This Quiet Red Generator Has Been The Single Greatest Upgrade To My Camper, And I’m Embarrassed I Didn’t Get It Sooner

Since 2022, I’ve been spending one week out of each summer in Wisconsin to enjoy the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture Oshkosh Fly-In. While planes are the central focus of each AirVenture, RV camping is nearly just as huge, and most of the tens of thousands of people who set up in the on-site campground have to figure out how to generate their own electricity. For years, I slid a chunky yellow jobsite generator next to my RV. But this year, I parked a little red Predator 5000 Watt Dual-Fuel Super Quiet Inverter Generator next to my RV and, simply put, it was the best upgrade I’ve ever made.

I’ll admit right from the jump that, until now, I’ve made a really stupid mistake in the past. I’ve been a lifelong enjoyer of RVs and come from a family of RVers; however, the concept of “boondocking” – camping off-grid – is more recent to me. In the past, my family would always camp somewhere with electrical hookups at minimum, and if we didn’t, we had a motorhome with a built-in generator.

When I started camping on my own, my initial solution to needing power was hooking up an inverter to a car battery. Later, I upgraded to a lithium power station that continues to be my rock whenever I go tent camping. With the station and my solar panels, I’ve been able to make a tent feel practically luxurious.

Taking the family travel trailer (above) out to Oshkosh gave me a new challenge. My family’s travel trailers are a bit too large and power-hungry to feed from my power station in any realistic manner. The additional twist was that whatever I used to get juice, it needed to last an entire week.

(Full Disclosure: The folks of Harbor Freight sent me a Predator 5000 Watt Dual-Fuel Super Quiet Inverter Generator to review and compare against my Champion Power Equipment generator.)

I thought the answer was simple. When my wife and I went to the 2022 edition of the show, generators were hanging off practically every RV out there. Camp Scholler even has designated generator areas where tents aren’t allowed, and the expectation is that you’ll hear generators all 24 hours each day.

So, I just did what everyone else did and bought a generator. I went to my local Blain’s Farm & Fleet, dropped about $370 on a Champion Power Equipment 3650-Watt RV Ready Portable Generator, and was so proud of myself. My little yellow “genny” even had a built-in 30-Amp RV plug!

Then, I ripped the cord, firing the Champion into life the first time.

At first, I was thoroughly impressed. There was nothing that my family’s 2007 Adirondack 31BH could throw at the Champion that could make it skip a beat. Run the air-conditioner, microwave, a vacuum, and the electric water heater at the same time? The Champion handled it without breaking a sweat. I was then able to run that generator for a whole week and throw it into my garage, just to retrieve it a year later and do the same thing all over again. Basically, that generator wasn’t running unless I was subjecting it to running for a week straight, and the unit did it without complaint.

Last year, I even forced the generator to handle my family’s larger 2022 Mallard M33, a power-hungry pile of unreliability with a 50-Amp connection. The generator still didn’t complain. Instead, it was me who wore thin.

Something I did not consider when I bought the generator was the noise of the thing. It sounded like I was at a construction site, and honestly, the sound was inescapable. It didn’t matter where I was in the RV; I always heard the generator. Worse, if the generator was close enough to the trailer, it actually transferred vibration to the trailer. Remember, most RVs have nearly nothing for insulation and have the structural rigidity of wet paper, so it was all noise all the time.

However, the Champion generator sort of worked out in 2023 and 2024 because my campground neighbors had equally loud units. I also built a little shack out of plastic tables, and then blocked the generator with a pickup truck. That at least seemed to help filter the noise. I also killed the generator every sunset. But by 2025, my hacks weren’t enough. I had to face the truth that, while my generator was reliable, its loudness was simply unacceptable. I was the jerk running a jobsite generator in a campground, even if the generator pinky-promised that it was totally an RV generator.

A Better Way

This year, I vowed not to be that person again. Thankfully, the generator industry already figured this out a long time ago. If you need to generate power but can’t have that power generation be loud enough to drive you insane, that’s what an inverter generator (below) is for.

In a traditional generator, the engine turns an output shaft, which drives an alternator, producing alternating current (AC). That juice leads to a control panel and outlets. While this design is simple and very inexpensive to make, it requires the engine to run at a constant 3,600 RPM to reach and maintain the required 60 Hz frequency. That, as you can imagine, is loud.

