OhD

Anyone tried the Smarter Tools 2000W generator from Costco? It has a Yamaha engine and at $599 would seem like a good deal. My experience with Costco stuff is pretty good. I always thought they sold last year's TVs and such but they actually have better specs and features than those sold by Best Buy and the other biggies.

Jim O

ltc

My Feedback: (3)

It contains Yamaha engine and inverter
It gets very good online comments and reviews
Costco provides very good customer service regarding any issues

woodie

Jim, I have one of the Costco 2000w generators. Only have about 8 hours running time on it so far but it has worked well for that short time. Starts easy, quiet, etc. Basically same specs as Honda 2000 but only time will tell how it lasts.

Woodie

nonstoprc

My Feedback: (90)

I have Champion 73538i 2000w inverter charger. In eco-mode, it is super quite (@52db) and can power 3 cellpro 10s chargers (~3 x 280w) without any issues. Bought it from amazon.com @ $400 2 years ago.

OhD

Thanks Woodie, my worry is that it might be too heavy and takes up more space. That's why I bought the Honda 1000 in the first place. Now I'm thinking I will eventually go with 24V chargers and it would be nice to have the added power.

Too bad they don't make a small 28 volt DC generator. These inverter generators make 3 phase AC, convert it to DC (not sure what voltage) and then put it through an inverter to get clean, stable AC. We could skip the inverter and then wouldn't need a 24 volt power supply. Run the chargers right off the generator. I guess we'd still need a power supply at home when we wanted to charge from the 110.

Jim O

rgreen24

My Feedback: (6)

Hi Jim, I have owned this generator for two seasons and it works great. It is a little on the heavy side when full of fuel, but overall it is a great buy

Jeff Worsham

My Feedback: (28)

Jim, John G has run a Costco generator for a couple years now. The first one died early and Costco replaced it with the improved model available now. It has worked well so I've bought one as well.

jgg215

Jim,
The Costco generator works just fine, reasonable weight and reasonable noise and a good price. Best part is the Costco return policy. Rather than find local warranty service or ship it someplace for service, you can just return it to Costco. They will return your money so you can get the new, upgraded version from them or go somewhere else to try another brand. In other words, you have nothing to lose by trying the Smarter Tools generator. Mine stopped running after a year. I checked the obvious stuff -plug, bad fuel, etc. After that I just took it back, no questions asked. Second is going strong.
John Gayer

chuckk2

Home Depot has or had a sale on a "Sportsman 3500i" inverter generator 3000w for $699 or less, depending on discounts.
Not store stock, order via internet.
My experience so far is limited. But here goes. Shipped to store.
First unit damaged in shipping. (nothing new, shipping damage is par for course around here.
Mainly cosmetic damage, unit ran OK. HD shipped a second unit (at an additional discount). No visible damage, but quit after about an hour.
isolated problem to failure of ignition coil, used coil from shipping damaged generator. Ran the repaired unit for several hours,
first at no load for about 1/2 hour, then an hour at light load, then a couple of hours at intermittent higher load. (Portable A/C unit)
It looks like this one is a keeper.
I also have a Ryobi 2200i that works well, but cannot quite handle the A/C load. (14,000 BTU LG Portable.)
A complaint is that none of the generators or A/C units spec power factor.
My 28vdc 65a charger power supply is capable of using all the current a "normal" 120vac branch circuit can provide.
To use the generator to it's fullest capability, I'd likely need to get an RV connector adapter.