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write your own review of the ETK TG1200 Generator from Northern Tool.
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K3AN
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Rating: 4/5
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Jun 28, 2011 06:11
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Third Field Day!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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We just ran my unit for another 24 hours straight with no hiccups. This time we had a second battery charger/deep cycle battery to run the "free" VHF station. The generator consumed just over 3 gallons of fuel, running even while being (very carefully) refueled. Prevailing breezes forced us to move the generator to a different downwind direction, with it ultimately located less than 25 feet from the base of the 80/40 inverted L, and maybe 50 feet (40 feet vertically) from the triband yagi. We detected NO INTERFERENCE WHATSOEVER.
Only downsides: Like any 2-stroke engine it's smelly if it's upwind of you. And it is hard to restart if you let it run out of fuel. This is why I didn't give it a "5." If you stop it before it runs out of fuel it will restart in just one or two pulls of the cord, hot or cold.
We've now used it for three successive (and successful) Field Days. Hope to use it for at least a few more. Then we'll buy another one.
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ALCO141
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Rating: 4/5
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Jan 20, 2010 13:27
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3 month review
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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i have been running this intermittently over the past several months, it still starts and runs without complaint, would recommend this to anyone for their go box, it will run a long time on a gallon of gas, if there is no load it throttles down to idle and will increase if load applied. weighs about 50 lbs when full of gas. it is portable and easy to use. it will charge your batteries and turn on some lights run a sump pump, turn on your refrig. or freezer. i like this little generator a lot.
alex
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K1VV
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 1, 2009 15:40
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Great Generator for the money
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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We bought one on these about 2 years ago on eBay when they first came out. $99.00. It has the 12 volt output also. The shipping was $24.00 I believe from Illinois. We have used it since then while operating at about 15 Lighthouses during the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society Events. It has close to 100 hours use on it. It runs up to 5 hours on a tankful of mixed gas. We ran an IC706 and an IC-7000 on it, 100 watts, also a lap top computer for logging. We operated from a pickup truck. We did not want to run a $1400 radio from a $99 generator directly so we used a an APC($29.00) voltage regulator/spike filter on the 120V output, then to a 35 Amp 12VDC power supply to the transceiver. Easy to start and we have not had any problems with it. This is a great little generator for portable operation with a 100 watt transceiver.
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ALCO141
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Rating: 5/5
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Sep 1, 2009 14:55
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many faces
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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this generator seems to be sold by a bunch of different vendors with their own name on it, cabela is selling it, harbor freight is selling it, amazon has it, i have been satisfied with tis unit, there is a thread on one of the forums about cheap generator , this is the machine they are talking about.
so far i have tried a lot of different power tools on this, they all seem to work, one of the guys looked at the wave form and noted good sine wave output, no spikes,no trash. on the northern tool site there are 133 reviews of this item, mostly very positive with quite a few using this to run electronic items and no problems.
harbor freight has them on sale for $106, i would get another, i wish they had kept the 12v output on the machine.
alex
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ALCO141
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 8, 2009 07:33
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model change
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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the generator model has ben changed, they have deleted the 12 v output on the side of the unit. still a good buy , will do some small things, charge your battery, run a radio, these are very portable units which is their strong suite.
i will give you a long term followup when i have had more run time on the unit.
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K3AN
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Rating: 5/5
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Jul 4, 2009 11:44
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Great For The Price
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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A 1KW generator for $125? I took a chance and bought one of these from Northern Tool in April and used it for Field Day in June, 2009. It ran just fine for our 1A, 100 Watt setup.
The generator fed a homebrew regulated battery charger which fed a size 27 deep cycle battery. The radio was powered from the battery. The laptop computer was powered using its AC adapter from the AC delivered by the generator. We had no problems with this setup, and there was no detectable RF noise. We used about 3.5 gallons of gas over the 24 hour Field Day period and the generator restarted each time with just a few pulls of the starter rope.
The generator is pretty quiet. Using a consumer-grade sound level meter I measured its noise at 72 dB at 22 feet (spec says 69 dB at 7 meters). That's more than quiet enough at the far end of a 50 foot extension cord. You will, however, want to locate the generator downwind to avoid the 2-stroke exhaust smell.
Would I power my big flat screen HDTV using this generator? No. But for 12-volt operated radio gear, power tools, lights, fans, etc. I think it's a great bargain at the current price.
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