Anyone have any experience with generators from H/F? Looking to purchase a new portable unit that is a little more powerful than what I have. I've talked to people that love them and other's that hate them. Would like to know what people think that have had them for a while. Or is it better to go to a Home Depot/Lowes for one? Not having much luck finding reliable reviews on portable gas generators.
I don't have one personally. But know of 4 guys that have them, all like them. I know my coworker uses his quite often (at least 6 times in the last 2 or 3 years) on power outages at his house. The others use them as back up also. Got to love reviews, don't you. Some times it hard to rubbage through the garbage and the truth. But how often do you use one? And what do you have riding on the line if it doesn't work? Just like anything you'll get a lemon here and there. For the most part generally speaking HF has some decent stuff...
We use one of the 2000 watt ones at the race track. It works great. Almost as quiet as a Honda, and it’s half the price. Going on 3 years , no problems.
I am using mine about several times a year. Normally a couple of short term power outages and times where I take it about a half mile back when I am doing some types of work there where I want/need power. Plan on using this new one for hooking up to the house for power outages...My current genny doesn't have 30 amp 220 - only 20 amp. Looking to size up to around 6500 watts. I was surprised to see very good reviews on Champion Generators at Tractor Supply, again it's hard to weed through to reality.
They're Honda clones. I don't own one myself, I have a generac, but I've heard good things about the HF ones. Now that I've owned a portable 6500w genny since 2012, if I had to do it again I would of bought a propane powered one. I've had to clean the carb a few times over the years. I've been meaning to pick up a tri-fuel conversion kit for mine so I could run it on gas, lp or natural gas. Also having a transfer switch rocks. It's wired up to the main panel and I just kill the main power, plug in the gen cord into the receiver, flip a switch and most of my house has power.
shack I used one for two weeks solid 24/7 never had any issues with it 6500 watt model. In fact needed a carb to make it run because it hadn't been run in 2 years. And I could get one at Honda dealer to fit it. If this is for backup, that you might use a couple times a year. I would definitely spend $700 instead of $3,000
The smaller suitcase style HF generators have good reviews on the RV sites. My brother has two of the I believe 3000 watt units in tandem on his 40' motor home and swears by them. If you are buying the typical homeowner variety HF offerings 6500 or over, then I think you would be safe. The only one I would stay away from is smallest homeowner one. I think it is about 3200. Look carefully at the wattage on that one. They are a little lite on actual amperage for the two 15 amp plugs. I bought 3 of them way cheap at the parking lot sale, to resell them, and had trouble getting them sold for 8 months because of that. Then we had several huge Fall storms in a row and I sold them all in one day.
I have a Champion 2000 watt inverter genny and so far it has been great. I use it a couple times a month. It has about 75 hours on it right now.
We were having this discussion at work the other day. There are a bunch of videos on YouTube reviewing the HF generators. Good Luck!
I have a 6500 watt one that I use to power my house when the lights go out. It hasn't failed me yet. I load it pretty heavy and it doesn't complain.
Truth. I keep mine about 40 feet from the house, with the muffler turned away from the direction of the house, and usually place something (car or whatever) in between.
We have a Harbor Freight coming to town in the Spring! They are demolishing the building where it will be. Brand new from the ground up. Several of us who where “man glitter” are very excited. I need a generator. Maybe they will have a grand opening sale.
Anyone know what is the better bang for buck, propane or gasoline or natural gas? How do you figure out how big a unit you need for your camper trailer or your house? A thought comes to mind... ya know how some of us get chainsaws modded with muffler mods, woods porting, larger carbs, advanced timing, squish mod, etc. With all the EPA stuff on small engines these days, I wonder if some owners mod their generators for more power?
The engines are more than capable of doing the work, the limits are in the electronics. Nothing is to be reasonably gained through modding.
I have a 4000 watt unit rated 3200 watts continuous. Have used it twice in the last three years, Start it every other month and plug in a light bulb to make sure it still works, so far no complaints.
