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Old 10-26-2021, 10:10 AM   #61
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I have owned the 2k cube style champion generators for about 5 years now. Haven't had any issues with them at all. Just general maintenance, oil changes and spark plugs. I run them with a parallel kit. The few times I have had to contact Champions customer service they have been amazing. Which speaks volumes in my book.
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Old 10-26-2021, 10:45 AM   #62
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Originally Posted by Joe M. View Post
I have owned the 2k cube style champion generators for about 5 years now. Haven't had any issues with them at all. Just general maintenance, oil changes and spark plugs. I run them with a parallel kit. The few times I have had to contact Champions customer service they have been amazing. Which speaks volumes in my book.
I agree with this 100%.
We've found their customer service second to none.
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Old 10-26-2021, 10:56 AM   #63
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Just curious as to where you place your generator that it gets so much dirt inside the case?

I've had the case off my 9 year old inverter generator twice (with hundreds of hours on it) and it's spotless inside.
Alabama and Georgia red clay dust. It sticks to everything. This is what happens when I have run them continuously for 6-7 days with no shutdowns. It’s easy to clean with a brush on the end of a Shopvac hose.
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Old 10-26-2021, 11:17 AM   #64
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That was also my thought exactly. My 15 year old Hondas have never looked like that inside and I run them in the windy, dusty desert all the time. I'm thinking he needs to replace/repair the felt gaskets on the panels.
Some parts of the country have dust that's as fine as Talcum powder and being air cooled it's going to get inside the cases regardless.

If camping in areas where there's lots of people running around with 4x4's, ATV's, Motorcycles, and stirring up this dust it gets EVERYWHERE. Made the mistake of attending an event for one of my Son's RC Car clubs. About 400 people in at least 100 RV's and tents on the shore of an irrigation lake.

When not playing with their RC Rock Crawlers they played with their Trucks, Jeeps, ATV's, Motorcycles, churning up the dust. Needless to say much alcohol was being consumed during these escapades.

Came home and changed the air cleaner in my generator. Blew out all the dust that came in with cooling air with an air hose. Also took a full day with the vacuum cleaner inside the trailer

Never had that problem with regular boondocking as others weren't close enough to churn up a lot of dust more than normal.
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Old 10-26-2021, 11:24 AM   #65
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Originally Posted by Robmawer View Post
I went the dual 2000W Champion generator (dual fuel) route for several reasons.

1) the pair with the parallel adaptor was a lot cheaper than the Hondas.

2) total wattage I wanted was 3500W. This 65 year old body finds lifting two 45 lb, 2000W generators into the back of my truck much easier than a single 3500W unit.

3) two units gives me the opportunity to use a single when A/C isn’t needed (just for charging batteries).

Running propane has the benefit of not dealing with old gasoline sitting in the tank and the extra maintenance needed. However, you do take a 10% hit on performance (1800W vs the rated 2000W).

This is what worked for me.
Champion now offers the 2500W Inverter generator and it weighs less than 40#. Will also start and run a 13,500 btu A/C with Micro-Air (but nothing else at the same time).

On power output on propane, the "hit" is also on the "running wattage" which is less than the peak rated wattage. If rated for 2,000 watts, running watts are usually ~1800 for gasoline. If running on propane you can subtract another 10% or so. OK for charging batteries and light loads but that's about it.
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Old 10-26-2021, 11:35 AM   #66
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Trust me I had A Champion and it was very hard on gas you be sorry in the long run
Must have had something wrong with it unless you had AC cranked to max cold and was loading generator to max all the time. Just about any generator will use a lot of gas when that happens.
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Old 10-26-2021, 12:26 PM   #67
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I am looking at 1800 running-watt generators. the Honda 2000/1800W is almost twice the price of the Champion 2500/1850W. I know Honda is the gold standard, but I'm having trouble justifying 2X price.

