This weekend I finally went and bought a Champion Generator (4000 watt, peak 4500) and brought it home to try it out.
We have been thinking about buying one but due to Ike creating a shortage they have been in short supply. I found one Friday afternoon at the local tractor supply for $349, plus $50 for a 4 year service agreement.
Brought it home and filled it up with oil and some gas and fired it up and here's my impression:
It "seemed" as quite as the Honda generators although I don't own a db meter, but with it running directly behind my TT it wasn't too loud. My wife and I could have a conversation standing right next to it without a problem. Now I wouldn't want to have a long conversation, but it wasn't bad. I fired up my 13.5K air conditioner AND warmed up a cup of water in my microwave and the genny did just fine.
Then my DW and I sat there and asked ourselves some questions:
1. How much did it cost? $350(gen), $50 (4-yr service), 3 toys for the kids to appease them while shopping ($10) BTW tractor supply has some really "cool" toys, plus tax I walked out at just under $450. The service agreement with TSC was so that I could exchange the genny at any of their stores if there were any problems for 4 years.
2. When will we us it? Any time we go somewhere where it's going to be warm/hot and we don't have hookups. So that will be when? Well like when we go to Six Flags and want to have lunch in the trailer, those warm summer evenings when we do a quick stop at a wally world? and if we boondock during the summer.... Well we have yet to overnight at a walmart during the summer, we don't normally pull the trailer to six flags just to have lunch in it, and we normally go North to camp during the summer and 99% of the time we've stayed in campgrounds. When we don't its usually cool enough at night we don't need the AC.
3. Where will we carry it and the fuel? Since we drive a suburban (not in the cab) we would either have to carry it (and fuel) inside the trailer (not!) or mount a rack to the rear of the trailer (another $200+). If we do, we can't open our back pack-n-play door without dropping the genny.
4. But we'll have it for power-failure emergencies! We live in a pretty stable area, away from extreme cold and generally speaking not real likely for long-term power failures. Otherwise the Genny will sit in a place of "honor" among my other powertools (I collect tools like Tim the "Toolman" Allen).
5. Our main "regional" camping season is about to start so what are we going to do? We camp at regional COE campgrounds and state parks where hookup abound. Texas doesn't have much public lands like New Mexico so it won't really change our camping style.
6. But it looks "cool" and the sound is reasonable? For $450 I could get some really other "functional" tools that I would use more than a couple of times a year...like a new web-enabled cell phone.
So we took it back. People at Tractor Supply said "Didn't you just buy that about an hour ago?
We said yes...but maybe we'll come back next summer and pick one up when we go on a long boondocking trip next summer.
But for those that are looking for $450 it's a good generator...if you'll really use it! We decided we wouldn't.
CampinHappy
2000 Suburban 4x4
2007 K-Z Spree 240 BH with triple bunks for my 3 amigos
Formerly a 99 Coleman Niagara PUP
wife version 1.0 (so far ) 3 boys (5,7,11), The former "Rig" at Mueller State Park, Colorado
While the Champion may be a great gen set for some, and an adequate gen set for others, it would be to your advantage to think about this:
Since you state that you will likely go on a long boondocking trip next summer, have you thought about where? The National Park Service (and other agencies) have very nice campgrounds available that have no hookups at all. Hence the need for a generator. These agencies have noise restrictions, and are especially critical of generators. There are generators for sale that comply with NPS noise regulations.
2004 Ford F350 PSD 6L 4x4 Crew Cab.
2007 Jayco Eagle 322 FKS.
Camping with DW Terry,
Bobi-Sue and Billy-Joe,
Westhighland White Terriers
I went back & forth about getting a generator for a year, obsessed about what kind, price, watts, noise, everything. I did not pull the trigger until Ike came through last month. Out went the lights, and it was widespread in Ohio. First thing in the morning I went to TSC and bought a Champion. That generator saved my butt. We have two houses side by side and I parked the pickup inbetween and strung extension cords both ways. Every 12 hours the Champ powered the sump pump in one house. When needed, I powered my home office so I could print documents and continue making money. In those four days it paid for itself 2x over.
