Kirk W Posted September 11, 2020 Report Share Posted September 11, 2020 I just read a review of the new portable generators from Onan in the September Trailer Life magazine. I am wondering if anyone here has experience with them yet, or what the opinions may be. They look to be competitively priced. Quote Good travelin !...............KirkFull-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hill_Country Posted September 11, 2020 Report Share Posted September 11, 2020 10 minutes ago, Kirk W said: I just read a review of the new portable generators from Onan in the September Trailer Life magazine. I am wondering if anyone here has experience with them yet, or what the opinions may be. They look to be competitively priced. No experience with the Onan, but after looking at the specs and design it doesn't look much different than any of the other inverter gennies in the 2000 to 2500 watt range. I have a pair of Ryobi's with nearly identical specs and I love them. Easy on fuel and I can easily toss one in the basement or back of the truck without doing myself an injury. Note that the Onan is rated at 2500 watts, but if you dig a bit you find the run power is 2200 watts and, unless Onan knows some magic, that's rather optimistic for 98 cc's. Bottom line, IMHO, is buy the brand that you can get service and parts for because you'll probably be replacing the carb until you learn to remember to run the thing every week or so. I finally got tired of that and converted mine to run on LP, which is very convenient. I didn't see a price at that link. Do you know what the street price is? Quote John, Jean and Mea the Super Springer Spaniel 2019 Entegra Aspire 44B 2022 Jeep Cherokee TrailHawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobsallyh Posted September 11, 2020 Report Share Posted September 11, 2020 Kirk, last January at the Quartzite show an outfit had the line of Onan portables on display. The first thing I noticed was on the box they came in was something like this "engineered and developed by Cummins/Onan in Indianapolis, IN." Not exactly from my memory but very similar. Below that was "Made in China". My friend and I was looking it over hoping they would start it up. There was another guy there hoping the same thing. We walked on down the row and sure enough we heard it start up. Sounded similar to a Honda/etc. As we were standing there listening some sort of load was put on it. Much louder than a Honda and we just kept walking. The "other" guy that was there when we were had them fire it up and requested they put a load on it. He caught up with us down the aisle and told us the story and said "thanks but no thanks". If I was in the market for one I would have a hard time paying extra for a Honda/Yamaha. Personally, I'd go to the "Big Boys Toy Store" (HF) and get a Predator on sale or coupon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk W Posted September 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2020 1 hour ago, bobsallyh said: If I was in the market for one I would have a hard time paying extra for a Honda/Yamaha. Personally, I'd go to the "Big Boys Toy Store" (HF) and get a Predator on sale or coupon. I asked because of my past experience with 2 class A rigs that each had an Onan. The first was 3 years old and we kept it for 9 years and was used pretty lightly, the second was bought new and kept for 14 years and was used a moderate amount. In the first case we experienced 1 failure of a fuel pump, in the second case only routine maintenance. My portable experience was first with one of the construction type generators and later with a Honda 2000.The review was quite good and indicated that they compared favorably to the Honda with similar noise level. The Honda 2200i is currently selling for $1049 retail, while the Onan 2500 is listed for $749. The Honda 3000i is listed at $2199, while the Onan P4500i comes in at $1098. As far as I can find, the Onan 4500 is the largest of the compact portables out there and for the size it it also to the low end of the price range. One feature that I liked about the review was that the 2500 and the 4500 can be operated in parallel, with the 4500 carrying all of the load unless more is needed, when it shares with the 2500. If you haven't read the review, it would be good reading as they seem to have a number of features that I have never seen written up before. No mention was made of paralleling two 2500 models, but I would expect that you could. Generator Bible also has a review of the 4500 and they say that it is one of the most quite portable generators on the market at 52Dba. Quote Good travelin !...............KirkFull-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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