Generator

My power is out right now. I have an older Honda 6500 watt. Quiet as hell and highly recommend.  I also have a Harbour Freight Predator on the more affordable side. It's also a great quiet one.

I would not hesitate the Harbour Freight model, either. 

Good liuck.

If this is something you're not going to use often (like as an emergency backup for the crib) I recommend something propane powered.

least amount of preventative maintenance and indefinite fuel storage vs gas or diesel

do a 60 minute function test under load at least every 90 days because surprises suck, especially in the dark

ive lived exclusively on generator power for large portions of my adult life and have used TONS of different kinds of generators on a daily basis to power my home and farm/greenhouse stuff.

unless you cant afford it, the absolute number one choice is a honda closed case generator. there is no more reliable generator than honda. out of the normal consumer brands offered at hardware stores they are the best, period. for something close to 6500 watts ive used, the EU 7000is is a great generator. remember, most electrical appliances take more power to start up than to run, so if you want to run equipment that requires 5000 watts to run, you might need a 6000 or 7000 watt generator to handle some of those appliances turning on.

if you cant afford a honda, another route ive taken is to get generators from harbor freight, who has one of those corporate 2 year replacement plan thingys. i get that with the generator, and  right before the 2 years is up, i make some shit up about how broken it is, take it to harbor freight, and the young underpaid kids working there dont give a shit - they just take mine and give me a new one off the shelf. then i get the replacement plan and do the same thing when that plan is up. new gen every 2 years. maybe this is overkill for something like a backup generator, but with daily use, most non-honda generators will begin to have issues and need repairs within 1-2 years. ive used the small 2000w predator from harbor freight, and it was decent for the price, almost as quiet as the honda 2000s, but still, not built well enough for years of daily use like honda. id reccomend predator generators only for very occasional use or if youre going to scam the replacement plan.

dont get an open case generator if you live close enough to neighbors that you can see them from your home. depending on what you get, they can be INCREDIBLY loud.

>>>>dont get an open case generator if you live close enough to neighbors that you can see them from your home. depending on what you get, they can be INCREDIBLY loud.

Good point.  I have a case right now where my clients' neighbors just installed a generator four feet from their shared property line and were running it constantly for days as part of the set up process.  Had to send them a cease and desist letter and will probably sue them if they run it again without either installing sound proofing or moving it to another part of the property.  

not sure how close the home is to the property line, but anywhere remotely close to 4ft is not nearly enough distance from someone's home to regularly run even closed case honda 2000w models, which IME are the quietest generators available. if i am thinking of something like my parent's 1/3 acre suburban lot, there is really nowhere where we could run a generator without bothering the neighbors, but on the other hand, if the generator is for backup power, most folks tend to be way more understanding of generator noise during power outages, so the closed case hondas are, IMO, quiet enough for suburban use during power outages.

if you have the $$$, you can also look into options like those diesel whisper watt generators, or propane generators. these are the kind of generators you see on trailers being used by things like large construction crews or mobile events like festivals, but they are also made in smaller sizes more appropriate for residential use. some of these can be hooked up to the home and set to kick on automatically during outages. with something like a honda, you've got to either have an electrician set up a 240v plug you can use to hook your house's electrical system, or part of it, to the generator, and turn it on and plug in the house manually when the power goes out, or youve gotta use the 120v plugs and just run some normal extension cords in thru a window to plug in some lights/appliances. IIRC the honda EU 7000is  has a remote that can start it, but its still more of a manual operation than some of these more automated generators. unfortunately i dont know much about these more advanced/expensive generators and have just used honda and a variety of similar brands of gas generators sold in hardware/agricultural stores.

https://powerequipment.honda.com/generators/models/eu7000is