Lifan 4250 Generator Review

[Philip]

Well, in my pursuit of newer and better things, I ordered a Lifan 4250 Generator. It was on sale for about $600 at Home Depot.



I am very disappointed. Lots of false advertising is involved with this unit:

- The core components are exactly the same as on my DuroMax 4400, but at a $300 price premium. It has a big capacitor hanging on the side though (two red wires in the picture).
- 65 Decibel Sound Rating at 23ft (7m) -- Sounds exactly like my DuroMax 69 dB generator.
- 104 lbs -- Weighed at 134 without the battery (not included). Almost 20 lbs heavier than my DuroMax.
- 25x19x19 dimensionts are correct only without the wheels or handles. It is taller and slightly longer than my DuroMax.
- Advertised Auto Idle Feature -- Not in this model.
- Battery not included, the battery bracket is an afterthought.
- Assembly manual - horrible instructions, plus a few bolts are missing.

I hate doing this, but I hate being screwed even more. It is going back to Home Depot.

 

[snydes]

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully your experience will educate others to not make the same mistake.

 

[Philip]

Hopefully your experience will educate others to not make the same mistake.

Yep. This is one of the purposes of this post and this forum.

 

[Mark911]

I need to do a write-up on my Briggs and Stratton Q6500. It's a 240v Inverter type priced between commercial units and the expensive Honda and Yamaha 240 units but it's much smaller and lighter (150lbs I think). Bottom line, with some post acquisition sound proofing (extra $100 from McMaster Carr) I feel it's just as quiet as the Honda/Yamaha entries. My opinion is you'll never get a "commercial grade" (ie, non-enclosed engine) unit to be quiet enough for most folks.

 

[Philip]

I need to do a write-up on my Briggs and Stratton Q6500. It's a 240v Inverter type priced between commercial units and the expensive Honda and Yamaha 240 units but it's much smaller and lighter (150lbs I think). Bottom line, with some post acquisition sound proofing (extra $100 from McMaster Carr) I feel it's just as quiet as the Honda/Yamaha entries. My opinion is you'll never get a "commercial grade" (ie, non-enclosed engine) unit to be quiet enough for most folks.

I was under impression that you had a big and loud generator that kept you from making any friends at the track, LOL! Glad you figured it out.

Yes, please, share your sound isolation fixes and pitch this generator to us over the cheaper or the fancier ones.

That Briggs and Stratton Q6500 is small and light, but it does not have an electric start, so I need to see if I actually need an electric start to begin with. I thought that I would not be in the mood to pull a cord after returning from a hard practice session on a hot day. But maybe this is not an issue.

 

[snydes]

My old Generac can sit for years at a time and start on the first or second pull. It’s loud, it’s heavy, but it always works.

 

[Kurlon]

That Briggs and Stratton Q6500 is small and light, but it does not have an electric start, so I need to see if I actually need an electric start to begin with. I thought that I would not be in the mood to pull a cord after returning from a hard practice session on a hot day. But maybe this is not an issue.

The nice thing with inverters is when they're not under load they can idle down and just quietly putt putt in the background barely sipping fuel. Fire it up once then let it run for the day.

 

[snydes]

I’d be very interested to know how much quieter one of these inverter generators like the one Mark has is when under load from the charger.

 

[Philip]

There were three generators at the Alta demo day last Sunday. Two loud Generacs and one Yamaha EF6300iSDE. The Yamaha was so quiet that I could not hear it running when it was about 20 feet away from the other two. I did not get to hear it running alone though. But regardless, it was not small, weighed way over 200 lbs, and cost $3400. Not a good choice for us, IMO, unless you can keep it in the truck bed all through the riding season. Honda 7000 is about the same way too, only more money.

 

[snydes]

Way too much money if your only need is to charge the bike at the track. If you have other uses that can justify the price, then that's another story. Sounds like you first generator might have been the best all around value in a 240v unit.