is the cheapest smart tethered option in this site's catalogue — from around £302 unit-only, £362 for the Wi-Fi/LAN socketed version. What's notable is how little that saves on. The 7.5-metre cable is the longest on any charger here. PEN fault protection is built in, which usually saves the installer from driving an earth rod. IP65 + IK10 is a proper outdoor rating. SolarCharge via CT clamp is included. Dynamic load balancing and OCPP 1.6J are there if you need them.

The caveats are honest rather than fatal. Wi-Fi reliability has been mixed in user reviews; if your router is in the opposite corner of the house, spend the extra on the 4G variant. The app moved from Monta to Sync's own platform, which confused some early adopters but is settled now. There's no direct supplier API, so tariff integration is schedule-based — set a window, charge inside it.

If you're on Octopus Go or EDF GoElectric with their fixed 5-hour windows, schedule-based is all you need. If you're on Octopus Intelligent Go and want the car charging outside the base window when the grid is clean, neither of these chargers does that natively — for that, the Ohme Home Pro is the correct upgrade, and the Ohme vs Sync comparison sets out the case.

Solar, briefly

Both include a CT clamp for solar diversion. Neither is a serious solar tool. If you have a sizeable array and want proper Eco+ logic — surplus-only charging, boost topping from the grid only if needed — the myenergi Zappi GLO is the charger to buy, and the Zappi vs EO comparison covers the reasoning. For occasional solar top-ups on a modest array, either of these will do.

Which to buy

Buy the EO Mini Pro 3 if:

• Your wall can't accommodate a 305mm-wide unit
• You're a British Gas customer taking the Hive Power+ cashback
• Ethernet is your preferred connection and the optional 4G fallback matters

Buy the Sync Energy Wall Charger 2 if:

• You want a smart charger for as little as possible
• You need a cable that reaches — 7.5 metres beats almost everything
• You value PEN protection and IP65 + IK10 build at this price

The honest answer is the Sync. At £362 with a 7.5-metre cable, included solar diversion, PEN protection and a weatherproof, impact-rated shell, it does what the EO does and more, for £188 less. The EO earns its place only when the wall or the energy supplier forces the choice. Those buyers will know who they are. Everyone else should put the Sync up and spend the difference on the install.