I got this charger in good time and at an affordable price, the only con is that it seem to flicker at times. I'm assuming it's the charger since I hook up at 2 other charges to my car and never have this issue but overall it's ok.
Showing posts with label 24v lead acid battery charger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 24v lead acid battery charger. Show all posts
Friday, October 10, 2014
New OEM Verizon HTC Thunderbolt Car Charger
I got this charger in good time and at an affordable price, the only con is that it seem to flicker at times. I'm assuming it's the charger since I hook up at 2 other charges to my car and never have this issue but overall it's ok.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Car Kit Vehicle Charger + Home Wall Travel Battery Charger for AT&T ZTE F160 - ZTE R225 - Nice Cell
The cell phone chargers (car and home) work great and cost way less than what the retail stores charge. I received in the items in just a few days and am satisfied with my purchase
Sunday, September 7, 2014
HQRP 12W Mono-crystalline Solar Panel 12 Watt (Size of 10 Watt / 10W) 12 Volt in Anodized Aluminum
All of the materials used to build the panel are very good, The aluminum frame is solid, The glass is real glass and is the correct type of glass for a solar panel. The solar cells are very good quality. The only problem that there might be is that I can't tell if the panel has a built in Diode or not. Not having a diode should not make any difference unless you are hooking the panel up without a charge controller. Any charge controller you can get will have a diode in it so no worries.Shipping One of the pictures shows the panel with styrofoam at each corner in a box, My panel came in this box, plus that box was inside another one, I thought having the panel in two boxes was really good because it offers better protection for the glass in the panel. I was happy to see this when it arrived as our mail here gets tossed around quite a bit.
What it comes down to is that you get exactly what is in the picture.
The only other bad thing is the free bonus mouse pad, It is really useless unless you have a round computer screen, which I have yet to see.
Update 1/22/2010 I was wrong about the panel not having a built in Diode, I took the cover off the back and there is a diode installed for sure.
I have a 600 Watt Inverter I use to power lights, a small pump and other devices at our -off the gridlocation. This panel keeps the batteries at a charged level.
Obviously this panel is too small to rapidly charge anything, but it is amazing how much it can deliver even in low light situations. Well constructed, worth every cent.
Nice shipping container as well.Exactly what is advertised. I hooked 2 of these in parrarel through a Brunton controller to a 275 watt lawn tractor battery and a 400 watt inverter to run my outside lighting at night. Works like a charm.I bought the HQRP 12W solar panel in May 2010 to build a small solar power generator. After hooking it up to a marine battery and one of HQRP's charge controllers, it worked like a charm.
Then, when I moved in October, I foolishly tried to attach the solar panel to the second-story awning of my condo.... with Velcro.
One day, a few weeks later, I came home to find the solar panel face down on the ground. Apparently, the Velcro had separated from the awning, and the panel had fallen 2 stories onto the cement patio deck below.
I feared the worst, and even though the solar panel still looked like it was completely intact, I assumed that the impact had caused major internal damage.
To my surprise, when I plugged it backed in, the generator came back to life, and the panel continued to charge my battery, as if nothing had ever happened. And to think, I paid under $70 for this tough-as-nails power plant.This solar panel is well constructed and easy to use as a replacement. The seller was careful to pack it for safe transit.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Universal Solar Battery Charger, Charges 2 Batteries
This product worked extremely well for me and was cost efficient. It took about 8 hours to charge the batteries but the product worked and cost less than another store I had went to purchases.
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I can't say much about it yet. It is bigger than I expected and alittle heavier. I guess if I had done a better search, I would've looked for something that only charges "AA" & "AAA", since that is what I carry. I don't know many other camper, backpackers that carry "C" & "D" batteries, but hey...I have used it to charge one set of AA so far & it has done the trick.
Read Best Reviews of Universal Solar Battery Charger, Charges 2 Batteries Here
This product charges my reusable batteries with no trouble at all. Direct sunlight is needed, of course, but the charge is reliable and pollution and fossil fuel free.Want Universal Solar Battery Charger, Charges 2 Batteries Discount?
I gave 4 stars instead of 5 only because the charger is very small. As for the unit itself it does charge the batteries pretty well considering it was actually pretty cheap to purchase. I do wish some one would make a charger that could be plugged into an outlet when power is available and the same charger be used with the solar power when needed. Over all it is a good product.Sunday, August 10, 2014
Eton FR400 Hand Crank Radio and Power Generator (Black)
After noting some less than satisfactory reviews by others on similar Eaton products , I decided to go ahead and buy this product. I found that the FR400 meets all my criteria in a weather radio. First, the crank system covers our communications need should we have an extended power outage.This past week, over 100,000 people were without power in our area. The crank generating system works excellent. It actually works easier than I thought that it would. I also find the Alert function very important. You simple turn a Selector Knob to Alert, and when the National Weather Service issues an alert, the radio comes on automatically. This alert gives you advance warning of dangerous weather, and can save your life in case a tornado is about to happen near you.It also warns you of other bad weather conditions such as extreme straight line winds and hail. Flood Warnings are also covered in these alerts.Yes we have tornado sirens for impending tornados. Since we have satellite TV reception, we usually lose our TV signal just as the bad storms get close to us. With the FR400, we easily can slide the selection bar and tune in any of several TV stations, and pick up the sound portion of the broadcast. We can also access our local FM and AM radio channels.The reception is excellent on both AM and FM bands. I have mine set to Channel ll the CBS TV affiliate in Dallas/Fort Worth. The tuning bar reads TV2. Channel 5, a lower number would be set on TV1. We consider this product an excellent value, and recommend this model due to the included AC Adapter. The included cell phone adapters fit both my wife's cell phone and my own. Hers is an ancient Motorola and mine is a recent LG. There are excellent set up instructions should you need them from the Eton website. It's actually very simple to set up. Lights, Sirens, Radio, Crank and Auto settings are clearly marked. Dialing is no problem, and the TV and Weather Service reception is excellent. This product has it all, and is a must for having a dependable weather warning or disaster communication radio.
