Is Honda’s new fuel injection generator a good purchase and buy for you? We’ll look at this unit to see if it’s worth your hard-earned money.
Honda EU3200I Specs
As soon as you get this out of the box, you’ll see it only comes much except registration, warranty info, and of course, a manual that nobody usually reads.
Honda EU3200I comes in at a starting price of $2599 during the launch in June 2022, but now the price has gone quite drastically to $3,259.95. That’s almost $600 in increase. Honda’s new generator will come with a recent high-performance GX130cc fuel-injecting engine. That should provide 3,200 starting watts and 2,600 running watts, and it comes with a 1.2-gallon fuel tank, which should give you about 3.3 hours at 2,600 watts or about 8.6 hours at a quarter load, around 650 watts.
Honda’s new generator without fuel or oil will weigh in the right at about 59 pounds, which is correct at the stated weight. This unit was also made in Japan. As we look at the face plate, there’s not much going on. It’s straightforward, and there is something to be said about that. When things are simple, they just kind of last forever.
On the face plate, you can find the ON-OFF switch, Eco throttle is also an overload reset button, and there are weather protection caps all over everything except for the parallel port, which you also won’t find any DC out. You have the ABS plastic, which covers the L530R port, which we’ll put out about 21.7 amps of power.
And then you have a 20 amp receptacle, which is good for 20 amps of output power. Regarding maintenance, one thing Honda does well is keeping things pretty simplistic. A washer or a quarter will work if you don’t have a screwdriver to remove the main side panel of the unit, or if you’re accessing the spark plug port, it’s just one big large cap that removes, and this gives you access to the new high-performance engine spark plug, which I do like this because you don’t need special tools.
Also, this is easy when accessing the air filter, and there’s plenty of room. You remove the two clips for the main cover to give you access to the pre-filter and the primary air filter. I like this one because Honda EU3200I uses a standard-size air filter, which you can find in big box stores or order on Amazon easily, so you don’t have to look for any unique parts.
This generator is also equipped with a charge canister, which is one of the items needed to be California-compliant. As we add oil to this unit, putting a towel down is a great way to help prevent mess and keep sinks nice and tidy. You need to check the oil level to see if there’s any residual leftover before putting in a new batch of oil.
I recommend adding less than 15 ounces. Adding 14 ounces is ideal, and you can always add more later. Adding a little tape is a great way to measure it on your canister or jar, whichever you want. Then, the initial preparation for Honda EU3200I is complete and ready to be started.
Honda EU3200I Versus Honda EU2200i Versus MaXpeedingrods 3500W.
Firstly, there is a slight difference between these three generators. The older Honda EU2200i is the smallest, and then you have the MaXpeedingrods 3500W in second place. These are all suitcase generators, but you can see there is quite a difference in size in Honda’s new suitcase, which is taller and longer and weighs about 10 pounds more than the other two generators.
The one thing that is a lot different is the style of the fuel cap. They’re using an automotive fuel cap more than it is anything else. Much different when it comes to the vent on top of the fuel cap for the Honda EU3200I.
Starting Up Honda EU3200I
When adding fuel to your generator, 86 octanes or higher is all you need, and if you’re ever looking for an excellent gas can, I highly recommend the SureCan, which I’m using.
Consider adding a fuel conditioner to your generator and outdoor power equipment. This will prevent hard starting, make your fuel last longer, and is a good step for any outdoor power equipment in small engines. When starting up the Honda EU3200I, there is only a little, except for turning on the on switch, and you can’t even adjust the eco throttle. So it’ll do it automatically.
I like pulling on the starter rope slowly to help circulate oil for the first few times, and then, after a few times, I’ll go ahead and give it a pull, and then they should fire right up.
Again, Honda EU3200I’s faceplate is very simple. You’ll see on the far right a flashing Bluetooth indicator to pair your phone with the green eco-throttle position. Also, a little booklet means maintenance and the exclamation point implies something is wrong, and then your fuel level will let you know how much fuel is left.
Regarding the sound it produces, I can tell immediately that the Honda EU2200 is quieter. Of course, Honda EU3200I has a bigger engine, but we’ll do our sound checks to see how it compares. I wanted to get the app loaded up. That way, I could keep track of load and hours, but I had some problems with the QR code.
If this happens to you, you can pull off the side panel and find the little code you can enter into the app. And then this will allow you to finish uploading everything you need to. So the app will start working. You must pair the generator to your phone within the first 30 seconds or at least while the Bluetooth indicator light is flashing.
After connecting, you can see that it gives us some information, like the estimated time left or at least fuel. We can turn off or on the eco throttle and also turn off the generator from the app. You can also activate eco throttle by turning the button on and off on the face plate. That way, you don’t have to use your phone if, for some reason, you can’t get it connected.
Sound Measurement for Honda EU3200I
For your information, the sound test is done at a distance of 23 feet. As we look at our sound meter, the measurement is right at about 59 to 60 decibels. Next, we’ll turn off the eco-mode, and the sound is at 62 to 63 decibels.
