Chinese Generators

 

I've been seeing a lot of these inexpensive generators recently, often
selling well below the loss-leaders such as Coleman. There seems to be quite
a bit of favorable comments and reviews by the camping and RV community on
the 'net. In particular, I keep hearing that many of these units are
equipped with licensed, Honda knockoff OHV engines and have reliability that
exceeds many of the non-Honda sets. We own a Honda EM5000 that's proved it's
self to be ultra-reliable over the Coleman/Tecumseh that we had before. I've
been thinking about buying one of the smaller, Honda 3kw sets as a backup,
but from what I'm hearing about these ETQ,ELIM/Eliminator,WEN/Powerpro and
other house branded units offered by the tool and auto discount houses, I
might be better off buying one of these. Has anyone had any experience with
any of these? Are these knockoff engines serviceable with available parts
and reliable as their namesake?


Dave

 


Strangely, the comments that I heard from owners of noname and
knockoff gensets were all negatives. It would be surprising to see
high quality on any no-name item. Does not make economic sense.

i

 

 The Chinese love to make knockoff technology with parts that almost
but not quite fit. There is no traceability or QC standard and
everything is made in little semi-autonomous factories.

 Get the real thing.

 



backup,

I have a DEK, enclosed "silent" type.
Although I cannot verify the claims of parts interchangeability with Yanmar,
the fit and finish is very good, if not excellent. In their advertising, DEK
makes claims for metallurgy, materials, and parts sourcing that are not
commonly seen, such as more molybdenum in the crank shaft than Yanmar, VW
valve seals, and so forth. They actually distinguish between appearance and
build quality. There is very little "fluff" in the advertising.

This company may be a step above those mentioned above.

 



My experience with cheap generators is that they are cheap for a reason.
You've had the Tecumseh and Coleman (probably Briggs) engines so you already
know.  However in recent years I have been buying tools made in China that
cost about 1/5 of the American counterpart and they have proven to be as
well-made and reliable as the name brand tools.  In some cases they are
identical--I mean they look like they came from the same mold.  I bought a
5000 watt generator recently (was kinda desperate at the time) that had a
Robin engine (bought it from Harbor Fright).  The engine was very similar to
a Honda GX engine and Robin claims theirs is better.  The reason I needed
another generator was because mine with the Honda GX 270 engine had quit on
me.  The Robin engine ran very poorly.  It was missing and using more gas
than the comparable Honda engine and it was supposed to use less.  It was,
however, very easy to start.  I suspect the problem was with the ignition
coil.  I returned the generator and got a new one.  It had the same problem.
I replaced the coil in my Honda GX engine and now I'm happy again.  Robin
gives the life expectancy of their Honda clone 1000 hours.  I have know of
many Honda GX engines that lasted several times that.  I have a Honda eu2000
that lasted about 11,000 or 12,000 hours.  Personally I'll stick with Honda.
I've also heard Yamahas are very good but since there are no warranty
service centers anywhere near me....