Opening the battery cover and connecting the battery was just that simple, and it has remained securely closed. Maybe the design has been modified because that procedure has gotten a lot of negative feedback, but I can't see any reason there would be a problem. The cellphone charging cord & several connectors (let's be honest...we're never going to use this) were included, and my Sanyo phone is covered.
This is a light, inexpensive case. The tuner seems fine. Here in NYC I've had no trouble tuning in the various AM & FM stations that I like. This is not a high-end indestructable radio. I think this is a good, relatively solidly built & designed radio that can be used every day. I charged it over night with the included adapter. It's brought me a few ballgames over the past few days without needing a charge (I'm just going to let it drain completely once to complete a battery cycle). I like this little radio very much.
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I needed more info on this radio and others so I called Amazon tech support. I was given the Eton customer service number: 1-800-872-2228.The Eton FR400 has TV capabilities that will become obsolete in 2009 as the signals will all be switched to digital for the TV portion of this radio. All other functions will work. The updated model, Eton FR405, is the same as this radio only without the TV signal capability. The FR405 is only available at Best Buy at this time. For my money, the FR400 with TV capabilities, while the TV signals last, is a better buy.
This radio is water resistant. A waterproof model would be perfect. We've lost a couple of cell phones in the river and water kills them fast. Sun dried cell phones are never the same if they even flicker with life at all. So, now I look for waterproof when buying anything that might get wet or fall overboard. An emergency radio is in that class.
Another newer model coming on the scene soon will be the Eton FR1000--no TV capability, but it will come with a walkie talkie. This is being tested now and should be the next model you will see on the market.
Eton does not make a GPS system combined with NOAA radio capabilities. They also do not have a unit with both shortwave and NOAA combined--apparently the circuitry on the two things are not compatable. No one has this.
I want something that will be equally useful on land, at sea or in a vehicle. I want an "emergency" unit that packages many of the things I may need for "survival" communication. Okay, I really meant everything I might need. :) I haven't found the perfect NOAA radio yet.
The other thing that is not available is an NOAA radio with digital TV. Apparently, the digital components are too expensive at this time to add this feature to these radios and maintain a decent price point. So, companies are simply deleting TV from the mix.
This model, Eton FR400, will charge a cell phone battery. None of the connections come with the unit. You send in for them. The first cell phone adapter connector is free, additional ones cost $5 each. Eton tries to keep a number of cell phone battery charger adaptors in stock, but you may want to see if they have your specific adaptor before making a purchase because they don't carry them all.
Amazon has inflated the retail price on this unit. It sells for $60 directly from Eton, plus $10 shipping.
The unit is larger than I expected. This is okay, but wouldn't a cell phone sized unit be wonderful! Waterproof of course.
UPDATE 2-7-2008: The Eton FR1000 has been released this month. I haven't seen it on Amazon yet, but it is available at some other retailers. Check online. The retail price is $150.
Read Best Reviews of Eton FR400 Hand Crank Radio and Power Generator (Black) Here
The radio has one very annoying feature. When set to receive NOAA Weather alerts it will receive them but then continue playing NOAA weather reports for a wide area. When I purchased this radio I did not know about SAME technology which limits the alerts to a much smaller area in your vacinity. If you live in an area with a lot of alerts as I do in Florida then getting a radio with SAME technology will keep you from being unnecessarily awakened in the night. Go to the NOAA web site for a description of SAME. All other functions of the radio seem to work as advertised.Want Eton FR400 Hand Crank Radio and Power Generator (Black) Discount?
The inexpensive Eton FR400 is a nice little radio as well as a potential lifesaver. For its size it has a surprisingly good balanced tone (not adjustable), and very clear reception on NOAA, AM, FM, and TV bands alike. The power crank/dynamo doubles as an exercise machine...not the easiest thing to crank (especially if you follow the recommendation to crank at 2 revolutions per second for 90 seconds to acheive maximum power charge), but you get up to an hour and a half to rest up before you need to recharge. I wish the case had a compartment for the power and cell phone adapters though, to keep all parts in one place. I gave mine to my electronically picky and critical sattelite-TV field manager brother-in-law (to keep at his home in the US Virgin Islands for hurricane use), and immediately bought another for our own tornado, thunderstorm, icestorm and power vagary usage here in beautiful rural West Michigan. I'll take it camping and its light weight and weather resistant design may even cause it to join me in my treestands this deer season (I wish an earphone was included as well, but as I seem to be the last living man without an iPod I can't blame Eton for my not having my own headphones, I suppose...). By the way, the available metallic colors offered on these are "way cool"! You won't regret buying the FR400, regardless of the weather in your part of the world. BTW: after sending in the registration info I received cell phone power charger adapters for two (2) different phones within 10 days' time. Murphy's law being immutable, our cell plan replaced our phones with a new model in the interim. One call to the eton toll-free customer service line sent another adapter out the same day to accomodate our upgrade...free of charge!Premium Car Charger + ATOM LED Keychain Light for Samsung Galaxy Stellar (Verizon)
I ordered a charger for $2.50 and shipping was just as much. The charger didn't work and I wasn't going to send it back for that small amount of money.
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It was the right item and works as I expected, and better yet the price was what caused me to purchase it. I did not need the keychain light but have used it and like it.This was cheaper than buying it from Walmart and work just as good, and was shipped to me very fast.Want Premium Car Charger + ATOM LED Keychain Light for Samsung Galaxy Stellar (Verizon) Discount?
Love my car charger along with the reasonable price. No way I would have paid $20 or more for a car charger....I got my bang for my buck!....Save 88% Off
Friday, August 1, 2014
Premium Car Charger For Motorola Droid RAZR
- Brand New IC Chip Controlled Plug in Car Charger
- State of the art Intelligent Chip circuit prevents overcharging
- Conveniently charge your Motorola Droid RAZR battery while your drive
- Non interrupted charging, even while the Motorola Droid RAZR is in use
- Essential accessory in case of car accident or another emergency
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Was pretty happy with the price of the charger only cost me about 3$ with shipping included. The charger was made of a cheap plastic, but it still did the job. After about a month it would turn my Droid off. I did not think too much about it because after about two days of this happening, the charger completely stopped charging and would not light up anymore. You pay for what you get for.Read Best Reviews of Premium Car Charger For Motorola Droid RAZR Here
I bought a car charger for my Verizon RAZR and it broke. This i ridiculous even though I only paid about 3 dollars it should work. The card they sent me said said no refunds.Want Premium Car Charger For Motorola Droid RAZR Discount?
