"Second Tier" Generator recommendations?

[FastEddieB]

Give us a Pirep on the Champion Generator, I know several people with the 1500 and 3500 Watt models. They are very happy with them, one uses their 3500 for a food booth and mobile kitchen, they have been running about 8 years now. They are about as quiet as you can get without going to the Honda.

Brian

My generator arrived Friday. Got around to adding the oil and starting it up Sunday.

Started on the first pull, something my Honda never does, requiring about 10 pulls.

Seems well made. Somehow it shipped with the air filter element loose from an open housing door - easily caught but should not have shipped like that.

Here are the two side-by-side:

The Champion is naturally larger and heavier, given its increased output. The wheels are nice, but do not work well on gravel. The 30A trailer-type receptacle is a nice feature. It has 12v output, but warns that its unregulated, so not for use with electronics.

The Champion is just a tad louder, but by no means objectionable. I downloaded a sound meter app for my phone and from about 5' away the Honda measured 77db and the Champion 81db. Decibels run on a logarithmic scale, so that's noticeable, but again by no means loud.

I'm satisfied so far. I'm now wondering if I should have followed Half Fast's advice and gotten the propane-capable model - its not hard to imagine use cases where that could be handy. I just was not prepared to spend that much right now - maybe in the future.

Thanks again to everyone for your advice.