I only wish I had bought it earlier, but better late than never. There are several times I ran out of power boondocking and that's a pain in patoot. I also rolled the dice with that sump pump knowing I'd be down there with a pail and endless trips up and down the steps.
I agree about the Suburban storage - I wouldn't want the fumes and mess either. Mine sits in the back of the pickup and does not move on the bed liner. A 2 gallon plastic gas can wedges against the wheel well nicely. I also had a tonneau cover put over top to protect the Champ and keep opportunistic eyes off it.
Unless you're in a $$ pinch, I'd have kept the generator. It may make a bit more noise than a Honda, but nowhere near the dbs that Colemans and others make. It's definitely a "toy" that comes in handy for us.
Claudia
2007 Keystone Springdale 266 RELLGL - The Brownie Bungalow
2005 Silverado 2500HD, 6.0 - The Mammoth
Nights in 2007 - 30
Nights in 2008 - 48
We have a generator since we are on a water well and no power... no water. Had to get a 6.5KW due to the 1.5 HP well pump motor. It easily will power the RV when needed. It is not as quiet as the Honda EU6500, but it is a lot less money for the use it will get.
Mine is a Disafter brand which is identical down to the paint with the champion.
Ken
KE5DFR
Vintage 1979 Silver Streak Supreme Rocket toted by a 2002 F350, crewcab dually, 7.3L,4.10 axle,SCMT. Travel with two miniature Schnauzers and one African Gray parrot. Practicing for retirement!
what you are describing is exactly why many refuse to spend thousands on a
Honda(s)... it has nothing to do with the Honda itself...
we each have to place a value on a generator... it is cost versus need versus want versus convenience... that value is different for each of us for different reasons, and is why the arguments about them are never ending and without any resolution...
I wouldn't have come up with the same decision as you but you made what you believe to be the right one for your family... Great...
I have used mine in power outages 3 times, and my son ran it for a five day outage... my Generac 4000EXL with 6600start watts will power my camper at full power if I need it... I don't worry about noise when dry camping, it is approved for the National Forest and I run it about 3 hours a week (3 hours after 4 days) a couple times a year... its primary function is emergency use...
as for carrying it in my van the rear of the van is sealed off from the front, and I don't get gas fumes from it unless I would overfill it... I still don't want to carry gas in a can though... so I am going to convert it to tri-fuel and run it off of the camper LP and at my seasonal I have twin 100# LP tanks or from natural gas at home... no need to worry about gas or stabilizer that way but I could still run it on gas if I needed to...
good luck to you and yours and enjoy camping with those kids... they grow up to soon...
Love my mass produced, entry level, built by Lazy American Workers, Hornet
I would think those things would have been thought through before purchasing the generator, sounds like buyers remorse to me.
We always boondock in the mountains in higher elevations so there is no need for AC and we don't have a microwave so we have no need for a generator so we haven't bought one and probably never will.
I think they should have charged you a return charge of at least 10%.
TV: Mint 1972 Ford F-250 XLT
TT: 1969 19' Excel; entertains 6, feeds 4, sleeps 2 You don't shoot to kill, you shoot to stay alive.
I don't carry because I have to, I carry because I get to. I like new things-
- when they're 40 years old! My pictures
I know what you mean, only thing is I have used the heck out of my gen sets over the years. I hunt and fish and have used a 1000w Honda for many years, than got a 4000W electric start, now too heavy for me to lift, then got a Honda 2000, plus got one that my FIL had before he passed away. So I have 4 gen set in my storage shed and haven't used them much lately. In fact my kids come and get them for when they go to baseball tournaments. but they are still being used just not by me.
There should be a way to make generators put out less noise.......wonder why a sound deading enclosure larger than the generator and mabey open at the top and setting off the ground would deflect the sound and heat upwards.....
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) 3 boys (5,7,11),
