Thanks to all! I should have done a search or just continued to page 2 first! Thanks for the link!
Yeah, I'm kind of generator talked out, as some others probably are as well, this seems to be a popular discussion in the fall. If You have specific questions there are some highly skilled/ experienced people here (not me).
But when it comes down to comparing pto to stand alone, it turns into arguing personal preferences. I would say it's a pretty even split here on the two, people are passionate on both sides of the issue.
I have both a 10 kw pto and 3 stand alones from 2 - 5.5kw.
Here's a link to a thread I started about my purchase of the pto unit, there are other threads with more in depth discussion comparing the two.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/new-holland-owning-operating/111344-ford-1700-power-take-off.html
What brand of pto for $1,000 and is it new? I've seen them cheaper in the past but that's probably around the going price.
As far as the 2 speed pto, the generator has to be spun at 3600 which equals 540 pto speed, with the higher pto speed you would have to lower engine rpm's to maintain 540 output. lowering engine rpms means less power, thus the fact that only light loads would be able to be maintained, also more difficult for tractor to maintain correct rpms while varying load on genny.
That said, I wish I had 2 speed pto just for those times when you just want to have a few lights on and don't want to leave your tractor at high rpms. It was my first question as a new pto genny owner as well as many others, how can I slow my engine down but still get output on genny.
Good luck, JB.