Wen Products, a producer of power tools, explains what makes an inverter generator different:

The alternating current (AC) power produced by the alternator is sent to a rectifier, which is a device that converts the AC power to direct current (DC). This DC power is then inverted back to AC power by the computer inside the generator before it is sent to the control panel. This is where the name “inverter” comes from. Because the power to the control panel is controlled by the computer, inverter generators offer much lower total harmonic distortion (THD) than standard generators. THD is an important consideration when powering sensitive devices, like smartphones, tablets, computers, and televisions. These devices expect “clean” power (power that has low THD, like the wall power in your home), and can be damaged if they receive high-THD power. 

[…]

Inverter generators are generally more compact than traditional generators, and are much quieter, but have lower maximum power outputs and are more expensive. There are two main sub-types of inverter generators: closed-frame and open-frame. Closed-frames are the most compact type of inverter generator, as well as the quietest. Their protective shell contains noise-absorbing insulation, significantly reducing their acoustic impact. They are usually portable and suitable for powering small loads. Open-frame inverter generators have no such insulation, and therefore are louder than closed-frames, but are still quieter than standard generators – usually about 50% quieter. Open-frame inverter generators produce power that is just as clean as closed-frame inverters, and may be capable of handling larger loads.

If you do not need the full capacity of your inverter generator, it can throttle down dramatically while still producing 60 Hz AC. That’s better for your ears, better for fuel economy, and really, just better for everyone.

When I started this new quest, I first looked at getting a Honda, which is generally considered the benchmark of this industry. The absolute cheapest Honda generator that should be compatible with the family’s older RV is the Honda EU3200i, which is good for 3200 watts of peak power for $2,799. That’s more than seven times the price I paid for the Champion, and it puts out less power. The next step up was the Honda EU7000iS, which costs a whopping $4,899. Like Honda motorcycles, these generators hold onto their value pretty well, too. I regularly see used EU3200i generators for sale for $2,000 with lots of hours on them.

Now, to be clear, you definitely get what you pay for with a Honda. They’re so quiet that sometimes I can’t even tell when one of the smaller Honda inverter generators is even running. Honda engines are also known for their legendary reliability.

As I thought about this more, I remembered all of the food trucks I’ve seen around home. Almost all of them have a big red Predator inverter generator strapped to their back. Over in Camp Scholler, it seemed like most RVs that didn’t sound like construction sites had a Predator nearby. Others had Hondas. Only a few had something like a WEN, a Champion, a Westinghouse, a Yamaha, or some brand I’ve never heard of.

So, I moseyed on over to Harbor Freight’s website. For $999.99, you can get an inverter generator with 5000 watts of peak power. Harbor Freight says this unit is comparable to the Honda EU3000IS, which costs $2,399, but the Predator’s spec sheet is better. On paper, this generator puts out 5000 starting watts and 3,900 running watts. In theory, that’s better than my old Champion.

What powers this generator is a Predator 224cc 6.6 HP single-cylinder air-cooled engine. Apparently, this engine isn’t exactly the same as the ones people plop down into go-karts, as its accoutrement is generator-specific. However, it does use the same proven platform.

Anyway, the generator sips either 87 octane fuel or propane, weighs 110 pounds, and can be started from a remote, a push-button, or via pull start. In terms of fuel economy, Harbor Freight says that the generator will drink up 3.7 gallons of fuel in 18 hours at a 25 percent load, or a 20-pound tank of propane in 14 hours.

In comparison, my Champion generator weighs 103 pounds, has 4,550 starting watts, 3,650 running watts, a 224cc single-cylinder engine, and a 4.7-gallon fuel tank. At half load, the generator is said to be able to run for 14 hours.

Of course, the whole reason I switched to the Predator? Noise. The Predator is rated for 61.7 dB at 23 feet with a 25 percent load, while the Champion chomps away at 68 dB from 23 feet away. As for the Honda EU3000IS that Harbor Freight says the Predator is comparable to? Honda says that runs between 50 dB and 57 dB depending on load. A Honda EU7000iS puts out between 52 dB and 58 dB.

Something to keep in mind is that an increase in decibels is on a logarithmic scale, not a linear one. A single-digit increase makes a larger actual difference than it appears. 60 dB is about the sound of a normal conversation, while 50 dB is about the sound of rainfall or an office. 70 dB is roughly the sound of a constantly running vacuum cleaner.

Mind you, when it comes to these generators, the standard is from 23 feet away, so they’re louder when you’re closer. In other words, my old Champion was about as loud as the average vacuum cleaner when you’re two dozen feet away from it.

