Champion Power Equipment 4750-Watt Electric Start Dual Fuel RV Ready Portable Generator

Great generator. I purchased this 7 years ago. Battery died after 2 years but dont care because I get a start on propane on the 3rd pull every time. Only use for minimal stuff because I don't have outages to often. Thinking about a bigger one but this thing is so dependable.

I bought this model in March 2020, and it's been 33 months. I got it with the 50' NEMA L5-30P extension cord, and an adapter to 3x NEMA 5-15Rs. I prefer the locking fully-inserted plug to the RV-style that can get loose, fall out, or arc.PROS:Since this is intended for standby/emergency use, it has been on a battery tender (NOCO Genius 1) and always cranks strong and starts once the fuel hits the cylinder. Champion recommends stopping the running motor by starving it of fuel and not by turning off the power. While this will prolong the life of the generator by not having fuel sitting and rotting in the cylinders or fuel lines, this means starting can take up to 15 seconds. My personal preference is to crank for 5 seconds, and if no start, wait a bit for starter motor to cool and retry.In August 2022 I decided to take it off the battery tender, and see how long the battery could provide starting power. The generator is run at regular intervals, and while I started at 30 days, I lowered it to 14 for testing the battery, then slowly raised it up... and January 2023 it started fine after 45 days.I usually wheel it out, start it up, run 15 min with no load, verify voltage on the display (the first couple of times I verified accuracy with a DVM and a load), and then give it 30 minutes to cool before stowing away. No oil has needed to be added. I suspect somewhere in the next 3-6 months it will need an oil change and a new battery. By then I plan to replace the SLA battery with a LiFePo. LiFePo cells don't charge below 32°F (0°C) but that's not an issue here in southern Arizona -- just bringing it up in case someone else thinks "Hey that's a great idea" and then finds out it doesn't charge in a snowstorm.The frequency (which Champion calls "Hertz") is a solid 60Hz. For European users, I looked but am unable to find where the frequency can be changed to 50Hz. The voltage sits at 122VAC with no load, and reduces to around 119VAC with decent loads (2x 10-12A power tools). The engine does not appear to strain to support that load. Fuel consumption ... well I filled it up almost three years ago and the gasoline can is still sitting around to refill it again, but my roughly 33 tests of 15 minutes each should have just about emptied the tank... and yet it keeps running.CONS:It really isn't quiet. 68dB at 25ft is a good metric if you have a spare 25ft from anyone else, but if you don't, that works out to approximately 74dB at 12.5ft or 80dB at 6ft. That's REALLY NOISY when you're there starting it up, and VERY NOISY in the house 6ft away.Why 6ft away? Champion recommends 5ft from anything else, and this thing weighs A LOT. Their own figures show 122lbs, but add in half a quart of oil (3lbs) and half a gallon of gasoline (4lbs) and you're at the 130lbs mark, more than you want to pull behind you and have it bump into you, or push in front. Honestly, they should have put four wheels on this thing.There is no indication of fuel level so if you want to calibrate a dipstick you can do it that way. There is no indication of oil pressure or temperature so the only way to know oil breakdown/particulates is to sample it and pretend you know what the color means ;)OVERALL:I would recommend this to others.I would recommend this to family members and friends.I would buy this again ... say for an RV (but not in an RV park because of the noise).I would recommend Champion and buy from them again.ETucson, Arizona, US

I recommend this generator wholeheartedly. I bought it in September 2018, despite my wife’s view that we did not need it, it cost too much, etc. After the derecho of Sept 2012, our area of central Virginia had no electricity for a week. Fortunately we were able to borrow a neighbor’s generator (they were out of town) – which made all the difference: power for two fridges, lights, a fan, etc.So I finally went ahead and bought this product over three years ago. At the very least, I saw it as a kind of insurance. We lost power for three full days this week (January 2022). I fired up the generator for the first time (see caveat below), and ran it about 8-12 hours daily to run all of the above plus chargers for phones and computers. It was a lifesaver. Even running only half of every day, the power kept contents of freezer rock solid.Operational details:-- it is dual fuel generator, either gasoline or propane. This is a great advantage since propane is a very stable fuel (same fuel and tank used for gas grills). Gasoline is convenient, but gets old in any tank (in 6-9 months) and must be replaced. I only use propane. I already had two propane tanks for the outdoor heaters that we also need in Covid times. So you just hook up the integral flexible fuel line from the generator to the tank-- our consumption less than 1 tank/day.-- it has electric pushbutton start. Worked fine every time. Even a cold start at 7 am on a 20 degree day.-- you do have to adjust a choke for cold starts. Not hard. Easily accessible.-- also has pullcord backup start (like a lawnmower). Have not used it.-- see the tech specs here for outlets, max kilowatts, etc. I am sure we could have drawn more power out of it than we ever did-- has two wheels, so easily moved around-- noise level when next to it was not objectionable. Noise level inside house was hardly noticeableOther details:-- the starting battery is small, like a motorcycle battery. I left it on my workbench so I would remember to put a 12 volt trickle charger on it every 3-6 months.-- I am sure you can leave the battery properly hooked up to the generator and run the trickle charger to its terminals there. But see next bullet-- I made a box to cover the generator in my garage. That way no stink bugs or mice could get to it. That is why I removed the battery. With the box, I would put tool chests, etc on top. So it became a useful table.-- Instruction manual tells you how to run it when new, for a break-in period. Did that. You also need to drain the oil after the break-in and replace it.-- Oil checks and changes are the one thing that seem to have some drawbacks. Access is not easy.-- But after 2 years and 4 months in its box, I found no oil leak on the floor last Monday when I first used it during the outage.-- Oil looks clean today on the dipstick.-- In Sept 2018, I paid $520 for this – on Amazon. - FOR THE MODEL RATED 4750 OR 3800 WATTSBottom line – it has already proved a fine purchase and a great peace of mind against next outage.