Quality of product is horrible. Could not even connect the charger to the phone, it kept saying disconnected with the slightest movement. Will never purchase these again.Save 87% Off
So far, so good. Was received in small, easily opened packaging, nothing big and bulky. It feels a little "cheap" compared to the chargers that you would buy at a cell phone retailer but it works just as well. I wish the cord itself were a little longer, but other than that, it's great. I hope it keeps up.
Saturday, July 12, 2014
SPRINT SAMSUNG GALAXY S3 L710 ELITE GTR SERIES CAR CHARGER
good price and does exactly what it is intended to do. no complaints here, shipped quickly too. I would recommend it
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I realized after getting this charger, I am not a fan of the ones with a coil in it. It just takes alot of tension to pull it, and really shortens the charger length. Lights up orange, but not too bright. Does the job. Charges as fast as other car chargers, I think .5 amps?, wall chargers are 1.5-2 amps depending on the phone, the more amps, obviously the faster the charge, but does the job.Read Best Reviews of SPRINT SAMSUNG GALAXY S3 L710 ELITE GTR SERIES CAR CHARGER Here
Item arrived quickly and it exactly what I was looking for. I got it to have as an additional car charger so that both my girlfriend and I can charge our phones at the same time when needed. Great quality and stylish at an awsome price. Would definitely recommend this product and seller.Want SPRINT SAMSUNG GALAXY S3 L710 ELITE GTR SERIES CAR CHARGER Discount?
This is the best charger I've found for my Galaxy S3, it charges very fast and never fail to do so. Last week I've lost $ 30.00 for a Samsung OEM stand charger that fail miserably.Save 96% Off
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Wireless Solutions Car Charger for Blackberry 7100, 7100i 7100t, 7105t, 7130e, 7280, 8700c, XDA Exe
This worked as advertised, but under heavy daily use, it only lasted about three months.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
12V 8.5AH Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) Battery for GRUBER POWER GPS-8.5-12
I recently purchased different batteries for a Razor scooter and thought those were good. I got 2 more scooter and bought 4 of these batteries for the 2 new Razor scooter. Wow! You can tell a performance improvement both in power and lasting longer per ride. All 3 scooters were the same model so they should perform the same. I wish I had gotten the first scooter these batteries.And the shipping was super fast, I had the batteries within 3 days!
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Friday, May 30, 2014
Power Bright DX100-12 Direct Plug In Power Inverter 100 Watt 12 Volt DC To 110 Volt AC with USB Cha
The Power Bright power inverter works as advertised. The small HP laptop I have does not have an airline power cord so I searched for an alternative. This is it. I plugged the power inverter into the seat power, the laptop "regular" power cord into it and away I go. The inverted worked without any issue. It did not get hot and the laptop showed it charging. For $25.00 you can't go wrong.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Uniden BC75XLT Handheld Scanner (Black)
I purchased this scanner to replace one that I had purchased at Radio Shack about 15 years ago. Comparing the two, is like comparing night and day. What I like the most about this scanner is its ease of use. It took me forever to figure out how to use all of the functions on my old scanner, while on this one I was up and running in just a few hours time. Also, the signal reception is superb, allowing me to easily scan not only police and fire departments, but also the National Weather Service, aircraft bands, ham radio bands, etc.The scanner has a wonderful feature that allows you to hone in on local frequencies, thus taking the aggravation out of spending an endless amount of time trying to connect to transmitters that are nearby. Also, while I'll probably never use it to the fullest, the scanner comes with a built-in memory, capable of storing up to 300 programmed channels. Another very nice feature, and one that will get you up and running in no time, is the 6 pre-programmed service searches, covering the most listened to bands. You can use either two AA batteries, or rechargeable batteries of the same size. I would recommend using regular AA alkaline batteries, as I've been using the scanner for over two months and have yet to have to replace them.
The bottom line is that this is a well made, reasonably priced scanner that comes with a lot of useful features and is extremely easy to use. I give it 5 stars.
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I'm a rail fan so I like to be able to hear the engine crews and dispatchers when I'm trackside. With it's pre programmed service bands, the BC75XLT is so easy to use. I found the reception to be good and when using Sanyo Eneloop rechargeable batteries, I could listen in for hours on a full charge. The batteries can also be charged in the unit via a USB power source such as a computer or wall adapter. The unit is also simple to program if you want to enter specific frequencies or a range of frequencies. I also like that it is very compact and seems to be well built. I would recommend..Read Best Reviews of Uniden BC75XLT Handheld Scanner (Black) Here
For an easily programmable, portable, scanner in the $100 range, this was a surprisingly good unit. I found the instructions to be easily understood, and the software to program the unit by PC very simple and easy to use. I purchased these for our news reporters as a field unit and would not hesitate to purchase them again.Want Uniden BC75XLT Handheld Scanner (Black) Discount?
Gave product to my mom. She likes things simple. Was right up her alley. Very satisfied. Definitely a great buy.Save 3% Off
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
E-Z Red S101 Battery Hydrometer
Easy to use and quickly shows which battery (and which cells) are good, fair or poor. I have two old golf carts that have questionable batteries, and its always been difficult to determine which battery to replace (other than by age), and when I did this I quickly found the bad battery in each cart, and when replaced greatly improved the charging and charge holding capacity of each GC. For the price, you can't beat it.
