Customer Reviews

All Power America APG3004 1000-Watt 2-Cycle Gas Powered Portable Generator

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I bought this generator several months ago on a whim at Cost U Less in St. Croix where I live. I figure that if a Hurricane hit us it may be useful to have backup power. This proved to be one of the best purchases I ever made.

On Wednesday night into early Thursday we got hit with Hurricane Omar, a Category 3 storm. After the storm we had no power. My basement apartment that is occupied by a tenant was flooded. I fired up this little 2 stroke generator and plugged my wet vac into it. It worked great, it could handle the load the 3HP wet vac put on it (this is only a 2HP generator, we gained an entire horse :)). Within an hour and a half her apartment was cleaned up pretty good.

That night we still had no power. I was able to power up my 47" LCD TV, Satellite Box, DSL modem, and Linksys router off of it. I got about 6 hours with this load on 1 gallon of oil/fuel mixture....not bad. The next night we still had no power so my wife added her laptop to this load and got about 5 hours on a gallon of fuel.

Now it would not power my refrigerator or my water pumps from the Cistern which was a bit disappointing. The startup load of the fridge was just too great. Also, like all 2 stroke motor's, starting it can be a pain...when you let gas sit in it for a while the mixture gets a little oil heavy...adding a small amount of gas and "shaking" it seems to get it started again. You will have to yank the cord a few times which is challenging for my wife. It also is loud (as all 2 stroke motor's tend to be).

For the $130 I paid for this I got my money's worth. Just being able to get online and watch my Satellite TV after the storm made life post-Omar much easier. I am very glad I bought this product. It's not a solution to all your power problems but in a pinch such as the one I was in it has worked out great.

Purchase first one, came damaged during shipping and doesn't work. I called Amazon and they shipped out second one and I have to pull it like 20 times just to start it up! When it FINALLY does work, it seems like it is going to stop again - It just keeps stalling. Only works for like 15 minutes and then just stops again. In the end, I had to call the manufacturer who promised me that they will refund my purchase. As of this date, I have still not received my refund.

As with buying anything made in china, you take a risk on whether or not it will be quality. Of course, someone has to take these risks to let others know what to expect.

What you get when you buy this is, a 800 watt continuous 2 stroke generator. Nothing else in this description can you take to heart, its almost all lies(china).

First of all, you can make this as quiet as a $2000 honda gen for about $40, if you want to put some time in by checking things, fixing a few things(not that they were broke, more of piece of mind) If you dont want to do any of that, stop here, dont buy this, go spend thousands on a little honda, and be done with it. If you have some skills, and patience, continue reading.

-You must first remember mix gas + oil with this, or it will die quickly.
-You must then remember to start a little rich(more oil than needed) to seat the mechanical parts in. Id run a tank of gas(rich) with no load thru it to get the engine and electric motor broke in.
-If you have trouble starting it...make sure the fuel line is turned on...really..thats probably %90 of people who complain, or they used old gas or didnt mix it properly.
-Then(since it is made in CHINA) I would do a quick once over on all fasteners, and wires, I would recommend adding some auto wire tubing to the wires under the gas tank, for added longevity against chaffing.
-This little buggar is LOUD, Specs (from CHINA) say 65 db, well let me tell you, that would have to be(heres the catch, 65 db from HOW FAR AWAY? who knows, its china) 100 feet(ok not THAT much) or so away for it to be reading those levels. I read 100-130 db right next to the unit, and 100-110 about 10 feet away, non exhaust side. Very loud, can cause hearing loss actually at close distances, luckily about %30 can be reduced by simply making an ingenuous muffler out of a spray paint can...im not going to explain how to do this, simply look at the picture...figure it out, its not that hard, take a can, poke some holes in it, stuff a steel tube half way through, stuff with fiber glass, shove it off the stock muffler exit. BAM, expect 70-80 db after that.

-Next step to taking this little turd to honda specs (50-60 db) is making a 4(yes 4...no front) sided box, and putting a few office building acoustic ceiling tiles in, or acoustic foam if you can find some. I assume you can understand how to make a box, with one side missing and no bottom yes? Its not that hard, glue the tiles on, make sure the box is much bigger (read ~6 inches on all SIDES, not top) to allow for air flow.

