We switch between 2 Hondas at deer camp. The only issue is at below zero temps one of the extended tanks occasionally ices up. Now this last season an uncle picked up an AI Power SC200i from Costco. It has a Yamaha engine and I assume the rest is Chinese made. In any case it’s $550, quiet, easy on fuel and plenty of power for regular fishhouse/deer camp items.
unless your doing heart surgery on the ice,or running computers,i would just buy one that you can afford and just run it. imo
I do occasionally ‘work from home’ on the ice. I know many others do this as well, so charging a computer on the ice is a real possibility.
So I’ve looked at many generators and have yet to have one follow me home. Still interested but this threads gotten a tad confusing.
I read – buy nothing but honda/yamaha as well as the lesser costly ones are fine IF you operate often. Both require quality maintenance (phew, one commonality)
The more expensive ones provide “cleaner” power for operating my ice house surgical suite?
Better yet, which one will run my mega bright LED strobe lights 24/7? (Good god I cannot even fathom the mentality of bringing this CRAP to the great outdoors. Maybe stay under the yard light?)
I do occasionally ‘work from home’ on the ice. I know many others do this as well, so charging a computer on the ice is a real possibility.
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I dont think the computer would be much different then the TV in the shack and or tablets. I assume once the power is plugged to the inverter then your shack will dispense the power? Not solely the genset but I may be wrong. Either way my wen has caused 0 issues in a few years and the neighbors champion keeps his going just fine as well
Not going to get in a pissin match here but I have had dirty power from a generator damage a few switching power supplies over the years. Plus I had a DeWalt 18v charger damaged as well.
That is not to say that it will always happen. inverters have improved over the years even the modified sine waves have gotten better.
The other thing that was more irritating was an annoying buzz I would get from the radio and occasionally the lights.
For me I need a generator to power sensitive computer and radio equipment (Sometimes over $6,000 worth of equipment), having the generator to use at camp or if I goto a fish shack is an added bonus.
All I can say is I have been very happy with my Honda’s and can recommend them to anyone.
Quibbling over a few hundred bucks either way on a tool that will last many, many yrs(and maybe serve multiple purposes)for most people, that is used to power a multi-thousand dollar ice house(or deer camp, or house in a power outage…) seems like a lot of energy wasted without any significant gains or savings to be had in the big picture. It’s one of the few luxury convenience items that can actually do double duty and pay for itself in case of emergency. Powering a couple freezers full of food and a sump pump during a power outage just once could easily pay for the unit many times over….. my vote is for reliability and dependability – and that track record has been attained by Honda.
Honda 2000. Going on 10 years old I believe. Works like a charm. Carb was re-built last year for the first time due to a stuck float.
If you had a dewalt charger go bad due to a generator, I would throw that trash away. These drills and batteries are built to be used in the field and recharged under less then ideal conditions. I’d be very doubtful that it died because you charged it on the wrong genset. This is coming from a guy who has a huge set up tools and works in the field under crappy conditions day in and day out.
Outdoorsmn,
I’ve got an old Coleman 1850 Pulse like in the video linked, that won’t start for me this year, and I’m just not going to mess with it. Before I put it on the curb, it’s yours if you want it. Zip code 60185
HRG
If you had a dewalt charger go bad due to a generator, I would throw that trash away. These drills and batteries are built to be used in the field and recharged under less then ideal conditions. I’d be very doubtful that it died because you charged it on the wrong genset. This is coming from a guy who has a huge set up tools and works in the field under crappy conditions day in and day out.
Other folks were having the same problem, it had to do with the square wave the inverter was putting out. Switching power supplies have a similar issue, generally linear power supplies are extremely forgiving. Linear power supplies are the old boat anchor supplies that weigh alot due to the large transformers they use and coils in the filtering section.
Traditional generator puts out a sine wave, it may vary between 55 and 60 Hz if your engine doesn’t do a good job maintaining its RPM’s and also the voltage will fluctuate some. 99% of most stuff is fine with that as most switching power supplies are rated to handle 100-240VAC at a frequency of 50-60Hz.
Inverter generators either put out a pure sine wave or a square wave (might be also noted as a “Modified Sine Wave”)
Pure Sine Wave = no problems other than sometimes you may get RFI on harmonic frequencies.
