WEN 2000-Watt Inverter Generator

As a Florida resident and new home owner, I wanted to make sure that I had a generator that would be able to keep me going after a bad storm and while I was the proud owner of an old, loud open frame generator (we all know the kind) I was not a fan of the aircraft level of noise it made or the drag car level of fuel it drank just to run a few appliances. Thus the search began for a generator capable of running the few things that you actually need after a major storm and doing so with a level of efficiency that negates the need to keep 50 gallons of volatile gasoline laying around the house and while it's no Honda, it seems to work just as well.First off, this thing is quiet. It's not totally silent don't get me wrong, but I could easily mistake it for a idling push mower when it is running on eco mode and no louder than a small lawnmower when it is running full tilt. I have my generator hookup installed on the back porch and when running at full throttle, it is no more than a faint background noise when the doors are closed which is a HUGE improvement over the construction site level of noise the old generator produced when running.Power output is right around what it is rated for with one caveat to be mentioned. I noticed reviews were a bit mixed on this and I don't know if it's due to fluctuations in build quality or something as simple as altitude (I am at sea level) but after doing some testing recently I was able to get it to sustain around ~1850w of power output (tested with a watt meter) before the overload light would come on. That said, this little guy was working pretty hard to keep that up and I think this is where the only down side of this generator over the Honda really shows. While they are rated similar, the Honda has a much bigger engine inside it for the same power output ratings and one thing I observed with this generator is that it struggles with starting power for some appliances and devices that should be within the range of rated starting watts for this generator. I would be aware of that if you are going to use this to run multiple devices with high starting demands like a refrigerator, freezer, or air conditioner. It will do it, but I have to start the big devices first to ensure that they have enough starting power to get going.Gas consumption is something that I haven't really gotten a good grasp on even though I have about 15 hours on the generator as I use it for electric lawn equipment mainly and I have never filled it all the way up with gasoline. It seems to be pretty efficient but I will update this when I have the misfortune of needing to use it in a storm as I can get a good read on how long it will run on a gallon of gas when it is powering the house for an extended period of time.Build quality seems pretty good. No blemishes or issues that I have found. I did install an hour meter which was easy to do (and pretty cheap) so as to better track when maintenance needs to be done. Honestly, I wish it came with an hour meter built in but for the price vs the Honda it's not a big deal.Overall the generator has been reliable. Always starts on the first or second pull and I only had one issue with it suddenly not running but that was due to the low oil shutdown as I had it on the gentlest of slopes in the yard and I guess that was enough to shut it down so do keep that in mind. Needs to be perfectly level. My use case for this generator in a storm is to feed my main panel so I can run lights, fans, ONE inverter window AC unit (8000 btu), one full size refrigerator and one chest freezer. It seems to do this without issue. I originally was running a regular window ac unit but the compressor kicking on was a little too much if the refrigerator and freezer were both running. I did end up putting a NGK spark plug in as another commenter suggested. I didn't notice a difference but I'm 100% sure it's better than the cheap Chinese plug that comes preinstalled. I also installed the magnetic dipstick which I would consider necessary in a tiny little engine like this. There is so little oil in there you really want to make sure that the metal debris doesn't keep circulating back around and causing more damage. So if you are in the market for a small inverter generator that doesn't cost an arm and a leg this might be worth the buy. I would definitely recommend testing it hard and thoroughly after getting it to ensure that you got a good unit during the return window. Final word from someone with experience, DO NOT leave gas in the tank (especially regular ethanol blend) or the carb for any extended period. If you are going to use it every other week like me than fill it up with ethanol free gas and run the carb dry when you are done with it. If you are running it after a storm for days at a time, regular gas is fine just be sure when you are done you run it dry before storing it again. It only takes one round with old gas to ruin the carbs in these little motors leaving you with no generator when you need it most.