Generators Reviews

I bought this model when it was offered by Devilbis in 1999. Never had to use it other than for routine tests until Isabel came through. We were out of power for two days, and the gen performed great! I have it wired into the house with a 10 circuit EmerGen transfer switch. I could run most of the house, my computers, fridge, freezer, and well pump with not sweat. I would power off the refrigeration and well pump when running the water heater, which took 5000 watts according to the meters. Electric start is great. But this thing is way too loud. Fortunately, I live in a rural 'hood in the PA mountains, and about 1/2 the residents had gen's running too, so mine didn't stand out too much. I'm looking for a solution to the muffler.

I really like the performance of the BSV800 but the one thing I
don't like is the noise. It's got the 14hp B&S Vanguard engine
(very good engine) but it sounds like a Mac truck. I've been looking to get a motorcycle muffler for the thing... Performance
wise it's great - I've got a 3200 sf house and it easily runs the
well pump, furnace blower, fridge, furnace exhaust blower and
some room circuits.

this fan works well and seems solid and sturdy (i have had tower fans which are cheap and fall apart or just stop working). its hard to tell if the ion generator does anything. and i didn't realize there's no remote; inconvenient perhaps, but not the end of the world. overall, i would buy it again...

I have a 50 year old house with not very good central air. By using these fans horizontally over floor registers, I'm able to get the cool air off the floor and up to head height, considerably improving my cooling. In the spring I put them in windows. That way, if I draw the blinds down to the top of the fan, I'm able to walk around the house in complete privacy (you can't do that with other window fans) and get some fresh air in.
They are quiet and unobtrusive. In my living room they're virtually unnoticable. I keep fans running 24 hrs a day for about 5 months a year, no problems.
The only reason they don't get a 5 star rating is that the breeze they produce is not very strong. If you want something that is strong, you'll have to get a traditional fan. None of the column fans are as efficient as the big bladed circular fans.

I never have really owned a fan before, so I cant really compare this fan to other fans. Well as the previous reviewer stated it got this breeze mode which is quite odd, It starts to spin real fast than uber slow, but it gets really annoying. Fan is also really loud but oh well, you get what you pay for.

It is powerful, attractive, and extremely reliable. Easy to assemble and the remote is great!

I purchased the Honeywell HFS641P a little over a month ago and I am very pleased with the choice. I also purchased a Soleus fan with remote for my roommate. I bring them both up, because they are both terrific fans depending on your likes. The Honeywell is very powerful and moves a lot of air; this fan is louder because of it. The other fan is much quieter, but doesn't push as much air. I am happy with mine because I don't mind it being a little louder- and in my case with my window facing a well travelled road the sound is enough to drown out the traffic noise, while not being a nuisance. If you want much quieter, Soleus seems to do a great job.

We had the problem noted below but the mfg. did the right thing and replaced it. Terrific and appreciate integrity.



We charged it immediately and put it away for our first power failure that didn't happened until last night (almost a year after buying it). It didn't work. One of the fluorescent tubes lit but it wouldn't take a very small LCD TV.

And we can't figure out how to contact Amazon about taking it back or exchanging it.

Very disappointing from two aspects: (1) it never worked, and (2) Amazon doesn't seem to have any way to contact them about it so they can attempt to replace it.

I purchased 2 of these Xantrex compressors. I planned on keeping one the trunk in case of a tire emergency. What a joke!! The compressor started to make a horrible noise about 2 minutes into the tire inflation and never worked again. Well, I had the "spare" compressor, but the same thing happened to it.

I contacted the company by email and was given a confirmation number stating that technical support would contact me -- that was last week and I am still waiting for an answer. I am very disappointed with the product and more disappointed in the "support", which was just as useless as the item.

Firstly, you should note that I have the earlier 250 watt version of this powerpack (very similar, but without the compressor).

I am buying a 2nd 300 watt version because my experience has been so good with my first one. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I had no charging problems and it has held the charge for the past several years without fail (comforting green light). The real test came during the big NYC blackout-- I was the only one with any lights on! Worked like a champ. As I said, I'm buying another one.

My Personal Thoughts:

- Charger has automatic shutoff which is nice, but battery chargers can't tell if the acid is bubbling over or if the battery is too hot.

