mr diamond replied:

the good or bad news mate.
the good news they are a great little genny some people have had trouble some havnt like me mibne is still going great.
bad news bunning ect sell them for $198 with 2yr waranty called gmc.
our bigger hardwhare shop had them last week $180 2 yr waranty.
but dont be to upset i payed a lot more for mine just before they dropped in price lol

Goran replied:

You did overpaid a little. Those gensets can be found for around 150.00 in Kmart. I just got 1.2KW Scorpion 4 stroke with 10A battery charger for 420.00 from Primary priced machinery WA. It is a ripper.

Member - Ken replied:

Evening Sparky

Weeeeeeeeeeeeel! its like this mate. 'did I do good' means different stokes to different folks.

I bought one from Bunnings 4 months ago for $198 and Big W had them for $178 a week or two ago.

This particular generator is made in the Yamaha factory in China and comes in all sorts of livery badging and colours, however the fundemental parts that make it go are all identical.

I had a problem with the fuel tank on mine - p$ssed everywhere when first filled. Took it back to Bunnings, showed them and was invited to immediately select another off of the pallett and 'give that one a go mate'.

Which I did with no further problems. Runs everything I have attached just like yours.

Yep! I believe for the price you paid you did good.

Ken Robinson

REX.....(Adelaide) replied:

3 kva 4stroke honda second hand ebay $465.00
works great a little big but ill never run short of power planing on using it at home
when we have blackouts ,also have a 850 w gmc never had any problems with it great geny for camping

Member - Jimbo (VIC) replied:

I had one from Bunnings and it was a dud; took it back and they happily exchanged it. Second one was a dud also and they happily refunded my money. I put it towards a dual battery installation. The original idea was to use the gennie instead of a dual batt setup. Gave me an excuse to spend extra and get what I wanted in the start (I'm getting off the point I know).

Search the archives and you'll see heaps of reports, good and bad. It seems if you get a good one you're fine. If you get a dud the warranty backs the product so you really can't go wrong. At the money they are a great little unit. Keeping in mind Pirahna were selling the same unit with their name on it last year for $599 I reckon you did OK.

As for the load, your drill may not be using 650 watts untill under load. I ran an electric chainsaw rated at 900 watts and it ran OK until I put it under load; had to use it gently.

Before taking it bush and relying on it I would suggest running a few tanks of juice through it to make sure it's OK. My second one took a while to start giving me grief; being that it was leaking some oily substance from underneath and two stokes don't have oil to leak. Don't know what it was and didn't bother to investigate.

Good Luck.

Member - JEFF replied:

Jimbo

You're the only one with any brains, you spent your money on a dual battery system

The rest of you are mad, mad, mad

BAN ALL GENERATORS FROM THE BUSH 11

Regards jeff

JasonR replied:

Ocean Grove Hardware (VIC) are having a fathers day sale yet to be advertised. Deisel brand generators (actually 2 stroke petrol) are being sold for $99. They are 750 watt with a rated 500 watts of power. They sold one to guy who works at Yamaha in Melbourne and they hooked it up to a bank of lights at 700 watts and ran it continuously for 4 hours without it cutting out. They found it cut out at 800 watts. I rang the hardware store yesterday and they have 96 being delivered this weekend and that will be the last shipment they receive because of low stock levels. I have seen and heard one run and it was reasonably quiet. The guy I spoke to at the store had Mitre 10 staff buying them because they were cheaper than Mitre 10 sell their small generator even with staff discount. It also came with the 12 volt lead. Even if lasted 6 months at the price it is cheap power.

JasonR