DF451i Super Quiet 4500-Watt Electric Start Dual Fuel RV-Ready Portable Inverter Generator with Fuel Shut-Off

We were in need of a more powerful generator for our newly purchased off grid cabin. We were of course told to go with Honda for quiet operations and efficiencies, but after purchasing the cabin, we only had a limited amount of funds available. Needed to make our investment really pay off. Boy did it ever! After some research, we began to understand that WEN is a very reputable company in this space. After frankly, after seeing a YouTube video showing how this generator can be used for whole house backup, we were sold! So first things first, since we were using this for off grid power through a fully code compliant panel, you will want to UNBOND this generator, placing it into floating neutral. A very easy process and something we learned along the way. We also love the idea of dual fuel options. We will eventually be installing larger, more powerful solar solutions, but for now, needed a way to keep cabin alive. We do have a gas caddy and adequate supply, but that does add up in terms of cost over the weekends. However, using a 40lb propane tank at around $15.00 filled for two (2) full weekends, that was outstanding. Very efficient, and we are capable of running in Eco Mode during the evening and early morning hours. Speaking of Eco Mode, this genny is very quiet. Yes, you do hear it throughout the cabin but move about 100 yards away and the sound fades almost all away. Great for hunting and general game watching activities. Also has no issues running our water pump, which was the main reason we needed to more powerful device when the weather is colder and does not run as efficiently in terms of power production. Yes, this item is heavy. Our use is essentially in a stationary position only moving in and out of the crawl space below the cabin. However, you can easily use this for portable operations with stronger individuals and certainly an able-bodied couple. All in all, extremely satisfied with this product and glad we took the risk of purchasing this brand. Just goes to show, do your research and don't be afraid to make decisions based upon your needs. Be wary of influencers or paid shives who don't give you the facts. This is an awesome device, and I would certainly not only recommend it, but also purchase it again! BTW, the only reason we keep pushing solar is not only "free" energy, but also the peace and quiet. But when working and living off grid, you have to do what you have to do given different situations.

We live on a boat and bought this generator about a year ago. We use it almost every day to supplement our solar and wind generators. It is the easiest generator we’ve ever had to start. You basically turn a knob and it fires right up. The fuel tank is huge. Feed it at 10 p.m. and it runs until almost 9 a.m. at low. Plus, when shutting it down, you can just turn the “knob” to off and it works until it runs out of fuel, so you aren’t fouling the carburetor with old fuel if it sits for a while. Really great feature if it’s only used occasionally. Ours recently had an issue with the spark plug housing causing a voltage fault and inoperability. Like I said, we use ours pretty much daily. My husband did research and says this seems to be somewhat common and parts are available but hard to find. Thus my recommendation for the protection plan. We contacted Wen and found that the warrantee was for 3 years OR 500 hours. So, ours was now beyond the Wen warrantee. Yay, Asurion Protection Plan! We contacted Asurion and they declared it was a loss. So, we re-bought the exact same generator and are anxiously awaiting its arrival. So, yes, this is a great generator. Depending on your use, you might have issues. Love it enough that we bought it again. Just as an aside, since we live in a harbor with noise regulation, the decibel ratings were very important to us. There have been countless times one of us has pulled up to our boat in our dinghy and had to check to see if the generator was running. It’s that quiet. Believe it or not, the Honda 2200 we’ve rented while waiting on the new generator to arrive is MUCH louder. We can hear the rental generator while in bed with fans and air conditioning running (it’s the Florida Keys, y’all. Blistering hot even in October). The Wen, we have to get up and go check to see if it’s still running. Pretty impressive for a much more robust machine. Yes, it’s heavy but it’s a great generator. Absolutely get one! Just make sure to get the protection plan, especially if you plan to use it a lot.

