Automotive Reviews

I purchased one of these through Amazon just over a year ago. It recently failed, although it has not been worked hard.

I am a professionally qualified electrical engineer and it did not take me long to diagnose that two small units, the regulator and the main control board had failed. I contacted the Generac help line which offers: "Set Up Instructions, Service Call Help, and General Use Information" I asked whether I could obtain the required parts and was told all that I could do would be to return the complete generator to them or an authorised service centre! I live in the Caribbean and explained that shipping this back to the US Mainland would be extremely expensive, especially as the parts I required were very small and not expensive. Nice as the help line people were, I could get no help from them at all, under warranty or not.

I then contacted several service centres in Florida who needed the complete generator returned for any repair work, warranty or not. Finally I found a service centre who were willing to help me by supplying the parts that I needed. I have just received the parts and I now have a fully working generator again, repaired for a modest cost, as oppposed to shipping the entire, very heavy generator to the nearest service centre at some ridiculous cost.

My thanks go to Willy at Tropical Lawnmowers in Miami FL(33155)
They were extremely helpful and ordered and shipped the not particularly costly parts for me. Shipping didn't cost a lot as the package weighed less than a pound! If you need some help I can thoroughly recommend them and they have a website under the name tropicallawnmowers.

I am extremely disappointed with the support from Generac, and total lack of help or ability to supply parts themselves or through some of the agents recommended by them. If you are considering purchasing one of these units, make sure that you find out how to get repairs effected without shipping the very heavy unit around. Although the generator section has a two year warranty, I could not use that as I am not near a recognised service centre, and have had to pay for the entire repair costs. Be warned!

I purchased one of these units in December of 1999, yes, I was motivated by the Y2K scare but living in the country I needed one anyway and this justified the purchase. I have experienced other generators in this price class and size in open frames and this is the quiestest and smoothest running. I start it every few months and all it takes is to open the fuel valve, turn on the choke and pull once! It comes to life and purrs...well not that quietly. I have yet to find any generator that is not enclosed in this size/price that is quiet but this is the best. The automate idle works fine but the idle is still a fast one and I would be interested to find out how much fuel is really preserved by auto-idle. But it does idle until you put a load on it...even a light bulb! It comes with a nice cord kit and the wheel set is a plus if you plan to move it without dragging. The fuel gauge rattles and could use some sort of damping. The tank will sweat fuel out the lid if it real full and you move it out into the hot sun. Even after running this machine for over 20 hours over 12 months I find it still looks new...including the muffler! Comes with the battery charger kit.

I suspect the engine is really a private labled Honda.

I looked at everything and this is a high quality product for the price.

for this item you need to provide the cord for it to charge.. ok its only an extention cord.. but they could have added one for about a buck. also the directions say not to let it charge for more that 24 hours i have a cheaper model from sears that you can keep plugged in all the time and it has a smart charge function to protect the unit..

this model just doesnt measure up.... but its ok

The unit I bought was purchased from Griot's Garage, which is this item rebranded. It is thin enough (3.5" wide) that I could keep it in my Mazda RX-7 between the seat and storage bins. I used it many times over the last 5 years and it seems to be holding up great. I put it in my finance's car around a year and a half ago. Even she has commented on how often she has used it; not for herself but for coworkers and customers at where she works.

The only criticism I've found is that the cables are a little short at 23" long. Not unusable but I'd like them longer. I just purchased the "660" version of the Jump-N-Carry, the JNC660 for my truck due to the 46" long cables and a larger peak amp rating. I've never had it fail to turn over a vehicle, but I thought it may help with the V8.

BTW I attached two strips of heavy duty velcro (the hook side) on each side of the back of the unit. This prevents the unit from sliding around in her truck.

It has no on and off switch, which is a safety hazard. But the 1st time my sick husband had to use it, in bad weather, it didn't work.

Nice compact charger. Hard to believe that it does not have an on-off switch. I don't think it's a good idea to hook a charger to your battery hot and I will install a switch on mine.

When I bought this charger, I thought I could take it out to the street and jump-start my car battery. Wrong!! This charger works great - but only when it is plugged into a wall socket. It is a BENCH charger, not portable. I took the battery out of my car, and in a few hours I had a completely charged battery. It has maintained its charge now for at least a month with no loss in power. Works great when its plugged in!!

We installed this monitor at our home. It worked
for a few days then would work only sporadically. It
also false alarmed in the middle of the night. I called
their tech support who were hateful and gave advice
that did not help. I tried to return it but they would not
refund my money because I had it longer than 30 days. I did have
it for awhile before it was installed but I used it only a week.
Don't waste your money on this piece of junk.

I've had this device for about 2 years. It has very poor range, and works only 50% of the time. Plastic pool included broke early in the installation process. For the relative high price (I paid over $100 2 years ago), I expected a better result. Not recommended

After much research we purchased the Deluxe Driveway monitor. During the day the alarm never falsed and picked up cars coming up my driveway 80% of the time. We were happy with this because we have a very long, wide driveway. The night was another story. It would false 3-4 times a night. I don't know why. It also was not waterproof and filled up with water. I would rrcommend a ziplock bag. Finally we put it on a timer so that it would not work at night. Customer service was helpful and sent a new receiver to replace the water damaged one.

