price of champion generator costco vs amazon

[max2bob]

what is the lowest price from Costco for the 3100 watt champion generator when it is on sale. reason I ask is amazon has it for 596.00 today and Costco price is 699.99 . would rather buy it from Costco but amazons price is very good but a lot harder to return if things go wrong with it.

[sennister]

See if Costco will price match.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[jal0710]

I have never had a problem returning things to Amazon, which happens rarely, but never one as big as a generator. If you want to by the Champion, I would suggest you see if Costco will price match and, if not, just get the one from Amazon.

[blwright]

I'm pretty sure Northern Tool carries the Champion too.

[bansai]

Originally Posted by max2bob

what is the lowest price from Costco for the 3100 watt champion generator when it is on sale. reason I ask is amazon has it for 596.00 today and Costco price is 699.99 . would rather buy it from Costco but amazons price is very good but a lot harder to return if things go wrong with it.

Price must be going down on these. I bought mine in April and it was on *sale* at that time for 699. Now that's the normal price and Amazon is going lower.

It's a great generator. I'd get the one on Amazon.

Only issue I had with mine over the initial break in period was someone didn't attach the fuel line correctly to the carb, so when I turned the gas on for the first time, fuel poured out all over my floor. I had to remove a bunch of panels to get to the hose and re-attach it. The generator is running flawlessly. I'd buy it again, even at 699.

Returning stuff to Amazon is EASY. Just keep all the packaging for a while. UPS will pick it up at your house for free if it needs to go back, it really couldn't be easier.

I would make sure though that you're buying this from an Amazon fulfillment center and not somebody that is trying to off load a new generator they don't want. This can impact warranty's and shipping if it has to go back. I haven't seen it on Amazon, just something you'll want to confirm.

[sennister]

Not sure of the limits on this and have never run into this with Amazon but I have read about it.

I have returned a lot of things over the years to Amazon and I have read that when it comes to shipping things that have gas or have had gas that some times they just write it off. A generator that ships has no fuel in it. Heck the oil isn't in it but you do normally get the bottle. I have seen people mention with smaller gas powered things like weed whips, leaf blowers and chain saws that if they had an issue where they were going to return it, that Amazon said to scrap it and they got their money back anyhow. I wouldn't recommend buying the generator with the intention of getting a free one by just planning on returning it hoping to get the scrap it option but it has been the case for some people. I would imagine there may be cases where location impacts this. We have a distribution center here in the Twin Cities now and I can order a lot of stuff same day delivery where an actual Amazon truck delivers it rather than UPS/FedEx/USPS so it might be where they would come out and pick it up because there is a local distribution location.

[bansai]

That's a very good point. I've never had to return a motor via Amazon.

Most of my Amazon stuff comes to the house on their own trucks now too. Jeff Bezos wisely decided that they need to take over the only part of the customer experience they don't already own. The big push for this started a few Xmas's ago when UPS and FedEX were a week + late and Amazon got a huge black eye for 'ruining' the christmas of a few million kids. I'm interested in getting my first delivery via drone in the next year or 2... assuming my neighbor doesn't shoot it down, it's going to be pretty cool.

[bdreinv]

Any idea what the dB noise level is.Ive bee buying Honda's for ever! Harbor Freight has a 2000 for 499.00 dB almost the same as the Honda 500 less!

[bansai]

Originally Posted by bdreinv

Any idea what the dB noise level is.Ive bee buying Honda's for ever! Harbor Freight has a 2000 for 499.00 dB almost the same as the Honda 500 less!

All I can compare my champion to is my older, non-inverter Champion. 20 Db difference measured with a 'sound meter' app on my phone at half load about 15 feet away from the generator. If I get a sec, I'll post the actual numbers from both at the same distance... useful for showing how much quieter one is than the other, but I don't have a honda to do that comparison with so the results are only somewhat useful. I'm pretty sure the Honda is a couple dB quieter, but not enough to justify the cost (for us).

[SMS1115]

Tractor Supply and Camping World both carry Champion Brand generators. I picked mine up for Tractor Supply, as theirs had the better price when I was in the market.