I normally would not do a review on a generator, but I'll seriously impressed with this particular model now. I already have another WEN generator from when I'm camping but I was really wanting one for the house and this delivered. I ran this for 3 days straight when we had a big blackout due to very severe storm running off my 100 lb propane tank and this thing ran the entire time without issues. After the event was over, I of course changed the oil and was pleased to see it was still in pretty decent shape. I mainly bought this so I could charge my EV'S, especially my F-150 lightning during the daytime when noise wouldn't be a problem and then run the house off the F-150 Lightning during the evenings since it's silent and this worked very well. Honestly, I think my neighbors would have been fine even with this running in the evening because it was not all that loud. One other thing I did like about this is it's an inverter. I have a gigantic harbor freight generator as well but it puts out square wave versus sine wave. So all my sensitive electronics greatly complain about dirty power especially my battery backups. With this generator in use all my battery backups and equipment that reports back electrical quality were just fine. They didn't know the difference between power from this generator and power from the electric company. The electric start is also very nice. If I'm being honest. My other generators are the pool kind and while they typically start up with a few pools, it's really nice just to press a button and watch this thing start up. I haven't used gas yet and probably never will since I have a giant propane tank and it's way more convenient, but that also limits the maximum amount of power. I will be able to get out of this as gas is able to generate more power than propane but this puts out enough wattage for my needs running on propane. In regards to portability it is heavy. I'm not going to lie but it does have wheels and it has a really nice handle that is sufficient to be able to support the weight of this. But if you think you're going to lug this up a bunch of steps by yourself, you're going to really want to reconsider that and get someone to help you. In terms of fuel consumption, especially compared to my dual fuel harbor freight model, this did better. Not sure why of course, but I used way less propane running this at full capacity than I did with that harbor freight. Final summary, it's great. I did see a couple reviews including one that showed this caught on fire for them. Not sure what happened in that case but it did cause me hesitation. But I'm pleased the report that giving this generator ran for legit 3-day straight without stopping without bogging down and without any issue to me. It's an excellent generator.

I'll tell you what, this dual generator is so simple to set up i didnt need an in-law to help me. The hardest part was getting it out of the box. Its lightweight (for its output), quiet, and very simple to use. The instructions are simple to follow and entertaining at parts. In a pinch for a home with neighbors, this is a great buy for the output and noise level. Don't expect it to power your whole home but you can run a fridge and a heater or two to keep the food cold and the people warm! 100% would recommend. I'm going to be looking for a model to power the whole house in the future and WEN I'm looking I'll know where I'll find it.

Product: DF451i Super Quiet 4500-Watt Electric Start Dual Fuel Portable Inverter Generator Brand: WEN This is the fourth generator I’ve purchased in the past four years, so I knew what I wanted: Inverter generator, between 3000 and 5000 watts peak power, dual fuel/propane, electric start, and—because I live in California—must be CARB compliant. This is the only generator I could find that fit all the requirements. My delivery driver was an absolute hero, but I digress. This generator has many great qualities. I like it and depend on it daily. There is still room for improvement so I’m rating it four stars. Here’s why. Strengths: 1) A key strength is that, once it gets going, it produces a lot of load with relatively low fuel input. It runs in all weather until I turn it off or it runs out of propane—which takes a surprisingly long time. I have only run it using propane. 2) I’ve had problems in the past with generators shutting themselves down due to the carbon monoxide sensor. Does this even have one? I don’t know because it’s never shut itself off. I don’t need a CO sensor, and I don’t care if it has one. 3) Because I run this generator almost every day, it starts right up—once I got the electric start working. More on this below. 4) This generator runs quietly. I find its hum rather soothing, a signal that sweet power is flowing, in contrast to my DuroMax 12000 watt generator, which I believe can be heard from space. Okay—here are some weaknesses I’ve found. 1) When I first power the generator on, I get a red light most of the time and it does not produce any power, even though it is running. This may be correlated with cold temperatures, but I’m not sure. I have to let it run for a while, then turn it off, then turn it back on before it produces load. I’ve never found anything in the instructions about this. It’s something I’ve just worked out, and we are going with it. 2) The instructions were not completely accurate about what was required to get the battery hooked up. Contrary to the instructions, all the terminals arrived hooked up. I just needed to make an inline connection, but it took me a while to figure this out. 3) Here is the biggest area I see for improvement: this is a heavy generator and the oil fill is way at the bottom of one side. I practically have to roll the generator on its side to access the oil fill, which I do not believe to be recommended. It is very heavy, so there is no way I could pick it up and put it on a table to service it. Oil is blood to a generator, so how about making the oil fill easier to access, read and fill?