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Short of a laboratory grade instrument, this hydrometer gets the job done. I use it to monitor my solar power system battery bank, so it's important that it gives accurate and repeatable measurements. The built-in temperature compensation is a help no need to use cumbersome and confusing compensation charts. My only (small) complaint is that you need to be sure that the device is level when filled with battery acid or the reading will be off a bit. If you pay attention to this detail you'll be fine.Read Best Reviews of E-Z Red S101 Battery Hydrometer Here
[edited] Upgrading from 2 to 3 stars.Overall, this tool will do a good job of letting you know whether any of your cells are bad. If that's all you need to know, then it's is a fine product.
I found, however, that the readings are not consistent enough to provide accurate measurements. Test after test usually ranges plus or minus a graduation (about .025 each).
Previously, I had a complaint that it was difficult to tell if the proper amount of fluid was being used because the meniscus (curvature of the liquid) didn't match with the fill-to line, but was informed that standard practice is to read at the bottom of the meniscus. I may have known that at some point, but certainly forgot about it. So, it turns out I've been using a number of devices incorrectly, but unfortunately with this one the readings are still inconsistent. Regardless, I've found this item to be useful enough that I'll give it a star boost.
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This item turned out to be awesome. Given the price, I thought this was going to be made of cruddy construction, but it's actually a quality tool. The bulb does not come off, and is sealed very well. Easy to rinse.Just remember to use something harder than your finger to tap on the side of the device to eliminate the bubbles during operation.
I had no problems using this. It worked perfectly for me.
Highly recommended.
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Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Retractable Car Charger for Motorola Brute i680
The retractable feature is nice and convenient but the cord is flimsy, especially where it joins at the connector. Mine is nearly broken off. My suggestion to get longer life out of it, is to pull the connector (carefully and slowly) out by holding the cord. Don't pull it out by holding the connector as I did for little while. It will start to break at that area. There is a red power light to let you know it is plugged in to the receptacle. It stays on all the time. Item works but was designed with planned obsolescence in mind. I wish the cord was a heavier gauge. It looks like 22 gauge wire, too thin to be pulling on all the time. I am rating this 4 star because I've had my charger for 2 years and 8 months and it is still working but near the end of its life. You can lengthen the life by following my suggestion.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
GTMax Black Rapid Retractable Car Charger for Sprint HTC Hero (CDMA) Cell Phone
To counter a prior review this works fine with the Sprint HTC Hero. Standard mini-USB looks a little different than HTC's "ExtUSB" jack, but it still plugs in. But this charger just doesn't supply enough juice for the job.Most USB chargers will tell you how many milliamps (mA) they will supply to your phone. The standard HTC car and home chargers give out 1000mA; many generic chargers give out 500mA. Despite not knowing how strong this one was, I bought it anyway. Then, whenever I used my phone as a GPS with this charger, my battery still drained. A lot slower than if it wasn't plugged in but I still got to my destination with less juice in my phone than I started with. Occasionally, HTC Battery App would even pop-up to tell me the phone was losing its charge despite being plugged in, and suggested switching to a different charger.
Because this hasn't happened with either 1000mA or 500mA chargers, this angel-hair-wire device probably gives out significantly less, perhaps in the 200-300mA range. So, yes, it works -but consider this a "trickle charger" rather than a fast charger.
EDIT: To further clarify: the HTC battery app only pops up to tell me I'm losing battery charge despite being plugged in when I use this charger along with Google Maps Navigation. In my experience, this WILL charge a phone just fine, albeit slower than some other chargers -so long as you're not running something juice-munching like GPS navigation. Because I haven't had this problem with other no-name chargers, I still think this charger is too weak.
On the positive side, the retraction is really nice for a car charger...you just press a button and the cord snaps back into the unit, which is great if you don't like sloppy-looking wires in your car.
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This item does in fact plug into the HTC hHro. HTC phones have an odd shaped plug, but a normal mini USB plug such as this works perfectly in it. Ignore the 1 star review. This product WILL work for your Hero.The recoil has not tangled up once and the reach is long so i can still use the phone if i needed to.Solid product for the price
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I recieved my package everything was fine however after 3 days out on the road because I travel as a part of my job the charger automatically stopped working UNLESS, UNLESS,....YOU SIT there and hold it up in there and after 3 hours of riding with my coworker and holding this,, my phone still hadn't completely charged..It really sucks this is my last resort after sitting beside the road for three hours after a deer was struck by the vehicle we were in and no phone to call police. I suggest you do not purchase this unless it's only 2 days temporary charge until you get to a better and dependable car charger for your HTC hero!!!! thanksMISS PISSED!!!!!
oan if use gps this is def not the charger to have because the gps sucks the battery faster than the chargeer will restore It....
Thursday, February 27, 2014
ChargerCity Garmin Nuvi 14xx 1440 1450 1470 1490 LM LMT T GPS Strap-LOCK Motorcycle Bicycle Bike Mo
- Fit bar/handle bar diameter .75" to 1.50" inches across
- Ball socket style for easy clip and adjustment (360" Swivel tip allows landscape or portrait viewing)
- Fits all Garmin Nuvi 14xx GPS Models
- easy pull to lock design w/enhanced security belt
- Free ChargerCity OEM Micro SD Memory Card reader & ChargerCity Manufacture Direct Warranty
Monday, February 17, 2014
Samsung Vehicle Car Charger for Samsung DROID Charge i510, Samsung Inspiration, Samsung Stealth, Sa
I am using this charger with the factory Samsung car dock for my Samsung Droid Charge, mounted on the windshield. On a long drive last week, in sunny weather, the Charge overheated and stopped charging. It's internal "IC chip" self-protected OK, but the phone switched to normal mode instead of docked mode. That means all the icons rotate back to portrait mode and the docked software disappeared. Even at night, the phone and charger get very hot while charging.
looks and acts like the real thing
totally worth it & a great deal compared to the retail stores!
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Yamaha EF1000iS 1,000 Watt 50cc OHV 4-Stroke Gas Powered Portable Inverter Generator (CARB Complian
I've used these with friends camping and been absolutely amazed. This model has a number of positives about it. Yamaha has produced small, reliable generators for over 15 years.My big plusses:
1 REALLY quiet. The engine drives basically just an alternator and produces about 12V, though it varries. When there is a small load on the generator (typical of most camping / outdoor uses) it slows down the engine. This not only makes it quiet, it cuts back on fumes, and saves gas. A tank filling can last half a day easily depending on demand.
