In this article we’re looking 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 so is quite expensive which has lead other people to look at alternatives.

Yamaha is a newer entrant into this market and its 2kva model has been very popular with our customers. Is the Yamaha better than the Honda? The Yamaha is also around $2,000 so the two can fight amongst themselves but what many want to know is are the $500 to $700 Chinese units worth the risk? In my experience I’d 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 them to have considerable quality control problems. Many of the problems can be overcome by doing a good quality control check yourself (if you have the skills) but we have also seen many other issues such as seized engines and failed inverters. These generators also tend to have many little problems which wouldn’t be such an issue, but most of the importers of Chinese generators do not bring in spare parts making them almost impossible to fix. If you still want to look at a Chinese brand I’d suggest looking at ones that have been picked up by major generator companies. In these cases good companies test the generators and quality control them before they go out and sell spare parts. You will pay a lot more than from an eBay seller though.

We’ve been selling Kipor Generators for around 5 years now. Kipor is a Chinese company that is much more professional than many and although they had their share of problems early on seem to be much better now. We’d guess 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’s the big question we get asked a lot. My answer is always this: If you’re only going to use the generator every now and then and if the generator failing doesn’t cause you too many dramas, then the Kipor is a good choice and will save you the $800. But if you are going to be relying on your generator (say to run a caravan air conditioner on a trip) or you intend to get a lot of use out of it, I’d still go for a Yamaha or Honda. In our experience their reliability is still much greater than the Kipor so we believe it’s worth the extra money if you can justify it.

So are these your only choices? No we’ve got a new option on the market designed to come in 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 while not having the price tag of the big Japanese names. If you’d like to check out our Inveter Generator range or Kulkyne Inverter Generator please see the links.