Square Wave or Modified Sine Wave = you can have problems depending on the combination of inverter and power supply.
I was only putting my experiences out there for others to read, I have seen power supplies from at least a dozen manufacturers (all high end and respected) fail because of dirty/garbage power over the last 20 years.
Go ahead and enjoy whatever generator you want, My experience in Inverter Generators have been the EU series from Honda has been great.
But if all you are going to do is power some lights and strobes on your ice house a cheap generator is all you probably need. Hell I remember for years just lugging a deep cycle battery around and then throwing it on the charger at home.
A wise person once told me if you can afford to buy it twice go for the cheaper option.
I buy quality and pay for it once. I dont like buying things twice or more.
BB
What I like about Honda is it has a fuel pump and you can run an extended run tank and it sucks the gas out of it. Couple my buddies run the powerhorse from northern and they work well they just have to fill there’s up every 8 hours when the Honda will start Fri and I won’t touch it till Sunday when we leave
What I like about Honda is it has a fuel pump and you can run an extended run tank and it sucks the gas out of it. Couple my buddies run the powerhorse from northern and they work well they just have to fill there’s up every 8 hours when the Honda will start Fri and I won’t touch it till Sunday when we leave
I was just going to mention this but smackem beat me to it. not many generators can be used with an extended run tank. and you cant even find a gas cap for them to even try it. I for one would not be withour my extended run tank for the same reason smackem mentioned. I have a honda 2k thats 16 years old. I only use it in the winter. and keep up good maintanence. never had a issue until 2 weeks ago. I think my fuel pump went out. 30$ for the part and a hour to put it in. not much expence for 16 years of use.
so if an extended run tank is somthing you plan on using. do your research.
What I like about Honda is it has a fuel pump and you can run an extended run tank and it sucks the gas out of it. Couple my buddies run the powerhorse from northern and they work well they just have to fill there’s up every 8 hours when the Honda will start Fri and I won’t touch it till Sunday when we leave
Why do you put all of those unnecessary hours on your generator?? After two or three weekends you’re due for an oil change…..
With an invertor (battery inverter that is), you should only have to run it 3-10 hours every 24 hours depending on your 120 volt usage and the amperage of your charger.
most of the newer fish houses have sat tv, microwave and other apliances. they might not be important if you are a serous fisherman. but they are for the others in the house wo are not. (wife and kids)
most of the newer fish houses have sat tv, microwave and other apliances. they might not be important if you are a serous fisherman. but they are for the others in the house wo are not. (wife and kids)
I can see your point for the convenience factor (always on), but the satellite and TV can easily run a long time on an invertor (I guess as long as it’s not a 50″ TV lol).
I don’t have a microwave in my shack, about the only appliance I have to run the generator for is the coffee pot. The TV, dvd player, soundbar and fish tv all run off the invertor.
If I was smarter, I would just bring my camping percolator and do it on the stove 
BTU’s are BTU’s 
most of the newer fish houses have sat tv, microwave and other apliances. they might not be important if you are a serous fisherman. but they are for the others in the house wo are not. (wife and kids)
Let’s not forget the strobe lights and palm tree,,,,,
HRG
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Got the Tv going, charger on batteries (only thing runs on batteries it’s furnace), microwave for snacks, usually a crock pot going all day Saturday with a big ass pork butt in it. Plus all night for my cpap machine. It takes less than a quart of oil for a change and takes little time. I suppose I could use a inverter but my shack is set up to plug into generator
I’d rather see strobes than listen to a gen all dang night
For those discussing harmonic distortion and pure sine wave vs modified sine wave, here’s a generator to consider. Disclosure: it’s also the one I bought after many many many hours of research once I decided I wasn’t shelling out for a Honda.
I have about 80 hrs on it. Worked flawlessly sitting on my tailgate on Mille Lacs last weekend when air temps were in the -20* range.
I have no dog in this fight…I just wanted to share for someone who’s looking for something other than Honda/Yahama.
(P.S. snagged mine for $550 during a weekend sale)
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I’d rather see strobes than listen to a gen all dang night
No…..you wouldn’t…..
