Disappointed with Champion brand generator!

[kenmac]

I have a 15 ? yr old portable 5500 W Generac With a 10 HP B&S engine. I run the fuel out of the carb after every use.I try to crank the generator every few months. I can go down right now ,turn the fuel on set the choke , pull the rope about 3-4 times and the engine will start. I like the fact that this Generator has a plastic fuel tank. I have other gas powered equipment that have metal gas tanks & it seems that I'm always having rust in the fuel tank issues. The Chinese generators (that I see) use metal gas tanks

 

[4shorts]

Well I went out and looked at our Honda generator and it appears all the components have "Made in Japan" on them BUT on the side of the fuel tank is "Made in China". So grsthegreat was right.
I guess their not made in the same place as some of the other makes I see around that I can't even pronounce and at least they still have a great dealer network so I know I can get parts if need be.
A friend just dropped and was telling me that the Chinese are subbing work out to the Vietnamese now to save on costs :shocked:
Sign of the times I guess :confused3:

 

[Dutch445]

I also just picked up a Honda EU6500IS (Inverter based, quiet, electric start is what the codes stand for). I'm also in the market for an EU2000I or an EU3000IS to service my JLG man-lift. There are quit a few generators for sale in this class and very few Hondas for sale below 80% of their new price. All the rest are 50 to 25% of their new price. I happened to look at a Generac 2000 watt model and noticed that it only has a 2.5 hp motor while the Honda's is 3.5 hp. The reviews say it all. The Honda does a better job of handling a starting load before the throttle ramps up, while the other models fail to get the appliance started and overload. Even though they are all rated about the same. I see that a Yamaha inverter generator is also well rated in this power range, but is actually a smaller displacement 2.5 hp motor like many of the other non-Hondas.

So, its both a quality and a performance advantage that you need to watch out for when buying a generator that's closely matched to your needs. I have a 50kw pto generator that really does the job, but I love a bargain and flexibility of tools like this. Not very many Honda inverter generators are available for a bargain price. Plenty of others, though...

these inverter units are great. this type of generator is going to become more and more popular as our electronics will need a cleaner power supply during
outages. i just went thru the John Deere training down in Florida, part of it is the Honda traning with factory reps, and they demonstrations they do
really show a difference in the power quality coming out of these generators. the inverters are the cleanest power they make.
not only clean, but efficient too. very low fuel consumption.

 

[MNBobcat]

i
I have been looking at that Honda. I then saw the champion in costco the other day, and was thinking to myself " why not for $700?" But picturing my wife fighting to pull a rope and start a generator at -20 in the dark when I am at work really makes me think the honda is more worth while.

My wife can easily start our champion. It literally only takes pulling the cord half way out one time for it to start. That's after not running it for a week. It starts that easy. I've not tried starting it in the cold though, so I can't speak to that. But I have a hunch it would still start pretty easily.

My dad had his shoulder replaced. So he did opt to get a Champion with electric start.

 

[MNBobcat]

these inverter units are great. this type of generator is going to become more and more popular as our electronics will need a cleaner power supply during
outages. i just went thru the John Deere training down in Florida, part of it is the Honda traning with factory reps, and they demonstrations they do
really show a difference in the power quality coming out of these generators. the inverters are the cleanest power they make.
not only clean, but efficient too. very low fuel consumption.

A tip on that.... If you have a computer Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) you can plug that into your generator and then plug your computer/electronics into the UPS. The UPS will clean up the power before it gets to the electronics. Even a bad UPS with a dead battery can be used to clean up the power.

 

[downsizingnow48]

I have a Champion 3500w generator. When Isabel hit we were out of power for 2 weeks. So when Irene was on the way I ordered the Champion from Amazon. Arrived on Thursday, tested on Friday, power went out on Saturday. Generator ran for 6 days straight except for cooling off and refueling. Since then I test start 2x a year then run it dry and make sure there is no small amount of fuel left in the tank to go bad. So far it always starts on the 1st half pull with fresh gas. Have used it a few times since the hurricane. The ethanol fuel is tough on intermittent use engines, have to deal with it one way or the other.

 

[Scooby074]

As far as I know, the Inverter EU's are still Made in Japan. As much as I hate it, I can see why the basic EM's are now made in China to keep the price down. Still discouraging that Honda is doing that, albeit Id trust a Honda out of China much more than any other brand.

If I was back in the market again, Id check out Yamaha's offerings for COO. Theyre supposed to be as good as the Honda's but not nearly as well known.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Wheras the inverter idea seems like a good one, I see it as one more major area to go wrong when you need it. If I really had to depend on a genset, I would prefer not a single transistor in the mix!

I see too many posts where the chinese implication is automatically one of junk. I am sure in MOST cases that is the truth, but I think you can have the highest quality stuff on the planet made there as well!

My friend who works at a company that also happens to service small engines always tells me that B&S has several lines of engines in the same power class. He tells me the series names but I don't generally pay attention to know what is what. I guess they had to make cheaper version to compete wth all the knockoffs out there. Makes you wonder if that is good business sense, in that the cheap stuff may well ruin their reputation.

 

[grsthegreat]

ya, it gets real confusing. I wired an off grid home last year using the owner supplied 7500 watt (if i remember) Northstar (Harbor freight) generator. He built the entire 4,000 sf house on that unit. It ran 8-10 hrs / day 5 days a week till the house was finished and they brought in the power lines. All i can say is that cheap generator stood the test of time. That was alot of hard use for many months.

I dont thionk coleman makes generators any more. Mine has made in USA on it. But its real old.....not used too much. I take it with me on jobs where im changing out main service on houses. I run it to plug in customers referg and freezer during change over.

 

[V1Rotate]

Every time I shut down my portable Generac I first shut off the fuel, then I wait until the engine starts to die. When the engine starts to sputter due to fuel starvation, I close the choke and the engine comes back to life for a few more seconds before it finally dies.

I think this procedure sucks every possible drop of fuel out of the carburetor to help keep it from gumming up. Seems to work for me.