More Genny wars

[wanderingaimles]

Just got the e'mail from Home Depot on their Cyber Monday sales and noticed a LOT of generators listed, new inverter units especially some larger Briggs types with 4500 to 6500 watt sizes, and thought this was funny, a little pair of sportsman's with the parallel kit for $599. Sportsman

Seems like a lot of new players also with dual fuel units added to the mix now.

[pnichols]

wanderingaimlessly wrote:
Just got the e'mail from Home Depot on their Cyber Monday sales and noticed a LOT of generators listed, new inverter units especially some larger Briggs types with 4500 to 6500 watt sizes, and thought this was funny, a little pair of sportsman's with the parallel kit for $599. Sportsman

Seems like a lot of new players also with dual fuel units added to the mix now.

Note that and FWIW, the specs for the Sportsman generator set state that they are not recommended for use above 3000 ft altitude.

This may be OK most of the time, but not for overall general flexibility in RV camping.

[theoldwizard1]

bikendan wrote:
You can get the 3200w Firman inverter generator at Costco, for $100 cheaper.

That weights too much for me to easily load in the back of a pickup truck.

"What the RV world needs ..." is a 2800/2400 inverter generator that weighs about 50 lbs and has a run time of at least 8 hours at half load.

The closest one to that is the Westinghouse iGen 2500

[Yosemite_Sam1]

My friend has a dual fuel generator which he says he bought online for less than $300 with output of 3,500 watts.

It's made it China and he joked that it's "disposable" once it shows first signs of malfunctioning. So far it's been more than a year and tried it actually and did start with just one pull.

[wa8yxm]

For the record Honda's have 1.5 special features the others lack, NOW this is only important IF they are important to you.

First the 0.5 The 2000 companion. it has a 30 amp outlet (usually 2000's only have 15/20 amp outlets) and thus when paired with a regular 2000 (or another companion) it uses a lower cost parallel kit.. I call this a half feature because the Regular 2000's With the more expensive kit.. the 30 amp outlet is part of the kit.

The real feature is a genuine honest to engineering fuel pump. .What this means it it can not only use the gas that is in the on-board tank but it can "Suck" gas out of an "extended run" tank. I have no clue as to how big that tank is (Please use the genuine tank not a home brew) But if you need to run for say 20 or more hours like to keep the wife warm when the power company fails (Been there. Done that, used the motorhome's ONAN) well that can be a REAL feature.

[bikendan]

You can get the 3200w Firman inverter generator at Costco, for $100 cheaper.

https://www.costco.com/firman-2900w-running--3200w-peak-gasoline-powered-inverter-generator.product....

[Yosemite_Sam1]

time2roll wrote:

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:
I have one and tried it on propane. Works fine but keeps on tripping my appliances.

I figure the drop in power and wattage is much more than the official brass plate numbers.

No mention in the owner's manual about reduced power on propane?
What brand do you have?

Champion from Cabela's.

I'm aware of reduced power and wattage on propane but there must still be some intermittent dip tripping the appliances. Or, because I was operating in high elevation.

I stopped trying to solve the problem and intend to use propane when my auxiliary jerry tank runs out of gas.

[time2roll]

Yosemite Sam1 wrote:
I have one and tried it on propane. Works fine but keeps on tripping my appliances.

I figure the drop in power and wattage is much more than the official brass plate numbers.

No mention in the owner's manual about reduced power on propane?
What brand do you have?

[Yosemite_Sam1]

time2roll wrote:

wanderingaimlessly wrote:
Seems like a lot of new players also with dual fuel units added to the mix now.

The propane option seems great for a generator that gets infrequent use.

Nice option and standby should you ran out of gas reserve.

I have one and tried it on propane. Works fine but keeps on tripping my appliances.

I figure the drop in power and wattage is much more than the official brass plate numbers.

But again, it's a nice to have to keep your peace of mind specially if you have a tandem propane in your RV and confident both are full.

[time2roll]

wanderingaimlessly wrote:
Seems like a lot of new players also with dual fuel units added to the mix now.

The propane option seems great for a generator that gets infrequent use.

[DutchmenSport]

Well, don't knock 'em until you've tried 'em! You just never know.

We got a free "King Craft" gasoline generator with the purchase of a previous travel trailer. It probably didn't originally sell for more than $400. Reviews on the internet and such gave it a miserable status. I was reluctant to even use it.

I never used for boomdocking, but I've used it for power outages at the house. We'll, we've had that generator for 14 years now. I fire it up about once a month and have used it many, many times over that time when we've had power outages at home, plus when we needed electricity for family events and such where no electricity existed.

It' still running beautiful. Granted, it's a pull rope start. I had the pull rope replaced once. I've changed the spark plug only once in all these years, and when I turn it off, I always run the carburetor dry by turning off the gas line to it. I also keep Stay-Bil in the fuel.

It's still running like a champ after 14 years. So much for all the negative reviews and all the nay-sayers back then. The only problem with it is, it is a little loud! But for a free-bee, I'm still not complaining.

So, before shooting everything down, you might be surprised what the reviews are on these in a couple years.

All I know is, Honda's are pretty expensive. Competition for new-comers on the market is a good thing. Competition can only help reduce the cost on the old beloved dinosaurs or else, drive them out of business.

[Bobbo]

wanderingaimlessly wrote:

Dave H M wrote:
Dang, that seems to be an awsum deal.

I am thinking a nice slick red paint job and some Honda decals. :h

Don't forget the STP sticker, good for an extra 100 watts.

If I get me two of them, there, STP stickers, can I make my Honda 2000 into a Honda 2200?

[wanderingaimles]

Dave H M wrote:
Dang, that seems to be an awsum deal.

I am thinking a nice slick red paint job and some Honda decals. :h

Don't forget the STP sticker, good for an extra 100 watts.

[Dave_H_M]

Dang, that seems to be an awsum deal.

I am thinking a nice slick red paint job and some Honda decals. :h