2 clean power. Because the alternator is outputting a DC voltage into a sinewave inverter your 110 VAC is comming from one of the best sources. I use inverters in many of my service vehicles, right at 1000W, and have found no situation where that was not enough power. Since the inverter tells the throttle how much power it needs, wasted noise and gas are eliminated. Basically it does not feel like the old 5000W genset on wheels.
3 light weight. Compared to taking the 5000W generator camping, the small size and light weight are a welcome change.
4 very small gasoline consumption. Unless you are running the full 1000W all the time you'll get great mileage. If you do need to run 1000W all the time, consider a larger digital inverter genset. Honda makes a 2000W which can be joined to a second 2000W for 4000 total if I recall.
5 well built engine. Although only 50cc, it has overhead valves and excellent sound isolation.
Cons:
It's not going to run EVERYTHING in your RV at the same time. If you are watching the plasma TV (400W) and turn on the microwave (1000W) the generator will shut down due to the 1400W load. Consider your loads and if you must run everything simultaneously.
Heavy loads make it spin faster and thus change the acoustic tone of the exhaust. If it's within hearing range and you turn alot of stuff on/off the noise may irritate some people.
Pros:
Put a 100 foot extension cord between you and the generator and you'll be saying "what generator" as the lights and appliances work fine for 12+ hours. It's that quiet.
1000W is enough to run your vehicle's battery charger, a good size TV, and small cooking appliances, just not at the same time. Consider the kill-a-watt wattmeter to know EXACTLY what your load is P3 International P4460 Kill A Watt EZ Electricity Usage Monitor
It is extremely quiet, just slightly louder than that of a good refridgerator.
Why the 4-star rating?
The Yamaha website doesn't appear to be too up-to-date on Yamaha Generator Service Shops. When we got our generator, it had a bad seal on it and the oil leaked out. When we looked on the Yamaha website, it showed two dealers in our area that fixed these generators. Neither one would take it. They said they stopped working on generators. I ended up having to drive over to the next town where the dealer told me that most dealers do not like to take generators unless they sold it to you themselves.
So, while I got lucky and found someone that would take it. Just be aware that you might not be so lucky. Before buying, call the dealers on the Yamaha website and ask them if they can fix a generator for you. Then you will have a better idea of what situation you are in before you buy.I wanted a smaller generator than the one built into my RV to save on gas and operate quieter. this little yamaha did the trick. I use a 50 foot extension cord and run it to my rv through the window. It can power my computer, battery chargers, and small appliances on its quiet, low power setting. I barely hear when it is running on low power if it is 50 feet from the RV. Uses only 1/2 gallon of gas if i run it all day. but you do need to go to a local Yamaha dealer and get the proper oil. make sure you read the instructions for this or you will burn out the motor.I love the size of this unit, perfect for my VW Vanagon camper.
I can't run a portlable AC unit as it doesn't have enough power output.
The oil filler dish is an interesting piece of equipment, it works.
For power where there is none I'm sure this is going to be just fine.
Its a little louder than I had hoped for.
All in all a quality piece of equipment, I would recommend this to a friendI'm in CT and lost power for 8 days last year. I vowed never to live in colonial times again and bought this generator just to run a pellet stove and a few lights when the power goes out. I was extremely happy when my Yamaha 1000is arrived two days early, just in time for hurricane Sandie. Of course now that I have a generator we didn't lose power. I added oil and fired it up to get ready for the storm. It started on the 5th pull right out of the box, and one pull after that. It is quiet, but still loader than I expected. Then again the Hondas I have heard were at a little distance so I might be expecting too much. Get a 50 foot cord and you won't hear it. It ran my pellet stove using manual ignition with no problem, about 500W. In econ mode it varies the speed when the feed motor kicks in like it should. For fun I disconnected the stove and ran a small microwave on it, about 850W. It stumbled but didn't kick out. Probably should not run econ mode with heavy loads, but it did take the load. It won't run your whole house, but manage your loads and this generator does the job on a minimal amount of gas which gets hard to come by when there is no power. Its small size makes it easy to store too. My Yammie is now drained of gas and sleeping in its box waiting for the next outage. My neighbors can't believe we didn't lose power during Sandie. I smile, because I know the reason we didn't lose power is because I bought this generator and that we will never ever lose power again. Lucky I camp so I can use the generator in the summer.
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Sunday, January 19, 2014
Pioneer GEX-XMP3 Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver w/ Home Kit
I bought an Xmp3 player from Amazon about a week ago. I have to write that it became almost difficult to buy one because I read all manner of both rave and poor reviews. In the end I took a leap of faith and bought one despite identifying with some poor reviewers. The principle poor I read here was absolutely wrong and I want to address that here because the leap of faith I took was in deciding that the poor review was written by someone who likely didn't know how to operate the device.The poor review stated that you had to view all the channels and could not save favorites so that you could easily go to the channels you like easily. Frankly I couldn't believe that, bought one anyway, and found the feature the review stated was not there in all of 5 seconds. And I am first-time XM device owner and subscriber.
So I want to accomplish two things in this small review. I want to say if you are too stupid to use the device, don't bother writing a review about it. You scare me and anyone else looking for credible information on a device. I just can't stand it when write bad reviews with less then all the facts. This rotten reviewer could have spent a few seconds with the device without even reading the manual and found the settings. It's right on the menu and so I am lead to believe this person has some ax to grind because no one is that stupid to miss the feature.
I do have some complaints, but for the most part, anyone would like this device.
The xmp3 has a very simple menu system on the device itself. You start off by being able to see all channels in a long list or seeing them by group. Once you find a channel you like, click options, then click Add to Favorites. It's so simple I don't know how one bad reviewer missed it. There is a paper channel guide sitting on top of the manual too. So if you just want to type in a channel, like 129, just press the keypad button and type it in. So in just 2 steps you are into whatever channel you want. I know CNN is 122, so I can go to my favorites, or just punch it in. I can't see how to make that any easier.
