Blue Max GEN1250 1,250 Watt 2 HP 2-Cycle Gas-Powered Generator
by Blue Max
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List Price: Category: Lawn & Patio See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Blue Max GEN1250 1,250 Watt 2 HP 2-Cycle Gas-Powered Generator
Customer Review: It worked for me (for a while)
Summary: 3 Stars
This unit at 99.99 was the least expensive unit available at the time. I never really thought I would actually use it so when it showed up I gave it a tug to make sure it worked them put it away. Power outages usually only last an hour or two in my area and I figured by the time I got it out of the garage the power would be back up.
Recently the power went out pretty much across the whole state. My power was out for five days and this little unit never missed a beat. I used it to power the laptop, router, phones, clock, and K1 heater electronics and fan so it was a fairly light load. At one point I turned a TV on which combined with the other items should have been under the 800W this unit is supposed to carry (1250 is the rating for surges) but you could tell there was a voltage drop so I did not try that again. This machine ran closer to 63HZ than 60 as evidenced by the freq synching clock that started gaining a couple hours a day but I do not know how accurate frequency needs to be for electronics in general. Nothing seemed to get damaged. I re-filled the tank every 5 hours to make sure it never ran out. That was the only major bummer, setting my alarm clock to make sure the unit stayed fed. After five days I was to the point I could dash outside in my robe, run through the snow to fill it up, and be back in bed in less than two minutes.
If you are buying this unit for emergency backup, I would make a couple recommendations. First of all, get a bigger unit! This unit is the size recommended for campsites but my campsites never require electricity so it would probably be plenty big for that. A 3KW unit might still be minimal for any kind of emergency backup, especially if you want to keep your fridge going also.
If you are poor like me and still need to get a small unit, the first order of business is to figure out a way to run a bigger tank to it which I will be doing as soon as it warms up outside. I was lucky that I had plenty of 2 cycle oil and gasoline available. When the power goes out the gas stations lose their power also. You need enough fuel to keep the unit running at least a couple days plus enough gas in the car to drive around closed roads trying to find your way to a distant town that might have power and gas available.
UPDATE 11/15/2009: After a long storage without a power failure, I finally needed this unit again. At first it leaked gas through the carb but when I started it the vibration took care of that problem. The bummer, though, is that it is not holding enough voltage even with a light load. It keeps dropping down to 90V and when it does that my router loses its connection. It would probably be cheaper to replace than repair and it has paid for itself so I am not complaining, but I think I see replacement it its future. It is probably still adequate for a campsite generator.
UPDATE 02/28/2010: It did not work this power outage. I also downgraded my rating by one star because I discovered it never did work properly from day one (although it did work good enough to serve my needs at the time). There is some problem with the governor that it never detects voltage need which is why it did not seem to carry the load when I tried to hook up more than 200-300 watts of appliances. Now the voltage is swinging wildly between 40 & 150 Volts regardless of load. I tinkered with it and got it to stabilize a little but I no longer trust it to plug electronics in.
Customer Review: Great little generator for it's price and specs
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this little generator about a year ago in preparation for any power outages in our area due to the occasional hurricane or tropical storm that occasionally blows through. We have been relatively spared but a mild rain storm knocked out the power to my neighbor and me. We used it for about 1 hour but it worked well and I'm sure it would have done well with a much longer outage. I tested the generator when it first arrived as many of the other reviewers suggested. I even pulled the spark plug and checked it out for shipping damage. No problems. I Ran a tank of gas through it and put a small load ~100w and let it run until it ran out of gas then I stored it.
This past outage, I was able to run 3 9w CFL bulbs spread throughout the house (using extension cords), a curling iron (85w), and a hair dryer on medium (600w) without a problem. As others have mentioned, when large loads are placed on it (such as the hair drier) it will load up the engine and the engine will compensate. In the interim though the voltage dips so you have to be careful that whatever you are running isn't too sensitive to power fluctuations. You also have to keep in mind that the generator is not a true sine wave output (it's modified sine wave) so some electronics may not do well with it.
For the price (I got it for $109 here on Amazon) it's quite excellent. The price seems to have jumped up considerably though since my initial purchase (Summer 2008)
Update November 2009
Well, we just had a Nor'easter here in Virginia Beach, VA and our power was out for about 24h. The generator worked well and powered my devices (four 13w CFL's, 2 cell phone chargers, an LED spotlight charger, the curling iron and the hair dryer) simultaneously without a problem. It was loaded ~80% load for only about 15 minutes and 10% load for about 3 hours. No problems. A word of warning though. I put a voltmeter in the plug and got a reading of 103v fully loaded, 115v unloaded. This may be unacceptable for certain devices. Luckily, all of my power bricks are rated for worldwide use (100-240v) so they didn't have a problem with the low voltage. Also, the lights would flicker a bit so the power is not clean.
I would still maintain the 4-star rating as this genset is a very economical way to power your basic needs (lights, battery chargers [cell phone, battery powered tools, NiMH batteries, car batteries, or solar battery banks) for very long periods without wasting large amounts of fuel as a large wattage generator would.
