Inverter generator

I bought a new one from Coleman (1000 watt) before Honda or Yamaha had any for sale. Most of it was US made. A year later, I couldn't get any parts for it. It hadn't even seen an hour's use. It was stuck on engine-idle and would not power up. Coleman told me it probably needed a new circuit board - and they did not have any available anymore. Also, they refused to let me have a schematic so I could try fixing it myself.

I sold it on Ebay, bought a Chinese knock-off for 1/3 the price, and it's been great.

The Chinese are making the high-end stuff for brand-name companies - and then making their own clones. Some are crap, and some are fine.

The big advantage with the inverter-style is that it makes DC current at the gen-head, not AC, and therefore does not rely on engine RPM for proper Hertz-cycles.
The better ones with full-wave inverters make much better AC power than most conventional AC gensets. Makes a big difference when powering battery chargers. The disadvantage is that they are more complicated and expensive.

I originally bought the Coleman - not because it was an inverter-series - but because of the light weight. It weighed 22 lbs. All I wanted it for was to carry in my diesel truck and use it to power the engine-block heater when parked in cold temps with no AC power around.

I will never buy anything from Coleman again - their product support has gone way down-hill. In regard to cheap Chinese stuff? The one I bought was dirt-cheap and already lasted much longer than the Coleman. If it died tomorror, I'd still be way ahead.