Northern Tool / Harbor Freight Inverter Generator vs Honda Advice Needed

Spend the extra money and get the Honda. I have two of them.

My in-laws have the Honda - I have this one and another knock off from Amazon. All three are extremely comparable. This one(the harbor freight model) I use for tailgating and it's one or two pulls every time and I use it for at least 5-6 hours every home game - never an issue.

I have the HF 3500 predator model. Couldn't be happier so far. Push button start, and it is quiet.

Got a deal on it by talking to the manager for about $600 out the door.

No experience with HF, but have been using a Honda for 2 years in support of field data collection efforts.
I'd go with the Honda because the reliability equates to peace of mind, especially when your in a fairly remote area.

Guy around here with his own construction company uses the hell out of the predators from harbor freight.

Said when he buys them he swaps the spark plugs with a Honda plug and they start and run flawlessly.

Tifwiw

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Until yamaha came out with their newer style inverters a year ago, they were all very close to identical.

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I think the Wen brand one he got takes Yamaha parts.

Thing works great and is quiet, I don't know if it's as quiet as the Honda but compared to a normal generator it's freaking super quiet.. They use it for tailgating. I think he paid $340 for it on woot. They had them pretty regularly over the summer last year.

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What's the difference between a generator and an inverter?

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To explain as simply as I can.

Invertors are clean power. Strictly speaking, it's not a good idea to plug sensitive electronics into a generator.

What I said earlier about testing, a generator typically uses an rpm control mechanism to keep the electrical output as clean as possible. If a consistent RPM is maintained, a generator can produce power which when tested, will resemble an invertor's output.

The inverter has a secondary mechanism to control the output.

Basically, generators surge. Inverters should not. The harbor freight inverter shares a ton of parts with the Honda, but the power outout is dirty.

I got a Firman and have been very pleased. It's the 3300/3000 one and I got it for $599 i believe. Way cheaper than honda.

I have a Honda that is 11 years old and still runs awesome. We use 4-6 times a year on our hunting lease Typically use it to run a couple of fans a 5000 BTU window unit day/night for 3 days at a time when we are working at the ranch from April through Sept when it is hot. We put some hours on it.

The one from Harbor Freight might be fine but y experience with them is to not expect them to last as a workhorse. If you are going to use it a lot I would recommend the Honda.