Honda EU2200i Inverter Generator

What we liked:

The generator is very quiet and can power much more than I expected. I bought this generator to power my Coachmen Clipper Camper, which has an AC unit. From what I read, this AC required more power than a single Honda EU2200i could produce, so I purchased the Honda EU2200i Companion as well, which is the same generator but can pair up with the EU2200i and has a 30A 125V Locking Plug and a 20A 125V receptacle. The EU2200i has 2 of the 20A 125V receptacles.

Hutch Mountain makes a soft start kit, the Micro-Air EasyStart, which can be added to an AC unit that will allow a 13k-15k BTU AC to be started by a single Honda EU2200i generator. I have purchased this soft start kit, but it has not been installed and tested yet. I did run everything at my campsite on a recent hunt for four nights, only using ~10 lbs of propane. The single generator powered more devices than I expected. We regularly had the lights, radio, microwave, phones charging,  heater going, and using my laptop all simultaneously without any issues. I never found a need to get out my second generator and was even able to run the single Honda EU2200i generator in it’s eco mode, which is much quieter and uses less fuel. I was also able to power the AC without the soft start.

I have yet to be unable to run my camper on a single generator, but I still bring them both so I have a backup. The second generator is still helpful for emergency preparedness. I live in Texas, and in March of 2021, we had the famous freeze here. I was lucky enough not to lose power, but many did for a week, and our houses aren’t built for extreme cold up here. I started looking into a whole house generator at first, but a quote from Generac was about $20-25k.

With the Honda EU2200i and EU2200i Companion, I was able to get those and the tri-fuel conversion kits, covers, and cabling for less than $3k. This setup does not have the fancy automatic power switch to put the home on generator during a power outage automatically. It also doesn’t plug directly into my wiring panel and can not power as much. However, it is a reasonably priced backup power system with lots of flexibility on fuel sources with the Hutch Mountain Generator Tri-Fuel Conversion kit.

I found out the Generac whole home portable generator required a maintenance plan, and the cost was so high for backup power that I did not think the cost/value was aligned. If outages get more regular or I move into my forever house, I may consider adding one of those, but they are limited to a single fuel source. The tri-fuel in emergency situations seems like an excellent option given the flexibility. We also had natural gas outages during the great freeze of Texas in 2021. If we had power go out again for an extended period, I could start with the natural gas option with the conversion kit. If the natural gas goes out, I will switch to propane, which I have about 160 lbs of at my house. If I happened to run out of propane, I could always siphon gasoline out of my vehicles if it was a very extended situation.

The primary fuel source I use for these is propane. I did not want to deal with keeping gasoline stable and fresh or the smell of gas around all of my hunting gear. Propane does not have that issue being scent-free and never going bad. I was amazed at how little propane was used on a four-night hunt running as many devices as we were on the Honda EU2200i.

This generator has Bluetooth and an app. I am a techy person and love this type of thing, but it was not necessarily a big influencer in my decision. It is a nice to have, though. The generator shows things like current power usage in the app, which was neat to look at my usage while running my camper. It also tracks your oil life and notifies you of various maintenance on the generator. You can turn the generator off from the app, but you can not start the generator from the app. The propane needs to be shut off before the generator when using the propane conversion kit, so I have not been using the remote shut-off option.

The weight was the last thing that went into my decision to purchase this generator over a larger one that could power the camper AC without a soft start. This generator only weighs 47 lbs. The next level up in generator gets you to 3000-4000+ watts. Those generators are usually 100+ lbs. I wanted to easily manage moving around the generator on my own while on hunts. A 47 lb generator with no gas in it because it runs on propane from an external tank is a very manageable weight, and I could not be happier with my decision.

The one feature I saw other generators had, but the Honda EU2200i did not, is a remote start capability. Again, when I realized that with a propane conversion that needs to be turned on before the generator can be started, it did not matter much anymore because I was convinced the propane route was the right one. The quietness and reliability of Honda generators convinced me that they were worth the extra money. I see these as a long-term investment in working on reviews for realhunters.com in the field and having backup power in emergency situations.

Who we think will like this product:

Anyone who wants ultimate fuel source flexibility and the quietest and most reliable generator on the market. This works great for hunters, campers, hikers, and emergency preparedness. These could also work great at a job site. There is a price premium compared to similar products in the same category, but I saw it as an investment.

Pro Tips:

• Get the Honda generator cover. These are very nice generators. Keep them in good shape. I did not buy them at first but got my generators pretty scratched up in the bed of my truck bed after my first trip and bought them.
• Get the Hutch Mountain Generator Tri-Fuel Conversion kit
• Get the IGAN Generator Tent, so you use these while it is raining, do not risk being out without them if you need your generator power in the field
• Bring extra oil with you