My first unit filled up with water after a few days, the people there were nice and replaced it. The new unit worked for a while and we loved it. Now it misses about every third car and works when it wants. I have moved it, checked it, did everything. I agree with the other reviews, after about one year buy a new one. This one needs work to be what they represent it to be.

This thing worked flawlessly for about a year. In the beginning, the only thing I didn't like was the sound of the chime (had I written this review then, I would have given it 4 or 5 stars). It would be nice if you could change the chime to a more-plesant doorbell-like tone rather than a warning-like tone. However, the functionality was so good we bought another one for my mother-in-law. After about a year, ours stopped working consistently. It would miss about every third car. I tried moving it, I tried increasing the sensitivity jumper, I replaced the batteries and nothing worked. I was convinced of some kind of "user-error" until my mother-in-law's started to become inconsistent as well. Now hers doesn't even work at all. Ours still misses quite a few cars but it does work on occation.

I'm currently looking for a replacement.

I received my first Design Tech Driveway Monitor the first of June. It only worked for one day. I called Design Tech and they were very helpful and sent a new unit to me. It took a while for the new unit to arive. It worked great for about 3 weeks. Now it has also quit. I am waiting on a response from Design Tech now. I would look for something else.

This works, but you you have to realize its limitations. It is limited primarily by the fact that it can only slowly move power into a working battery in another car that happens to have run-down its charge.

It will let you get enough charge into a well-working car battery in order to start a car.

It will NOT, however, let you move enough power from one car to another to start a car that currently has an old, broken or worn out "dead battery." For that you'll still need jumper cables, an AC starter, a jump box OR a new battery to get a car going that has a truly dead battery.

This product is a great, safe idea, and it'll let you get a car going when someone let the battery run down, BUT, it will not let you jumpstart a car when its battery has died due to age or malfunction of the battery itself.

Picture this as a straw moving a bit of power slowly into the discharged-but-working "dead" battery, while you really need a fire hose (jumper cables) to start a car that has a no-longer-working battery.

To summarize : Great when someone left their headlights on, worthless when someone's battery has given up the ghost for good.

The Easy Quick Jumper is a cinch to use, but may not actually take less time than the tried and true conventional jumper cables. Ok, sure you don't have to open the hood, but it actually takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes to charge up the battery in the dead car enough to start the vehicle. If you're in a hurry and feel confident in knowing what you are doing, jumper cables are the way to go. However if you want something that's safe, easy and are willing to allow a few extra minutes, the Easy Quick Jumper is not a bad alternative and works extremely well.

I bought this a number of months ago, just in case. Yesterday, I accidently left my blinkers on too long and my car just wouldn't start. So I pulled this great device out and hooked it to a fellow co-workers car(who also happens to be a woman) and it took about 5 minutes. It worked quickly and easily with no fuss, no guess work, no messy car stuff, no worrying about hurting yourself or blowing anything up. Yes, there are still women out there who don't know how to do this stuff by themselves. For me and I think many other women, this is a great way to not have to rely on someone else or get messy in the process.

CHARLOTTE, NC: Just experienced the worst ice storm of my life in Charlotte, NC. Five days later and still no power. I bought the last Generac generator from Home Depot the day after the ice storm hit, and I was requried to sign a no return policy. The generator ran for 3 hours and then quit at 11:00 pm., not to run again that night. When I tried to return it the next day, I was told by Home Depot that was not possible. They had 50 generators returned the next day for repair. They tried to blame it on 'owner error', but the truth is that Generac has poorly designed the generator for cold weather. In cold and damp conditions (winter basically), the air intake pulls in cold, moist air which freezes after 1 hour or so, eventually choking out the carbeurator. It thaws within an hour after stopping, and then it will run for another 45 minutes or so (maybe). The air intake needs to come off of the exhaust manifold like most good models that are more expensive. This engine is built by Briggs and Straton, and is sold under Generac and Porter Cable (perhaps others too). Do not waste your money like I have, and do not sign a no return policy from anywhere. Home Depot knows this problem exists and won't do the right thing by taking returns for defective merchandise. They told me that Generac advised them to tell their customers to cut a hole in the shipping box, and put the box over the generator while running. While this seemed like a fire hazzard to me, I was desperate for heat and tried it. I did and it did not work either. Shame on Home Depot and Generac - they have just lost a customer for life.

It is not possible to ship a lead acid battery in a ready to use condition. The acid can spill and is very hazardous. Would you feel better if it had a battery but you had to take the battery to a service center to get the acid put in?
The only problem is that the information should be better. There should be a bold label stating the lack of a battery and why and also a list of various batteries that can be used. A garden tractor battery would most likely do fine and they are about 20 dollars and widely available .

