Honda eu2000i. It's light and quiet. I've had mine running all kinds of stuff.

I doubt I'll ever regret buying my used Honda EU3000 generator. Saved about 600.00 over new and it runs like a champ, starts easily and easily powers my small RV including AC with no issues. Plus it's uber quiet a very nice quality tool.

Honda is worth the $$$. Plus you can get most of your money back should you decide to sell. Honda holds it's value.

Post #3.
Honda-powered at Costco - -
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/784172-need-recommendations-generator.html

I've had one of these for years. Quiet. Can run most of the house from a tranfer switch. Efficient on economy setting where it only runs faster in reponse to the load (where many run at full rpm all the time). You will still have it when your line power goes out or when you want to do something far enough away from the house that precludes extension cords. It also puts out a smooth enough power wave so that it's compatible with most electronic equipment. Really like it.

I've been running the 4000 watt HF for a few years, runs all day+ on a tank of gas, still runs fine, starts first pull (probably use about 10-15 days/month)

Under $300 with coupon.

And there's that guy here who works for Honda generators who can help if needed. :D

If you don't go for getting the power hooked up, the important thing is amps versus watts.

For high draw tools, etc., it is all here: Sizing Guide for Portable Generators | Norwall PowerSystems Blog

I have had four generators here on the last 19 years for stand by power. I just gave my 3200w, 19 year old Coleman to a friend of mine: Still works greats.

I also gave my neighbor a small 1200w hand portable Coleman that I had for 17 years. I hadn't used it in years.

I bought a much better Honda powered Husqvarna a few years ago rated at 6500w (I also have a PTO powered unit that will light up a city - runs off my tractors). We've been without power for as long as 8 days so Plan B is important.

A large-ish contractor style open frame genny will provide lots of useable power semi cheap. The downside is noise. The Honda EU2000s are nice, and very quiet but 2000 watts does not run much stuff. At the race track we use two generators. A large but somewhat noisey (loud) 8000w unit that will run several sets of tire warmers and a compressor and the trailer AC during the day. Then in the evening we switch over to a nice quiet Kipor 3000w unit to power the AC and trailer incidentals. The Kipor 3K unit cost about the same as the Honda 2K, but it will run our AC where a single Honda will not.

Kipor IG3000 Inverter Generator

The only reason to buy a generator is if your house panel is not safe or ready to power up. Otherwise, you're going to need to hook up the power anyway, so for even a year or so of AC power idling along, you're money ahead vs DC power.

OTOH, I've run the biggest HF generator for days on end, and it has held up well. The other stuff like compressors, power tools, etc are not worth buying at HF. If you want to check on generators, look for a Honda with low hours. Try SearchTempest: Search all of Craigslist nationwide & more

Is this one out near you?
Looks pretty good....

home lite 6000 watt generator

Hey, wanna buy a natural gas genset??? :D:D:D

I've helped build a couple of small cabins with little more than DeWalt cordless saws and drills and a Paslode cordless nailer. Kept the batteries charging with a large inverter running off a Mule.
Tools these days are pretty awesome.

Costs:

Being in Solar, I regularly make presentations showing the price of electricity vs. generator vs. solar. Unless you are running on Natural Gas, you are better off buying from the grid or going solar. Even with natural gas, be picky with the generator.

My business is in the process of doing whole house designs with Solar, Battery and Generator. If I were building a new house today, I would put in my own generation system.

Remember, most portable generators need a full oil replacement after 100 hours. Even the best Prime power units need oil replacement after 500 and spark plug replacement about the same time.

The only units out there that are prime power and 1 year between oil and plug changes are Yanmar units. The 5kW units are $28,000 and the 10 kW units are $48,000.

The only other thing out there with 1 yr between maintenance cycles for Prime power are the Capstone turbines, minimum size 30 kW, but 3phase/460V power.

Presently working on a design adding an extra large sump and an ultra-fine recirculating particulate filter. If I add a CD ignition and platinum plugs, we might get 2000 hours between plug changes.

IF you buy a Honda eu2000i, they are great. Run Mobil 1, it will cost you an additional $10 over the life of it. Any real Honda dealer can seriously service it if need be. You can also buy a pairing kit to run two of them and double the available power. But as others have said, generators, to live on, are going to be a pain.

In my case, I have it for emergencies (earthquakes). I run it under load (wife's 1,500 watt hair dryer) once a month for 15 minutes and 15 without the hair dryer to cool down. In my case a generator is like a good flashlight. in an emergency, you need something good you can depend on to work.

Forgot to add: $3.50 gallon gasoline = $0.32-$0.45 per kWh electricity.

We have a Home Depot brand 5k works great will run our whole house. Everything but A/C in fact we just had a nice big storm roll through Kansas City and it's running right now. I think it was 5-600 bucks. Best money ever spent.

Only run non ethanol gas in any motors. The ethanol absorbs moisture from the air and the gas goes sour causing rust and gums up the carb.

Borrow a generator and put the new panel in and go from there.

Thanks guy. Sound like Ik should get power up asap and just forget about the generator.