I'm looking at what a 2 kilowatt generator might cost and am finding that there's other options than Honda. For example, Amazon.com has the Honeywell HW2000i for just about half the price of the Honda. There are other (most non-CARB compliant) options like Briggs & Stratton and Generac, all for half the price of the Honda EU2000.
The obvious question is: Is the Honda that much better?
I know this is a "late reply".... but I've got a Honeywell HW2000i.
while it's a fine generator.... it's an attempt to clone-engineer the Honda. and it's "Not" a Honda. But it does a have a couple things that are better.
FIrst off, the Honeywell is 2000 watts and 2200 watt surge. The Honda EU2000is is 1600 watts and 2000 watts surge. Sounds like the Honeywell might be the better one? well not really.
let's look at "surge percentage". The Honeywell has a "10% surge" at 2000 watts and 2200watt surge. . That's not that much. The Honda at 1600 watts has a 25% surge (to 2000 watts). 25% surge for a small generator running any type of motor is a HUGE difference.
just using two household refrigerators is a perfect test/example. This was my setup during our last power outage (power out for onc week during 2011 tornado damage).
This is what I had on my generator.
2 fridges (regular Kenmore 22cf average)
2 13 watt florescent lights
1 TV (100 watts or so). (plugged into 500watt UPS for power backup and protection).
so when I had one fridge compressor kick in... I had no issues......
but when the second compressor kicked in (while the first was running), the startup surge of the motor was a bit much for the Honeywell. It didn't kick off, but my TV UPS kicked into "low voltage" for about 2 seconds. Then resumed normal operation.
so the "lack of decent surge capability" is lacking on the Honeywell Generator.
It also couldn't handle the surge of the washing machine going into "spin cycle" (the surge of the motor spinning the tub to drain it and the water pump startup).
Other tests have showed it won't start a "skill saw" either. Just too much surge for it to handle.
It also won't start my 8,000 BTU window unit. and Honda's will.
Now compared to the Honda, other people have reported running two fridges with no problem and no "drops" in their TV power. The Honda just handles the surge better.
The Honda is also about 10 decibels quieter. The Honeywell was 70db running in normal (non economy) mode. You couldn't run it in economy mode because the compressor surge was too much on it and it would kick off.
The Honeywell would run about 5 hours on a tank of gas. (about 1.5 gal). with gas being $3.50/gallon, that came out to be about $1/hour to run.
I also found that I didn't need to run the generator 24 hours a day, or even 12-16 hours a day.
I got up in the morning and powered it up and made a pot of coffee, then plugged the fridges in for an hour or two. watched the mornin TV news to see what the latest was on the storm damage and power restoration predictions. Then turned it off.
Ran it again around lunchtime to run the fridge an hour or two and to check out the news, make lunch ,etc.
Nightime came with filling to a full tank and typically ran for about 5 hours (5pm-11pm, etc) , make supper run lights and TV and fridge.
The fridges stayed plenty cold overnight. (as long as you didn't go opening them. ).
So what did this teach me?
1.) I want a quieter generator. The Honeywell is MUCH quieter than the neighbors Briggs/Stratton, but not near as quiet as the Honda.
2.) Slightly more power. This will allow me to run fridges and window unit AC, or the gas heater fan. My plan is to buy a Honda EU2000 and then "parallel" it with another unit for when I need more power. This will also give me great portability and split redundancy.
3.) External Fuel tank. 5 hours just isn't enough to run at night sometimes. I'd like a few more hours. You can get aftermarket fuel systems for the EU2000 that you unscrew the fuel top and put one on with a hose and it pulls gas (from internal pump) out of a regular marine/boat tank. most of those hold 6 gallons, which is enough to run a few days w/o refueling.
4.) wire in breaker panel to switch over dedicated circuits. extension cords running all over the house wasn't great
5.) invest in QUALITY heavy gauge extension cords. wimpy 16 gauge ones don't cut it. You want 12 gauge or 10 gauge is better. If you wait for the storms to hit, you will find empty shelves like I did. and I mean EMPTY
6.) luckily I had gas, with stabilizer in it. but when the power goes out, so do the gas stations. so keep gas. You can use it in your lawn mower over the summer or just dump it in your car after 6-12 months and refill them.
7.) buy some florescent battery powered lights. That way you don't have to run the generator to go back to the bedroom/bathroom. You can buy them $10-$12 at Walmart in the camping section. Don't wait till the sh** hits the fan. I bought some family members these in the year before and they never used them, but really thanked me when we lost power for a week.
8.) you don't need a 10,000 watt generator that costs $10k to power the whole house. You'd be suprrised how well just having 2000 watts did. (but 3500 would have been much more optimal).
9.) buy a big cable/lock for your generator. Generator thefts have been reported in about every natural disaster area/storm.
I know that's prob long winded.... but hope it helps some.
Mike