I have owned this generator now for almost 5 years. It will be 5 in December, 2026. I have used and abused this generator more than the average person. I boondock camp almost every other weekend and this generator is used to run AC and appliances all the time. I have 770 hours on the meter as of writing this review. I currently own a Brinkley Z2900 and can run both AC units, charge phones, fans, TVs and whatever else all night on 1 tank of fuel. I did a break in period when I intitally purchased it, but then change the oil after each season (summer/winter). I don't do it when it says to. If i did it every 25 hours, I would be doing it almost every weekend in the summer. The generator is quite and strong. It reacts quickly to power surges and I have never had any issues with sensitive appliances. I used it at one point for 8 days straight during a massive hurricane power outage at my house. After about day 4, it died for the first time ever since purchase. I put a new spark plug in it, changed the oil, and fired it right back up. Ran it for another 3 straight days afterwards. When we have the windows up in the camper, I cannot hear this generator running at all. Even when it kicks into high RPM mode, it is very Quite. My next purchase if this generator ever fails, will be 2 smaller Wens that I can carry around and parallel together. Would love to give the 2800 watt version a shot but can't justify it because this one is just so awesome. Really my only compaint is the weight, which I knew before purchase and have dealt with just fine. I toss it in the "garage" of the 5th wheel while traveling and it fits great. The size is perfect in that aspect. Honestly, I cannot say enough good things about this generator. It has been rock solid. I almost bought a super expensive Honda because of the "last forever" reputation but I am so glad I didn't. I imagine that I will give this to my neighbor or something when I finally decide to buy the 2 smaller ones that I want.

I bought this Generator in 2022, and it is still running great! Purchased it to run our two fridges and deep freeze in emergencies but found it could handle much more; we even had Wi-Fi and a tv streaming last power outage! It is very portable and we have run many things with ease like a camper, mobile sno-cone trailer, power tools out in the field, and even drug it on our sailboat to camp with. It's pretty quiet, haven't had to worry about the lithium battery since first pull starting it when we got it. I did buy a magnetic oil cap to catch any metal fragments and ran it deliberately for a few hours and changed oil immediately. If I had to find something wrong with it, one could say the flip up handle is not sturdy enough for the weight of the equipment. Mine has been fine, but I could see someone breaking the handle.

In Econ mode (which you use constantly except for starting, shutoff, and >1600w activities): Noise: a little louder than an air conditioner. Slightly louder than an idling car. Nobody complains. Duration idling <500w: nearly sixteen hours. >Running a single (standard 600w window) A/C unit on high: ~10 hours >Running a 1000w electric heater: ~8 hours >Running a 1500w electric heater: <6 hours Over a year later, she's still kicking just fine. It's been a year, but over 10,000 operating hours. We work her hard. It's actually easier starting her now than it was before winter. (Of course, I did the long-term storage procedure). The auto shutoff and push-button start have made using her a breeze. Kinda wish I still had a ripcord backup - I had to use vehicle jumper packs a few times last year, due to loose battery connection issues. Maybe it would be better if the thick rubber battery band was still intact, but I found it impossible to work with. It made the battery effectively inaccessible. I considered the four stars rating because it does have some issues. The battery connections shake and loosen, which can cause difficulty starting, recharging issues, and possibly damage the battery. The ripcord broke with a single bad pull (I pulled at the wrong angle, since it was my first time using it). Dirty oil will give you great difficulty in starting. The spark collector can't be removed for cleaning, the screws strip. The beaded chains on the gas cap and oil drain are flimsy and will definitely break. It's not light. I've gotten stronger from lifting it so often, and my honey refuses to lift it at all. Overall: it's pretty great quality despite the low price. It's been very reliable (some exceptions) and done its job well. Noise review: It's often a huge concern with generators, and this is competitively quiet with anything on the market (I've been to enough festivals, I've seen them all). Actually, quieter than most harbor freight inverter gens. Pop out your favorite little bluetooth speaker and you won't hardly notice it. Walking through parking lots, many times I've failed to notice its sound until I could see it. If you listen carefully, you can notice... but you won't. Better white noise than traffic sounds, but rather intrusive noise in quiet spaces, like suburbs and farms. Will I purchase it again when this one dies? Maybe. Will I buy this brand? Yes, almost certainly. I'm considering a pair of linked "suitcase generators" for redundancy and the ability to run power in two places. The total runtime is the concern here. No one wants to wake up halfway through the sweltering night to fill gas and get the A/C running again... but with our new batteries, that might not be a concern.