Generator Choice - 1 - 3000 or 2 - 2000?

[Uplander]

Honda is a very good product....Honda products are expensive.....about twenty years ago I owned a Honda Generator....it worked fine.....I sold it when I sold my travel trailer.....when I got back into camping (retired now) a purchased a Champion 3,100/2,800 watt Inverter Generator....quiet running...enough power to keep my travel trailer happy with 13,500 BTU A/C, big screen TV, water pump, refrigerator and all interior LED lights etc. It ran about 6-8 hours on a tank of gas. I could handle the weight (About 65+ lbs.) Had wheels and pull handle.....it saved me a lot of money and got the job done....cost was $699
new at Cabela’s (on sale).
Note: A 2000watt unit will not power your roof A/C.
Note: State and National Park Campgrounds restrict generator use to about two hours in A.M. and two hours in P.M. (at morning and evening meal times).
Note: If you are a boondocker a high “AH” (amp hour) battery is your key to
Comfort and success....but that roof A/C will not work off your battery....that may be why they call it “Boondocking” !!!

Note: Long term boondocking requires learning to conserve and do without if you want extended camping time....roughing it means no A/C....limited power use...conserving water supplies...etc...etc.
If you can’t live without creature comforts then find a nice RV Park with full hook-ups.

Happy Camping !

[thrifty bill]

One thing about Honda is they hold their value extremely well on resale. Of course, I am not buying a generator to resell it, I'm buying to use. And only you can decide whether paying 2X to 3X more up front is worth it. In my case, its not.

The Honda 2800 is intriguing but from what I understand, its noisier (open frame model). Priced competitively with the smaller 2200 unit, and at 2800 should be able to handle AC.

On National Parks, it varies. Yellowstone is 8AM to 8PM, 60dbs from 50 feet. I'm looking to get a db meter phone app, for the future arguments....

[Kip in Ga.]

" The Sweetness of low price is long outlived by the bitterness of poor quality."

Lots of Inverter Generators on the market now. Some good, some bad and some terrible. There can be exceptions with every manufacturer, just like with automobiles and Trucks.

Before purchasing we shopped and read every review we could get our eyes on.
Also talked with real world campers.

Narrowed the search to Honda and Yamaha 2k units. . Both are great units, can be hooked to a 2nd for added power, fairly light weight about the same cost and extremely reliable 99% of the time. Plus it would have duty for camping and household emergency. and both are rated <1.5% total harmonic distortion.

We chose Yamaha because the on/off switch and the fuel are on separate controls.
So it can be stopped with or without running all the gas out of the carburetor. And it has an external fuel gauge, so the fuel level can be checked without removing the tank cap and shutting down the engine. Of course the Honda fuel can be checked while running, but not a good idea!

We believe 2 lighter weight and less hungry units are better than 1 heavier one, and close to the same price. It would be indeed rare for us to "NEED" a unit larger than the 2K. So one unit is sufficient.

If more power would have been regularly needed, we would have gone with the Hondas because of their ability to use larger add on fuel tanks.

The 2k can be real handy at home when used in remote locations too far for extension cords. I would not want to drag a heavy unit out there.

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