The Best Home Generators For a Power Outage, Tested and Reviewed

Table Of Content

• Featured Makes
• Generac GP3300i Portable Inverter Generator - $849
• Best Mobile Monitoring: Briggs & Stratton 12,000-Watt Automatic Air Cooled Standby
• Reviews in Generators
• How are generators powered?
• Generac 6500/8125-Watt Portable Generator with COSense (GP6500 COSENSE)
• Generac Powerpact Standby Generator

This article will review seven of the most popular whole-house generators on the market this year. Read on for pros, cons and highlights of the best whole-house generators, plus our generator buying guide to help you find the right fit for your family’s needs. Unfortunately, with smaller size comes larger noise; the Briggs & Stratton 12kW generator is one of the loudest on our top five list. Additionally, neither Briggs & Stratton generator on our list comes with an Automatic Transfer Switch—those must be purchased separately. That depends on how often you lose power; on how quickly your power company takes to restore it; and, to a lesser degree, on your tolerance for living without power. If you lose power only occasionally, a portable generator is both less expensive and less convenient.

Featured Makes

• As with a small inverter generator, a portable power station is best for cases in which you know you won’t need power for long, such as camping, tailgating, or inflating an outdoor bounce house. But while a generator can be a lifesaver during and after severe weather, it can be dangerous if you don’t take precautions. People tend to buy generators around major storms; working by flashlight, in a rush to get the power up and running, they might skip over critical safety steps during setup. Dozens of people die every year from carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning related to generators.

Generac GP3300i Portable Inverter Generator - $849

A no-frills dual-fuel generator that’s small enough to tuck away in the corner of a garage or in a truck bed, the Pulsar 2200-watt generator delivered an easy experience powering our test equipment. The 1.18-gallon generator can run for up to 8 hours on half load on a single tank of gas. This Champion 8,500-watt generator comes from a well-known manufacturer of quality generators, and it excelled in our hands-on tests. This dual-fuel generator runs on gasoline or propane, so if you stock up on both, you’ll be ready for any power emergency. The runtime varies with the size, appliance load, and fuel type, but typically a liquid propane generator with a 100-gallon tank will run for about 50 hours, while a 250-gallon tank runs for about 125 hours.

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Best Mobile Monitoring: Briggs & Stratton 12,000-Watt Automatic Air Cooled Standby

It also lacks an engine hour meter, but an aftermarket meter can be installed to help you keep up with routine oil changes and maintenance. To make maintenance and repairs easier, three sides of the aluminum enclosure are removable. Make sure to install carbon monoxide battery-operated alarms in your house. If the generator gets overheated, it might leave the gas, which is fatal to human life.

Reviews in Generators

All of these advantages make them a popular choice among campers and RVers who value silent operation and portability. Inverter generators are typically more expensive than regular portable generators and generally produce less power. In each test, the devices worked perfectly, the electrical current remained strong and steady, and the breaker didn’t trip. The generator’s molded plastic handle is well placed, and when combined with the machine’s proportions, the unit is fairly easy to carry, even though it weighs nearly 50 pounds. We would have appreciated a built-in USB port in addition to the wall-style outlet, though.

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The PowerPact comes with a digital controller with LED indicators for monitoring the generator status, utility power presence, and maintenance needs. It has a galvanized steel enclosure that protects against rain and sleet and includes an all-weather composite mounting pad that resists corrosion. The Champion tri-fuel generator is equipped with advanced safety features, including a carbon monoxide sensor and low-oil shutoff. Its digital LCD display is also highly informative, showing the voltage, frequency, session run time, and total run time, which are useful in monitoring output and maintenance schedules.

Electric Start

Between the big display on the unit itself and the app, you get plenty of information to make the wisest decisions about what to plug in, what not to, and for how long. The Power+ Nexus has Bluetooth connectivity and can link to Ego’s very useful app, which indicates the current load, the percentage remaining on each battery, and the time remaining at the current usage. When the Power+ Nexus is charging, the app shows the current charge on each battery and the estimated time until it reaches a full charge. The app also gives you the ability to activate or shut off the individual outlets. Yet, even with this safety feature present on a generator, it’s important to understand that dangers from CO remain. For instance, if a generator is situated directly outside an open window, the sensor is unlikely to detect any buildup even though the gas may be infiltrating the inside of the home.

Generac 6500/8125-Watt Portable Generator with COSense (GP6500 COSENSE)

Check out our generator buying guide for more details on our intensive testing program. The best whole house generator is the one that fits best with the power requirements of your home and the appliances you need it to run. You’ll want to assess your power demands to choose the ideal transfer switch for your whole house generator.

Generac Powerpact Standby Generator

Keep in mind that the batteries are not included and will need to be purchased separately. Propane is a more affordable option compared to gasoline because the latter needs a stabilizer. On the other hand, propane doesn’t need any stabilizer, and refueling is easy.

The high power output of this generator makes it an incredibly effective choice among all whole house generators, giving you more than enough power to keep large appliances running for hours without slowing down. The built-in hour meter and low-oil shutdown system make it much easier to use the generator effectively, and the steel cradle built around the body provides far more strength in day-to-day life. First of all, it’s important to use extension cords that are sufficiently powerful. As a general rule, use at least 12-gauge outdoor-rated electrical cords for larger appliances (like refrigerators) and at least 14-gauge cords for everything else. Cord length is also a concern since the voltage drop from cords that are too long can damage or destroy the appliances they’re supplying. Although you’ll want to keep a portable generator outside and away from your home, remember not to exceed a 100-foot extension cord length.

Owning a house without home insurance is a risky business even though it is a costly expense. When you install a whole house generator for your house, most insurance companies give you a discount because the risks attached to your home are less compared to their average model. Buying a generator at the very last moment is going to end up badly because you decided in haste.

If the Honda EU2200i is priced too high or you place a premium on user-friendly features, we also like the Ryobi RYi2322VNM Bluetooth inverter generator. Its engine is smaller than that of the Honda, so it’s not as robust, but in our tests it performed as well as any of the other non-Honda generators. What sets it apart from the other models we tested, including the EU2200i, is how easy to understand its Bluetooth app is. The Ryobi app not only tracks power usage, as the Honda app does, but also shows the fuel level at any given moment and an estimate of how much time remains while the generator is running at the current load. The app also lets you switch into and out of eco mode (which helps with fuel efficiency), and it can restart the generator if the machine overloads. Topping things off, the RYi2322VNM has wheels and a telescoping handle (as on a piece of luggage) that make moving it around a yard easy.

This generator is also the quietest of our top five with noise measured at only 62 dbA. Although it’s certainly an investment, a portable generator still costs less than a permanent one, which starts at $4,000. You may also want to consider having a backup generator on hand in case you need to power extra devices. Backfeeding refers to the practice of plugging your generator directly into an outlet in your home.

Thanks to the low oil shutdown system and idle control, you also don't need to worry about wasting fuel or damaging the generator between uses. We used several appliances, including a couple of heat guns and hair dryers at the same time to test the generator at different loads. As promised, the generator handled a combined 1,800 watts without much issue and shut power off when we overloaded it with 2,300 watts. We saw that happy customers liked the Champion Power Equipment Open-Frame Inverter for its range of features, including its fuel shut-off valve, wireless remote, and multiple outlet options.