Someone here mentioned signal problems. I very much want to cover this because that also scared me. I live in San Francisco. And I take public transportation all the time. Buses, BART, I walk, etc. Some city streets allow just 2-way traffic. One lane for cars in each direction. If I walk on those narrow streets with 2 to 3 story houses on both sides, then the signal cuts out. If I want on wider streets, it's fine. And there are two kinds of signals. Terrestrial and Satellite. You can get one or the other, or both. And there is a setting in the options that shows you both signals while the music or news plays. So you will see how little signal you need to get the programming. Unlike regular radio, a limited signal does not mean poor quality. It's all you need to get the full experience. It's digital, so it's perfect or it's not. It doesn't need full strength to get a perfect audio output. This is important. Now, the Xmp3 came with a home kit, and I bought an extra one for work. I didn't have to mount the antenna outside at all. Just place it on a window ledge and watch the antenna signal. Aim it around and watch the signal response. It's stupid-easy. I did the same thing at my office. So when I am home or at the office, I plug the xmp3 into the doc, which is already plugged into the external antenna and I get great audio. It comes with a remote control with every home kit. A pair of self powered $20 speakers is all you need to use these with the home kits. It works fantastically and you need only the one device.
Some wondered if you can truly record more than one station at a time. Yes, you can. Keep this in mind because it's important and I'll explain why in the next paragraph where I explain the battery issues also raised in review.
Some complain the battery only lasts for 4 to 5 hours in live mode. First, live means you are listening to Xmradio live, and not recorded. The XMP3 player can play MP3s, WAVs, and recorded XM radio, plus live XM Radio. There is an easy way to extend the use of the radio to meet anyone's enjoyment needs. I have owned 5 iPods, 4 Zunes, 3 Zen Players, and 2 Rios, plus a Sansa. I have listened to over 200 audible books. I listen to podcasts more than anyone I ever met. I've been listening to portable audio for over a decade. So Xmp3 has a lot to live up to. I'm just as tough on a device as anyone else.
I want to give a quick example of how I use it and you can apply this to the battery issue. Because my method solves all the problems of battery, signal, etc in my opinion. So open those eyes wider and pay attention. The reality that this records 5 stations at once is the key. In the morning before the New York Stock Exchange Opening bell, I am up and getting ready for work. I record CNN, Bloomberg, and CNBC at the same time for about an hour. I can mostly listen to one of those live as I get ready for work, but the other 2 are recorded at the same time. When I hit the street to take my bus, I listen to the other recorded programs to avoid any signal issues. The information is still fresh, and I get no signal problem as I did record this while the unit is mounted into the external antenna. Playing back recorded programming, audible books, or mp3s makes the battery last 16 hours. So my point is, when you are listening to something live take the opportunity to record other stations so you maximize your listening time. It's easy, and it works well. And you get to use the device all day. Again at 4:00PM at work I set it to record the stations I want for an hour. So that at 5:00PM when I leave, I am listening to recorded shows from 1 hour ago and again, little battery drain, and no signal problems on the way home because it's recorded playback. What's the difference in listening to 1 hour ago programming? In fact, it's better. Let me explain why. When you record a channel for 60 minutes or more and then play it back, you can skip ads as easily as you can hit the "Next" button. The recorded shows are divided up by every change. If a ad comes up, it's considered a segment which can be skipped in playback. So when I listen to record news, I can quickly listen to the news by skipping ads. And it's even easier than a tivo! Just one tap of skip, skips one ad. If there are 3 ads in a row, you can skip 1, 2, and 3 times to skip all three ads. Easy as pie and you'll love it. So believe me, you want to take advantage of recorded shows when you go for a walk. You skip the bull, get perfect audio, and can listen just like live or skip ads. Up to you.
So I have to say, in terms of the device itself, it's a 5 star device. After reading poor reviews, I'm glad I tried it anyway. If you are on the fence, go for it. You will see as I have see that the device is fantastic. That's where the rave reviews come from. Those are from those folks that have a brain in their head and don't have some ax to grind.
Now I do have gripes, but they have to do with the XM2Go Music software. This software is not a music manager as you might think. It should not be compared to iTunes or Media Monkey, because it's honestly not a music manager at all. It's more of an upload tool to upload mp3s or WAV files to the device. Read on...
I thought the XM2GO app would be a full music manager, but rather what it does is allow you to easily setup a program record time if that's what you want. You can use it to upload music to your SD card. But the best way to do this is by organizing what you want to upload to the device into a single folder before you upload it. If you already have a full music collection on your hard drive that is stored in the file system by artist and you want a small subset of favorite tunes, you're going to go crazy with XM2GO because you will have to pick one by each song using a director tool in XM2GO to hand pick each song and choose upload. It's insanely stupid.
I use Media Monkey instead of iTunes. And in Media Monkey, I can take my favorites playlist and sent a copy of the songs in that playlist to a folder on my desktop in Windows. Then I use XM2GO to upload the contents of that single folder to the SD card. This gives me my favorite MP3s on the XMP3. I find this the fastest, easiest way to deal with the extremely lousy XM2GO software, which didn't even come with my player. I had to download it. The one real complaint I have with the XMP3 player is not with the device. It's with the Music app from XP / Pioneer. These two companies absolutely blew it on the software. You can work around this as I said, but it would have been great to have a more full-featured music app so that you can easily manage podcasts and mp3 playlists on the device. The way it's done now makes me want to visit with Pioneer and XM and slap these stupid programmers. I don't know why it is so hard for these companies to see what needs to be done to make something simple and enjoyable to use. It's as if they have no brains in their skulls, and know that's not true. It's not a show-stopper. I'd buy the device all over again even knowing what I know now.
You can add audible content to the Xmp3, but not on the SD card. It goes on the devices built in memory. And recorded XM radio also goes on the device memory. So the SD card is truly good for MP3s and WAV files.
