It was my understanding that unless a gas station says that their fuel contains Ethanol, it is alcohol free? So I assume that the regular unleaded gas I get at the gas station will be fine in my Magna generator?
Go ahead, and be a Ginney Pig, and buy one, and then you can tell everyone about it, good or bad. And let us know if you got ripped off, or got a good deal. There is one thing that I really don't understand. I like to save a dollar also when ever I can. And I don't like to waste money. Stop and think how much you have invested in your TV and RV. I want a generator that would last for many many years of good service. The cost of a Pair of Honda EU2000's and the Paralla Kit, or a couple of 2400 Yamaha's paired if needed, is pretty cheap, compaired to your total investment. I just don't get how much money people will put out on their TV and the RV, then go extreamly cheap on a generator, with no track record, no service places, no support at all. I'd call that a total waste of money. If we had it to do all over again, we would still by the Twin Honda EU2000is. If one of our Honda's ever quit running ( Ha Ha ) we still have one Honda, that will run everything in our RV at the same time, except for our A/C. So we can never have a ruined vacation or trip, as we will always have power. We look at it this way, just like everything in life, you get what you pay for. And we only plan on paying it one time only. Good Luck. Happy Camping, Dan & Jill
Hmmmmmm - - now that really answered the OPs question!
Yes, I've already left a number of comments about our Magna 3000. I've been real happy with it and the noise level and performance has been second to none.
Bill J., Lexington, KY
2006 Starcraft 2500RKS 25' Travel Trailer
2000 Excursion Ltd. 7.3 PSD
I have been keeping my eye on one of the Magna 3000's with electric and remote start. There are a lot of these sold on ebay and they seem to have good comments about them. I know Wasatch Rendezvous sells these and stocks the parts for them. If the price point drops a little more I think I will be in for one.
madbare wrote: I have been keeping my eye on one of the Magna 3000's with electric and remote start. There are a lot of these sold on ebay and they seem to have good comments about them. I know Wasatch Rendezvous sells these and stocks the parts for them. If the price point drops a little more I think I will be in for one.
Have you bought this unit? Anything to add? Someone know where the name "MAGNA" came from for this brand?
madbare wrote: I have been keeping my eye on one of the Magna 3000's with electric and remote start. There are a lot of these sold on ebay and they seem to have good comments about them. I know Wasatch Rendezvous sells these and stocks the parts for them. If the price point drops a little more I think I will be in for one.
Have you bought this unit? Anything to add? Someone know where the name "MAGNA" came from for this brand?
I've been using my Magna 3600 for several months now and am really impressed. It's very quiet, runs great on econo throttle (even starts my 13K AC on econ), always starts with the remote from inside my trailer, and fuel consumption is low. The oil was very clean after doing the initial 20 hour oil change. Magna is just one name for the same model generator built by FME. They are all the same except some models do not have the remote feature so they cost less. My only complaints so far are the casters are straight line only making it awkward to roll around (a lift and pull handle would be great like the 2.7kW model, the decals seem to fall off the plastic parts when hot but adhere well to the metal ones, and the separate battery charging cables are too short to be practical (I lengthened mine). These are minor issues compared to the positives about this unit. I would still highly recommend this generator for anyone looking for a 3kW inverter model.
This thread got me interested in this generator and I decided to do a little research of my own. Google knows everything, I swear. One of the biggest drawbacks I found is the need for non-ethanol fuel. I own several boats and am an avid scuba diver. The only place I can find non-ehtanol fuel righ now it my marina. With things going the way they are, you will be hard pressed to find fuel for this thing in the next couple years, unless you are camping next to a marina!
Secondly, I have read a huge number of complaints about this generator, and its sister, the Honeywell. Although a good bang for the buck, almost every person that has posted about these two have claimed to have had some issues. Honeywell has however stepped up some serious customer support and most everyone is getting replacements with no problem, however, even the replacement generators they are getting are having issues, specifically with idle speed.
Now if you are like some that are will to sacrifice some headache for cost, this may be the way to go. I would look towards the Honeywell though, the need to run non-ethanol fuel is going to be more of a headache than you know in the coming two years, and I dont know anyone that is going to make this kind of financial investment into something that is only going to be useful for a short amount of time.
Don't be fooled and think I am one of the red / blue guys, I am leaning towards the Champion 3000watt. Although 8db louder than the red / blue ones, it will serve my purpose without the headaches of non -ethanol fuel or other issues.
I might have been confusing the Magna in the original question with the one I bought. If you are talking about the Honeywell 3000 model I don't think it's the same gen set I purchased. Honeywell doesn't badge or sell the larger unit. The XG 3600 is twice the physical size and weight(132#) as the 2600 Honeywell/Magna(62#) I think you are referring to. I talked to the company that does the warranties on my model and was told the typical max 10% ethanol isn't an issue at all with my unit. I have about 45 hours on mine so far and if I was having any cylinder bore fuel washing from ethanol I think it would be smoking pretty bad by now. The smaller, <3000W Honeywell units didn't really impress me either. I really wanted a higher output inverter type since I also use it for field work with test rectifiers requiring a pure sine wave output and EPA/CARB certification at many jobsites. So far so good but who knows, maybe it will fail tomorrow or go another 5 years?
Maybe I'll regret in the long run it but the comparable Honda 3000i is about the same size and weight but 2.5x the price I paid plus remote start was another $200. Time will tell but if it kicks the bucket early I will certainly air my complaints.
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