- The unit also has a cooling fan for itself, which you can point at the battery if you're worried about gas buildup during charging. Obviously doesn't help if your garage is really small and sealed up.

- Car starting feature is nice. But it's not a booster unit (no builtin battery), so it's not portable if you want peace of mind.

- Threshold for its "float charging" feature should be adjustable. As should the threshold for regular charging.

- Charger maintainins constant current well. But, on a unit that is listed as having a 2 amp mode, will maintain 2.7 amps instead. If you want the amps listed on the sticker the charger should give just that and no more. Factory manuals encourage low amps, so the amps should stay low, unless you set it into the tens of amps.

- Cost of charger can be anywhere around 20-40% the cost of a new battery. If you want to only keep your car for around the normal life of the battery then this charger is economical. Otherwise, you will buy another battery eventually and already will have spent money on this charger too.

- Nice, high-quality aligator clamps. Good construction. Nice cable pocket in the back of the unit.

- If the charger is smart enough to know how much charge the battery has, why can't you ask the unit? Well, that must be the more expensive shop version.

- If you set the battery type to wet, then activate the desulfate mode, the unit will desulfate and then automatically switch back to automatic charge mode, but then forget the battery is wet, and set itself back to gel. Maybe it's safer that way?

- Alternator test mode is nice if your car only has a battery light on the dash and no voltage gauge.

- Open/Shorted battery cell check is nice. Other than using a hydrometer, it's hard to know if you have a bad cell and the charge on the battery is low.

- Overcharged batteries are supposed to give off a bad egg smell. It'd be really nice if, based on what's in those vapors, a charger could smell that and shut off, instead of just watching voltage all the time. (I know this one is a little off)

This is a great smart charger that has many functional features. The only thing that makes this charger a challenge is that it is too smart! It will not charge a battery that is completely dead - and there is no way to override it. However, in fairness to the product, if the battery is that dead it likely will need to be replaced soon anyway!

Great charger - fair price, and great warranty! You cannot go wrong!

I have purchased two of the VEC1088A chargers, the first about a year ago. With its high frequency switch-mode power supply technology it is very compact and light for a 12 Amp charger. The desulfation mode appears to work well. I had a 5 year old car battery with a green 'eye' state-of-charge indicator. No matter how much I charged this old battery, it would never indicate "green" for "full charge". Using the Vector charger, I ran the desulfation mode twice (two days) and then charged the battery. The charge indicator window on the battery returned to green, indicating that the specific gravity of the acid in the battery was back up to 'full charge' state. One caveat ... the charger has circuitry that prohibits reverse connection and also avoids sparking during hookup. This circuitry requires that the battery have some residual charge so the charger can sense a "real battery" is connected. This charger will not initiate charge on a completely dead battery. To charge a completely dead battery you must initially charge the battery for a few minutes with a 'dumb' charger, then hook up the Vector. With the 12A charge rate, this charger will charge a battery enough to crank a car in only a few minutes. I was impressed enough with my first charger to buy one for my brother. He's been equally impressed. I recommend it.

Poor process or quality control. The unit I received did not have the shipping blocks installed. As a result, the vibration isolators on the generator were broken in shipping. Since the unit cannot be returned to Amazon, you have to call the manufacturer to obtain parts that you must install yourself. Those parts happen to be on backorder. This may be a good generator based on the other reviews, but I suggest you buy it locally instead of relying on getting an operational unit shipped to you. That way, you can verify the operation of the unit before taking it home. By the way, Amazon's performance on shipping items has taken a nosedive. They used to ship items in stock within 24 hours. When I called 6 business days to inquire on the status of my order, I was told that it was to be shipped out that day. Later I found out it didn't go out for another 3 days. It was a total of 16 days for shipping an instock item. Between the shipping delays and the two-to-three weeks I was told I would have to wait for replacement parts, I'm facing a 1 1/2 month delay.

I have bought several of these generators, as part of a generator package that I install for residential customers. The last one that I bought just didn't seem to run as smooth as the others.

I didn't think it could happen to me. My generator was on an open patio, open on two sides. It was four days after Francis passed, we had no power, and we had still air that night.

But the exhaust built up on the back porch and leaked through closed doors into the house. We turned off the generator, and aired the house out - we felt better fairly quickly.

