Powerhorse Portable Inverter Generator - 2000 Surge Watts, 1600 Rated Watts, CARB Compliant

I've lived off grid on 40 acres of woods for the past 1 1/2 years. I use a generator HARD. The only generators I use are Northern tools Power horses. I'm not being paid or compensated for this review. ( Update 7-6-19 Northern tools informed me when I called them yesterday that they do not warranty their generators for use as the exclusive power source on an off grid homestead which is how I use mine until we get our solar installed. No generator manufacturer will since you could theoretically use it for 15000 hours and then make them replace it for free if it didn't work. Thats asking a lot from a $450.00 generator. Non the less, I will continue using their generator until I get my solar installed (hopefully this fall).This generator provides 95% of my electricity. At first I was pretty gentle with it. Only running it 18 or so hours a day. Giving it a rest every night. Then winter hit (2018-19 winter). And I started needing to run it 24 hrs a day to keep the batteries charged on my 40 ft RV. I would just leave it running and fill the gas while it ran. I was getting about 10 hrs per tank of gas so I filled it at 11 pm and it ran all night. I ran it about 1500 hours being gentle, then I just started running it non stop for two weeks, filling the gas while it ran, then shutting it off to change the oil (I use the best synthetic oil I can find), then running it another two weeks without shutting it off and repeating the process. That generator lasted right around 8200 hours. That figured out to be a cost for the generator itself of right around a nickle per hour I ran it. Total cost per hour I ran mine was right around 35 cents per hour including gas, oil, and cost of the generator. Different folks will have different costs since they'll run different loads.When the first one finally gave up the ghost after 8200 hours, the first thing I did was go to harbor freight and buy one of their similar models since it had gotten a good review in a leading consumer magazine. THE HARBOR FREIGHT MODEL LASTED 300 HOURS AND IS NOW SITTING DEAD IN MY BARN!! Back I went to Amazon to buy another powerhorse 2000, and run it the same way, the only reason it stops running is to change the oil once every other Tuesday. I've got 2100 hrs on that one and no problems yet.Ashamed to say, the ONLY maintenance I've done to either of those is to religiously change the oil (it takes about 14 oz) and repair the starter rope a number of times. I don't do any other maintenance on it. At one third idle speed, it charges my 330 ah rv battery bank, runs my 17 cf refrigerator, then it automatically increases speed to run the higher wattage stuff, like my hot water heater when I need it to. (higher wattage appliances have to be planned, cant run more than one at a time). I average about 2.5 gallons of gas per day to operate my entire homestead. I have refrigeration, 5 120 volt ac cfl lights, charged rv batteries which runs my water pump, furnace fan (heat is propane), hot water heater (6 gallon) wifes hair dryer when she needs it, tv dvd, charging all tools, microwave.This thing really is probably the best investment I ever made for living off grid. I can't say enough about how much easier it has made our life, it's really very close to living on the grid since we are always able to flip a switch or press a button and have electricity since we never shut it off.I did a vid review on u tube "powerhourse 2000 review after 4000 hours" While I feel bad even saying anything, one weakness I've found with both of my units has been that the starter rope frays about 2 inches from the handle and if you don't catch and repair it in time, you have to remove most of the nose of the unit to make the 2 hour repair. Since I started running non stop, this hasn't been much of a problem since I only have to pull the rope once every two weeks to start it after I change the oil. BTW it starts on the first pull 95% of the time.BE SURE YOU FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS WHEN RUNNING TWO OF THESE TOGETHER, STEP BY STEP ON HOW TO START UP AND SHUT DOWN THE DUAL RUN FEATURE. IF YOU DO IT WRONG, YOU MAY FRY AN INVERTER ON ONE OF THE GENERATORS not that I ever did that ....(Update 6-15-19) They really do need to fix the starter rope problem. It's a shame to have the best generator in this price range taken out every 300 hours of run time by a $1.25 starter rope being frayed to point of failure by a improperly finished pass thru grommet that cost a nickle. Love this genny but that is frustrating.

Have only added oil and little gas and warmed it up for twenty minutes. Started on the first pull. A little louder than I expected but at half the price of the red one, I'll deal.Checked to see if it worked by plugging in a toaster. It definitely saw that load and self switched from "esc" (Eco mode) to higher reves to compensate. No problems. Turned it off and went to restart. Took a few pulls without choke but it got going again. Well documented manual and came with spark plug wrench, parallel cable kit and oil spigot. It shipped with some oil left so watch out about overfill. I'm assuming my unit was new and may have been tested at the factory. The big test comes at the end of the month when it goes to Burning Man. Will write a proper review after that.Update Sept 10, 2016: Got back from Burning Man a few days ago. This generator rocks! Ran it every day for eight days straight. Filled it with gas and let it run until the gas was gone. Then did it again. Started on the first pull every time. Ran about 7-8 hours on a tank at about 1/3 to 1/2 wattage capacity. Goes off its eco mode fairly quickly as you add load. Ended up running it in full power mode at all times. Did not go through any oil. Laughed at the dust and if you know even one thing about Burning Man is that the dust is like talcum powder and is pervasive. Big dust storms almost every day. Only nod to this reality is to set it on a piece of plywood as the air intake is on the bottom. Definitely not as quiet as the expensive red ones but was set out in the middle of our camp and no one complained. Operating hours were from 7:30 pm until the gas ran out around 3 a.m or so. Would definitely recommend. Adding a star for reliability and ease of operation.Update June 28, 2017. Out of storage for the past year. Started in 3 pulls. Seems to be fine.Update May 2019. Ended up not using it as planned last year after changing the oil (highly recommended) and it sat outside on patio intil we took it to a festival in March. Filled it with gas. One pull on the engine and it started right up. No problems at all. This thing rocks and I see the price has come down as well.Five stars.

Started right up and worked well. We had it in the back of the pick up truck outside our trailer and you could hear it, but it wasn't very loud or intrusive. We were able to run the TV, the microwave, and the lights. We couldn't get our air condition to start though. I'm glad we purchased it.

Compact, controls accessible, easy start, and the twins put out necessary power with fuel economy. Just as good or better than the name brand everyone pays twice as much for. Bring on the outage. Got it covered.

I purchased this generator to power my amateur radio station for portable operation. This inverter generator produces a very clean sine wave at 60 Hertz. I do hear a little static on the radio in receive mode which I think is caused by the spark plug since the scope trace is so clean. When transmitting the receive station I was talking to said my signal was very clean. When the weather warms here in MN I plan to change out the spark plug with a resistor plug. I've been an amateur radio operator for 49 years and taught electronics and mechanics in high school for 29 yrs.

Works great! My Honda generators are having carburetor problems with bad gas...but so far, the Powerhorse Generator has worked very well. I have about 400 hours on her so far and looking good.

I have two of these that I run parallel to run my RV. They are now a year old and still run great. I use a syn blend when I change the oil and some sea foam in the gas and I’ve never a starting issue. Good money saving generator.

We love this generator so far. Starts easy, very quiet. We have run many different power tools off of it. Very well made.