Now a few other points for first -time XM people. If you use the web app to play content online you can click a button and buy the song from Amazon. I love this feature. So listening via a laptop over the internet is a good idea and can help you discover new songs to buy. BUT! And I mean BUT, some stations are not available online. No Bloomberg or CNBC for example. Don't count on every station being there exactly the same way as on the device. Because of this, I strongly recommend getting a home kit for your home and office. If you just think it through a little you'll find that the battery, being mobile, etc are all not a real problem. Even for those walking around dense cities as I am.
I loved mine.
Then it gave me the "powering up" or "please wait" signal of death.
This isn't uncommon.. check out the xm fan message boards to see more.
I used mine pretty heavily.. gym, office, car, home... probably 8-9 hours a day
My wife has a unit too.. .i can only wonder how long it will be before it dies.
Pioneer will replace the unit.. then XM will try to charge you fee to switch the subscription, so then you have to fight them to waive that.
I love XM, and I really want my XMP3 to work, but it is not a reliable product... a good product, but not reliable.
Update: Pioneer did send me a replacement unit.. but get this.. I bought my unit in April, I got my replacement unit 11/12/09. The warranty isn't going to be 1 year from 11/12/09 though.. it's still from April. So basically now i'm down to 6 mo. warranty with what I assume is a refurb.
If you are going to buy this product, this is one time I would HIGHLY suggest purchasing it from a place where you can get an extended warranty.. and i'd buy the most warranty I could possibly get on the product.
It's a great unit.. but reliability is TERRIBLE.
Buy Pioneer GEX-XMP3 Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver w/ Home Kit Now
REVISED 10/21/09If I could reduce my Amazon rating of this product to one or fewer stars, I would. The Pioneer GEX-XMP3 has failed for the second time is just a hair over ten months. The first time around, Pioneer took far more than a month to replace it and Sirius/XM customer support was worse than useless. It took five people there to finally tell me that I needed to contact Pioneer for warranty support. Pioneer immediately lost my request for an RMA. Sirius/XM would not credit me for the month of service where I had no receiver.
A bit more than a year ago I had three XM accounts. Changes in programming after the merger led me to cancel two of those accounts. If I wanted to listen to moronic AM music stations, I'd tune in on the radio, not a service I'm paying for.
Now I have one XM account and as soon as I get this GEX-XMP3 replaced by Pioneer, I will have no XM accounts and the radio will be offered for sale.
I am totally down on Sirius/XM and Pioneer. With all the alternatives, both companies are a bad deal.
REVISED 6/15/09
Durability of this product is questionable. The unit I purchased on 12/15/08 died a few days ago. Trying to get a replacement from Sirius XM is a nightmare. The first call, the rep hung up on me because I asked her to speak louder. The second rep referred me to XM's online shop. The third rep referred me to a "product specialist" that turned out to be the general number for Pioneer Electronics which was closed at the time and doesn't provide any information on its website for XM radios. Five calls in all without a tangible result except to convince me that canceling my other two XM subscriptions was a good idea.
All the calls were handled by offshore personnel who spoke heavily accented English that was difficult to understand.
Sirius XM programming has deteriorated to the point where the classical station I listen to most now carries a great deal of NPR and WFMT-FM programming, which I can receive for free on an FM radio. Why should I pay for it?
At this point, I cannot recommend Sirius XM for any reason. The programming is awful. The customer support is terrible. They lost 400,000 customers last quarter and I suspect that is only the beginning of a flood of subscriber losses.
I had a high opinion of the GEX-XMP3 initially, but it frequently loses its activation which is irritating and, as I said, it died on me a few days ago after less than six months of use.
My advice: stay away from Sirius XM it is not s company you want to do business with.
Original Review:
The Pioneer GEX-XMP3 Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver is a technological marvel. The unit, however, has no useful existence without the companion Sirius/XM service and I have grave reservations about the newly merged service which I'll address below.
The XMP3 is a vast improvement over the original INNO. It is smaller, lighter and has more features. The unit measures 2 x 3.6 x 0.6 and weighs 3.1 ounces: definitely shirt-pocket sized. It has a 2.5" screen that displays information such as titles and program guides in vibrant color. (Unfortunately, the screen is useless for displaying your own photos or video as will be explained.)
The battery supports 4 hours of live XM playback or 16 hours of recorded audio playback. A second battery or backup power supply is a must for active use when playing live XM. I recommend the Tekkeon TekCharge Rechargeable Li-Poly Battery for this purpose.
The XMP3 feature list is long and impressive:
It takes microSDHC cards up to 8GB. With 128kbps MP3 audio, that's enough space for about 120+ hours of recorded music. Because the XM service cannot be dependably received in buildings and some other locations, you will definitely appreciate this capacity.
The 2GB of internal memory will store 75 hours of programs or 10 hours of songs. I have no idea of why this peculiar limitation exists, though it probably has something to do with the RIAA.
You can record up to five channels simultaneously. Recording setup is quick and easy. There is also an interesting automatic recording feature which will "learn" your music listening preferences and automatically record up to 30 hours of programs from five channels.
Another very neat feature is the ability to pause live audio and then playback up to 30 minutes. Kind of like an audio TiVo and very handy if you have to interrupt your listening for a short while.
The user interface on the XMP3 is delightful. Four physical buttons, a scroll wheel and four touch sensitive buttons. Menus are explicit and very easy to follow for all available functions.
There's a 3.5mm audio jack and the volume is sufficient to ruin your hearing, if that's your choice. Audio range is adequate, but not outstanding. There is, by the way, no built-in speaker.
You can tune in the XM program guide, which is helpful, and there are TuneSelect and GameSelect features. These latter two features allow to find your favorite artists whenever they are being played on any XM channels. You can input up to 30 names.
There a bunch of other features that I don't have a lot of use for, but you may. You can play audio books, make up playlists and more. There is also well designed software to managae your XMP3 music from your PC. Best to visit the Pioneer website to get all the information on the XMP3.
XM reception with the built-in antenna is surprisingly good, but if you get one of these, expect to use it as a pre-recorded music player much of the time when depending on the internal antenna.
What don't I like? My biggest dislike is the merged Sirius/XM service which I'll get to momentarily.
