Customer Reviews:
 Useless as a piece of emergency equipment December 13, 2007
Carl (New York, United States)
16 out of 34 found this review helpful
Listen good: If you are buying this little generator to use it frequently (as in weekly), it's great. If you mean to leave it in the basement or garage and fire it up every four months in case of infrequent power failure, it is totally useless and expensive to own.
I bought one of these on July 11th of 2007 (Today is December 13th, 2007)from an outfit called Wise Sales in Illinois. (My first mistake.) I fired it up when I got it a week later and it worked great. Having been advised to run the machine every six weeks or so to keep it healthy, I ran it again five weeks later and again five weeks after that. Perfect, quiet, powerful performance. Five weeks later, my 4th try, the machine was DEAD.
I called Wise Sales and they would do nothing at all for me and had not even registered the item with Yamaha, which they told me they would. I called Yamaha and they told me to bring it to a Yamaha Service Center. They gave me the number of one. I brought it there and it cost me $85.00 for repairs that Yamaha wouldn't cover.
What was the problem that Yamaha wouldn't cover? According to Yamaha, "bad gas"! Bad gas? It's the same gas that comes out of the pump at my local gas station. It runs my three cars, my lawn mower, snow blower, weed wacker, etc. When I first filled the generator I did so at the gas station. We mixed fresh gas with fuel stabilizer (recommended by Yamaha)in a can and poured it into the machine. Four months, according to the service center, is too long for the generator to contain even fresh gas, especially when the gas includes ethenol, which ALL gas does!
Advice from the certified repair center? Run the machine out of gas monthly or expect this to happen every time. In other words, if you need a generator for use in the occasional emergency, DON'T BUY THIS ONE! We live in the NYC area. We are CONSTANTLY being told to prepare for "emergency" THAT is why I bought this useless thing. I can see mid town Manhattan from my roof! Once I could see the World Trade Center. Remember it?
(Yamaha? I told you I would do this if you didn't stand behind your product, and you certainly did not. This is just my first post on this subject. You thought you were SO slick.)
 Amazing generator for home and camp use October 25, 2007
D. M. Harman
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This little power house is the best of the best. Quieter and has a higher surge then the Honda, more fuel efficent and lighter as well.
If you shop around it can be purchased for the mid $600's shipped, which also makes it cheaper then the Honda. Runs a small ac unit with ease, even runs my full size side by side fridge ( It might not run yours based on power needs). Lights, tv's etc barely get it off idle when the economy switch is on, allowing it to run all day. As an emergency generator it's very low fuel useage is a big plus, first thing that's hard to find in an emergency is gas. 5 gallons would last you at least 10 days running 12 hours a day at 1/4 load with this unit. My 3500 watt generator uses more then 5 gallons in 11 hours!
One pull starting, easy to maintain, ( it even has a small rubber cup built in if you spill a little oil ), whisper quiet, you can barely smell the exhaust, simply the best little generator I've ever used.
Just the best 1kw Generator on Earth August 26, 2007
Luc G. Perin
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
I have had this generator for 2 years now. The power here in mid maine is not too terribly reliable. Since I have purchased this generator, I have had a much better time when the lights go out. The small size and weight also mean that when its time to go out for a tailgate party I can bring the Blender, a fan, lights, radio, and a crock pot. People walking by just cant believe there is a generator running and powering all these things, yeah its quiet, even less noise than the Honda 1kw inverter gen. (This generator was the quietest generator on the market 2 years ago.)
When the econo mode switch is on it is incredibly thrifty on gas. Just think it only has a 0.6 gallon fuel tank, and it still lasts all day long on one tank of gas.
Last Night we lost power yet again and I had my trusty Yamaha powering the following load, 2 25w compact florescent lamps, cpap machine, 5000btu window AC unit, IBM Laptop, and a 12" tornado fan. Just a note, I start the AC first and then set it to lowest temp to keep the AC compressor from cycling, Then I add other loads. The Generator cant be in the econo mode when starting big surging loads like an ac unit. Even with all this stuff running the .6gal tank will go all night long. I did set the econo mode switch to on last night and the generator throttled down to match the load. I was surprised that the generator wasn't actually at full power with all that stuff on.
The best reason to get one is that its Blue, oh and its the best 1000w generator there is. Sure its pricy, but the quiet operation, fuel economy, portability, will having you smiling every time you use it. I will however probably get a cheap 3-5kw generator to do grunt work like power the fridge and the well pump when needed and then turn that one off and enjoy having the clean quiet power this generator provides.
Yamaha Motor website has a helpful application chart October 13, 2006
Gadgester (New York)
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
You can find more information about this generator, including specs, on Yamaha Motor's website (just look up "yamaha motor" in your favorite search engine). The generators are listed under Outdoors - Models - Generator. (Unfortunately their site is a bit hard to navigate.) Click on 2006 Model Overview, and you'll see this model and other models listed. Click on this model to enter its specific home page. There, in the panel "application charts" (in upper case), you'll find the link to a chart which neatly shows you what applications (TV, AC, fridge, microwave, etc.) you can use with each model.
I suppose the "inverter" term here refers to the fact that the generator actaully generates DC current (which you can use via its 12V DC output a la vehicle cigarette lighter); this probably keeps the generator quiet and relatively low weight. Then, a built-in inverter converts the DC to AC, so you can power common household appliances.
The two-year warranty is nice. This is a good, affordable portable generator good for the occasional emergency. If you've got more money, go with the 2400-watt model (EF2400iS) which has more applications.
Lil powerhouse November 6, 2002
Gary Berton (Minneapolis, MN United States)
75 out of 83 found this review helpful
This inverter version of Yamaha's 1000 watt generator is great. It is super quiet, super light and seems to run forever on a tank of gas. I don't really understand this "inverter" technology, but it is obviously the future for generators. Apparently this generator has a "brain" and gears up or down to only produce the amount of power called for. It is really cool. I also have Yamaha's bigger inverter model, the 2800 watt. We had 2 screwguns, a 500 watt light and a radio on the 2800 watt and it was barely breaking a sweat. This 1000i is the little brother to that great generator. It's worth the few extra bucks it cost over the traditional 1000 watt generators.
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