Westinghouse Industrial Inverter Generator, iPro2500

I bought this generator because I needed a portable one for camping in my new trailer. I already own the Champion 4000-Watt RV Ready DH Series Open Frame Inverter with Quiet Technology for my house but it's a little cumbersome and heavy for camping. I wanted a generator that would be big enough to power a RV AC unit but still be able to carry it like a suitcase. After careful consideration I purchased the Westinghouse ipro2500. From what I found out it's all about the engine size. Most of these portable generators are 79cc's. They can't take the start up of an AC unit even though they are rated above 2000 watts. This one is 98cc. Plus, it's a little quieter than my other one. I started each back and forth and used a decibel app to compare. It's definitely quieter but not by a huge amount. A few decibels by the meter app standing right next to them. I will probably sell the Champion because this one should be able to replace it at home too. It has enough power to run most the house in an emergency. Overall, it's a nice replacement for my bigger unit. Lighter, quieter and easy to move around. Perfect for all my needs.

OVERVIEW This is a review of the iPro2500 Westinghouse generator. Since you can buy several different models from this one page I thought I would specify the model up front. I bought this generator because I shoot music videos and did not want to always rely on there being power available, especially if we decide to shoot scenes in the middle of the night in the woods. I needed a generator light enough to carry long distances, quiet enough to not overpower the camera mics, but powerful enough to run around 2500 watts of lighting.THE GOOD(1) Power Output - I am pleased to say that this is the perfect size for what I needed. I am able to power two 1000W LED spotlights and 3 large LED panels with no problems. I got the iPro version vs other version because of the GFCI outlets, in case one of the extension cords or lights encountered water or a ground fault I wanted to ensure the generator outlet would trip before someone got electrocuted or equipment got fried.(2) Sound - This generator is pretty quiet, with a directional mic and low pass cut filter I was able to mainly minimize the generator sound even though it was only 50' away. For a live set I'm thinking to completely eliminate the noise will require a directional mic and at least a 200' extension cord.(3) Weight - Although it is light enough to carry, with fuel and oil it can get heavy pretty quickly but I think up to a 1/2 mile into the woods should be doable without too much strain.THE BAD(1) I think the biggest thing I have found so far is that it is hard to start. Brand new less than 1hr of run time on it yet it is still hard to start. After adding oil and ethanol free fuel, it started with a single pull of the cord with minimal effort which was great. I have a big shoot coming up so I decided to let it sit for 30 min and see how easy it was to start again. Sure enough the second time around took a good 6-8 pulls to get it to start. After it started I shut it down and waited 10 more minutes. Once again it took 3-4 pulls just 10min later to start. I used only the oil that came with it, and used 89 octane ethanol free fuel. There is no priming bulb or no way to prep the engine other than the Choke setting. I am really concerned about how hard it may be to start if it sits for just a week let alone months without use. I will update this review if it gets to the point to where it will not start at all.When you are on a video set you do not have time to fight with your generator, I shouldn't have to worry about the reliability of a brand new generator. I do wonder if I should have used 87 instead of 89 octane for the fuel. The manual states 87 or higher and the local gas station only had 89 for the Ethanol free fuel but I know 89 is harder to ignite than 87 so it is possible that it would be easier to start with 87.(2) The side of the generator where the oil goes requires a screw driver to get to the oil filler tube. This is very annoying, They could have easily made this panel tool free buy having twist and lock tabs. Instead now I need to keep a screw driver handy to open the panel.(3) Same deal with the gas drain valve coming from the carburetor. You need to remove a hose and turn a screw to drain the gas out of the carburetor, why couldn't they have fitted this with a splitter and manual valve that you could turn to drain the fuel? These are small but simple things that would make this generator easier to use on a daily basis.CONCLUSIONOnly time will tell if this should be a 5 star review or a 2 or 3 star review. As long as the generator consistently starts then I'll leave the review as is. If it gets easier to start I'll move it up to a 5 star review despite the other downsides. If it dies on me and won't start without taking it to a repair shop then obviously it does not deserve 4 stars.

I've only received this item recently & unfortunately it has not working as expected since we started using it end December 2018.From the very beginning the switch that says RUN, CHOKE, OFF is not working as indicated in the manual. The manual says to put it in CHOKE, pull the start cord & then put it in RUN. However the generator will NOT start like that. We managed to work around that by pulling the start cord in "RUN". Also it does not turn off when putting it on OFF. The only way to turn it off is by turning it again to CHOKE. So something clearly wasn't right from the start but I had this item shipped to Bocas del Toro in Panama & needed it urgently so we just used it.Now after 3 days of use, I heard the generator was running out of gasoline. It took longer than usual to shut off though so I decided to go & look at it. Flames were coming out of the muffler! I quickly turned the generator off & noticed the plastic of the muffler was already completely melted. We had just changed the oil the day before so that could not have been the cause of this odd overheating. After this we let it rest a day, cleaned the air filter & spark plugs to be sure & checked the oil again (still fine). We filled it up with gas & it started and worked normally. We did always go to the generator when it was running out of gas to check on it.Now yesterday we ran into the next problem: the generator would not start. We filled it up with gasoline & started cleaning the spark plugs etc. After a while my husband noticed that carburator was leaking the gasoline!! It looks like there is a loose screw on the bottom of the carburator. Of course now we will not try to restart the generator anymore, and I believe this is one fail too many in such a short period of use.I could not find a contact button so I'm writing this review instead & I hope someone of Westinghouse or Amazon will contact me soon to resolve this issue. I know there is an authorised repair center in David, Panama that hopefully will be able to help quickly.