I don't like the fact that the unit is so expensive. I bought mine through a special XM promotion with home and car docks and while it represented a considerable savings, it is still too expensive in my opinion. Pioneer and XM put outlandish prices on the docks, in my opinion, to discourage users from using one receiver in multiple locations. A dock costs as much as a year's second XM subscription. Considering that they sell many perfectly adequate XM receivers for just a few dollars or even give them away free occasionally, you can see their logic: they want you to buy multiple radios, each of which needs its own subscription.
I'd rather use one radio and have one subscription XM does all it can to discourage that approach.
Second, I think XM really limits its market by not including photo and viewing capability in this unit. I'm not an engineer and I have no idea of what it would take to add such capability. But I do see many other reasonably priced personal media players that include music, photo, video and even FM tuner capabilities at one-half or less the price of the XMP3 and don't require a subscription. In fact, as I wrote this paragraph, I have to question why I own this unit especially considering what has happened to the once superb XM service.
Sirius and XM recently merged. I had never been much interested in Sirius thinking that any station that paid Howard Stern hundreds of millions to be vulgar wouldn't have much to offer me. XM offered truly wonderful programming. Their programmers or disc jockeys or whatever they were called loved their music and it showed.Almost every channel was an adventure when you first tried it. You might not like the genre, but it was apparent that whoever compiled the playlist loved what they were doing.
When the merger took place, most of the XM programmers were apparently let go and Sirius programming was put into place. Sirius programming isn't much different than what you would find on any AM or FM station. It is dull, uninspired and often permeated with way too much talk. For example, where XM had commercial free classic rock, Sirius has Wolfman Jack in some form or other (I don't know if it's the real Wolfman Jack or an imitator). I didn't care for the screechings of Wolfman Jack when I was a kid and I sure don't like them now. I'm paying as subscription fee to listen to music, not the rantings of some guy.
Even the country music XM channels are now polluted with insipid talking. Same for the classical stations.
In short, the once truly fine XM programming is now utterly dumbed down Sirius programming.
Not only the programming suffered as a result of the merger, so did customer service. Deactivating an old XM receiver and adding this one to my account took more than an hour, dealing with people speaking heavily accented English and reading from a script. Some of the questions they asked were irritating, such as demanding to know why I was switching from one XM radio to another. Talk about stupidity.
A letter of complaint to Sirius management went unanswered.
In short, Sirius is not XM and, quite frankly, I am considering cutting back to one subscription and giving it six months to change for the better before dropping Sirius/XM altogether. Personally I don't think I'll be alone in this. If what I read in user group forums is at all accurate, satellite radio may be in for a short and dim future as result of this merger. Time will tell.
So, the XMP3 itself is a five-star product. There are a couple of things, most notably photo and video playback, that I'd like to see in it, but I am reviewing the product in its actual state, not my wish list. The revised XM programming since the merger with Sirius merits not more than one-star. Sirius/XM service rates one-star as well.
Thus, if you are really considering this technological marvel, consider the other two factors first.
Jerry
Read Best Reviews of Pioneer GEX-XMP3 Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver w/ Home Kit Here
The Inno was the best portable xm radio until now. This improved version is thinner, lighter, has a bigger, beautiful screen, can record several channels simultaneously (!!), has more memory (75 hours), an sd card slot, and the best of all, now lets you look at the program guide on the screen so you can see what programs are coming up. The old push buttons have been replaced by a touch wheel. Pioneer does it again!Want Pioneer GEX-XMP3 Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver w/ Home Kit Discount?
I received this as a gift and I've been very happy with it. It's not perfect by any means but it does just what I need, play's music! =)I never thought I'd subscribe to XM/Sirius. Why spend money on music you can get free over the radio? I travel frequently even within my own area of the country (NYC) and I always hated the fact that I'd lose radio reception of my favorite radio stations as I would go from one area to another. As such I would strongly recommend a portable XM unit to anyone who travels frequently and likes hearing the latest music w/o buying individual songs.
That's where this little unit comes in. I've had it for a couple of days and I can say the audio quality is pretty good. Audiophiles who demand crystal clear high def audio might be disappointed but for everyone else it's definitely better than FM radio.
As far as reception goes, I have trouble receiving a clear signal in my apt. It does come with a home kit which allows you to attach an antenna (included) that you can place on the nearest south facing window and that takes care of the problem.
The nice thing about this unit is the recording features. I love how I can set it to record several stations continuously. This way if I'm on a flight or train ride with a weak signal, I can turn off the antenna and just listen to pre-recorded music. (It also allows you to insert an SD HC card of your own music and play that too) Works for me.
A few gripes about this unit as some others have mentioned is that although it allows you to record individual songs or programs, it has an annoying fade in/out 'feature' that you can't turn off. It fades in at the beginning and fades out at the end. It's annoying when listening to a playlist of songs you've recorded from the radio.
Unlike an Ipod, it doesn't show you the album art. Not a big deal but with such a crystal clear color screen, it would be nice if it took advantage of it to show something other than the default backgrounds.
The navigation could be improved as it takes several clicks of different buttons to get to the features but I got used to it after a while.
Overall, nice unit. Not quite a 5 star but it's good enough for me.
UPDATE: 1/16/2009 a new firmware for this unit v1.18 resolved the fade-in/fade-out annoyance. It makes playing back all the recorded songs and programs so much more enjoyable! Love-it!
UPDATE: 11/15/2009 I've seen a lot of people talk about faulty units. I must be lucky or they must be unlucky. Mine has taken a few (unintentional!) drops and bruises and still keeps on ticking. Noticed a few times the loading screen of death or the no power up scenario but holding down the power button for a few seconds, leaving it off and then trying again worked for me. That or putting the unit in it's home base unit to charge got it back to normal. Battery hasn't been an issue for me. The most recent firmware for the unit does a good job of turning off the antenna when listening to recorded audio so that saves a lot of battery. Even after almost a year of use it still lasts me 3-4 hrs. Enough for a train ride from NYC to Boston. I still keep my 4 star rating.
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