There are many positive posts here about the Champions.

any negative experiences with the Champions? the specific unit I'm looking at is model 200961.

or, any great experience with other brands? dual fuel would be nice.

thanks

ken
The big difference is the name . Have owed and own both and both are great . but for the money it's champion hands down .
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Old 10-26-2021, 12:32 PM   #68
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The big difference is the name . Have owed and own both and both are great . but for the money it's champion hands down .
I have to disagree. The name/color is not the biggest difference. It is evident when you have taken both brands apart for maint/repair. They are NOT the same.
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Old 10-26-2021, 02:48 PM   #69
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I know Honda is the gold standard, but I'm having trouble justifying 2X price.
My wife and I have over 500 hours of use on a pair of Predator 2000i inverter gens. Faults are few. Cheap pull cords fray 4" from the t-shaped pull handle. It occurs within the outside cover, not on it. E-clip retaining choke actuator cable fell off, rendering the choke inop. Replaced with automotive store part but later found OEM clip in bottom interior of generator. We run both to meet A/C loads but often run only one at night in reduced power mode. Those two puppies owe us nothing. Purchased the pair 16 months ago. Using no oil between changes, they run 9-10 hours on a gallon of Rec Fuel at full ram cavity, 10-11 hours at reduced load. I operated them for a full break-in period as owners manual prescribed plus an addition 10. @ $450 apiece, we consider them to be a bargain in performance.
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Old 10-26-2021, 07:20 PM   #70
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Originally Posted by faithie999 View Post
I am looking at 1800 running-watt generators. the Honda 2000/1800W is almost twice the price of the Champion 2500/1850W. I know Honda is the gold standard, but I'm having trouble justifying 2X price.

There are many positive posts here about the Champions.

any negative experiences with the Champions? the specific unit I'm looking at is model 200961.

or, any great experience with other brands? dual fuel would be nice.

thanks

ken
I have a Champion 3500W dual fuel inverter. Starts first pull and is excellent at half the price of the Honda.
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Old 10-26-2021, 07:43 PM   #71
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My wife and I recently returned from a 2 month trip out west. I bought a champion inverter 3400w dual fuel generator for the trip and put in the high altitude jet, since we would be camping at high altitude. I will say the champion started and ran every time, but had some issues running smooth, sometimes it felt like the governor was jogging even though it was running with out anything hooked onto it drawing power. This happened after about a half hour of running. I was using gasoline nonethanol since gas gives the best output. It did work hard at 8500 ft. but as stated did well. Noise wise I believe it was much louder than the honda and yamaha generators we ran into. I was very surprised with a cummings onan generator sound or lack there of which was a portable unit. By the way when I put the standard jet back in the generator it runs smooth as butter with gas or propane.
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Old 10-26-2021, 10:23 PM   #72
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Alabama and Georgia red clay dust. It sticks to everything. This is what happens when I have run them continuously for 6-7 days with no shutdowns. It’s easy to clean with a brush on the end of a Shopvac hose.
I forgot to mention in my original reply. According to my records database the referenced units had just over 1,600 hours when I removed the covers. I don’t think the dirt accumulation is that bad considering the high usage numbers.
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Old 10-27-2021, 03:51 PM   #73
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I have a Champion 3500W dual fuel inverter. Starts first pull and is excellent at half the price of the Honda.
Mine starts right off with the pressing of a switch. [emoji106][emoji106]

Less wear on pull rope[emoji16]
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Old 10-27-2021, 04:27 PM   #74
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Mine starts right off with the pressing of a switch. [emoji106][emoji106]

Less wear on pull rope[emoji16]

Wow. Way to flex in the poors.
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Old 10-27-2021, 06:41 PM   #75
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I have a Champion 3500W dual fuel inverter. Starts first pull and is excellent at half the price of the Honda.
And you can expect to get half the life from that half priced gen set. I have a Honda open frame gen set from the late 80's still chugging right along without issues.

Honda makes the strongest small engines period! Yes, you will pay for that experience but you will only purchase one of those in your lifetime, and will most likely pass it down to your children.

It's really sad that we live in a disposable lifestyle in this day and age. Try getting parts for that half priced generator, once something fails just throw it away and go buy a new one.
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Old 10-27-2021, 06:58 PM   #76
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And you can expect to get half the life from that half priced gen set. I have a Honda open frame gen set from the late 80's still chugging right along without issues.