So, how is the Predator like in real life?

It’s So Much Better To Use

Before I ran the unit, I first had to take it out of its box and prepare it for its first run. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the battery was already installed and setup was minimal. All I had to do was push the battery connectors together and then fill the machine with oil using the provided funnel. Then, I just hit the on switch, pressed the start button twice, and the generator started right up.

The whole generator is full of thoughtful design like this. There’s an oil drain plug, and the chassis of the generator has a built-in spillway for the exiting oil. The generator also sits on four rubber wheels with a built-in lock, has a few sturdy grab handles, and there’s even a sort of spillway for fuel when your stupid gas can splashes all over the place. I also like how, like other decent generators, the Predator will not run when the oil level is too low. I tested the function, and it works as advertised.

Some of these features made transportation far easier than the old Champion. Just the different carry handles alone were a big help. Then there were the wheels. In the past, I had to worry about my Champion generator sliding around the bed of whatever pickup truck I was reviewing.

But here? The generator stayed put thanks to the wheel lock and the rubber tires. I used suitcases as a sort of cushion, and they weren’t even needed.

Performance seemed to be great, too. The Predator had no issues chewing away at whatever we threw at it. Much like the Champion, the Predator had no issue working with the air conditioner, microwave, water pump, and electric heater all going at once. Fuel economy was roughly similar to the Champion, with us getting in the ballpark of 14 hours of runtime per tank. However, a notable difference is that the Predator used less fuel over the same 14 hours, so I didn’t feel like I was always needing to go to the gas station. That was refreshing.

The big question was sound. I goofed up and did not have a decibel meter with me, so I had to rely on my worn, subjective ears. However, I think that is probably good enough, because it’s not like you’d be walking around a campground with a decibel meter. You’d be hearing the generator with your ears, too.

The sound difference was night and day. In my experience, the Predator was indeed louder than the Hondas. It would seem that Honda is still the king of quiet. However, the construction site-style open-frame generators weren’t even in the same league as the Predator.

This time around, quite a few of our campsite neighbors had the super loud generators, and honestly, I couldn’t even hear the Predator over the roars of their generators. I was once this person; don’t be this person:

Thankfully, as Oshkosh cleared out toward the end of the event, Sheryl and I became a little island by ourselves. I was impressed that, from inside our camper, the Predator was little more than a hum in the background. When we turned on the RV’s air conditioner, the noise just blended in, and I couldn’t tell the generator was running. Only changes in load, like Sheryl running the microwave or turning on the electric water heater, changed the RPM enough for me to notice.

Walking around the unit itself, the loudest point was directly in the line of fire of the exhaust, which isn’t that surprising. Again, the Predator was noticeably louder than a Honda, but so much quieter than one of those open-frame mills.

Overall, I was impressed, and so was my sleep cycle. The old Champion was so loud that I turned it off at sunset, even in a 24-hour generator campsite. I just couldn’t sleep with the darn thing keeping a racket, even though the source was over 20 feet away. Once I closed the door to the camper’s main bedroom, the Predator faded away.

This Should Be The Baseline For RV Generators

I think I’ll go a step further. This Predator is such a huge improvement over the Champion that I now think the Champion shouldn’t even be on the market with an RV plug. The Champion is marketed as an RV generator, but using it for an RV will make you a giant jerk by filling the campsite or wilderness with the sounds of construction. Honestly, I’d find the Champion unacceptable even if I were entirely by myself.

To be clear, my old Champion was and remains a fantastic generator in terms of power delivery. Just use it for weather emergencies or on the jobsite, not for RVing near other people.

I believe in this so much that, when I decide to sell the Champion, it’s going to come with a detailed warning. It’ll say that, despite the RV marketing and the RV plug, it is not an RV generator unless you don’t care about the people around you.

I will acknowledge that, at current prices, the Champion is half the price of the Predator. But honestly, spend the money. You, your family, your sleep, and your campsite neighbors will thank you. Maybe if you don’t buy the Predator, buy some other inverter generator that’s not an open-frame design. If you can swing the cash, get a Honda and have the quietest RV around. Just don’t be the person with the jobsite generator ripping in a campground.

My biggest regret is not discovering these generators sooner. I mean what I say in the headline. Of all of the RV upgrades I’ve done, this was the best, and it’s not even close.

Top graphic images: Mercedes Streeter; NBC