On Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:21:11 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

The 1000 watt Honda is $859 and the 2000 watt is $999 from Northern
Tool.

If I buy the Honda, it will have to be in the category of "Things my
wife does not know how much I spent".

I agree with the Honda recommendation. They are light weight, quiet
and reliable. Honda uses a different technology than other small
generators - the engine runs at variable speeds depending on load
requirements. The output is DC (direct current) which then gets
inverted back to 60 cycle AC output. As a result, frequency and
voltage regulation are also much better than most others.