Generators Reviews

I bought one for emergencies, to have in case of blackout or earthquake. I was hoping the light would be bright enough so I could use it to pass the time by reading. Even at full charge it's not that bright, and after about 2 hours, the light drops off drastically. The radio only picks up the most powerful stations.

Don't lose the box!!!!! It features important operating instructions like "DON'T CHARGE THE BATTERY FOR MORE THAN 5 HOURS", and "DON'T WIND THE DYNAMO FOR MORE THAN 15 MINUTES" and "ALWAYS KEEP THE SWITCH AT SOLAR POSITION UNLESS USE THE OTHER TWO POSITIONS." These things are pretty important because they either drain the battery or wreck it. This is essential operating info. I used a Sharpie to write these instructions on the bottom of the lantern. It's not pretty, but at least I don't have to keep the box handy and I don't have to worry about wrecking the thing because I forgot the instructions.

We are very satisfied with this product. It works as advertised. It is really nice not to have to worry about batteries.

My only gripe is it is noisy. I do like the program modes that provide a more "wind-like" experience. The remote is a nice touch.

This unit takes a lot of water out of the air in my basement, and shuts off when the tank is full. You can also hook it up to drain out a hole which accomodates a hose of some sort.

I am having a problem with it after only running it for a few months. The dehumidifier keeps shutting off, thinking the tank is full and it surely isn't. I played with the switch and gave the unit a bang and it started working again. Not confidence inspiring. For an item in this price range, it shouldn't have switch problems in the first 3 months. When it works, it works great.

This Guardian Generator Model # 04582 is JUNK.
DO NOT BUY.
I have had this generator for 4 months and it has
not run right yet. Hunts badly from 55 to 65 cycles.
Now, I can't get it to start.
Customer Service is horrible. Can't get a phone number
to talk to anyone at Guardian.
The Authorized Dealer in my area does not know what wrong
with the generator and will not give me a number so I can send it back.

The model 04582 is a portable generator which puts out a steady 15,000 watts depending on variable conditions such as heat, the octane of the gasoline it uses, and the condition it is in.

It will peak at surges of up to 22,500 watts for a few seconds only such as during 5 ton AC start ups. If you think you are buying a 22,500 watt generator you will be sadly mistaken. Northern Tools list their generators this way in order to make them appear to be a good deal price wise. [...]

I use this generator in my business for power tools in new construction and I wouldn't think of installing it in my home for a stand by power source. Instead, look at the home stand by models built for that purpose and which come with the automatic transfer switch for not a lot more money than this vendor is asking for this portable.

By the way; this machine will guzzle 32 gallons of gas at close to full load in 24 hours.

I have had this generator for one year now. I bought it after hurricane Ivan. I used it for 4 days after hurrican Dennis and it never missed a lick. I kicked off 8 tons of ac with it (staggered the starts) and basically it ran my whole house with the stove and hot water heaters turned off.

It does burn a lot of fuel and it is loud. I wired through the 50 amp outlet.

RM

I bought mine from Big Lots. Ran fine for about six hours, then began sputtering so badly it wouldn't stay running. Exchanged it, replacement ran fine for a while, now it's going the same thing.
Been longer than the 30 day exchange peroiod, so I'm out $175 total.

The electronics seem solid, but the little 2 stroke engine, built into this machine, is a real peice of trash.

DO NOT RELY ON THIS GENERATOR FOR EMERGENCIES.

I ordered it, Amazon took my money, Northern Tools sent it, and it does not run.
Northeren tools has a no return policy on generators. They send out a generator that can not run (no spark) and refuse to refund the money or allow you to return the product or exchange it. The phone numbers listed in the operators manual for the manafacturer are disconnected. Amazon does not state this all sales are final in their adds so they contribute to the rip off.

I bought this generator to use on my boat. I paid $176 at Pep Boys and couldn't be more pleased. I plugged it directly in my boat AC input and ran all my AC appliances with no trouble. A boat generator is $7000. What a steal!

When you start it, be sure the ON/OFF switch is ON and the fuel shut off is ON. Choke it all the way and when it starts, move the choke to off. Not a big deal once you have the procedure down. If you are having trouble than you are doing something wrong. It is noiser than the more expensive units but that doesn't bother me since I use it outdoors.

You can always pay $700 more for a quieter unit but to me its not worth the extra money. I also didn't find it greasy or smelly.

Dusty Jack is right: this laser guide is useless. For the laser to work satisfactorily, the blade guard must always return to precisely the same location after every cut. That is not the case with my mitre saw, and probably not with any other. I don't know why I didn't figure that out before buying it.

I used the lazer guide on a small floor saw application and found that it did work well unless you are operating in full sunlight. The sun seemed to erase the line I needed. However inside of a room without the sun the line projected about 6 feet in front of the saw. I continue to use this product inside with great results.

I mounted the Laser Line guide on my Miter saw. The product is great and met my expectations. It was easy to mount and adjust. The Laser line is very bright and works well in the light. I am very happy with this product.

Lasted 3 hours before the generator stalled and electrical problems. Key parts, the stator and rotor burned up and are no longer available. You will be left with a $600 Tecumseh 10 hp engine.

