We have had a Honda 6500 for about 3 yrs now. Love it. Had a Briggs & Stratton
Previously -Unreliable. Both were hard wired.
Even our small dog show honda generator is still a workhorse.
We have had ice storms, hurricanes etc where we have lost power for more than 5-7 days
At a time. Highly recommend Honda
I got mine at Costco. Consumer Reports reviewed generators and one of the ones sold at Costco rated pretty high. THIS is the one I have. I have it so I can plug in a cord, flip a breaker switch and everything in the house except the stove and clothes dryer works.
Just a word of caution to anyone not familiar with portable generators. Please, please, please educate yourselves about proper use after purchasing and before starting it up. While they make life much easier during power outages generators can also be very dangerous if not used correctly. I watched my neighbor's home burn to the ground last year due to operator error with a portable generator on day 2 of a power outage. Fortunately no one was hurt, but they lost everything. Please read the manual, ask questions and read the manual again.
We are on our second generator, the first one we got from Home Depot lasted about 15 years. Where we live it's not uncommon to lose power for 2-3 days and at all times of the year,the big winter storm a couple years back we were without power for almost 3 weeks,we ran it almost 24/7 , gave it a few breaks . Our 5000 watt Homelite generator,has a Subaru engine.This one was about $650 and worth every penny. When we moved here we had our electrician friend hard wire it into the house, he put in the boxes on the outside that we plug it into so all we have to do is pull over the lever on the fuse panel and start it up.
It powers the whole house,water heater,furnace ,fridge, freezer, the stove and the all important Coffee Pot! Oh and the pumps/filters, de-icers and aerators for 2 fish ponds as well. We can use even the dryer if we turn off most of the lights or if my husband gets a different chord/plug than we wouldn't have to, it's next on the To Do list.
It's a lifesaver to be able to not worry about keeping the house and dogs warm, and have running well water,and hot water at that!! We were without power and a generator for a day when the last one kicked out during a storm, having to go get large quantities of water was not easy, we are fortunate that we heat the house with a wood stove.
We are careful about where we placed it so as not to have it too close to the house when running, the chord is long enough to get it enough of a distance away.
If it cost even $ 1000 with the electrician instillation it's still a bargain!
