Inverter generators: What to buy, Chinese or Japanese?

In this article, we look at 2kva inverter generators and the different options available. Honda has been in this market for many years and is a market leader. Its 2kva model sells in Australia for around $ 2,000, making it quite expensive, which has prompted other people to look for alternatives.

Yamaha is a new company entering this market and its 2 kva model has been very popular with our customers. Is the Yamaha better than the Honda? The Yamaha also costs around $ 2,000, so the two can fight each other, but what many want to know is whether the $ 500- $ 700 Chinese units are worth it. In my experience, I would have to say no at this stage. Even $ 500 is a lot of money if the generator doesn’t do the job you need it for. We have tested a few different Chinese brands and found that they have considerable quality control problems. Many of the problems can be overcome by doing a good quality check yourself (if you have the skills), but we’ve seen plenty of other problems as well, such as stuck motors and failed inverters. These generators also tend to have a lot of little problems that wouldn’t be a problem, but most Chinese generator importers don’t bring spare parts, which makes them almost impossible to fix. If you still want to look at a Chinese brand, I suggest looking for the ones that have been chosen by the major generating companies. In these cases, good companies test generators and check them for quality before they go out to sell spare parts. However, you will pay much more than with an eBay seller.

We have been selling Kipor generators for about 5 years. Kipor is a Chinese company that is much more professional than many, and although they had their share of problems in the beginning, they seem to be doing much better now. We assume that around 95% of our customers are happy with their Kipor as they save around $ 800 off the price of a Honda or Yamaha.

So should you pay the extra $ 800 or go for the Kipor? That is the big question that we get asked a lot. My answer is always this: if you are only going to use the generator once in a while and if the generator fails it doesn’t cause you too much drama, then the Kipor is a good option and will save you the $ 800. But if you are going to depend on your generator (for example, to run a caravan air conditioner on a trip) or if you intend to get a lot of use out of it, you would still go for a Yamaha or Honda. In our experience, its reliability is still much higher than that of the Kipor, so we think it’s worth the extra money if you can justify it.

So are these your only options? No, we have a new option on the market designed to come between the Japanese and Chinese brands. Our new Kulkyne 2kva inverter generator has been built using the genuine Yamaha engine and other high quality components to match the quality of the Japanese brands without having the price of the big Japanese brands. If you want to check out our range of Inveter generators or the Kulkyne Inverter generator, check out the links.