So this is the 3400-Watt inverter/generator from Champion Power Equipment. What sets this generator apart from the field are two obvious things really:
First, you can find this generator brand new for under $1000 if you shop smart. Given the feature set, this is pretty damned cheap.
And secondly, it’s absolutely ready to go out of the box. You don’t have to buy any accessories to get the most out of it. You just put some oil in it, do the break in procedure, and then change the oil as you saw in the video above. Once done, you’re done.
But lets look at some of the competition to see where it stacks in the market.
At the low end, you have the Harbor Freight Predator. It’s a 3500-watt generator that runs around $750 depending on what coupon you have and what time of the month it is. It’s also pretty quiet. In fact, on paper it’s quieter than this Champion by something like 2db at 25 feet.
To be honest, the only real reason I didn’t consider the Predator was that I didn’t want to have to worry about reliability. Earned or not, Harbor Freight has a reputation as a discount supplier and that concerned me quite a bit… and as such, I took an early pass on the cheap alternative.
Of course, on the high end you have HONDA. Their comparable generator is the EU3000iS. This is a 3000-watt generator that is literally built like a brick shit house. I borrowed one from a friend last year and was impressed by not only the build quality, but just how quietly it operated.
When I started shopping generators, I just assumed I would end up with the Honda. I’ve always felt that spending more once beats spending less multiple times and there is not a doubt in my mind that the Honda would run forever. But frankly, the $2000 price tag was just more than I wanted to spend. Plus, the Honda weighs around 140 pounds fully loaded, doesn’t come with a mobile base of any kind and is a bear to move around.
So I kept shopping and found this Champion. On paper, it provides more power than the Honda, weights about 30 pounds less when loaded, and is completely kitted out with a mobile base and a sort of dolly handle right out of the box. All of this for half the price of the red brick house. It all sounded a bit too good to be true and I worried that the Champion would be too loud to justify the price difference, but I was willing to take a chance and got the Champion delivered.
Turns out, it is certainly louder than the Honda and if noise is your biggest concern, that $1000 price difference might be justified. But to my ears, it’s really not that much louder. In fact, I found the difference negligible. Plus, the Champion has a little trick up its sleeve – one that neither the Predator or the Honda can match. A simple little remote.
If you are using the Champion on a job-site as I simulated in the shop, you just start the generator from the tool when you are ready to work and then cut it off just as easily when you are done. It’s seamless, simple, and efficient.
But where I really love the remote is when we are camping. If my batteries are running low and I need to charge, I just hit the remote, let the generator charge the batteries in the camper and then cut it off – all without leaving my beer or the comfy confines of the old trailer. It’s really changed the way my son and I choose where we camp. The flexibility of the Champion is fantastic.
But all of these fancy features and plasticity is pointless if the thing isn’t durable. I’ve had the generator for a while now and I’ve literally beat the hell out of it. I used it for a solid week in my shop as the sole source of power while building a cabinet – starting and stopping with each 120v power tool use, I ran it for almost 72 straight hours to power the heater in our trailer, and I’ve thrown it in and out of my truck bed probably close to 100 times (yes, it fits under a tonneau cover). The Champion never complained.
And it’s done pretty great with fuel to. Champion claims the generator is capable of 7.5 hours on its 1.6 gallon tank. In eco-mode with a light load (trailer lights and battery charger only) I’m actually averaging about 8 hours on a single tank. If I crank up the a/c or the heater, the generator is still capable of running on eco, but run time on a single tank drops to around 4.5 hours or so.
This is not a paid endorsement. I just really like this damned thing… And after owning it for a few months and using the hell out of it, I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone that needs a flexible, relatively quiet form of power on the go. I think it would be great for a guy that does light job-site work and perfect for the guy like me that wants to power a small outfit on wheels.
I any case, you can read more about the specs here. And obviously, I’d be happy to answer any questions about my experience with it.
it looks pretty nice.
