My 5500 Onan was built in at the factory and I would not be without it. I use it much like all of the previous posts and I have been through one complete power blackout at my home base due to a tornado. It was nice having lights and hot coffee when no one else in town had either. I was providing coffee for the anyone that came by. I run it monthly on the first day of the month without fail and I keep stabilizer in the fuel 100% of the time. No ethanol gas is used 99% of the time since a time or two I couldn't find no ethanol gas when I needed some. My generator is 4 years old and I have 170 hours on it.
One use of the generator that I haven't had to use "yet" is to operate a 120v nut driver for removal of wheel lug nuts. 8 lug nuts on each wheel takes a while to remove and with a generator that task can be much faster when sitting on the side of the road. I will also use it for reinstalling the lug nuts up to a good snug tightness, but will use a torque wrench for the final step.
