Inverter generators

[Rob&Deryl]

We head out on out grand (another) adventure in Octover.

We realize that some days we will need a local power source as this year we will not be able to do a reasonable solar install.
So, we need generator(s).

I know Honda is the gold standard and HF Preditor is the low cost solution.

Given weights etc, it seems a pair or “2000 watt” equivalent units with a parallel kit is our best option as we can easily lift the units and a pair can run one AC unit.

What are the best units less expensive than the Honda and, perhaps a bit higher end than the Harbor Freight ones?

thanks

Rob & Deryl

 

[donn]

Carried a Yamaha 2800W unit for years. It worked just fine running one 15K BTU AC up to 4500 feet elevation. It is still light enough I could move it in and out of the truck bed myself.

 

[TonyL]

We have two Champion 2000 watt units with a parellel kit. Last year when the older generator developed a problem, Champion customer service and warranty lived up to their name.
Cannot recommend them highly enough.

 

[John From Detroit]

In the early days you had the choice of Honda, Yahama and Kipor.. I'd not recommend Kipor due to the engine they used (Not louder but way more annoying, sounded like a 2 stroke) I'd not recommend any 2 stroke engine.

Today.... There rare many others
The early Champions had an issue but there is an old saying "Do not buy anything till revision 3" In the other room is a radio I got in 1978, Still works, it's a revision 3.. The poor guy who got revision 2 had no end of problems.

Today's Low cost inverter generators are all well past "Revision 3" so about the only difference is this.
If they need service HONDA is real easy to find service I'm told The Cheap ones may well not be worth the cost.

The cheap ones likely won't last as long (As in less years).
But from your opening comments about solar. That may not be an issue.

 

[Babe2201]

I have a Champion 4650 Watt and so far with somewhat limited use it has performed very well. It might not be as quiet as a Honda or Yamaha but it is still very quiet during normal usage. When it was plugged in a couple of weeks ago and my wife used the hair dryer it got a little louder but not bad and it was only for a short time. It obviously runs the AC fine. For around $800 it was a very reasonable price.

I could not see spending the money on a Honda being a weekend warrior and I think even for every day use they are over priced. Champion and other companies offer the smaller ones around 2000 watts that can be put together to run the A/C unit which I considered for a long time.

Wen, Powerhouse, Generac, Predator, and Westinghouse are other affordable options as well. Unfortunately most are made in China which I struggled with buying a Champion but when it is less than half the price had to deal with it.

 

[BoiseRules]

Quality over price or pay once, cry once. I wanted a quality generator that had a decent run time so we purchased a Yamaha 3000iSEB 15 years ago and haven't looked back...

 

[Babe2201]

Quality over price or pay once, cry once. I wanted a quality generator that had a decent run time so we purchased a Yamaha 3000iSEB 15 years ago and haven't looked back...

Unfortunately that is not always the case. More often than not you are paying for the name and their advertising and only some of the extra goes towards quality. Most people will only run a generator for maybe 20-30 hours a season and the rest of the time sitting there.

I know this because I have spent a lot of money on "quality" equipment thinking it would serve me for a long time trouble free and within 3 years spent about the same amount of the purchase price keeping the machine working and the next time spent half on a "lesser quality" piece of equipment with much better results and customer service.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I think Detroit John hit the nail on the head. Inverter-generaors appear to have reached commodity status. There are numerous private label brands using the identical or close-equivalent engines and inverter electronics are now standard and relatively low cost components as well. I've bought two of them in the past 30 months for emergency back-up at home. One is a no-name 2000W (peak) unit and the other a 2400W (peak) Champion dual-fuel unit They have near identical engines (except for the LP inlet on the Champion) but with different control knob types (a rotary dial on one, push buttons on the other) and both function well. Both can be paralleled with another unit but I won't be doing that. Since we won't be running them all day every day, long term durability is of small concern.

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Kind of a tangent here but what is made today that is actually serviced or even serviceable? People buy the Honda thinking that they can rely on their service network to get it fixed if it ever craps out. Which I believe is entirely possible but at what cost both in terms of time and money. You're paying a premium for the brand, and I would offer a premium for the service if indeed it actually nets a successful repair. The scenario I see playing out is you take your dead Honda genset to the service center and it's a minimum fee just to get it looked at, and provided it's not deemed BER which at standard shop rates, parts costs and parts obsolescence it likely will be. Provided it's repairable it will spend some period of time waiting a queue for parts and tech time, and with any luck upon return the fault was actually resolved at a not insignificant cost and the unit returned to service. Contrasted to the cheep chinese genset you get for a third the price that you throw an extra $50 on for the "extended warranty" (replacement insurance), you run the thing until it craps out at which time it's either exchanged under the "warranty" or you just toss it and get another one. Odds are it will run longer than you need it to and from my perspective I can replace the cheep chinese genset three times for the cost of a Honda, so what am I getting for the Honda other than being obligated to throw money at it to keep it going to preserve that investment. I know that's probably not a popular sentiment among Honda owners but after over 20 years I'm only on my 2nd cheep chinese genset, so from my perspective I'm money ahead by a long shot. It's not that I'm against fixing things, but anymore finding anyone competent to do it and sourcing parts is a long shot. You weigh the cost of the device vs the service life you expect and from that point on you figure repair is by replacement. In my view gensets are little different than cell phones, TV sets and laptops so the idea of buying one with the idea it's an heirloom or investment is unrealistic. Guessing Honda is cashing in on brand loyalty but I've read that is a notion held only by baby boomers. Millennials and younger are loyal to nothing so going forward I think the idea of long term anything is a lost concept.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[solarman]

We head out on out grand (another) adventure in Octover.

We realize that some days we will need a local power source as this year we will not be able to do a reasonable solar install.
So, we need generator(s).

