Champion 3800-Watt Dual Fuel RV Ready Portable Generator with Electric Start

Bottom Line up front, I am pleased so far.My Champion Generator arrived in a damaged box (common in amazon reviews). I was optimistic however since the damage was on the side opposite the control panel. I believe Champion may want to consider a piece of 0.25 inch luan on the sides of their box. Yes it costs a tad more, but will save you in the long run on warranty costs. The engine mount bracket / stabilizer added to my apprehension when it was loose in the box.Plenty of stickers / warnings / alerts AND a well written instruction manual that I barely spent 5 seconds on. Removing the warnings for the engine mounts and the parts and gently pulling on the recoil starter, I was happy; it moved within normal limits. At this point I referred to the quick start page that was well laid out. Feeling confident, I went to greet my wife who handed me the once again well written instruction manual and my favorite beverage. She is taking this generator seriously! Harvey got our attention and then went down on the priority list with repairs ongoing. SnowMagedon 2021 on the Texas beach MADE her a believer! 6 days with no power.I read the manual and quickly determined that my plan was solid. Step one now was to add oil. I grabbed a disposable shot glass and introduced the correctly measured oil into the crankcase using the supplied funnel. Minor inconvenience that the bolt head is partially obscured, but honestly still easy to access. At this point I connected my LP hose to the generator and the supplied fitting to a 30 pound bottle.Take my advice here. At this point go get a drink or bathroom break and come back and check everything one last time. Use the supplied quick start guide. I applied the choke as indicated, turned on propane at bottle, opened valve at generator, turned master switch on, and pressed start with positive results. It started and quickly died. Hmm, touchy choke. I restarted unit with choke at half, then immediately opened the choke. Ran like a dream. Voltage was 119. Frequency was 61-62 on the supplied display. I confirmed that with some attenuation and my frequency counter. Voltage was also confirmed with voltmeter.I went through start and stop procedures a few times to get it right. At this point I had about 15 minutes of run time on the unit and ran it for its' 5 hours with a 2000 watt load. Very pleased at this point. Oil drain was a snap again with a Weber brand grease tray from my grill. no mess, no muss, no fuss. I refilled the crankcase with the recommended synthetic for my ambient temp. Restarted it again, ran it about 10 minutes to get the new oil worked through.Again, I am pleased. Two things I would do if I were the CEO:1. Add two pieces of luan to shipping box.2. Move the crankcase drain bolt (if feasible).We used to have a saying in the Infantry, "Anybody can soldier in the barracks, the question is can you soldier when we hit combat?" I haven't lost power yet and needed it. I have run it 15 minutes every two weeks and am well prepared. We will see how well it works when it is needed.

I bought this model in March 2020, and it's been 33 months. I got it with the 50' NEMA L5-30P extension cord, and an adapter to 3x NEMA 5-15Rs. I prefer the locking fully-inserted plug to the RV-style that can get loose, fall out, or arc.PROS:Since this is intended for standby/emergency use, it has been on a battery tender (NOCO Genius 1) and always cranks strong and starts once the fuel hits the cylinder. Champion recommends stopping the running motor by starving it of fuel and not by turning off the power. While this will prolong the life of the generator by not having fuel sitting and rotting in the cylinders or fuel lines, this means starting can take up to 15 seconds. My personal preference is to crank for 5 seconds, and if no start, wait a bit for starter motor to cool and retry.In August 2022 I decided to take it off the battery tender, and see how long the battery could provide starting power. The generator is run at regular intervals, and while I started at 30 days, I lowered it to 14 for testing the battery, then slowly raised it up... and January 2023 it started fine after 45 days.I usually wheel it out, start it up, run 15 min with no load, verify voltage on the display (the first couple of times I verified accuracy with a DVM and a load), and then give it 30 minutes to cool before stowing away. No oil has needed to be added. I suspect somewhere in the next 3-6 months it will need an oil change and a new battery. By then I plan to replace the SLA battery with a LiFePo. LiFePo cells don't charge below 32°F (0°C) but that's not an issue here in southern Arizona -- just bringing it up in case someone else thinks "Hey that's a great idea" and then finds out it doesn't charge in a snowstorm.The frequency (which Champion calls "Hertz") is a solid 60Hz. For European users, I looked but am unable to find where the frequency can be changed to 50Hz. The voltage sits at 122VAC with no load, and reduces to around 119VAC with decent loads (2x 10-12A power tools). The engine does not appear to strain to support that load. Fuel consumption ... well I filled it up almost three years ago and the gasoline can is still sitting around to refill it again, but my roughly 33 tests of 15 minutes each should have just about emptied the tank... and yet it keeps running.CONS:It really isn't quiet. 68dB at 25ft is a good metric if you have a spare 25ft from anyone else, but if you don't, that works out to approximately 74dB at 12.5ft or 80dB at 6ft. That's REALLY NOISY when you're there starting it up, and VERY NOISY in the house 6ft away.Why 6ft away? Champion recommends 5ft from anything else, and this thing weighs A LOT. Their own figures show 122lbs, but add in half a quart of oil (3lbs) and half a gallon of gasoline (4lbs) and you're at the 130lbs mark, more than you want to pull behind you and have it bump into you, or push in front. Honestly, they should have put four wheels on this thing.There is no indication of fuel level so if you want to calibrate a dipstick you can do it that way. There is no indication of oil pressure or temperature so the only way to know oil breakdown/particulates is to sample it and pretend you know what the color means ;)OVERALL:I would recommend this to others.I would recommend this to family members and friends.I would buy this again ... say for an RV (but not in an RV park because of the noise).I would recommend Champion and buy from them again.ETucson, Arizona, US