I own one of these bought from Home Depot. Price was EXCELLENT. May not be a Honda, etc.. But for 400 it is an excellent back up generator. It is made in the US. Starts EVERY time, runs nearly the whole house including the furnace.(No AC) (Will run Window AC). I keep the gas treated, run int once a month or so (As you should ANY gas engine, unless winterized) It is a purchase worth the money.

I am completely dissatisfied with this product. Before purchasing, I phoned PorterCable and specifically asked if this generator would run both my compressor( rated by the manufacturer at 3,200 surge watts(2,475)and my circular saw.I did this on more than one occassion, knowing how frequently unknowledgeable staff give false answers. I was assured it would. No such luck once I owned it. It won't run the compressor, even with the valve open, under no pressure. No help from PorterCable. I have since tried friends' and co-workers generators rated at less than this model's 5000 watts and/or 6875 surge and they will run the compressor all day. PorterCable now tells me only half, yes only half of the wattage is available to 120 volts, the full load to 240 volts. And I'm stuck with it.

Reading the reviews, I see I'm not the only to have warranty problems with Tecumseh Engines. I bought this and it worked great. But it is way to loud. We had a power outage and it would not start. It was still under warranty so I thought no problem. WRONG!... I had a carb problem. Repair center said this would be a disputed repair. Because there was a possiblity I might have put gas in it that had some debris in it. Isn't that what the gas filter is for? Anything big enough to clog the carb would have gotten caught in the gas filter and stopped the flow of gas right there. Anyway I called Tecumseh and talked to someone named JEFF in there customer service dept. Jeff was suppose to be the first customer service reps supervisor who I got nowhere with. Jeff said he'd call me back He never did. I called agian a week later and left him a message and he never called back. I called again and left messages with the girl that answers the phone for anyone from their customer service dept. to call me back and explain why this isn't under warranty or why they won't fix it. And I'm still waiting 6 months later. Then I find out that Tecusmseh had consistant carb problems with several of their engines, this being one of them. The carb was defective according to the repair center, but Tecumseh would not pay to fix it.

Live and learn I guess. Don't get me wrong, this unit is powerful and the electric ran smooth. But there is no reason this thing should be so loud. I have to put plywood in front of it to deflect the sound. Tecumseh could have put a better and bigger muffler on this engine. They tested this motor when they made it, so they didn't realize it was so loud. Or did they decide to save a few bucks by installing an undersized ineffective muffler? As a builder, I start early and have many complaints from neighbors calling village halls about the noise. I even tried calling Tecumseh to see if this thing could be modified to make it quieter. Plus there is no excuse for the cheap plastic oil stick that come with this. The plummer I use has a Coleman Powermate with the same 10 hp Tecumseh motor with the cheap plastic oil stick. Same noise problem. So I can't blame Porter Cable other than their poor choice of using the Tecusmeh engine in this generator.

This was very tempermental, often giving an error message that something is wrong with the battery. I tried it on the same battery yesterday, and got three different messages in 3 consecutive tries. Saying battery was full, then a bad cell, and finally not connected. I tried it on 2 other cars which were both less than 3 years old, and both had "bad" batteries. I never did get my battery charged. There has to be better choices.

The box and printed manual for this charger say it is "safe for all lead acid batteries including flooded, gel and AGM." But when I set it to charge at 10 amps, the output voltage was 14.9-14.9 volts. This far exceeds the max voltage for every 12volt gel I have seen. A label on my batteries says the max charging voltage "should not exceed... 14.2 volts".

A call to Vector led to their claim "we cannot match every gel battery out there". But on my query they acknowledged they do make more expensive chargers which have a battery type selector switch, w/gel one choice. When I pointed out that obviously they knew some, if not most or all, gel batteries need special settings since their more expensive chargers have a switch for them, and asked, "So how can you claim on your box and in your manual that the 1092 is safe for _ALL_ lead-acid batteries including gels?" I heard only silence.

"_All_ is a pretty inclusive term you know" I added. More silence. After another 20 seconds of silence I hung up.

Bottom line: If you have gel cell batteries, don't buy or use this charger!

This unit will charge deep cycle marine batteries and auto batteries (Wet Cell only). I would not use this on AGM or Gel batteries.

Within a year both alligator clips broke under normal use on standard battery terminals. Not good. They told me I had to send the entire unit back both times. Instead of just sending me a new termnal, the girl said that would void the warrenty.

Let see , top dollar for the charger itself. 2 UPs shipping charges waiting for the unit to be repaired two times...........

I'd look elsewhere before buying this unit again.


I hope this is helpful.

D.H.

I had high hopes for this thing. I was looking for a decent car vacuum but this thing had a lot more features. The vacuum couldn't pick up much of anything, the battery life was terrible, the flashlight wasn't very bright, the plastic tray that goes underneath with all the cables and such has tiny tabs that slide in slots on the main body's underside, and one of them was broken on arrival. I didn't bother to return it because the tabs were so flimsy I figured they wouldn't last long anyway.

I never tried the compressor feature. Just tossed it last week.

I have yet to use this product to inflate my tires or plug anything into it. It just arrived a few weeks ago. The instructions on how to use it were not that great (go figure) and not all the parts fit into the tray (pictured) that goes underneath it. Still... i've never seen anything quite like this before, and I'll keep it in my car and hope I never have to use it on my tires!