Explore europe in a campervan

We’ve had the Kipor generator for over three months now so here is a brief review. When we first got our campervan it came with a generator. The noise it made was deafening, we thought it wasn’t worth the extra payload so we let someone take it off our hands. After being away for a few months in winter conditions we realised we just couldn’t do without a generator. So it was a choice between a cheap Kipor IG1000 digital suitcase generator or an expensive Honda 10i.

The price of a Kipor IG1000 including delivery was around £260 as apposed to the Honda 10i costing around £600. The specification seemed pretty much identical so we scoured the internet for comments on the Honda and Kipor suitcase type generators.

It all seemed to boil down to the old saying ‘you get what you pay for’. If you pay the price and purchase a Honda you can rely on its build quality, warranty, customer service and easy access to replacement parts. If, however, you can think of something better to spend that extra £340 on, then get the Kipor generator; the build quality could be better and after-sales service seemed pretty much non-existent!

Before buying the Kipor we read the terms and conditions on the dealer’s website. It basically says there is no warranty and if you need replacement parts, they can provide them but, ‘time is not of the essence’! (Exactly as written in their terms). When we first received our generator and took it from its box we noticed the plastic choke lever was broken off. There was no way we could send the generator back in the post from the Alps so our only option was to call the Kipor dealer, tell him the problem and request a replacement choke lever. The replacement part was sent to friends of ours within 4 days!

The build quality could be better as some of the plastics used for the casing seem a little delicate. When unplugging the leisure plug from the generator you have to do so with care as it looks like that panel could come off.

The Kipor’s output of just under 1kw seems more than capable of charging our leisure battery, our two laptops, mobile phones and digital camera. The generator was also very useful the other day when we had a flat engine battery; after one hour of charge from the generator, using the battery-charge cables included and the engine started with no difficulty.

In summary we feel the Kipor IG1000 is an excellent purchase for those who cannot or choose not to pay double the price for a Honda 10i generator. Treat it with care, change its oil regularly and keep the air filter clean and I’m sure it will keep generating electricity for a long time.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 9:38 pm and is filed under Campervan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.