Shopping for generator

I have had a 4500watt generator for a couple of years and never had an occasion to use it until Hurricane Irma came thru. OMG was it loud. I think there should be a noise abatement requirement placed on portable generators. I think if they were run next to a cemetery the dead would be up an out of their graves complaining about the noise. I know there is technology available to make them quiter..........

My son and I each have the HF 2000 (a Honda knock-off) and they have been flawless. For the price I would buy it again.

johndeerefarmer wrote:

laknox wrote:
You can get TWO of these from Harbor Freight for less than the cost of ONE Honda 3000:

https://www.harborfreight.com/3500-watt-super-quiet-inverter-generator-63584.html.

Lyle

You also get a very short warranty, no proven track record and no source for parts so you had better plan on buying a new one every time your's breaks.

Nearly 500 positive reviews on HF with 4.5+ stars. (shrug)

Lyle

laknox wrote:
You can get TWO of these from Harbor Freight for less than the cost of ONE Honda 3000:

https://www.harborfreight.com/3500-watt-super-quiet-inverter-generator-63584.html.

Lyle

You also get a very short warranty, no proven track record and no source for parts so you had better plan on buying a new one every time your's breaks.

2oldman wrote:
You're claiming an open-frame generator "isn't much louder" than 2 Yamahas? Perhaps you've never done a sound comparison from 300' away.

Yes I did, and it really isn't all that loud. Too loud for a campground, but not for Walmart or truck stop parking.

2oldman wrote:

waltbennett wrote:
We've had one of their 4kw peak regular ones (a whopping $300!) for four years and it's worked flawlessly (and isn't much louder than the two Yamaha's I had previously).

You're claiming an open-frame generator "isn't much louder" than 2 Yamahas? Perhaps you've never done a sound comparison from 300' away.

X2 It's always the guy with the loud generator that thinks his is nearly as quiet as everyone elses.

You can get TWO of these from Harbor Freight for less than the cost of ONE Honda 3000:

https://www.harborfreight.com/3500-watt-super-quiet-inverter-generator-63584.html.

Lyle

Don,

I put a rack on the front of my 2011 Ford CC gas 6.2 V8 F350 4X4 LB when we went to AK. I had upgraded my tires to commercial 19.5" tires. The tires were the same diameter as my stock 18" but where much heavier. On the front rack I had a 20" tall and 56" wide tool box with my Honda 2000 and a 5 and 2.5 gallon cans with gas in it and other odds and ends that weighed in at 300 to 400 lbs. I had loaded on it a 11' Northern Lite fiberglass truck camper. I was right at 12,000 lbs

We traveled 11,000 miles with this setup.The first 1800 miles was pulling a 17' boat. I never saw my temps go up and believe or not it was 96 degrees and higher in Fairbanks and stayed that way for a number of days. The average mileage for the entire trip was 10.8 MPG. This was taking into account the difference in gallons between US and Canada.

We also went over the Top of the World road, down into Skagway and Seward and then had to climb all the way back up.

I was really impressed with the way the truck preformed.

I don't know if a generator on the front of the Ram will affect it or not but if it does I guess it'll go into the bed. I watch my water temp, trans temp and oil temps very closely. Also I’m nowhere close to max GVWR nor the GCWR of the truck.

I really had a hard time getting this loaded as every time I use the "shift 3" to put in the symbol for weight this site blocked me and would not let me post. Has anybody else had this problem lately? As an example I tried to put this in red text and if stopped me from posting. I think the site is having some problems right now or it doesn't like me right now.

Honda is not only quieter at full load but also uses less fuel.
Honda has a fuel gauge.
Honda 300 hour valve adjustment, Champ 3100 100 hour valve adjustment.
Champ requires 50 hour oil change when powering heavy loads.
Honda 3 year resi or commercial warranty, Champ resi.
Honda manual pull cable choke, Champ remove cover screws to access manual choke.
Honda has oil life monitor light.
Honda instructs proper use for home, Champ say no use as prime power.
Honda plastic fuel tank, Champ steel.
Honda 3.4 gal tank, Champ 1.6
Honda no tools oil access, Champ screw on cover.
Honda clean carbon 500 hr, Champ 250 hr