I have owned the 7000 EXL Purchased from Home Depot for about $1100 for over a year. Came with 12v cables, extenda-panel, and great wheels. I added an hour meter, lock, and cover. I start it regularly and have only used it for primary power last Thanksgiving for about 3 hours. I also have a Generac manual transfer switch to power my house.

I regularly start the unit and it runs well. I corresponded with Generac (and the engineers that produced this unit) before purchase. My OVH IC engine is produced by Generac in Wisconsin (Generac is now owned by B&S). The unit has electronic idle control, pressurized lubrication, spin on oil filter, and low oil shut off to kill the engine when oil gets low (not just prevent a restart).

I am careful with the unit and treat it with respect (keep it maintained properly). After the 2 year warranty is over I will probably buy the kit to run it on natural gas from propane-generators.com for about $200.

I am realistic about my needs. It can power my 2 refrigs, forced hot air heat, and various other circuits in my house (master bedroom, bathroo, living room and tv's. I chose it as a portable so I could use it anywhere.

Hope this is helpful. Contact generac for questions, they are great.

The thing was awkward to use, provided almost no heat on freezing New England days, and broke the third time I plugged it in, causing $40 in electrical damage to the car. But apart from that...

some people have to have their engines on, it depends on the car. the cigarette lighters vary from car to car.

The engine does NOT need to be running to operate this blanket! This blanket only draws 4-6 amps and would not drain battery unless plugged in over a 18 hour period. Could it be possible that what the problem was that her outlet doesnt operate unless the key is in the On position or Accessory position?
Also this blanket can be hooked up to a battery with a separate adapter(Radio Shack).In that case I would purchase a deep cycle battery and place in the rear of car.

I am rating this with one star. I have not tried it yet, but I just opened the box and some things are missing which is really dissapointing. So this is more like a rating for True Value, the company this is purchased through amazon.com. When I try it, if they send me the cord that is supposed to come with the vacuum, I may write another review. It was supposed to be new but the box was abviously opened so for that I would not buy this from Amazon.com.

I had been looking for a small "shop-vac" type portable vacuum for months. I have my huge shop-vac in the garage, but it was such a pain to carry to the basement to use. My wife didn't want me using our regular upright vacuum to pick up saw-dust and dirt, and i didn't think the Dustbuster type vacs had enough storage or suction. So i decided i needed a small (1-2 gallon) shop-vac that i could carry in the house quickly if need be. All the ones all saw previously were corded and I thought that would be a pain, then i just happened to come across this at my local Big Lots store for $20. I bought it immediately. The vac comes with alot of attachments and a shoulder strap (even though it's not very heavy). The suction is pretty good for what I need it to do. The battery is descent. Not sure how long it would last in continuous use, but i just turn it on and off for 30 seconds of use or so and I'm guessing it lasts about 25-30 minutes between charges. My only gripe is the hose is much too rigid and it doesn't have fittings on each end that allow it to rotate as you use it. Also, it has 2 suction settings. I don't see where the reduced power mode has any use and leave mine on high suction all the time. I haven't used it as a blower yet, but i'm guessing (based on the suction power) that you're not going to be able to blow leaves very far. Seems like it would work well to inflate childrens tools such as beachballs and baby pools well though. All in all, this is exactly what i was looking for at exactly the price i wanted to pay. Make the hose more flexible and maybe add a bit more suction and everyone in America will buy one.

This is a good vacuum at a cheap price, supplied by True Value through Amazon.com. According to the manual it doesn't come with four different suction tools like it shows you in the picture. It only comes with three, the longer crevice tool, the carpet tool, and the upholstery brush. And I am not sure what that pin is for but it is not in there either. I will try to sumbit the manual.
What it does come with is a 12 volt DC cord, as well as an AC cord. They actually did not send my DC cord so I e-mailed True Value. They sent me one special delivery the next day free of charge!
The suctioning ability is pretty good. It picks up larger particles very well. It is also good at picking up dust and animal hair. I am giving it four stars because the battery doesn't last more than 5 minutes before it needs recharging.
Some other good thing about the vac are the inflator nozzles so that it can be used to inflate an air mattress if you go on a camping trip. It also picks up water and wet things and it does not require vaccuum bags. So for the price it is a bargain.

This kit is not worth your dime. Just opening the package shows inferior quality, and I had never used an HVLP gun. The overspray is just absurb, there was a thick cloud just after a few minutes of spraying. Actually the only good part of this kit was the couplings that I used for my quality PorterCable PSH1 (which I recommend highly, but that's for another review). DeVilbiss should be ashamed to be selling such a lousy product.

Unfortunately, the instructions that come with this kit contains a phrase, (approximately) that there are no replacement parts available for any of the items in the kit.
The air brush works well.
The touch-up spray works well
The full size spray would be good for painting cars, but the oriface is too large for the finishes we use on wood.
The price is agreeable, but, old saw is too true. It's worth the money, but barely.

love it. great all around kit. especially for the price can't beat it.