Put the spraycan muffler on, start er up, I add a small fan behind the unit, that will be in the box with it to help cool it, as a downside of anything that absorbs sound is it usually is very insulating.

So put the fan behind it, off to the side, cover er up, aim the exhaust away from you, walk 10 feet away, and PRESTO, 60 db ratings, or close to HONDA specs...

Can be done in one day, so is $1800 in savings worth one day of project work to you? If no, buy a honda. If yes, well get this made in china sucker, and put a little effort into your savings.

(will add pics soon)

-Brad

I have had three of this model generator purchased at a loacal store. 1rst wouldn't start without the help of starting fluid, and surged badly once running. I exchanged it for another unit that was missing the handle screws and gaskets. I contacted All Power America where I talked with a very unhelpful person that wouldn't send the missing parts without having me fax a reciept first. What homeowner still has a fax machine, but they wouldn't let me scan and email the reciept. All for two screws and gaskets, so I returned the unit to the store and picked up number three. Third one wouldn't start without starting fluid either until I screwed in the idle screw several turns. It will start after many pulls, but runs poorly and the engine never smooths out and runs nice. It always runs like it is warming up, and the mixture adjustments make no improvements. Operates at 154 volts with a light load and drops to under 100 volts when loaded near the rated amount.

Chances of getting a good one seem slim based on my experience and would have been a nightmare if it required return shipping each time.

I just bought one of these at my Kragen auto parts store and it runs absolutely great. I love how it is nice and light weight so it's not hard to carry all the time. Although, I had some complications figuring out how to work it until I took it to a friend. Come to find out, the manual did not have enough information for those who are beginners at working a generator. I suggest a complete revision of that manual so beginners can understand how to work it. It didn't tell you what the proportions meant, it did not tell you about a measuring cup that is hidden under the gas cap. Not everybody can teach themselves you know. I use this generator to run a fan for my hot air balloon and it ran nice and smooth. This generator is pretty quiet and doesn't make a loud and obnoxious sound. This is all I can provide for this review, but if you are a beginner and you buy this generator, have a friend who is a professional at this kind of stuff help you with it. Don't take any risks if you're not sure how to do this all by yourself.

Well, I am Festival & Fair vendor. I booked a Labor Day weekend event that required me to provide my own electricity. I figured i'd buy a small portable generator to provide electricity to a strand of lights strung around my tent. Amazon has been great all around. I got it in 2 days like promised. I took it to my festival. I am a woman and it was easy enough for me to start. I ran it for like 3 hours. I was packed with customers and the light just died. Customers fled, money was lost. Other vendors tried to get it started but upon inspection realized the gas was pouring out from the bottom. I had no lights what so ever for the rest of the night. Now I am forced to buy a 500.00 generator from the local Home Depot in order to salvage my weekend. Stay away, stay far away from this hunk or crap or it to will leave you in the dark.

Terrible buy, Machine kept cutting off, never stayed on for longer than a few minutes. You definitely get what you pay for.

You're probably familiar with the disposable cameras that are intended for one time use and built as cheaply as possible? Well, imagine the same concept applied to a generator and you've basically got this item. Being a 2-stroke engine, by design it burns lubricating oil right along with the gas. The stench of burning oil is overpowering unless you happen to be using the generator during an actual hurricane, and forget about working "downwind" of this thing. Obviously, you want a very long extension cord and the generator located as far away from other human life as possible.

In addition to the stench, the intentional oil burning has another nasty side effect - the oil doesn't completely burn up in the engine. The not-entirely-burned oil accumulates in the muffler and eventually this nasty black mix of oil and soot drips out and forever contaminates whatever the generator happens to be sitting on. The oily exhaust also eventually coats a good portion of the generator, with the expected results showing up on your hands should you grab the generator in an unfortunate location.

Of course, all of this assumes you're actually able to get the thing to start in first place. The starting procedure is a mixture of fiddling with the choke, pulling the cord and cursing at the generator. After quite a bit of sputtering and frustration, not to mention a sore arm, you'll eventually succeed in getting it to run.