I know Honda is the gold standard and HF Preditor is the low cost solution.

Given weights etc, it seems a pair or “2000 watt” equivalent units with a parallel kit is our best option as we can easily lift the units and a pair can run one AC unit.

What are the best units less expensive than the Honda and, perhaps a bit higher end than the Harbor Freight ones?

thanks

Rob & Deryl

 

[solarman]

plenty of good arguments here, I would start by asking how much you think it's worth to spend on a generator(s) ?
if money is of no concern then the gold standard units may well server you better in future years, if you have budget constraints then the lower cost units such as the champion would be a better choice.
overall, I see any of these providing short term intermittent use without issue. My suggestion would be to purchase a unit of at least 50% higher rating than you actually need, my reasoning here is the small unit working harder vs a larger unit working less.. a bit like a truck, would you pull a 10000lb TT with an F150 or an F250 diesel ?

 

[Babe2201]

Might also want to look at some of the Briggs and Stratton generators. They might be just a little better than the Champion and the like but less money than the Honda.

 

[BoiseRules]

Unfortunately that is not always the case. More often than not you are paying for the name and their advertising and only some of the extra goes towards quality. Most people will only run a generator for maybe 20-30 hours a season and the rest of the time sitting there.

I know this because I have spent a lot of money on "quality" equipment thinking it would serve me for a long time trouble free and within 3 years spent about the same amount of the purchase price keeping the machine working and the next time spent half on a "lesser quality" piece of equipment with much better results and customer service.

Our Yamaha has been flawless for 15 years and counting.

I'm sure the OP would like to know what brand caused you so much aggravation?

 

[JayArr]

I'm in the repair industry and have a queue two weeks long, while it may be true that generations after the boomers have no brand loyalty they are acutely aware of recycling and that repairing something is far better for the planet than increasing their carbon footprint by buying another new one. I've also noticed a growing concern about the carbon emissions from Chinese made goods versus the emissions from first world countries. A generator made in Japan or USA is under far tighter controls and the factory emits less, reducing the carbon footprint - that's becoming more important to some.

I try to find out if there is somewhere to buy spare parts. If not it's disposable. I ordered a part for my 20 year old Briggs engine this week, they are all easily available, I imagine it's similar with Honda, I've been able to order parts for Champion from the aftermarket. I think as soon as you get into the store branded names built in China you will get into trouble. Does Harbour freight carry automatic voltage regulators (AVRs) for the house brand generators they sell?

 

[Babe2201]

Our Yamaha has been flawless for 15 years and counting.

I'm sure the OP would like to know what brand caused you so much aggravation?

It was not a generator but a wheel balancer for my business. It was top of the line and nothing but problems from almost day 1. Only came with a 1 year warranty and after about 13 months things got worse and like I said almost could have bought another one for what I put into it to keep it going for 8 years or so and used the backup more than the new one and then the last time it broke I was told parts were not available for it anymore. I replaced it with another brand for about half the price and have had no where near the problems and like I said much better customer service.

I am glad you have had good luck with your Yamaha and maybe 15 years ago that might have been the wisest choice but like another poster has said some of these lesser known brands have improved a lot and are using very similar parts to the better brands. The 4650 champion generator I bought was $800 and a 3000 watt Honda is $2200. That is almost 3 times as much for a generator that has 2/3 the wattage. I find it hard to believe the Honda is 3 times better or will last 3 times longer.

I'm in the repair industry and have a queue two weeks long, while it may be true that generations after the boomers have no brand loyalty they are acutely aware of recycling and that repairing something is far better for the planet than increasing their carbon footprint by buying another new one. I've also noticed a growing concern about the carbon emissions from Chinese made goods versus the emissions from first world countries. A generator made in Japan or USA is under far tighter controls and the factory emits less, reducing the carbon footprint - that's becoming more important to some.

I try to find out if there is somewhere to buy spare parts. If not it's disposable. I ordered a part for my 20 year old Briggs engine this week, they are all easily available, I imagine it's similar with Honda, I've been able to order parts for Champion from the aftermarket. I think as soon as you get into the store branded names built in China you will get into trouble. Does Harbour freight carry automatic voltage regulators (AVRs) for the house brand generators they sell?

Correct me if I am wrong but any product sold in America has to meet the same emission standards.

 

[BoiseRules]

So... you posted off topic (inverter generators) to try and prove my post wrong?

Thanks for the novel but I chose not to waste my time reading it...

 

[Babe2201]

So... you posted off topic (inverter generators) to try and prove my post wrong?

Thanks for the novel but I chose not to waste my time reading it...

No I mentioned another type of machine saying how buying the more expensive product does not always mean you get better. Sorry if I offended you but I have found this to be the case with many products over the years and my thinking is that it might be the same with generators. I might be wrong on that but when I can spend less than half for a product that has 80-90% the quality I find that to be wise and that is why I brought it up. I was not trying to prove you wrong at all just proving that the logic does not always work.

You said to buy once and cry once but I have used that logic a lot and cried a lot more than once.

 

[solarman]

we have had our Honda for 11 years now, not a single issue.
we also boon dock almost exclusively and make good use of it and have considerably more
hours on it than a "weekend warrior".. could the other units do the same ?

 

[cic317]

Have a 3000 watt Champion Inverter, dual fuel. Was 1/2 price of Honda at the time, and Honda was not offering a factory dual fuel at the time. That was the deciding factor when I purchased. Zero issues with Champion so far. Usually I buy quality name brand tool, But having a few friends that purchased the same unit, also with zero issue & thought I would give them a try. Glad I did.

 

[JayArr]

Correct me if I am wrong but any product sold in America has to meet the same emission standards.

Not the emissions of the generator the emissions of the factory where it's built.