chinese generator copies

How do you rate one third of the cost against one third of the value or capability
The Honda starts every time and never stops - when your 2 days from civilization you rely on the Honda

I just brought one off E Bay 2 KVA for $356 so I 'll be your guinea pig HEH not one third more like one sixth so have to try it out, but remember I am only doing it for all you chaps out there lol

Cheers Bruce

PS hope to have it by Tuesday then again that could be all wish full thinking to.

Hi Steve,
I'm going to take a different tack and answer your question from a purely electrical point of view, neither recommending nor condemning any brand. (Well trying not to condemn any brand)

I've used an oscilloscope (please say if you don't know what this is) to test the outputs of a few different generators and inverters and what I've found is you generally get what you pay for with regards to the "quality" of the output.

The following image is a capture of the mains power. (This is what an oscilloscope does) Anything that can exactly replicate this I would consider "perfect" something we aren't even going to come close to in a portable generator. (It will typically cost you up to $30,000,000 for controls only in a 4 x 500MWatt coal fired power station)

Image Could Not Be Found

Without taking into account the longevity or ease of starting of the petrol engine the dearer the unit the better the "quality" of the electrical output, with one exception.

People will tell you the Engel and the Honda both have Sawafuji electronics and are therefore identical.

The only bit that is identical is the brand of electronics, Sawafuji. The electrical "quality" of their outputs is poles apart.

The Honda is reasonably close to the above image, the Engel is square wave and if you dig deep enough the Engel website will even mention this fact. (I'm actually quite impressed by the ability to get square wave out of an AC machine, that takes real talent! It's of dubious value but it does take talent!)

My only comment after all the above electrical theory is pick one that gives you a level of comfort with the build quality, noise levels, fuel consumption and support network, from my testing the electrics are mostly (with one exception) average to acceptable at approximating mains power.

This ability to approximate mains power is really what we are trying to achieve with a portable generator.

Hope that helps,

Geoff

Steve,take it from someone who bought a 'Keep-u-por' generator get the Honda you will save yourself from mind & wallet TRAUMA. Lol
Cheers Bob.

Well for those how may be interested the Al Cheapo generator turned up today...Took a few pulls to get it going but it went quite happily until I tried to get it to run the compressor on eco mode it stopped but one pull and away it went. I put the microwave on and except for a lot more noise it preformed no ( pretty quite while just running the fridge and light plus battery charger. As Geoff said they do run a little, just a little, bit erratic so maybe not good to run computers etc, I always run my laptop on an inverter anyway.
I ran it for 2.5 hours on about 2 litres of fuel, so what do I think, well for $440 delivered for a 2KVA yep I am happy at the moment. So from guinea pig Bruce that it for now, but I will tell you all if it dies hahahahaha.

Cheers Bruce