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)
yea...dont. or actually...well. yea. Dont.
If you need a generator bad enough, and its important enough for you to be looking around for one, do yourself a favor, and go to the nearest powertool dealer and look at them in person. How heavy is it, are the controls easy to operate? DONT fall for the cheep Chinese knock offs that are all over ebay. The ones for 200 bucks or less new. I did this and it was apiece o junk. I mean, realistically, how good could it be for 200 bucks? 200 bucks just dont buy much any more, and here is a time where you get what you pay for! Mine was loud, peices fell off, and the power output was subpar. Give China a few years, and the stuff they make for resale will be as good as Japans is now. Meantime, stick with Honda, Coleman, ect. Go to the generator store, and ok, if you think you can get it cheeper on eBay, then come back once you know exactly what you want. If you are looking for new units, I doubt you will save very much. I paid 50 bucks over typical ebay prices for my 2000 watt portable, and I got it THAT day, plus, the dealer knows me now, so if I need service, hes going to be all like, oh yea, you bought it here, cool, we can help you out. (just like outboard motors. buy local if you can, unless the prices are wayyyyy out of line. They seldom if ever are)
So, in summary: If its really important, and you are going to be using this thing for more then a camping trip once every five years, spend the money, save yourself ALOT of agrivation (The eBay vendor really isnt responsible for your satisfaction if the unit is new in the box. Once it gets to you, his obligation is done. If there are issues with the product afterward, you have to go to the manufacturer, whos in hellooooow CHINA and even though they might have a service center in Tiauana or some place it wont do YOU much good cause your in Maine and you need the thing to work NOW else you would not have bought it.) so now you have to box it all up and send it to TJ and wait a minute! its more cost effective to just toss the thing when you factor in your time and agrivation factor, and just do what you ought to have done in the first place, and thats buy from a local dealership, where IF you have problems they will be able to help you.
-tailfluffs- Hope this helps you ^_^
As a followup: My honda portable 2000 watt works well, is quiet, is very easy to pull start and is fairly light. Ive had it for a year. No this is not an advertisment from honda...just from a satified user. Starts right up even if left sit for months. I have also recently seen a small two stroke (gas-oil MIX) 1000 watt generator sold by a popular autoparts store that also sells scooters, tools ect. This unit sounds like a bumble-bee. I have no clue to its longevity, but it looks cheaply made, esp with a metal fueltank that appears to be a rust magnet. I was told it will run for 8 hours with a light dc load on it (battery charging). Thats wayyyyy better then the honda that will only runs about 5 tops.
Yamaha makes a small generator in line with the Honda EI 2000 except they claim it is even quieter. I would definetly check this one out if was able to do so. We have a brand new yamaha dealer in town that was not there a year ago. I had to go the next town over to buy the Honda.
-tailfluffs again- Hope this helps you ^_^
If you need a generator bad enough, and its important enough for you to be looking around for one, do yourself a favor, and go to the nearest powertool dealer and look at them in person. How heavy is it, are the controls easy to operate? DONT fall for the cheep Chinese knock offs that are all over ebay. The ones for 200 bucks or less new. I did this and it was apiece o junk. I mean, realistically, how good could it be for 200 bucks? 200 bucks just dont buy much any more, and here is a time where you get what you pay for! Mine was loud, peices fell off, and the power output was subpar. Give China a few years, and the stuff they make for resale will be as good as Japans is now. Meantime, stick with Honda, Coleman, ect. Go to the generator store, and ok, if you think you can get it cheeper on eBay, then come back once you know exactly what you want. If you are looking for new units, I doubt you will save very much. I paid 50 bucks over typical ebay prices for my 2000 watt portable, and I got it THAT day, plus, the dealer knows me now, so if I need service, hes going to be all like, oh yea, you bought it here, cool, we can help you out. (just like outboard motors. buy local if you can, unless the prices are wayyyyy out of line. They seldom if ever are)
So, in summary: If its really important, and you are going to be using this thing for more then a camping trip once every five years, spend the money, save yourself ALOT of agrivation (The eBay vendor really isnt responsible for your satisfaction if the unit is new in the box. Once it gets to you, his obligation is done. If there are issues with the product afterward, you have to go to the manufacturer, whos in hellooooow CHINA and even though they might have a service center in Tiauana or some place it wont do YOU much good cause your in Maine and you need the thing to work NOW else you would not have bought it.) so now you have to box it all up and send it to TJ and wait a minute! its more cost effective to just toss the thing when you factor in your time and agrivation factor, and just do what you ought to have done in the first place, and thats buy from a local dealership, where IF you have problems they will be able to help you.
-tailfluffs- Hope this helps you ^_^
As a followup: My honda portable 2000 watt works well, is quiet, is very easy to pull start and is fairly light. Ive had it for a year. No this is not an advertisment from honda...just from a satified user. Starts right up even if left sit for months. I have also recently seen a small two stroke (gas-oil MIX) 1000 watt generator sold by a popular autoparts store that also sells scooters, tools ect. This unit sounds like a bumble-bee. I have no clue to its longevity, but it looks cheaply made, esp with a metal fueltank that appears to be a rust magnet. I was told it will run for 8 hours with a light dc load on it (battery charging). Thats wayyyyy better then the honda that will only runs about 5 tops.
Yamaha makes a small generator in line with the Honda EI 2000 except they claim it is even quieter. I would definetly check this one out if was able to do so. We have a brand new yamaha dealer in town that was not there a year ago. I had to go the next town over to buy the Honda.
-tailfluffs again- Hope this helps you ^_^
Guide created: 02/03/06 (updated 07/06/08)
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