Portable Generator Review

Reviews of portable generators

Portable generators provide electricity when you're off the grid -- or when the grid goes off. They're used to provide electric power for camping, boating, RVing, on building sites and for household power needs during power outages. Portable generators range in size from models that provide 750 watts to those that provide 17,500 watts of electricity. At the low end, that's enough to run a couple of small appliances, and at the top, enough to power an all-electric home. For information about how to calculate your wattage needs, see our What to Look For section.

We found the best review of portable generators at ConsumerReports.org, where editors rank 11 models based on objective testing. This review is one of the few that grades generators not only for ease of use and runtime per tank of gas, but also for the quality of the electricity produced. Experts say that consistent voltage is important for running electronic devices and some other appliances. (Inverter generators produce the cleanest electricity and are recommended for computers, in particular.) ConsumerReports.org's testing was done in 2006, so some tested models are no longer available, and newer models aren't included.

Reviews in both Camping Life and Field & Stream magazines compare small portable generators -- light enough to hand carry to a campsite or tailgating event. These generators can also power a few appliances for household backup, and the best can be daisy-chained together for higher wattage. Though no testing is documented, editors at ElectricGeneratorsDirect.com rate portable generator models as good, better and best in four different size ranges based on quality, features and price. The ratings are supplemented by customer feedback, which the website also posts. Owner ratings and reviews at Amazon.com, Northern Tool and Equipment and other online retailers provide good information about how different portable generators have performed in real-life situations.

Manufacturers list two wattage levels for portable generators: running, or continuous, wattage (sometimes called rated wattage), and maximum, or peak, wattage (sometimes called starting or surge wattage). Some household appliances (like air conditioners) require more electricity to start than they do to continue running at a steady rate; the maximum wattage level tells you how much short-term, or surge, power a generator can provide to accommodate this need. In this report we give the running wattage for each model, rather than its maximum wattage.