One thing with Hondas is that they always use the best inverters. When you put a load on the generator, a voltage drop is very minimal. Next is the quarter load sound check, so we’ll be using a hair dryer, and it’s either going to be about 125 below or about 125 watts above what the quarter load would be, but I found that the RPM doesn’t change too much when you’re only putting on the quarter load.
That will keep it quiet, and at about 500 watts in, it doesn’t change it much when it comes to the sound level, and that’s about 20 amps using a hair dryer. The hair dryer’s noise level is about 72 to 73 decibels. So for a quarter load, the Honda EU3200I will generate about 10 decibels more on the sound, and for a human ear, that literally does not make much difference.
Next, we will measure the sound level for Honda EU2200I on eco-mode and no load. The sound level is around 55 to 56 decibels, 5 decibels quieter than Honda EU3200I. You can see what it’s like and tell it’s quieter. But again, with Honda’s engines and muffler, you get a low tone, which is nice. It doesn’t have those higher pitches, so it does make a difference.
The same thing with the inverters is that Honda always uses suitable quality inverters, so you always get peak voltage and a pure sign wave. For the testing, I am running the hair dryer over max as far as its rated power of 15 amps, but it can do that just for a little while, and that time-dependent will be on temperature, altitude, and load.
And now, as we look at our sound meter, the reading is almost the same as Honda EU3200I at 71 to 72 decibels for running the hair dryer. To compare a different generator, we have the MaXpeedingrods 3500W running on eco mode with no load, and the sound level is around 60 to 61 decibels.
Since the rated running power is 3000 watts, a quarter load would be about 750 watts. We used a hair dryer and a heat gun running simultaneously to simulate around 750 watts of power for the quarter loads. The sound level at quarter load is right, about 61 decibels. So the MaXpeedingrods 3500W is pretty impressive.
Next, I have the heat and the hair dryer on, pulling about that same 20 amp load I had on the Honda EU3200I. The sound level is about 73 to 74 decibels, so it performs relatively as quietly as the Honda EU3200I for one-fifth of the price.
When it comes to the new Honda EU3200I, you can’t buy these in California. You won’t even see one in California, to be honest. But the thing is, what happened is that there was a lawsuit with Honda back in 2020 where they lost millions of dollars selling a lot of Honda generators in the state of California that were not CARB certified.
So they ended up pulling all their generators out of California, which is why you don’t see them anymore. They never reapplied for the CARB sticker to allow them to sell the new units in California. So again, they will focus less on that because it is only one state with the most people in it. But they will focus more on their battery technology, the Honda Power Pod, and more.
Load Testing on Honda EU3200I
We will be load-testing the Honda EU3200I using the RV. We’re testing this generator to run two ACs and a refrigerator. Most people running this generator will use it on their RV, fifth wheels, trailers, home backup, and camping.
So I’m going to show you what it can run. The best thing about this generator is it’s app-based. We can use the app to see exactly what it pulls. I also have my meter, so we can see what we are getting compared to the reading on the app.
We got inside the RV for the load test and turned on the first AC and refrigerator. Turn the refrigerator on, still pulling right around 300 watts. Then, we turned on one AC, and the compressor came on shortly after.
We could see it jumped from 300 to 1200 watts and went down to 1100.
Then, let’s see if Honda EU3200I can handle the microwave. Before I did this, we went back outside and got a halfway 50% DB test. We’re pulling around 1200 watts, and the result shows approximately 58 to 59 decibels.
For the microwave test, we put one minute on the microwave, which jumped to almost 3000 watts. Per our noise test, the sound level of the Honda EU3200I operating at nearly 3000 watts was 65 to 67 decibels.
No overload light and it still sounds pretty good.
I wanted to try that again to see any voltage drop if it operates at 3000 watts. We put one more minute on the microwave, resulting in 120 volts at 3000 watts—zero voltage drop.
So if you want to run two ACs, you will have to turn your eco throttle off, and it handles it with no problem, at around 2500 to 2600 watts for running two ACs and the refrigerator. Honda EU3200I takes the load with absolutely no problem.
The performance of the Honda EU3200I is very impressive as it puts out perfect power at full load. The Honda EU3200I performed flawlessly at full load. However, we had to turn off eco mode to get the two ACs to kick on. It runs at full power and no voltage drop. That’s what you’re looking for in a reliable portable generator.
My Verdict on Honda EU3200I
So overall, what do you guys think about the Honda EU3200I generator? It has an excellent quality built into it. All the components feel nice. The plastic is smooth, and it’s a nice thick plastic as well. It is constructed of Honda Quality for sure. Is it worth your $3,000? That is what I want to know. Let us know in the discussion below for your recommendations.
With a long experience with Honda EU2200I, I am absolutely satisfied with its performance and reliability. I am sure Honda EU3200I will outperform the Honda EU2200I for much more extended usage. Thus, $3000 is worth it for the peace of mind that the unit will never disappoint me when I need it.