8.0 What load shedding?

Load shedding has taught us that we don’t need the whole house working when Eskom’s playing up, we just want it to not suck. This compact little number sets up and packs down in minutes, offering just enough power to keep the essentials running.

Portability 9
Versatility 8
Design 8
User Ratings (34 Votes) 3.7

Generators seem like an awful lot of effort, what with set-up, maintenance and finding someplace to store the thing. If only there were some way around all of that?

Owning a generator used to be all but unthinkable, unless you had a remote cabin tucked away on the Transkei coast that you visited semi-annually. Now, everyone wants one. But actually picking something from the vast array of red or blue motors-on-wheels can be an imposing task. How much is too much? How much is not enough? Do you need to buy extra bits or is everything you need in the box?

So many questions. Well, we have an answer here for you, in the shape of this portable 2Kva generator from local company Gentech, the wonderfully named GP2000iSe. It’s not the largest genny on the block but it’s all you really need to keep going during an outage, with the added benefits of being super-easy to set up and break back down for storage. Plus, if you need to transport it, it doesn’t take up much space at all.

It’s not the final answer to your electricity woes, but it’ll keep you in coffee and keep your fridge cold when Eskom pushes the big red button for your part of South Africa. And, if you really need it, you can also watch DStv or play with your Xbox while enjoying cold/warm drinks until the lights are back on.

The life of a party

Gentech’s little generator is an all-in-one unit that’s almost ready to go out of the box – just add oil and petrol and you’re off. Transporting it is a breeze, it’s a little chunkier than an old-school ATX computer tower but a fair bit heavier. The carrying handle is a great help.

It might look like indoor tech but it’s filled with petrol – 95 unleaded only, please, it’s finicky – and there’s an exhaust in the back. Running it outside is the only sensible option, though its size does make us wince at how easy it would be to steal.

There are two ways to return sweet, sweet power to your home. There’s a large electronic starter button that you’ll almost always press before opening the petrol valve on the main cap, and a recoil start that rips the genny to life with basically zero effort.

This generator is rated at 63dB – at least, that’s at its quietest. The rumble increases as your load does, even with the fuel economy switch enabled (which damps down noise). We measured it at 75dB at about 50% load, falling to 40dB a few rooms away.

The 3.5-litre tank should give you pretty close to four hours of uptime if you’ve got the GP2000iSe at 100%. Unlike batteries, you don’t need to wait for power to return. Just top up the tank and keep on trucking if Eskom’s taking its sweet time.

Your own personal Castle Greyskull

■ Onscreen guide – Remaining petrol, as well as current/remaining power load, are all shown on the face of the generator. If that fails to cue you in, the generator’s audible uptake as you increase the load will throw up a few signals.

■ Basic cable – There are a few ports, including dual USBs, but the main one is the type D – connect an extension cord with a multiplug at the other end and you’re sorted for the ‘shed. Fire up that kettle.

■ Multiple channels – The hard bit is deciding what to connect. You can run your fridge and an electric kettle at the same time (only just) or your fridge, fan, laptop, some lights, a few mobile devices and have space to spare.

■ Series junkie – You don’t have to but it’s possible to connect two of these and run them in series. That’ll double your power output, but you could also do it the easy way with a larger generator.