I will report back in time as I use it more. My wife thinks I'm crazy for doing this kind of stuff, but it bothers me when I don't know the answers to these questions. I will eventually do some noise testing using one of our high end B&K sound level meters.
Some other things worthwhile to note. The generator literally started on the first pull out of the box. This makes me wonder if there was fuel in the lines. Not a big deal, just surprising it started so easy. After running it empty, the engine would turn a few times while everything primed. The electric starter is very nice. After all this testing, I did my first oil change at 4 hours based on some other forum entries. The oil was a little bit dark and there was a decent amount of very small metal particles in the oil. Nothing I would worry about, but enough that I am glad I changed it. I'll change it again soon to see if that was just from the initial break-in. I have a magnetic dipstick on order just to be safe.
