anyone have any good/bad experiance with champion portable generators?

[armand_c]

I'm so glad to hear that many of you are happy with the Champion. Although I own a 7500W Champion to power our home during power outages, it is a loud one that rattles the windows and can be heard from several blocks away. Dont get me wrong, I like it and it has served us well. There have been several times over the years where we have had to run it 24/7 for several days due to wildfires which caused outages and storms which knocked out the power for days. I just wasn't familiar with their smaller inverter units for RVing because we've never had problems with our Honda's up till now. Would definitely go with Honda again if i could afford it, but if I can get a reliable single portable generator that puts out similar wattage for half the price of two Honda's, why not? I just looked at the Champion again and its the 4650w one from Lowe's, not the 4500 and yes, it is dual fuel. One thing that stand out is the port for the trailer plug looks like it needs to stick out more. I saw in their video that the plug did not sit flush with the port and the bottom was at an angle. Anyone have any problems with this?

[TerryH]

I'm so glad to hear that many of you are happy with the Champion. Although I own a 7500W Champion to power our home during power outages, it is a loud one that rattles the windows and can be heard from several blocks away. Dont get me wrong, I like it and it has served us well. There have been several times over the years where we have had to run it 24/7 for several days due to wildfires which caused outages and storms which knocked out the power for days. I just wasn't familiar with their smaller inverter units for RVing because we've never had problems with our Honda's up till now. Would definitely go with Honda again if i could afford it, but if I can get a reliable single portable generator that puts out similar wattage for half the price of two Honda's, why not? I just looked at the Champion again and its the 4650w one from Lowe's, not the 4500 and yes, it is dual fuel. One thing that stand out is the port for the trailer plug looks like it needs to stick out more. I saw in their video that the plug did not sit flush with the port and the bottom was at an angle. Anyone have any problems with this?

The original 30 amp power cable that came with our Momentum 31G plugs right into our gas only, remote start 4500 with no problem. It is very quiet also. We were using the Predator 3500 previously and the Champion is at least as quiet if not quieter.

[KDutchover]

I have a pair of 17 year old Honda EU2000i generators that we've always taken on our camping trips. We ran them in parallel with a gen-tran parallel kit which enabled us to run our a/c and lights. On our last trip (we mostly boon dock) I had an issue with the generators not charging the batteries or running anything. I know its a generator issue because when we got home, I plugged the trailer into an extension cord and everything lit up and worked. RV also runs fine on shore power with no issues. I believe that the parallel kit has failed and when I searched for another one, I noticed that they are pretty much obsolete nowadays as Honda has shifted over to a master/slave unit or companion unit and boy, are they sure proud of them! $1300-1400 each. The generators run like new with no problems. I googled GenTran and saw that the kits are discontinued and the company itself must have been sold off and morphed into manufacturing other types of electronics and some home electrical panels. I am looking at just purchasing a new generator and saw the champion 4500 watt one. I saw it also was inverted which was a plus and it was only $985 vs $2800 for two Honda's. It has great reviews, but in today's day and age where businesses can and will buy reviews and pay people to post positive reviews, I am skeptical of believing reviews. I was hoping anyone with any experience with these units can comment. Your real life reviews would be a great idea if I should seriously consider one of these units, as we mainly want it to power our a/c unit and a few lights. I am in California unfortunately and apparently the Honda's aren't CARB compliant and cannot be sold here (good thing I am only 2 hours away from the Nevada border, lol) and the Champion is CARB compliant and looks like it will meet our needs. Thanks in advance and I looking forward to reading all your comments

We have had three Champion generators in the last ten years. We started with a 2k inverter and it met our needs for charging the trailer w/o the air-conditioner. Very quiet. We then purchased a 4600 watt on wheels. It ran everything, however it was as loud as a lawn mower.

We have settled on a Champion 3400 watt inverter, remote start. We love it. Reasonably quiet and we can run one air-conditioner and or the microwave. The nicest feature is that we can use the remote start from inside the 5th wheel. No going outside to defrost something or make popcorn. The total cost was about $1,000 with cover at Tractor Supply.

[Ynot4me2]

I had a Champion 3400 or 3500 regular generator. It always started on the first or second crank. Changed it for a 3300 inverter generator (way quieter) with a remote as a bonus. Gave the Champion to my SIL and it still works perfectly. Its big, heavy, loud but reliable. Made s bunch of jealous guys at the hunting camp. Originally bought it for $300 CAD on special.

[Rivercityjeff]

Very happy with our 4250 watt Duel Fuel Champion 200977! It's an inverter, quiet, and 79 lbs. One person lift! Plus it fits under the bed cover. We never worry about fouling the carb just run it on propane. Plus, I dislike wrestling gas cans.

https://www.championpowerequipment.c...fuel-inverter/

[PhilandAmy]

I bought a Champion on Amazon a few years ago, but could never get it to start. I returned it for a refund. I’ve got a Honda 2000 that I’ve used for 10 years and a Honda 3000 that’s about 8 years old. They’re pricier than the others, but they’re also almost bulletproof.

[carlmill47]

FWIW
Our Honda 2200 with soft start happily runs our 15000 BTU AC and lights (LED) with no issues.

[Yellowdog]

Hello, I have the 4500 inverter single fuel and love it. It’s heavy so I keep it in the bed of my truck. I rigged up a way to keep the tenue cover over it while traveling. It’s starts up on one pull, runs everything and is really quiet. I just purchased an exhaust extension for it. It’s pretty good on fuel too. I had a Honda 2200i. It never ran anything. I could hardly make coffee in the morning. It was fuel fuel and found it lost so much power on propane. Good luck

[Spike32]

I have a 3400 Dual Fuel that I've had for 3 years and am very pleased with. They just came out with a smaller version, also dual fuel that can be run in parallel just like the Hondas.

[azdsrtrat]

Are you asking about the Champion Dual Fuel inverter generators? I have the 3400 watt Duel Fuel generator. It weighs about 100 lbs without gasoline, and will run everything in the coach, without the soft start on the AC units. BUT, only one AC unit, or the microwave, or the Keurig, or the hair dryer, etc. It's fairly quiet, and will run everything on propane, although it sometimes went full throttle when the AC compressor kicked on. I've never run mine in gasoline, just propane, and I can get about 12 hours of 25% duty cycle running time on 1 20 pound propane tank.

EDIT: Correction, I have the 3400 watt Duel Fuel inverter/generator, not the 4500 watt one.

I concur 100% with everything MoonShadow 1911 said. Last summer we developed a piece of raw land into our own private campground. While the infrastructure (RV site, electrical, water & septic) was being completed we dry camped in our Solitude using only the Champion 3400 watt duel fuel generator. The generator met all our needs and performed flawlessly. In addition we were operating it on propane only and at 8000 feet elevation without problem.