After sticking through all the rough starts and horrible smoke, how will this generator reward your loyalty? Most likely, by repeatedly fouling its spark plug. Then, inexplicably, perhaps sensing its time has come, it will begin to leak fuel from the petcock. My recommendation is to take it out to a bomb range, a-la Mythbusters, and put it out of its misery. Or don't buy one in the first place.

The Bitterness Of Poor Quality Remains Long After The Sweetness Of Low Price Is Forgotten. (Copied from a sign in Desert Printing, Barstow, CA) (This review is twice as long as suggested, but the next paragraph sums it up.)

I was over a barrel and in desperate need of a generator when I bought this item at an O'Reily Auto Part's store. If I had seen the reviews here I would have grabbed my wallet and RUN!

The warranty is a con, and O'Reily disclaims any responsibility. The machine's capability is falsely advertised (see other reviews here to confirm that), their warranty department made every effort to discourage my claim, to the point of accusing me of over-loading the unit (should not be possible, as it has a circuit breaker that never tripped - and never SHOULD have under the load I was using), and continually made threats that I would be charged more money for "evaluation" and any repairs required.

I needed the unit for power while "Hosting" a campground for the BLM - way out in the High Desert. First thing it did was start to shake itself to bits. (The bezel on the light came off, the front panel lost at least one screw, the muffler lost a screw - that I was able to put back.) It seemed to work properly on a small load (a couple of 10 Watt CFL bulbs, a 120 Watt automotive battery charger, and two laptops, rated at 60 and 90 Watts) for the first few tanks of gas (falsely advertised as 8 hours on a half-gallon, it ran only 6 hours on a full tank, listed as 1.2 gallons.)

After I added a 70-watt refrigerator and our 142-Watt satellite system, (load, as measured by the inverter previously used to supply the load, was 580 Watts continuous, about 780 Watts surge) the serious problems began.

First, until the engine was fully warmed up, the oil in the exhaust began to condense on the muffler, and everything else, (air temperatures were in the low 40's), run down the machine and attack the rubber feet - which did a poor job, even on a rough surfaced concrete slab, of preventing "walking" like an unbalanced washing machine. (At one point, it walked so far as to unplug the load!) This left oily black "tracks" on the cement. Then the 120 VAC socket began to melt, to the point where the contacts would no longer connect to the plug. At that point, I attempted to use the 12 VDC outlet to charge the RV battery, and the plug arc-welded itself to the outlet. At this point, the machine was totally useless except as a noise maker (to keep the lions away?)

Seems that All-Power America is merely a shill for cheap junk from China (see other reviews of other All-Power products for confirmation). They are not actually a manufacturer, but - according to the inside last page (number 13) of the owner's manual, merely a "Distributor". Ditto, their "Warranty Service" is a joke. They have farmed warranty service out to -variously, deepening on your hearing or the rep that answers the line - "E.C. Warranty" or "A.C. Warranty" (their e-mail showed a URL of acwarranty.com - which is another joke). I had to threaten a lawsuit to get any cooperation at all. They absolutely REFUSED to tell me where the nearest "Authorized Warranty Service Center" was (a Google search can't find ANYONE claiming that dubious honor!) Finally, after burning a LOT of cell phone time, and a lot of threats both ways, they sent me a prepaid UPS shipping label to send it to, NOT 730 S. Epperson Drive, City of Industry, CA, as shown in the owner's manual, but to 13980 Mountain Ave, Chino CA, 91710 - apparently the address of "acwarranty" (dot com). (A Google search of both companies casts further doubts on the legitimacy of either.)

I am planning to post my full story at gabby jim dot com (and other places, like ripoffreport.com, etc) as soon as I get the results of sending the generator back - but before I do THAT (I surmise that they will automatically claim I violated the warranty somehow - Any excuse will serve a tyrant. Aesop) I will take it to an independent repair service for evaluation.

Conclusion: NEVER buy ANY product from All-Power America, unless you are prepared to throw your money away. "Made in China" should now have the same contemptuous ring that "Made in Japan" had in the 1950's.

This gene is junk at best. It uses way more fuel the stated and the pull cord broke already. It's loud and cheaply made. Spend the extra cash and get a honda or spend less and the harbor frieght unit. At least you can have two for the price of the this junk unit!!!!!!