curt12914 wrote:
I am very happy with my Hondas. The only reason I would consider the Champion's is to save a significant amount of money. I guess I would rather spend a little more for a proven product, rather than be a guinea pig on a new mousetrap. Parts and service, down the road, scare me a little with the Champion.
IMHO, in order to be successful, the Champion inverters are going to need to be priced under $500. If I was going to pay more than that, I would rather pay for the proven product. The success of the 3500 was because of their low price. Most people were willing to take a chance, since they were cheap. If they had problems, they were willing to throw them out rather than repair them.
So, if you have two Honda's and are happy with them and have no intention of purchasing a CPE 2000i why are you here?
Is your intent to undermine the 2000i and CPE or is there some other agenda that I am not aware of?
The success of the 3500 was not because of their low price. It was because of the reputation CPE has earned for a quality product, excellent tech support, continued service and parts availability. Compared to other Chinese built generators the purchase is a no brainier.
CPE spent three years engineering, testing and developing their inverter. I first learned of their inverter prototypes in early 2007. They easily could have brought the product to market much earlier, but wanted to be sure it was going to be rock solid. Based on what I know about their past and current synchronous generators I had no reservations in buying two 2000i units a couple of months ago. Their performance is impressive.
Established companies are constantly introducing new, unproven equipment. Truck engines, suspensions, transmissions, ECM units, etc. We accept them because we have confidence in the engineering and commitment to quality a company offers - not how long a design has been on the market.
I've been testing and writing about portable camping generators for over five years. The 3,000 Watt Chinese Generator Info thread I started and have shepherded for almost six years is one of the longest running and most viewed/commented on this entire forum. There are not many camping generators I have not tested or own. I've got a pretty good idea of what is good and what is not.
Yes, the Honda is a proven product. No question about it. But that does not make other products inferior.
Just differing opinions, Curt. Nothing is intended to be confrontational. This is one of those no-winner issues when it comes to the debate. Sort of like Ford-Chevy-Dodge/diesel-gas. That is one of the reasons I chose a Volvo HDT. Now there is something with a proven performance record. I think everyone should own one. :W
A photo of an EARLY Champion Inverter generator. This was a prototype that received extensive testing and revising rather than just throwing it out on the market.
