onan gen vs portable gen?

KD4UPL wrote:
A good portable will run you close to $800 for a 2,000 watt. If you want 2 of them for 4,000 watts or just a 3,000 or 4,000 watt generator than a portable will cost you close to $2,000. Any thing less will be loud, burn lots of fuel, and turn your camping neighbors into enemies.

not true anymore. there a number of good and cheaper non-H&Y inverter generators out there now, Champion's 2000w and 3100w units.
a pair of their 2000w units, with parallel kit, can be purchase for under $1000.

I wonder, do you regularly run your Onan as the manual calls for? I think it specifies to run it under 1/2 load for 2 hours once a month. This will go a long way toward making it reliable. It helps get the moisture out of the windings and the engine. It also helps fresh gas stay in the carb.
Any $300 generator will be extremely loud and probably rather cheaply made. If you're tired of repairing a generator a cheap one from Amazon doesn't sound like a step in the right direction.
A good portable will run you close to $800 for a 2,000 watt. If you want 2 of them for 4,000 watts or just a 3,000 or 4,000 watt generator than a portable will cost you close to $2,000. Any thing less will be loud, burn lots of fuel, and turn your camping neighbors into enemies.

Or better yet go solar and not have any noisy ginny to disturb people.

A portable generator is certainly an option. We've done something similar.

A $300 4000w generator is going to be like living with a lawnmower.

Fla904 wrote:
(cheaper than the A-hole mechanics labor to install the 300.00 carb)..

If that's how you feel, maybe you need a new mechanic?
I have a 20 year old ONAN and it works great.

Yes, the generator you're describing will be loud. Consider spending more and getting an Inverter Generator. They're quieter than an open frame model.

a portable generator for $289 is going to be LOUD!:E

that's fine for boondocking but NOT for any campground. it will exceed noise limits.