Firman Generators

Get what ya pay for......
I'm sure it puts out electricity, but I'd put my money on a used Honda or Yami before a new elcheapo.

What is Costco return policy on generators? if it ends up being a piece of junk return it.

$479 plus tax is hard to beat. The HF predator is $649 when you can find a coupon, although that has electric start which I ended up liking more than I thought I would.

Just opened that link. That's a smokin' deal @ $500.00-ish

I bought a Firman 3300/3000 inverter generator from Newegg. It was an introductory price of $715.00 delivered to my door with a qt of oil, a battery and a very impressive manual. I broke it in per manufacturers instructions. Then fired off my 13.5 Coleman with great ease and it barely changed the engine RPM. I don't regularly use a generator as I prefer the sound of solar(is that a song title?). I pull it to the tailgate of the truck every month and fire it up for an hour then turn the gas off and let it run the fuel out of the carb. It falls in the approved decibel range at 50' for the US Forestry. 57 decibels @ 50'. Not real sure if it's a great deal if I only use it for emergencies, like being snowed in or getting stuck in Arizona and it's 110 degrees and no hook ups. One might think the more logical idea is to buy the most proven and reliable.........Honda, but it wouldn't fit under my Snug Top Tonneau cover.....So $715.00 to my door and I'll keep an eye on it

Taylor in Canada uses one on hos YouTube channel and has been happy with it.

I bought one last month and just broke it in with 5 hrs run time. Following some internet advice, I ran the 1st 2 hrs with no load and changed oil at 1 hr interval. At the end of the 2nd hr, I found a broken plastic piece (pic attached) at the bottom of the casing. I looked up & down inside the casing and couldn't tell where this was broken from. I also enlisted my mechanically minded neighbours, both father and son to lend some fresh & younger eyes to help looking without success. Hoping that it was broken during assembly and remedied. And the broken piece was unnoticed and left at the casing. I decided to carry on with the breaking-in instead of returning to Costco.

For performance wise, it starts with a couple of pulls. Showing 126V output at no load. It drops to 124-125V with 400W & 1400W load. It can stay in ECO mode with 1/2 load with minimum raise in noise level.

Noise level is above 60db even in ECO mode at 20+ ft away. With an Android App, accuracy uncertain, I measured somewhere between 60-64 db. But I am sure it's not the 58db as advertised b/c I have seen a Honda 3KW genny run, which advertises @ 57db, and it was much quieter going by my memory. This might not be a fair side by side comparison but it is definitely quieter than an open frame genny.

I read about the fuel leak problem during my research and it is due to some cheap fuel hose. If it is not corrected by the manuf by now, I believe it is a easy fix. I also read about the spark plug might cause problem down the stretch. It is advisable to replace it with some name brand or carry a spare.

All in all, it only costs 1/4 the cost of a Honda. I think/hope it justifies its cost for my need. YMMV

..

From their website

As a wholly-owned subsidiary of the $108 Billion dollar per year company Sinomach, we have produced over 10 million portable generators over the past 17 years for the worldwide market. For years we have built private label generators for companies such as Ridgid, Kohler and many others! In 2015 we made the decision to bring our manufacturing expertise to North America directly under the FIRMAN brand.

China National Machinery Industry Corporation Ltd(Sinomach), established in January 1997, is an important State-owned backbone enterprise directly managed by the central government. Sinomach is a Fortune Global 500 enterprise. Sinomach’s headquarters is located in the Silicon Valley of China, Beijing’s Zhongguancun.