yamaha drive control

Before we get deep into our comparison, if you are in the market to buy, you need to remember that all three of the inverter generators that we discuss are fantastic pieces of equipment. I own the Honda and Champion, and my camping buddy has the Yamaha. We both believe that you’d be happy owning any of them. We’re certain that anyone who has owned an inverter generator would agree that the new inverter technology has made “old school” generators redundant. If you don’t understand what makes an inverter generator different and better, you’d be doing yourself a favor by becoming educated on the subject.

THE BASIC SPEC SHEET COMPARISON…

Honda EU2000i(H)
Yamaha EF2000is(Y)
Champion 73531i(C)

Dry Weight: (H)46.3 lbs – (Y)44.1 lbs – (C)48.0 lbs

Physical Size: (H)2.2 cu.ft – (Y)2.2 cu.ft – (C)3.6 cu.ft

Engine Size: (H)98.5cc – (Y)79.0cc – (C)79.0cc

Decibels 1/4 load: (H)53.0 – (Y)51.5 – (C)53.0

Decibels Full load: (H)59.0 – (Y)61.0 – (C)62.0 (my db meter)

Run Time 1/4 load: (H)9.6hrs – (Y)10.5hrs – (C)9.5hrs

Approx. Price: (H)$990.00 – (Y)$970.00 – (C)$690.00

OUR EXPERIENCES…

At first glance, the differences between the generators is subtle. A spec sheet will only take you so far though. Just as with cars, there are often other things to consider in the periphery that you can’t really know about without a test drive.

Since the spec sheets on the Champion didn’t give any sound ratings at full load, we decided that we should perform our own highly scientific test. We grabbed an old Radio Shack decibel meter, a toaster, and a couple of lights. We did the math and that put us at about 1500 watts. Then we walked around the machine at 7 meters and took our highest reading. There is really not much of a difference between the three machines in terms of sound pollution, and any would be welcome in a campground.

We liked the Champion and Yamaha for their controls location. They keep them all together. The Honda “scatters” controls, switches, and the pull cord around the body of the enclosure so that starting it in the dark would be tough.

They say that “there is no replacement for displacement”, and the Honda wins in terms of cc’s. I read that the Honda can operate at 2000 watts for 1/2 hr whereas the Yamaha will only provide 2000 watts for 20 seconds before “cutting out”. I’m not sure what the Champion will do but my hunch is that it would be similar to the Yamaha.

In terms of after sale service, fortunately we haven’t had to test it on any of the machines. The Honda and Yamaha have dedicated dealerships in every major city. Champion has become a well established brand and they have a good parts supply (unlike lots of Chinese built generators) warehoused in the U.S., and local small engine shops easily and quickly source parts for repair.

Hats off to Champion as it has a “cage” built around it. All three machines can be outfitted with parallel kits to enable load sharing at about 3800 watts, but the cage of the Champion is especially nice in that it allows you to stack two generators on top of one another. Functionally it makes no difference, it just looks really slick and clean when load sharing.

As mentioned earlier, all three units have performed flawlessly, always starting within two pulls.

If we had to pick a winner, the Yamaha would take the trophy, but only by a slim margin. We both value its extended run time, ridiculously quiet operation at lighter loads, and the tidy layout of controls. This decision wasn’t easy. We loved that bigger displacement on the Honda, and expect that it would likely operate cooler than the others which of course should help the engine to last longer. The Champion is no slouch either. They’ve done a really nice job on this one. It seems well constructed and has been reliable so far. We liked the “cage” on the unit a lot as well. Champion may yet prove us wrong, but the “Made In China” label always makes us think twice.

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