Customer Review: Great generator for the price!
Summary: 4 Stars
11/2009 UPDATE --
This generator just got me through another football season, including the past two weekends of 12+ hours of constant usage. I've found that it continues to start without issue and runs fine for long hours. My trick is to flip the 'ON' switch on, pull three times with no choke, then pull three times with choke and everything tends to work great. I also try to run it for five minutes or so every few weeks just to keep fuel flowing through on a regular basis year round.
I couldn't be more pleased by my experience with this generator.
I purchased this generator in August 2008 for football season tailgating. Not only did it survive the University of Georgia football schedule this year, but it did so in flying colors. I used this generator about a dozen times for an average of 8-10 hours a day. After 4-5 hours I would check the gas level and add a little more if necessary. Never did I use more than a gallon of gas for the entire day. On a separate occasion, I took it camping and it ran perfectly for nearly two days straight.
During the football season, I would run the satellite receiver, a small 13" TV, and random other accessories (box fan, random cell phone chargers, etc).
This generator is not as quiet as the Honda generators, but for a fraction of the cost I can handle this sound. For my use, a 25' extension cord worked great for keeping it out of sight and noise was greatly reduced. I would equate it to the sound of a gas leave blower or weed whacker while idling.
My intentions are to start the generator about every other weekend to ensure it stays running smoothly. As I've found in past experiences, the longer your let gas sit in something like this, the more issues you are most likely going to run into. Starting it every other Saturday takes a few minutes and should keep it running nicely.
My biggest complaint came when I pulled it out of the box. Some of the plastic fasteners that held the cover in place were broken but I was able to use super glue to get everything back in place. Also, it tends to become finicky when trying to start up immediately (5-10 minutes) after shutting it down.
All in all, I am thoroughly pleased with this generator. It is small, compact, powerful, and does everything I need of it. You will not be disappointed!
Customer Review: Delivered Today
Summary: 4 Stars
Got this little generator delivered today. Went to HD and got (1) one gallon gas container, two cycle oil in pre-measured 2.6 oz. little bottles. One bottle for each gallon of gas, makes 50:1 mixture. Initial
attempts to start failed. Came back 20 minutes later, started second pull.
Powered my Craftsman 7.5 Amp leaf blower. 4 Amp bench grinder, seperately, without problem. I did notice labeling on the generator: "THIS ENGINE CONFORMS TO 2007 U.S. EPA REGULATIONS FOR SMALL NONROAD ENGINES WITHIN DURABILITY PERIOD OF 50 HOURS."
I'm impressed !
06/09/08 Update. ---- Returned Today !!
Took this generator to go camping. "T" tee handle on pull to start rope slipped from hand, snapping back into cover. Thinking nothing of it, I made some drinks, then shut it off. The generator was unable to be restarted, due to a plastic part that catches the flywheel, (when pulling the start rope), had broke. If it were easier to find replacement parts, I would have much preferred that remedy instead. By the way, another camper brought a generator he got from PEP Boys. (We had two). I switched generators, having to perform the first startup, then made some drinks and shut it off after about an hour. Got up next morning, generator running, starter rope wouldn't retract. I inquired about the rope,...
"They let it snap back, like a lawn mower."
**** DO NOT LET THE STARTER ROPE SNAP BACK (RECOIL) FROM YOUR HAND WHEN IT IS EXTENDED. ALWAYS ALLOW STARTER ROPE TO RECOIL AT A CONTROLLED RATE/SPEED. ****
I am certain, that generator would still be perfectly fine/like new, if that plastic part had not failed or I knew the importance of the controlled return.
May replace with same, after more research into parallel generators. This one will not do parallel configurations!! BUT INCREDIBLE VALUE !!!
Customer Review: Blue Max generator
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this little generator about a month ago. When it arrived, it was severely damaged. The gas tank was completely broken loose from the rest of the generator. I immediately contacted Amazon. Amazon shipped out another the same day. I had time to repack the broken one and drop it off to be shipped at my convenience. It arrived the next business day. This unit arrived in good condition. When I used this for the first time, I had to cycle the gas through the line by pulling several times on the cord. It worked like a charm. I used a 100ft. extention cord, so the noise was not a factor. I got about 4-5 hours of use on the tank, alot of that was at idle. After about 10 hours of use, it quit working. Finally, we found it to have a broken spark plug. I had read about this problem in one of the other reviews. We replaced it and were back up and running.
Overall, this is a nice little generator. It won't power your house but, it will give you portable power for those occasions when necessary. Just make sure you have time to wait for the one that is not broken at delivery.
Be prepared when you order this. 1) it probably will arrive broken (as reported in several reviews) 2) Get extra spark plugs, it will break, if not broken when received. If it won't start for you after trying many times, check the spark plug and try again.
The spark plugs run about $2.75 +/- at Walmart.
If I had to do all over again, I would buy this generator.