I'll jump in here ref the OP's original question. I have 3 generators: A 7500 watt Sears, a Boliy Pro 3600 watt Digital inverter generator and a 25KW Winco PTO generator.
The sears model I bought when I was in FL during the "hurricane spawning years". It uses quite a bit of fuel and is rather noisy, but it does a good job. Think about it, when everyone's power is out, you will be standing in line to fill all those 5 gal fuel jugs...been there done that.
The Boliy I just bought over a month ago for camping. I have put over 50 hrs on it and the thing is quiet and powerfull and only weighs 77 lbs, sips fuel....love it!
The Winco I got from a friends dad...$450. It has a 15, 50 & 100 amp breaker, and a amp meter. My 40 horse tractor puts the amps right in the sweet spot at 2k rpm @ 540. My tractor burns around a gallon an hr at this rate. I wanted the Winco to plug into the house during ice storms, and to run EVERYTHING. It does it no problem. I can also throw the Millermatic 210 in the bucket, hook up the Winco and go weld anywhere on my place.
I am not scared to run my tractor as needed to power the house, and I have a 300 gal diesel tank, so re-fueling is not a prob. I think a large pto generator is a great thing....powerfull and versatile. With the sad state of gasoline these days(ETHANOL), all of our small engines are experiencing more and more fuel/carb related problems. And, they just upped the ethanol content again, so it's just going to get worse. So, it's nice not to have another small engine to worry about. Jmho.
I will be selling the Sears genset, even though it is a good unit...I just don't need it anymore.
RD