Genny "powered by Honda"

Re: Genny "powered by Honda"

google it - about a year ago, Price club had some Coleman POwer Max or BlackMax honda powered gens, 11HP, electric start, 8500 surge, 6800 continuous watts, wheel kit, huge tank (which is a big plus) even included the battery for $950

the 11hp felt weak for the wattage they were claiming but otherwise it was a heckuva price - got home and searched the gen chat forums - found a number of posters (iirc, 32 in one forum) indicating their's had thrown the windings off the gen, most reporting the same occurring between 5 to 11 hours of operation. Just as a comparison, my makita is 5800 surge, 4800W continuous and it has an 11 hp engine

Turns out Coleman had gone bankrupt about a year earlier, and an outfit called Pramac had bought the assets at bankruptcy auction. Posters were reporting that Pramac wouldn't honor any coleman warranty (which i don't have any issue with) but that they indicated they were still using the same gen heads and would be glad to sell them a replacement (chinese fabricated).- that told me all i wanted to know about Pramac

since thenr i've just gotten firmer in looking for a name brand (not the engine brand) - obviously the honda line of generators are top notched and most are so priced, but Makita, Milwaukee, even Snap-on - you get the idea

Northern Tool has an in house line of generators that seems to be shrinking, but they're fabbed here in the US (in indiana) and i've got one of theirs that has stood the test - my neighbor abused his (connected to live panel while it was running, and it simply burnt out two diodes)

Northern tool (i talked to their svc people in indiana, i'm convinced they offer a quality product - i noticed they dropped the Pramac gens from their line, but northern's pricing is actually pretty reasonable, and if there were an issue, i'm comfortable they'd stand behind the gen. They really are a quality outfit that their economical tools kind of disguises.

i posted not too long ago the osciliscope images of some quality gens vs cheap ones - i'll find it and post a link

PS - found it http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?t=12892

btw, i found my makita, that normally retails at $2200 for $1175 shipped on ebay but it was off the hurricane season, ie February or March. Hurricane season runs thru early or mid December on the East Coast

Re: Genny "powered by Honda"

bmet wrote: »

Are you suggesting that Blackmax and Coleman are part of the same company? I did read a few reviews of the Blackmax and the one consistent complaint I have read had to do with an inaccurate gas gauge.

black max isn't a company but a model line

it was either a coleman Powermax or Black Max and i'm starting to think it was a Black Max (or BlackMax) which ever way it was printed

just found a Coleman BlackMax on Sam's club and it sure looks like the one i saw at Costco - keep in mind what i said about Pramac buying Coleman power products at Bankruptcy and 6 mos to a yr afterward telling coleman gen owners they could still sell them the same gen head, for $700 iirc

to see coleman gens still for sale new, Pramac has to be producing them, and they probably purch'd the tradename and trademark rights at the bankruptcy, so that would be legal, but i wouldn't touch one with a 10' stick.

call into Northern tool tech svc, and ask in a soft way, why they dropped the pramax line from their generator inventory. It's 50/50 the tech will tell you, but if he won't, ask him if they had a lot of problems with em.

also keep in mind, getting svc, parts if you need em - when my neighbor thought he'd burnt up his 13,500 watt tri-fuel Northstar gen, Northern tool quoted us $700 for the gen head new, no core charge etc, which i thought was real reasonable. He'd paid $2850 for the gen new, and after i played with the numbers a little, between the 22hp honda engine at $1200 (fm northern tool), the gen head at $700, 10 gal tank w/shutoff $95, unknown cost for the control panel but it worked out or it looked like we could build that gen new from them, a little cheaper than buying it new assembled. My main point though is, northern tool will have the parts etc and appears to keep their pricing reasonable.

plus, that black max, at 7000 continuous watts is a lot of wattage for 13 hp - if not over the limit for 13hp, awfully close - (i found this Blackmax at sam's club http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=106780 - i assume that's the one you're looking at) . Here's the same gen with the coleman name on it, ie as the coleman blackmax http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Generator-Hon,da-Engine-Warranty/dp/B00175UCCS/ref=sr_1_11?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1316575204&sr=1-11 .

i'm sure someone here knows hp to wattage requirements, otherwise google for it. Or go look at the Honda line and see what HP they offer per wattage - the Honda ES6500 (6500 surge) is a 13 hp engine (http://www.hayesequipment.com/es6500.htm) and while honda is a quality mfgr, both design & execution, they aren't oversupplying hp unnecessairly

PS - here, just found these doing a quick google
1) http://www.fixya.com/support/t3976928-black_max_6250_generator_worked_good_10
2) http://www.clubtitan.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42475&page=2 on this one, i linked the 2nd page, scroll down to post #12 and see what the guy said the svc manager said when he returned his

and those were just the first two i bothered to read - there's plenty more