Champion 2000 watt invertor generator

[zuley]

My thoughts on the Champion 2000 watt generator... After doing the research and reading as much as I could comparing the Champion to the Honda I bought the Champion. Do I regret buying ther Champion?- No. Would I buy it again over the Honda? No, I don't believe so. I could not at the time justify the extra 600 dollars for the Honda. In the grand scheme of things 600 is not a whole lot extra when you sit back and think about it. I suspect the Honda will last a whole lot longer than the Champion. Both units are advirtised as 53 db. I have no way of measuring the out put of my Champion. It was certainly louder than my neighbor who used a Honda. In comparison to what we used previously the Champion was whisper quiet. It started effortlessly. However, I was shutting off the gas at home, per the instructions, and letting it run dry and stall. It would take a half dozen pulls to start it after doing that. I was alittle concerned. Run time was no where near the 8 hours as stated. I was charging my 6 volt battery pack through the onboard charger. With the refrigerator 110 AC unplugged the generator stayed at low idle. Once the fridge 110 was plugged back in the idle jumped as well as the sound output. I suspect I was getting no more than 5 hours tops per fill up at low idle. At home in my driveway I was able to run my AC with the Champion with no apparent issues. One afternnon I tried to run the AC while at camp. Kicked the breaker on the generator every time I tried to start the AC. After the third time I quit. Perhaps a reason for this was that I was running 50 feet of RV extention cord so as to get the generator as far from the camper as I could. I could not turn my water heater to electric without blowing the breaker either. I supect this was an issue with my charger rather than the generator... I could not get the 6 volt batteries charged to more than 13.2 volts combined. As per the digital voltage gauge on my 200 watt invertor the voltage had dropped to less than 11 volts one morning. I use a CPAP with the invertor every night, hense the main requirement for the generator. I ran the gen for probably 4 hours that day. I believe I was up to 13.4 when I shut things down and then the gauge dropped to 13.2 and was down to 12.8 when we hit the sack for the night. I had nothing else using power other than slight use of LED lights a few times during the night. One objective for this coming winter is to install a quality digital accurate AC gauge on board.
Just a few observations for those who also do the dry camp thing.

[TonyCO]

Totally agree. I don't regret buying the Champion on sale for less than half price of the Honda, but I would definitely buck up for the Honda next time. I only use it to charge the battery and it always starts on the second pull. I felt really good about it until last weekend when a friend brought his brand new Honda 2000 with him. Right next to each other doing a legit side by side comparison the Honda wins hands down. I'm happy with the Champion for how we use it, but I'm pretty sure you get what you pay for.

[JRTJH]

Yup, can't get a 1.2+ million dollar Newmar or Tiffin motorhome for the price of a Hideout travel trailer.... You do get what you pay for, but justifying the price for occasional use??? It depends on pocketbook, need and use.... I suppose that's why they make and sell so many different price ranges and products in each price range, eh? If you "need or just want" a Honda or a Yamaha, they are great machines. If you can't justify that expense, Champion is a great alternative. Red, Blue or Yellow. Heck now they even make Orange (Generac) and Lime (Ryobi) ones. There's a "color" to meet every need LOL

[Stew]

FYI...there is an app on iPhone, not sure about Android, that can measure decibels.

[mfifield01]

I sold my Champion 2000i to buy a 3100w, but my results were great with the 2000. I could get 9-10 hours out of a tank with it charging and running electronics (TV, etc.). A few times, I ran 100' of extension cord, put the generator behind a tree, and you could barely tell it was on. For testing purposes, I was able to run up to an 11,000 BTU AC. I never expected it to run my 15k, the reason I purchased the 3100w.

[roadglide]

I have the 2000I It ran flawlessly in quartzsite Az . It started right up in AZ white MT but locked up . I called the 800 number and talked with a service tech. The tech said it was a over load problem and sent me a new module that was waiting when I got home. It wasn't a big job replacing it and its run fine here in cripple creak Co. There customer service is fantastic they also sent me a nice cover for it. My champignon gen is very quit and seems to run at least 6 hours on a gallon of gas.I would buy another just because of the customary service.

[busterbrown]

I just purchased the Champion 3100 watt wireless generator as I only read very positive feedback on it. Very comparable to the Honda series and less than half the price. From what I read, Champion offers some of the best customer service on their generators. We'll be able to all of the trailers appliances with it too. I can't wait to break it in and use it this fall for some hunting trips.

[Desert185]

I don't have a Honda 2K. I have had two, Smarter Tools 2K gens with Yamaha engines for two years now. Having Yamaha engines was the primary selling point for me in that non-Honda/Yamaha price range. They work well within their limitations. One works better at high density altitudes than the other.

If I use them daily on a 7-10 day boondocking trip, I change the oil (Mobil 1) when I get home and run the carb dry (with Stabil in the fuel) with the fuel shutoff feature that the Honda doesn't have. I can change both 2K's and my little Honda 1K with one quart of $5 Mobil 1 from Costco...so why not?

The fuel use is minimal, as advertised, with the idle down feature selected with no increased load causing it to run above that lowest RPM. The switch doesn't determine fuel use, the actual load and RPM does, which I think is contrary to what the OP mentioned in his initial posting. If the load increases, the fuel use will increase.

So far, they work great when used within their limitations, and I don't see any disadvantage with them compared to my buddy's Honda 2K in actual use. Did I pay less than him? Yes, very near two for the price of one Honda. Will they last as long as a Honda? TBD. Standby. If I live that long, I'll let you know.

When in doubt, by a Honda.