WEN GN400i RV-Ready 4000-Watt Open Frame Inverter Generator, CARB Compliant, Black/orange

4.0 out of 5 stars

By Josh - Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2019

Best value anywhere for inverter generator

Living in rural PG&E territory, unfortunately, so a generator is now a good thing to have in case of emergencies. I was looking quite awhile for a 4000-ish peak watt generator and stumbled across this incredible deal and purchased right away. One good tip for generator noobs: read the manual and follow the proper maintenance, startup and shutdown procedures. If you don't, you'll run into issues in the future. Once you know the tips, startup and shutdown is a cinch. One nice thing is it comes with a sparkplug socket, a wrench, a funnel, and high elevation carb kits. You can tell they took care in ensuring people use their products properly to get the most value out of them. I have not used this for an actual power outage, but I tested it on a couple things. I hooked up a chest freezer, a window AC unit, and our gas furnace all at once. Noticed no bog down whatsoever. It seems this will work great in a pinch. I would recommend you buy the RV adapter with a split that way you have more plugs to distribute the amps being pulled. They add up quickly. The weight of this is great. You can carry it by the frame for short distances or could put it on a hand truck no problem since it's pretty small. It is heavy enough where my wife would not be able to carry though and if it's hot you probably don't wanna move with for awhile. Cons: I don't think this is as quiet as advertised. With the Eco mode it becomes a little quieter, but with a lot of watts running it's nearly as loud as a traditional generator. I wish the fuel tank were a little larger as well to be able to get 10 hours out of it. I have seen reviews of people getting more than 7 hours though, so we'll see. A smaller tank does make it lighter though. Conclusion: no, this is not as nice as a Honda generator which would cost 4x what this one costs. If that's your expectation, buy a Honda. You know what you want. It does seem well built though, and if you take of it, it will take care of you. It's the best value for an inverter generator I have seen anywhere! Buy it, and if you hate it, empty your savings account on a Honda so you can brag to your buddies around the beer keg.🤣

1.0 out of 5 stars

By Justin - Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2019

Leaks gas, rough idle, no support from Wen

It had a rough idle from the beginning. It ran smooth with a load on it, so I wasn’t too worried. After running only 4 hours it started leaking gas out of the air filter and the idle was worse, I suspect it’s a problem with the carb. Wen doesn’t answer emails. I was on hold with their customer service for almost an hour and then decided to just get a refund instead. It wasn’t worth it for something that needs to work in an emergency.

4.0 out of 5 stars

By MichBritt - Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2019

Impressive right out of the box

The Wen GN400i was impressive right out of the box. It has the most complete kit I have ever seen for a small engine powered machine. The only thing it didn't come with is the engine oil and gasoline to fuel it. Included were all of the tools to prep the machine, a funnel and hose to fill the oil without making a mess, carb kits for high elevation use, and complete and correct instructions (in good English). It only took a few minutes to remove the shipping brackets, fill the oil, add gasoline. This thing fired up on the second pull. This looks like a very promising generator.

1.0 out of 5 stars

By Bruce Chi - Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2020

Generator worked for 10 minutes and then DOA

I tested it today with a dehumidifier unit. It worked for 10 minutes and then cut out power. Engine kept running but no power. The error code (5 red blinks) indicated too high voltage to alternator and to call customer service. I called customer service and spent an hour with them trying various things that didn't worked before they said to process a return to their factory and for them to send a replacement out. I'm not interested at this point given the customer rep said these models are finicky and sometimes prone to these sorts of issues. I made the mistake of waiting 3 months after purchasing before testing out the unit but hopefully Amazon will process the return as it's essentially DOA. Don't make the mistake I made. Make sure to test your generator asap upon arrival.

3.0 out of 5 stars

By dinotech - Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2019

Update. Have not run it, and WEN hasn't answered my question about Calif crap fuel.

This is an update, because another user recommended Star Tron blue enzyme fuel treatment, and it looks good enough to me to break my Wen in on treated calif fuel. If this stuff works, it is a really big deal to me. All I want to know is whether it's fuel system can survive all the different variations in my crap Calif fuel, that is constantly changing. Honda stuff (my gold standard) sometimes clogs, but the rubber parts seem to survive. I have a new LPG/gasoline carb for it, but I don't want to install it before breaking it in during it's warranty timeframe. Also, it sucks that Calif lets PGE get away with everything, and forces residents to generators that are likely to cause even more wildfires.

2.0 out of 5 stars

By Mr. CJC - Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2020

this does not have electric start, it is also loud.

I purchased this to use with my rv for boondocking and dry camping. filled with oil and gas and it started right up however it was very loud and that was before i added a load to it, this was touted as very queit and some of the reviews make mention of electric start. well it does not have electric start and compared to other traditional generators it is not queit! I ptomptly drained the oil and the fuel and returned and am searching for another option.