A Honda purring on the tailgate is barely audible 50′ away, and barely audible in your own shack.
The only person that hears it at all is you.
A strobe light is visible for miles and miles.
The only person that sees it is every person in the county.
I’m curious how those Predators hold up. I saw one in action a few weeks ago and it seemed like a really nice, quiet machine for quite a bit less than a Honda.
I believe I paid $850 for my Honda with a $200 gift certificate 3 yrs ago. Northern Tool runs this deal every December I believe. That put my Honda at $650 shipped. Sorry I’m not going to try and save $50 by going with an off brand that might be as good.
Through an off the grid cabin owners facebook group, I’m in touch with 4 owners of the Predator inverter generators. 3 of them have the smaller 2000 watt model, 1 has the larger 3500 watt model. None have experienced any problems so far, but I’m staying in touch so I can get a longer term opinion from them after 3-5 years of ownership.
All of these owners use their generators to power off the grid camps/cabins, so they stack up a significant number of hours of use on them year-round.
The guy with the 3500 watt model (which is the model I’m probably going to buy), got his just over 2 years ago. He estimates at least 120 days of 10+ hour use so far as he is in the construction phase of the cabin. No issues encountered, summer or winter, and he’s in Canada so I would expect some cold weather operation is part of the deal.
As I said, when my construction generator wears out, I’m going this route. Can’t see any downside given the feeback actual owners have. Obviously the jury is still out on long-term 10+ year ownership, but given the rate they are selling these at, I’d think that if parts or service is needed, the options will only be greater in 10 years.
Grouse
I believe I paid $850 for my Honda with a $200 gift certificate 3 yrs ago. Northern Tool runs this deal every December I believe. That put my Honda at $650 shipped. Sorry I’m not going to try and save $50 by going with an off brand that might be as good.
Predator 2000 generator routinely goes on sale for $449 at least once a month. That’s $200 cheaper even IF you could still get that deal at Northern Tool, which I highly doubt you can. I’ve seen $50 gift card offers, never a $200 offer. Post it if you see it again.
Grouse
For those discussing harmonic distortion and pure sine wave vs modified sine wave, here’s a generator to consider. Disclosure: it’s also the one I bought after many many many hours of research once I decided I wasn’t shelling out for a Honda.
I have about 80 hrs on it. Worked flawlessly sitting on my tailgate on Mille Lacs last weekend when air temps were in the -20* range.
I have no dog in this fight…I just wanted to share for someone who’s looking for something other than Honda/Yahama.
(P.S. snagged mine for $550 during a weekend sale)
Wen builds a nice generator
Just be careful of your dewalt battery chargers 
Didn’t know it was ok to post pictures of your wen on here.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Scegura wrote:</div>
I believe I paid $850 for my Honda with a $200 gift certificate 3 yrs ago. Northern Tool runs this deal every December I believe. That put my Honda at $650 shipped. Sorry I’m not going to try and save $50 by going with an off brand that might be as good.Predator 2000 generator routinely goes on sale for $449 at least once a month. That’s $200 cheaper even IF you could still get that deal at Northern Tool, which I highly doubt you can. I’ve seen $50 gift card offers, never a $200 offer. Post it if you see it again.
Grouse
I certainly will.. $449 for the Predator seems like a great deal. Only time will tell though. My buddy just picked one up a month ago and loves it so far.
I ended up purchasing the 2000W Powerhorse from Northern Tool, on sale for $479. I made my decision based on the fact it’s a MN based company and they mechanic the engines on site. They appear to stand behind their products.
Came with a 2 year warranty excluding gas/carb related issues.
I talked to the salesman for some time. He had a 2000W Powerhorse gassed up in the store, we started it, sounded quiet. He explained the differences in brands and potential downfalls. He explained most inverter generators these days produce clean power, he suggested a circuit breaker/surge protector powerstrip if you are worried about it and a heavy gauge extension cord.
Another downfall is the extended run tank or lack there of. Not an issue for me as I don’t plan on running it outside all weekend. I plan to use it for cooking, electric knife for cleaning fish, charging batteries, and TV.
I added oil, gassed her up, and charged a few batteries. Time will tell if the generator holds up.
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