Blue Max GEN 4000 4,000 Watt 6.5 HP OHV Gas Powered Generator (Non-CARB Compliant)

I read the other reviews, but ordered it anyway since my county had declared a state of emergency and 90% of electric customers were without power. I needed it fast, and I needed to use it right away. It was worse than everyone said. All the plastic underneath the rollbar was shattered and the roll bar itself was crushed in. I returned it (and it took over 10 days for UPS to come pick it up). Luckily the power came back on the day after I ordered it.

I ordered three of these over a two day period for folks in Houston after Ike. All three were ordered on overnight delivery. Two arrived as promised. The third did not get picked up in Dallas and I had to call serveral times to get it moving. In the end the third came in late and was returned. I was given full credit, so + to Amazon for the credit, - to Amazon / FedEx for not getting it here on time.

After filling with oil and putting in gas the generators started easily. I put some load on each and they performed well. The oil fill is not easy to get to, but this seems to be common to similar gas powered devices. I have not had any feedback on the performace of these machines. One was taken to an area that got power back right away so it did not get much use. The other went to an area that was without power for at least 2 weeks. I have not had any feed back on how it performed.

I also ordered two sets of add-on wheels. For some reason the vendor did not support the order. Amazon credited my account and has since cancelled the order from the vendor.

I bought this generator on June 08, 2008. It arrived with broken and missing parts. Amazon said they would not allow me to ship it back (due to having a gasoline engine) and they do not carry any parts. I finally located a distributor in St. Louis who sold me the parts I needed. And Amazon gave me a $50 refund toward those parts. The generator ran one time, then became increasingly difficult to start. Finally, it wouldn't fire at all. I took it to a certified small engine shop and was told it only had 35 lbs of compression and was suppose to have 125+. After 5 long months of "deliberation", and having to file a dispute with my credit card company, Amazon refunded the remaining portion of the purchase price. I guess I was lucky. Other than the long wait, I am only out the $30 that the small engine shop charged me to prove it was a bad engine.

I tried it out and it works great. It took a little while to get here but it was in great shape when it did. No damage anywhere, be careful not loose any of the pins that hold the wheels on. The bag they came in had a whole in it. So a pin got lost but it only cost 29 cents to replace it at ACE.

As for how loud the generator is it very loud. Some reviews said it was not louder than a lawn mower. I guess it makes a difference what lawn mower you have. I paid over 1100 dollars for my lawn mower but it is a commercial lawn mower. It is not very loud at all so I had hopes it would be quieter. But that is a 1100 dollar lawn mower.

No problem starting it at all. I am so happy with how easy it is to moves around (once you put the wheels on it) and how great it looks. It the power goes out my beer will be cold and my ice cream will stay frozen.

Great for the price, one thing to note though is that it can only carry 2400 watts constant. Absolutely no complaints. We put oil and gas in it and it started on the first pull. Quiet - solid running generator.