hi gary,
 i bought a generac first time hurricanes blew thru town. runs flawlessly. cranks on first pull with little effort. has a 6 gal gas tank. means u fill it up every 11-12 hrs....runnin the a/c and everything else. paid about $700 for it home depot. its rated ar 5500 with a surge limit up to 8500 watts. means it will hold a constant 5500 watt load with brief surges. during the hurrican power outages we ran a 10,000 btu window unit a/c, every lite in the house, one to 2 stove eyes, computer, tv's etc. i would even get up early morn, switch the ac off while it was cool and turn the hot water heater on. it was great havin hot showers when everyone else was complainin about cold showers.

on the other hand, my friend bought a honda 5000 watt generator. he paid about 3 times what i paid for mine. it is MUCH louder. i cant remember what size gas tank he has but he has to get up every 2 1/2 to 3 hrs and fuel it up.
it did not come on wheels so it takes 2 people to move it. he has to be very careful with what he turns on. honda rates it at 5000 watts, but manual says it will surge no more than 5000 watts. i know the same dual element hot water i have kills it deader than a hammer!!

no doubt u get what u payed for, but briggs and stratton has been makin air cooled 4 stroke motors as long as honda has.
 personally glad i didnt pay the xtra for the import.
just my .02

in late 2004 our party went atv happy.
 one day my son in law, my son and myself went atv shopping. we first went to sky power sports in lake wales. we stood around IN the showroom for about 30 minutes. we watched sales reps talkin on the phone, talkin to each other, looked directly at us and ignored us. we left. went to fun bike center in lakeland. were promptly met at the door by a young man pierced more times on his face than a pin cushion. every question we asked he had to disappear into an office to get us an answer. but he had no probs bashing anybody elses product not on his showroom floor. we ended the day at bartow motor sports in bartow. (now barry motorsports in lakeland)
 the sales people were courteous, knowedgable, did not bash other brands, allowed us to test ride, made us feel at home. that day we bought a sportsman 600 twin, sportsman 400 and a magnum 300. later in the month friends bought 2 700's another 400, and a 500.
 one of 700's got water in the diffs. had some front end probs with the 330. all taken care under warranty by bms. no serious probs with any of them.
 the best performing of the bunch is 400's and the 600. all are equiped with mud lites and pretty much unstoppable. we've had them in some pretty insane places. mud u couldnt walk or even crawl thru.
 have even pulled a 1 ton chevy 4 door 4x4 out of the mud with the 600. no, he wasnt all the way dug in but he wasnt moving either. the others in the party were already dicussing where they could go borrow a tractor. i said hey....it'll be the equivalent of 10-12 guys pushin on it. lets give it shot. and it worked!
 we like our polaris's. they r a bit heavier than most equally sized machines. but when u look under them u see the difference. they r kinda like the tractors of the atv family. thats just my .02 though. others feel equally as strong about their atv's too. best bet is brand dont really matter. get a good dealer with a good reputation. then when u have probs ( and u WILL) u'll prolly still be happy with your atv.