Doing my usual exhaustive research for, well, anything I am going to pay a large price, I decided to give this Honeywell generator a try. The cost factor was a large part of the decision as the generator would have limited use throughout my camping year. There was no need for a more expensive units (Honda/Yamaha) as my normal camping events are around 4 or 5 week-ends a year. I figured: "Save the more expensive units for when I become a full-time 'road gypsy.'"
Received the generator from Amazon in their usual quick time. This was good. Took the generator to the 5th wheel along with a quart of oil and a couple of gallons of gasoline. This was good. Read the instruction manual on starting up the unit. Very clear instructions. This was good. After a few more tries to get the unit going it finally started up. This was good. Waited for the unit to warm up and come up to speed. This was good. Plugged the unit into the 5th wheel AC, went inside to try the low-wattage microwave and ... nothing. This was not good. Tried the lights ... nothing. This was not good. Checked the generator for connections, etc. and all appeared as it should be. The unit was purring along fine, but it was not producing any electricity. This was very bad.
Of course, Amazon was not going to accept a return on this unit because of gasoline issues. Amazon advised contacting the company. Called Honeywell Customer Support. Was told it might be a circuit board problem, but couldn't say as it would have to be serviced at an authorized Honeywell repair center. I live in the second largest city in Nevada. The nearest authorized Honeywell repair center was a hundred miles away. This would involve taking the unit physically to the center as getting it there by the usual shipping venues would not be tolerated because of the gasoline concerns. Even though the unit had been drained of all gasoline and oil.
Called our local RV center and explained the problem. They would look at it. There could be no guaranty to repair the problem as there was so little information about this Honeywell product. Received a call from the RV center and was told that it was the circuit board. Also, the repair tech found that the AC circuit breaker was broken (inside the unit casing) and would have to be modified in order for it to be functional. The parts, if they could be found, and the labor costs at $105.00 per hour, had to be considered if repair on this unit was to proceed.
So, this "cheaper" alternative to the comparable Honda/Yamaha units so far cost me the initial $499.00 from Amazon and $298.00 from the RV center. Went to pick up the Honeywell unit and saw that the RV center had the Honda EU2000i and the Yamaha EF2000iS inverter generators set up for demonstration purposes. For $150.00 more than the combined costs of the Honeywell and it's repair, I purchased the Yamaha as it was actually quieter than the Honda in side-by-side comparisons and very much quieter than the Honeywell. Where noise issues in a campground are always a concern, the Honeywell unit could not measure up to the Honda/Yamaha units. The Honeywell unit will be put up for sale in the local newpaper. I'll be lucky to realize half my expense.
The Honeywell HW2000i? It came from the shipping box not working and with broken parts. Quality control from Honeywell's out-sourced China operations? Not too reassuring that this unit was going to last for even a few times camping. Less reassuring if this unit would need to be depended upon in an emergency. Given the generally good name of Honeywell, this product was an eye-opening experience that all is not well with some American brand products manufactured overseas. If the Honeywell Customer Support Tech suggested that the problem might be the circuit board, and the local RV Service Center Tech (who had no knowledge of this unit) came to the same conclusion, then I suspect that Honeywell is already aware it must have a circuit board problem with this generator. What other problems might they be aware of is anyone's guess. I didn't want to find out by keeping this unit.
Would I recommend this product to a friend? No. As trite as the phrase may be, you still get what you pay for. Are the Honda/Yamaha products overpriced? Yes. But, because of their historically solid performance, they can maintain their market pricing until someone - like Honeywell - can prove themselves as worthy contenders.