I was into my local Princess Auto recently and decided to check out the available engine options, not that I'm in the market for one, but I was curious as to what was available here in Canada. After all, Princess Auto has been around in retail form since 1977.
Unlike the Predator option at Harbor Freight in the US we have 2 options, well really 3. There's the in-house PowerFist brand, now more recently the higher-end line of tools and engines by Pro.Point and of course Honda GX. At first glance, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference aside from price and name. Why spend 2-4x the amount on an equivalent Honda sticker when that fist bump blue knock-off is going to get you out the door for significantly less and perhaps provide the same level of reliability and power? Considering they're $100 less than the Pro.Point and often $200 cheaper due to ongoing sales why go grey when you can score a better deal with blue?
Well, there's one significant difference that the Pro.Point has that the PowerFist may not and that is a Cast Iron Sleeve. I'm waiting on an e-mail reply back from Princess Auto about the type of cylinder liner used in the PowerFist engines, as there's no mention of the specs either on the box or the website. If it's aluminum essentially the PowerFist=Honda GC and the Pro.Point=Honda GX due to the cast iron sleeve. If it turns out they're both lined with cast iron then you're just paying more for a sticker, grey paint, and perhaps an electric start.
180cc PowerFist vs 163cc Honda GX
208cc PowerFist vs 208cc Pro.Point
270cc Honda GX vs PowerFist 270cc
They also have a winterized shrouded engine, if that's of any interest.
Unlike the Predator option at Harbor Freight in the US we have 2 options, well really 3. There's the in-house PowerFist brand, now more recently the higher-end line of tools and engines by Pro.Point and of course Honda GX. At first glance, you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference aside from price and name. Why spend 2-4x the amount on an equivalent Honda sticker when that fist bump blue knock-off is going to get you out the door for significantly less and perhaps provide the same level of reliability and power? Considering they're $100 less than the Pro.Point and often $200 cheaper due to ongoing sales why go grey when you can score a better deal with blue?
Well, there's one significant difference that the Pro.Point has that the PowerFist may not and that is a Cast Iron Sleeve. I'm waiting on an e-mail reply back from Princess Auto about the type of cylinder liner used in the PowerFist engines, as there's no mention of the specs either on the box or the website. If it's aluminum essentially the PowerFist=Honda GC and the Pro.Point=Honda GX due to the cast iron sleeve. If it turns out they're both lined with cast iron then you're just paying more for a sticker, grey paint, and perhaps an electric start.
180cc PowerFist vs 163cc Honda GX
208cc PowerFist vs 208cc Pro.Point
270cc Honda GX vs PowerFist 270cc
They also have a winterized shrouded engine, if that's of any interest.