Harbor Freight’s Predator generators - yes or no?

Do you have one? How old is it?

I just got the HF catalog in the mail today. It’s on sale with an additional 25% off coupon for the 31/1 only.

8 years is a decent amount of time. Have you used it often?

Ah I’ll go back and look then. Thanks

I put one of those Predator engines on my tiller when that POS Tecumseh engine finally died about 10 years ago. Still going strong.

Just use good gas and don't leave it sitting for long periods of time.

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Are they reliable

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Reliable to a certain point. The engines and generator heads are not the failure points if you do your job, its everything else. For something to keep in your garage or seasonal use they are no better or worse than any number of Chinese generator units...Wen, Remington, Champion....all the same. Where Honda, Yamaha, and others set themselves apart is in the electronics, frames, ect. that makes them a bit more abuse tolerant which only matters for jobsites and frequent users. Even now I see more big Predator generators on contruction sites, they might have closed the gap to Honda that much.

If you read the fine print on the coupon, I Don,t think it applies to Predator Gens!

The Predator Inverter generators stack up very well against the Honda EU series. There are many reviews and videos online with side by side comparisons as well as longevity studies. Last week they had the 3500 for $100 off. Apparently, Honda has filed suit for copyright infringement so they must be close enough to make Honda take notice.

Just run it once a month for about an hour and you should be fine. Put a load on it during that time as well. I run mine when cutting the grass or doing other loud yard work because the thing isn't quiet

But like all small engines, they need to be used and not sit up if you use gas with ethanol in it.

I have one of the small 2000 watt inverter ones. Have had it since the flood of 2016. Use it at every tailgate to power our sound system. Runs for about 8 to 10 hrs a game, then various other times during the year. Fresh gas / seafoam, frequent oil changes with 15w-30 diesel oil (for the better additive package) and the NGK plug swap. I also run it about once a month for a little while to keep the carb clean. Never had a single issue and always starts on first or second pull. Don’t know about the non inverter ones they sell other than hearing from others that they are no worse then the big box ones. They seem to have copied the Honda motor pretty well. I also read online that they bought the patent to the old Honda engine designs, but who knows if that is true or not.

The real key with any small engine is fresh gas, good oil and running them every now and then to keep the carb clean. It also helps to get the non ethanol gas if you can.