Blue Max GEN 1250 1,250-Watt 2 HP 2-Cycle Gas-Powered Generator (Non-CARB Compliant)

Blue Max GEN 1250 1,250-Watt 2 HP 2-Cycle Gas-Powered Generator (Non-CARB Compliant) | Great.

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Blue Max GEN 1250 ...

	Blue Max GEN 1250 1,250-Watt 2 HP 2-Cycle Gas-Powered Generator (Non-CARB Compliant) Blue Max Blue Max average customer review:based on 59 reviews view larger image
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Solid value

I purchased this generator for tailgating and it has worked fine. I run a 26 inch LCD TV and Directv receiver on it. The only downside is the noise. Don't expect it to be within 20 feet and not interrupt normal level conversation. I have a long extension cord and run it to the other side of a car and it is ok then.

Great.

I recieved my iten from Homier Distributing, and would buy from Homier again. I recieved my generator in 5 days from ordering it. It took Homier 2 days to pack and ship it, 3 days to get here. Recieved item on a Saturday! in VERY good condition.

Performance of the Generator. Well, first of all I bought this for unexpected power outages. and..... whatever came up over the years that required it (you never know). I dont believe I will be dissapointed. I fueled it with standard unleaded and the correct mixture (50:1) 2 stroke generic oil, the first time starting it it started great. Not one problem. I shut the unit off after several minutes of the motor being at idle. moved it, and started it again for 50 minutes at idle. I then hooked up a Electric Heater after the motor passed my little burnin excercise at idle. At load, the unit can produce 800 Watts constant safely as designed, knowing this, i used the heater on low (750W). The second I turned on the heater, the generator went to full power and worked Absolutely Great until it ran out of fuel 10 minutes later. (note, i put less than a quarter gallon of fuel in the tank)

That is my only use of this product so far, and the little excercise I gave it to burn in, im convinced it should last until I need a higher capacity model in the future years. Only time can tell, but at first glance, im VERY happy with this generator.

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Decent product for the price, but beware defects.

I've only taken this thing tent camping once (in Oct 2007), but it did work to my expectations. Make no mistake, it is NOTHING FANCY. But considering you could buy about SEVEN of these puppies for the same price as ONE Honda EU1000i, I thought I would give it a shot. So far, I'm pleased.

My least favorite thing about it is that you've got to pre-mix the oil into the gasoline, like you do with some lawnmowers. The special "two-stroke" oil comes in a little bottle, and you pour a small amount (read directions) into the gasoline canister before filling the generator's tank with the mixture. The oil itself is not expensive, but they don't sell it just anywhere; you gotta go to a decent hardware store (i.e. I couldn't find it at Target, but I did find it at Lowe's). So far, this is the only real drawback I experienced; and frankly, it's not that bad.

The unit weighs about 40 lbs. That puts it in the lightest class of generator that I could find. There may be a couple out there that are slightly lighter - but not by more than a few pounds.

Starting up the unit requires about five steps done in order. For some people, 5 steps is about 3 or 4 steps too many, so if you're not mechanically inclined, I'd keep the instructions handy (page 9) until its operation becomes second nature to you. Again, it's really not that bad.

We ran it for about 1.5 tanks of gas, occasionally stopping and restarting when we left the camp site for a bit. Usually, it started on about the 3rd pull. One time it got fussy and I had to pull it about 7-8 times, but that was just one of the starts.

As for the noise, it's not too bad either. It's just slightly louder than the EU1000i, and you could buy a truckload of earplugs with the $650 you'll save. Of course, instead of earplugs, I just bought one of those orange utility extension cords and placed the generator off to the side of my camp site (about 20 feet away). The noise was barely noticable, and certainly didn't hinder a normal conversation.

In short, this is a decent product for the amazingly cheap price tag, and it opened up so many new options for our campsite. If it craps out on me, I'll be sure to update my review to let y'all know!

UPDATE #1 (May 2008): Sad to report that this item was stolen from my toolshed. While I was pretty ticked off about it, I've got to laugh just a little. If I had I bought the much more expensive model (which I almost did), I'd be in tears right now. As it is, I just decided to buy another one of these. That, and to put a better lock on my shed.

UPDATE #2: Received my new "replacement" generator, and... it was defective. A sizable dent in the casing that houses the spindle, which prevents the spindle from moving (thereby preventing the unit from staeting). I guess this is the risk of buying the less expensive model. My recommendation to you: make a full visual inspection of your new unit BEFORE you fill 'er up with gas. You cannot ship a generator that has already been fueled - even if you empty the tank.

UPDATE #3 (June 2008): Why did Amazon raise the price of this item?? When I bought it, it was about $115, and it looks like they pushed it up to $145 - no small increase. My original review was titled "Decent product for the price," but now that I've experienced a did, AND they price went up, I've changed the title to what you now see above. I should also note that there are 2 other generators for sale on Amazon in the same weight class which used to be slightly more expensive than this one, but which are now slightly cheaper. I don't remember the brand, but they look almost like this one, except one is green and the other is yellow. Do a search for "camping generators" and all three come up.

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Nice Generator

This is a nice little generator,runs well.Only gripe, lousy packaging.The front cover was bent in because of it.

Minor shipping damage repaired and so far so good

It arrived with a broken spark plug even though the box did not have much damage. Just bad factory packaging. It runs fine but expect a little heavy exhaust as in any 2 cycle engine.I tested it with an electric heater at 500 and 1000 watts and it ran fine. I hit 1500 watts for a minute to see if the breaker would pop, it didn't. I suggest you don't change from a high load to a low load while its running, it causes over rev. I don't plan on using it for a constant power source only when needed while camping.It's small and light weight, convenient to travel with.For light use it should be fine but I wouldn't depend on it for an "Outage" situation. I have a large 6500 watt generator for that.
I wouldn't have paid srp $199.99 for it but for $99.00 it's a good deal.

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