Re: Experience with "cheap" portable diesel gensets?

On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 05:54:03 -0800, Offbreed wrote:

Theo wrote:

Still looking for experience with low-end systems. The cheapest ones
frame-mounted portable units make all the power I need. Is there any
drawback with these units other than efficiency and lifetime? What do
the big brands give in return for twice the price?

From the crack about Sam's Club and e-Bay, I'd suspect the cheap ones
are not all that great.

I don't find where anyone else posted about Sam's Club/ebay generators so
I guess the above comment refers to what I wrote. I wasn't my intent to
comment either way on the quality. The 4k and 6k units do appear to be
standard items, sold under a couple names.

What I meant was that if the OP (or anyone else) goes with a lower priced
unit, consider getting it through the Sam's Club auction website rather
than through an ebay seller. In most cases the cost will be less and
you will have a Sam's Club receipt confirming that you're the original
retail purchaser.

With utility stuff like generators, twice the price usually translates
to "half again as much surge capacity" and "more than four times the
usable life span".

I'm a little irritated with myself right now. I got a small Honda
generator that should have been able to run a circular saw. I did not
pay attention to the salesman and it turns out to be a vacation grade
generator, so the circ saw starting surge pops the breaker. Bleh.

The three universal rules of generators: 1) Whatever you get will be a
little heavier than you want to move around, 2) It will always be just a
little less power than you end up wanting to use, and 3) It will always
use the wrong kind of fuel.

.

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