Then I went to the hardware store and bought a CO detector - B00002N86A is the ASIN of the one I bought. We could not wait for Amazon, sorry, we had to have it that day. We decided on that one because of the digital read out and the fact that it would run on a battery if there was no generator power.

Don't run a generator without one - and think about ventilation. A generator can run a couple box fans easily.

We ended up using an old junker box fan to blow on the generator - it kept it cooler and it dispersed the exhaust even if there was no breeze - then we used another box fan, a new one, to blow air into the house through a window. Once we did that, the CO detector never detected any.

PURCHASED THIS ITEM AFTER CAREFULLY REVIEWING ALL THE PRO'S AND CON'S WITH EACH BRAND. PRICE WAS NOT A MAJOR FACTOR BUT PERFORMANCE WAS. BRAND NEW OUT THE BOX SITS A YG6600DE FULL OF OIL AND GAS, AFTER SEVERAL HOURS OF TRYING TO GET THE UNIT TO OPERATE PROPERLY- YAMAHA TELLS ME I HAVE TO RETURN IT TO A SERVICE CENTER. NEEDS ADJUSTING TO PREVENT THE GENERATOR FROM SURGING WHILE OPERATING A 1/3 HP GRINDER. I WAS ALSO TOLD BY YAMAHA THAT THIS WAS NOT A SMALL LOAD. I UNDERSTAND THE LOAD OF STARTING A MOTOR BUT COME ON, A 1/3 HORSE POWER GRINDER.. GIVE ME A BREAK. SO MY WORDS FOR YOU ARE, IF YOU WANT A HONDA BUY A HONDA..........
KEVIN DAVENPORT

Hey do you think the last guy reviewing this generator works for Honda? I find his story hard to believe. I have run Honda's, Generac's and Makita's and none of them even come close to this Yamaha. This Yamaha generator is an animal! By the way, I am NOT an employee of Yamaha.

I have 2 of these Yamaha Generators and they are the best! Dependable is the first thought that comes to mind. They start and run with one or two pulls (they have electric start, if you add a battery). They are extremely quiet and they run all day on one tank of gas. Yamaha has a reputation of making only top quality stuff, and these generators have all the bells and whistles. I was pleasently surprised at the low cost compared to other top of the line generators. If you are looking for top quality at a reasonable price, this Yamaha can't be beat!

This baby simply does not deliver. Does it look mighty? Maybe to some. But I ordered this and was first VERY dismayed to realize that I could not operate this baby remotely as I had intended. I had it dropped off at my friend Stanley's house and then went and stood around the corner (about 48 feet away) and tried to fire it up...no such luck. The remote stop/start is sold separately for another few thousand clams. No worries there, but it took forever to arrive and was a complete disappointment in trying to scare Stanley and his family when I was trying to wake them up with this thing at 3 am from far away.

Then, the power. Couldn't even deliver the goods to my 7500 sq. foot house (and appliances and other goodies therein). What a waste. Boxed it back up, called up Kip from Consolidated Freightways and back to Amazon it went.

With budget cuts and layoffs in the future at Northern Pine Regional High School, I knew I had to do something to protect my job. I realized that I could save the school money on electricity by bringing in a Diesel Generator for my classroom. I quickly went on Amazon and found the 180 KW Northern Pro Open Diesel Generator. I ordered it and within a few days had it installed in my classroom. I hooked it up to all of the lights and computers. When the children came to class I turned it on to see how it worked. Perfection! No more electricity bills from Room 209! The children complained that it was too loud. I told them that it was because of selfish brats like them that the environment is in such bad shape. Since it is impossible to be heard while the generator is running, we have instituted a new policy in my classroom. It is called the "Children-Learn-Better-With-Loud-Noises-That-Prevent-Distractions" policy. No more talking to friends class, no more questions, no more complaining, no more nothing.

The title describes the wheels as being 10", but in the product description they claim to be 12". We ordered this for a Genrac 4000XL Generator. With a little welding and soldering, my husband managed to make it fit properly. The wheels sure beat dragging that thing around. We would have been a lot happier had the description accurately described the product!!

Wheel kit was exactly as advertised, plus some additional parts not listed for my 5500. Installed in less than 30 minutes with no drilling or special tools. Tires are 10".