Delivers just as advertised and very quiet, but don't expect more than 2000 watts at 5000 feet
This Generac 3200i (2500-continuous watts) should do the trick the next time power goes out at our home. I wanted to buy a Honda EU2200i because of its quietness and reputation, but at 5500 feet altitude I didn't think its 1800 continuous watts was up to running the gas furnace, the fridge, and a few lights and battery chargers. The Generac was $500 cheaper and nearly 40 percent more powerful. Out of the box, I had to run at half choke for nearly a minute before it started to run normally. Otherwise, subsequent starting is a breeze. It's wonderfully quiet as well; it definitely won't bother us or the neighbors. And I'm glad I got the bigger wattage. I tested it with several combinations of current draw. It will run two circular saws simultaneously, but the engine bogs way down and my in-line watt meter indicated supply reductions of several hundred watts. That's not a problem for making a single cut but it would definitely be bad for the motors long-term. It powers either circular saw or a 1500-watt milk house heater just fine, but add any two in combination and it bogs down and doesn't recover. The best it could do was to run a milkhouse heater on the low setting (1320 watts draw) and a 6-amp drill (630-watt draw) for a total draw of 1950 watts. That's about right, given a 4 percent reduction in engine output per 1000 feet above sea level. The Generac 3500XL I bought 35 years ago ran great until the plastic gas lines rotted out. I could have repaired the gas lines but I worried about how clean the power would be for electronics these days. This new 3300i isn't pure-sine-wave output, but at 3 percent THD, it's close enough. Thus far, it delivers exactly as advertised. My only wish is that it came with the switch to turn the eco mode off. That might help with starting in colder weather. Maybe that won't be a problem, but I won't know until our first winter comes along. Read more

