Honda makes the strongest small engines period! Yes, you will pay for that experience but you will only purchase one of those in your lifetime, and will most likely pass it down to your children.

It's really sad that we live in a disposable lifestyle in this day and age. Try getting parts for that half priced generator, once something fails just throw it away and go buy a new one.
And what makes you so sure the Champion will be a "throwaway". Have you ever owned one?

I've owned Champion generators since 2005 and if you took their first 3000/4000 w open frame, painted it in the Red color scheme, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between Champion and "Big Red's" EM3500. Except the Champion had the 30 amp RV receptacle.

There may well be some throwaway generators out there but Champion's certainly aren't among them.

As for parts? Champion has a nice service center IN THIS COUNTRY you can call and more often than not get parts shipped direct to you.

I wanted to buy a couple air filter elements for my 3500W Inverter. They shipped me two at NO CHARGE and they arrived in three days (USPS flat rate pkg.)


BTW, I still own two Champion generators and I sold my first that I purchased in 2005 to my neighbor who used it in our last power outage. Still starting on first or second pull and running great.
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Old 10-27-2021, 07:08 PM   #77
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And what makes you so sure the Champion will be a "throwaway". Have you ever owned one?

I've owned Champion generators since 2005 and if you took their first 3000/4000 w open frame, painted it in the Red color scheme, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between Champion and "Big Red's" EM3500. Except the Champion had the 30 amp RV receptacle.

There may well be some throwaway generators out there but Champion's certainly aren't among them.

As for parts? Champion has a nice service center IN THIS COUNTRY you can call and more often than not get parts shipped direct to you.

I wanted to buy a couple air filter elements for my 3500W Inverter. They shipped me two at NO CHARGE and they arrived in three days (USPS flat rate pkg.)
No I have not owned any Champion brand equipment but expect them to perform similar to the Harbor Freight Predator equipment that is cloned after the Honda small engines. I do not support Made In China anything, that is what is wrong with this country and it's our own fault.
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Old 10-27-2021, 07:15 PM   #78
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No I have not owned any Champion brand equipment but expect them to perform similar to the Harbor Freight Predator equipment that is cloned after the Honda small engines. I do not support Made In China anything, that is what is wrong with this country and it's our own fault.
Do you KNOW where the engines in Honda generators are made? Considering that Japanese car manufacturers (Honda among them) have been having lots of parts made in China since the Chinese manufacturing quality improved. Lots of news reports how the pandemic in China has hurt the Japanese manufacturers as well.

I won't touch your last comment as it's too political and against forum rules.
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Old 10-27-2021, 07:42 PM   #79
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Do you KNOW where the engines in Honda generators are made? Considering that Japanese car manufacturers (Honda among them) have been having lots of parts made in China since the Chinese manufacturing quality improved. Lots of news reports how the pandemic in China has hurt the Japanese manufacturers as well.

I won't touch your last comment as it's too political and against forum rules.
This topic is about small engines so I don't know where Automotive engines comes into play here?

Honda small engines are made in the US, Japan and Thailand and have very strict quality control standards and have been at the forefront of the standard by which other small engines are compared to since WWII.

It's really all moot at this point we are arguing over a quality product that might set us back $1200 for something that will last a normal consumer a lifetime. Compare that to the smartphone in everyone's pocket that will set you back $1000 and will most likely only last a few years before it requires a replacement. Value for the dollar spent, just get the tried and true brand and don't look back and support the company that pioneered the product to begin with.
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Old 10-27-2021, 07:47 PM   #80
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Over time, I’ve owned lots of products. Not one of them has even come close to Champion in customer service and tech support! I currently own a 4000/3500 watt open frame generator that 500 hours ago I bought new for $270 from Walmart. Now I’m in the market for a quieter, inverter model. For me it’s not “am I going to buy another Champion” but “ which Champion am I going to get”. After the way they have treated me and the way my current generator runs, I won’t even look at anything else. I heard one of their new 4500 watt inverters run and was amazed at how quiet it was. All I know about Honda is that a couple of friends have them and they run ok. Jay
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