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Stan Thigpen
09-20-2004, 3:27 PM
My dad is planning on purchasing a portable generator. 4 to 5 KW will be sufficient for him. Harbor Freight offers this http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=90300 for $529. I generally am kind of leery of HF electrical products, but this one has a Robin engine. Does anyone have any knowledge of this generator or opinion of Robin engines?

Charles McKinley
09-22-2004, 12:23 AM
Hi Stan,

I think you can get as god or better machine locally fot the same $$$.

I have only heard good things about Robin engines however I imagine like Honda they have different grades. Honda has a home owner and a professional version. I do not recall which letter indicate which at the moment. I have heard to avoid the home owner motor.

Here are a few questions I have about this unit:
Parts? Do you have a local Robin dealer? I won't even ask about the generator end.

What is HF going to rack you for shipping? Return policy?(shipping involved there too)

Is it an extended run generator? (Can you run more than one tank of gas through it at a time or does it need to be shut down for a certain period of time after each tank?)

What is the duty cycle? (How long can it operate at the stated operating output?) I have found that with cheaper eletrical equiptment that the duty cycle is very low allowing them to put way bigger numbers than you can realistically get out of a unit without burning it up.

What would it cost to buy a local unit? HD and Lowes should have quite a few low hour "reconditioned" units comming in from unprincipled people that may have bought them and ran them for a short time or not even ran them during the huricanes then returned them. (Like ther won't be a storm next year.) These will be sent to a service center gone through then sold as recons.

www.motherearthnews.com has an energy forum where they discuss generators. Very nice people and simular feel to here. They may be able to give ou input on this unit or recommend another one.

There was a thread here a while back that had a lot of good generator information in it.

Good luck