The Yamaha plastic carb jet statement is false. I work at a dealer that sells Yamaha generators. One of the salespeople had service an EF2000 camo generator about a year ago and then stuck it out on the showroom kind of buried behind some other items, so it was invisible-and thus did not sell. I noticed it the other day and dug it out, opened up the fuel cap and got the horrible smell of old fuel. Took it back to the shop and pulled the carb apart, all aluminum. Only plastic part I seen was some of the throttle linkage and a bushing. The jets are still brass. It's an easy carb to clean.
Both are going to be sensitive to fuel age due to the teeny tiny jets inside the carb. Both are good generators. I feel that the Honda might be "slightly" quieter than the Yamaha, but I haven't heard/run a Yamaha outside yet. Just inside the shop and you get some echo from all of the concrete and walls that are nearby. I do know that standing over it, while putting the panels back on after carb cleaning, that I was holding a conversation with a customer at normal voice level. Pretty impressive.
I've heard/seen a EU2000 running at the drag races. Guy used it to run his battery charger and a couple lights. I was standing right over it while my dad's old Coleman was running about 50 feet away. I could not hear the Honda. It was drowned out by the old coleman powermate.
I would not pay a single penny for a Champion...dad has one...order parts for it about twice a year. Regulator board goes south. It's cheap but by time we put a board in it once a year, he's back to what a good Honda or Yamaha would cost. I bought my EF2800i about 12 years ago and have not done anything but start it about once a month if I am not using it. The first 10 years, it was used 20-24 hours a weekend, non-stop, just top off the fuel once. It was used to run the A/C and a few lights in the car trailer. It didn't want to start the a/c unit with anything else plugged in but it would run it just fine once it started the compressor. It is really too small for that kinda usage but I like it because it's only 60 lbs and runs almost 14 hours at typical load (without running the a/c). Fill tank in the morning and it'll last all day long and still have some left over by time I'm done in the evening.