[bdreinv]

Thanks we have those 15000 ac units, takes 2900 watts to start one.Need two 2000. Two Hondas $2100 i wonder if I really need that much quality.Happy Trails

[sennister]

Originally Posted by bdreinv

Thanks we have those 15000 ac units, takes 2900 watts to start one.Need two 2000. Two Hondas $2100 i wonder if I really need that much quality.Happy Trails

The Honda's are nice. My Father in law has the pair of 2K units. I saw those at Northern Tool the other day and was thinking about them. I haven't spoke to anyone using them to compare. I agree that getting both for about the price of one Honda is something to consider.

We were debating what to do. Our old camper was a lot smaller and had the smaller AC. It ran fine with our Yamaha 3000is generator. The new camper came upgraded with the 15K and I was concerned about it. A lot of what I was reading said 3500w for the 15K. A week ago it got warm enough to try it out. I was able to run the AC on generator just fine. I didn't try it in eco mode and only had lights and a radio on but it took the load fine.

If it didn't run it, I was going to look pretty seriously at those Northern Tool machines. A relative had the Champion cubes that stack. He said they worked well but what he didn't like was having to unstack them to refuel. I asked if there was an external tank aftermarket option like my FIL has for his Hondas and he said he didn't know. He sold them and bought a set of Hondas as well.

[Mudd]

The Costco here in Las Vegas just had it on sale for $599 last week. I was a little bummed because I bought mine a few months before at $699. I believe the tag said it was a "Instant manufacturers rebate" or something. At least my buddy was able to pick it up at that price.

[Rustic Eagle]

BIL purchased a new Champion 3100W last week....., it was mentioned he got it for under $700.

The one thing he overlooked was the "wet" weight is over 90lbs...., takes two people to load/unload from his pickup truck.

Bob

[ifallsguy]

If you value your equipment, you should look into an inverter generator. Here is video from Champion. They are much safer for televisions, radios, computers, AC units, etc., weigh less, and more fuel efficient. Personally I own 2 Champion 2000K Inverter Generator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcxCEQ0KWHE

[Jay Dreamer]

Back & forth on pulling the trigger on the 3100 with remote start.....Listed at $625....never saw it that low before,

[bansai]

Originally Posted by ifallsguy

If you value your equipment, you should look into an inverter generator. Here is video from Champion. They are much safer for televisions, radios, computers, AC units, etc., weigh less, and more fuel efficient. Personally I own 2 Champion 2000K Inverter Generator.

For sure... I think that is all we are discussing though.

If someone camps next door to me with a construction site model like I (also) have, we're going to have a conversation.

Never hurts to remind people though... especially everyone new to this stuff.

All that said - my 'construction grade' generator still does a fine job charging the batteries in my camper. The batteries don't know, or care what is charging them. The laptop is ultimately powered through it's own internal battery, it doesn't care either. I run the AC with it, Television, microwave, nothing has ever complained about the 'dirty' power from a traditional generator used this way. It just works. But it's very loud and I'm selling it, its taking up space in the garage I'd like to reclaim for toy storage.

If you are using a non-inverter type for emergency purposes, etc (like I had to do a couple nights ago), you can always have the generator feeding a UPS (battery backup power supply) and it will 'clean' the power for you. I've run my very expensive servers off of 'dirty' generator power countless times. The computers also don't know, or care, what is charging the batteries that they ultimately draw from in the UPS. The inverter gen set is the only one we would take camping, but I'm perfectly cool running my house off of my old school generator with proper precautions.

[Kahoneys]

Originally Posted by max2bob

what is the lowest price from Costco for the 3100 watt champion generator when it is on sale. reason I ask is amazon has it for 596.00 today and Costco price is 699.99 . would rather buy it from Costco but amazons price is very good but a lot harder to return if things go wrong with it.

I have been watching this unit for a few months now and you just made me do an impulse buy!! I think its an awesome price for this unit that lists at $799! In a few days I will be able to report how well it works!

[dpi7800]

As far as warranty, it does not matter where you by it, Champion is the one you will deal with. I bought mine a couple of years ago from a online vender and when it arrive the remote start would not work. Called Champion and they walk me through some trouble shooting and then they said ok sounds like a funny x we need to do that would beyond my ability. I fact person I spoke with said it is at least a 7 beer job, which I replied yup I'm out, no way do I have the time to deal with that. So they sent me a return shipping label I dropped it off at local UPS store and about a week or two later it was dropped off a my house good to go. All at no cost t me.

[Jay Dreamer]

After I slept on it, I purchased the remote/electric start unit this am for $625.

Inverter was on the list, and price with free shipping was too good to walk away from.