You know the name Honeywell. The main website for Honeywell lists such diverse topics as aerospace, vehicles, buildings, oil, gas, safety, and more. Included amongst those topics is the Honeywell generator. Honeywell generators for home use come in a wide range of capabilities.
Honeywell has been in business since the early 1900s. It’s a name that we have come to trust, especially for items like thermostats. At the beginning of World War II, even the military began to trust the company by awarding it contracts.
What we need to know here is whether we can trust Honeywell for portable generators or not. Let’s take a look at their 8 main offerings to see if there are any worthy of further consideration and eventual purchase.
If you’re in a hurry and just want to check the pricing and availability of these Honeywell generators at Amazon, click the links in the list just below.
Update: Sadly, none of these generators are currently available at Amazon. This may change at any time, so don’t be shy about checking the links anyway.
- Honeywell 3250W – model 5973 / 6150
- Honeywell 5500W – model 6036
- Honeywell 5500E – model 6037
- Honeywell 6500W – model 6038
- Honeywell 7500W – model 6039 / 6152
Clicking a link in the table below will take you directly to that section of interest. Otherwise, you can just keep on reading through the whole article.
Which Generators Does Honeywell Make?
The generators with the Honeywell brand name fall into two basic categories: the lower-powered inverters and the higher-powered portables.
The portable inverter generators (three of them) are all completely enclosed. This makes them significantly quieter than others of the same size. If you’re looking for a quiet generator, you might want to check this style out, but read the rest of this review first.
By lower-powered I mean that the inverters are rated from 1400 to 2000 running watts. These will run for at most 5 hours on a full tank at half power. So you should be able to power a number of items for a good part of the day, but certainly not for a complete day cycle or night cycle. That would take several gas tank refills.
The inverters are relatively light weight (under 55 pounds), so they don’t need wheels. Depending how strong you are, you may be able to lug one around by yourself.
The higher-powered models (the other five) are rated from 3250 to 7500 running watts. These will last at least 8 hours on a full tank. With one of the powerful models, you could probably get a full night’s sleep in before you had to check the gas tank.
These are significantly heavier, weighing between 116 and 205 pounds. They all have wheels because you really wouldn’t want to carry one of these very far, even with a helper.
So what’s not to like about the Honeywell generators?
There’s good news and bad news. We’ll cover the bad news first by looking in detail at the three inverter generators.
Honeywell Inverter Generators Don’t Make the Grade
Before we get to the bad bits, let’s examine a few more details about the individual inverter generators.
They are models 6067 (1400W), 6065 (1600W), and the 2000 watt 6066 (click to see at Amazon).
Each has a recoil (pull cord) starter, so you need the strength to give the cord a tug. You’ll probably have to try several times. There’s no guarantee that it will start on the first pull.
Even though it has a slightly smaller gas tank (0.7 gallons), the model 6067 is supposed to run the longest of the three – 5 hours. The 6065 should run 4.9 hours on 0.8 gallons, and the 6066 should run 4.7 hours on 0.9 gallons of fuel.
The 6067 and the 6065 must be essentially the same machine with slightly more powered innards in the one. They both have the same measurements at 21x11x18 inches and each weighs 45 pounds.
All three have two 120 volt AC outlets and one 12 volt DC. All of them also have a low oil shut off mechanism.
Here is a summary of the features of these Honeywell inverters.
| Model | Starting Watts | Running Watts | LxWxH (in.) | Run Time | Fuel Cap. | Weight |
| 6067 | 1450 | 1400 | 21x11x18 | 5 hrs. | 0.7 gal. | 45 lbs. |
| 6065 | 1650 | 1600 | 21x11x18 | 4.9 hrs. | 0.8 gal. | 45 lbs. |
| 6066 | 2200 | 2000 | 22x12x18 | 4.7 hrs. | 0.9 gal. | 52 lbs. |
The one bad feature that owners have complained about most is that they simply don’t work. Based on online reviews, on average over 50% of users had severe problems keeping these generators running.
Some wouldn’t work even when no appliances were plugged into them. Others worked for a time but then gave out when they were really needed. Still others had leakage problems.
Granted, users are more likely to tell everyone when there’s a problem, but this is a significant percentage of owners reporting these difficulties, especially compared to the other Honeywell generators that we’ll look at shortly.
Relatively few owners reported having no troubles at all with these inverter generators. Even those who got theirs to work found some minor problems to report.
Powerful Honeywell Generators Are Worth a Look
The portable generators in this group in many ways are just the opposite of those discussed above. Most importantly, their owners have virtually no complaints about them.
We’ll take a quick look at each of them from least to most powerful.
Note: You may find that some of these models have been discontinued by the manufacturer or are difficult to find at Amazon.
Model 5973 (6150 in California, the CARB compliant version) provides 3250 watts of running power for 8 hours on 3 gallons of gas (a full tank). It’s a little larger than the inverters measuring 23×22.5×21 inches, but weighs 116 pounds.
The 5973 only has a recoil starter. It has two 120 volt AC outlets like the inverters, but instead of the DC socket, it has one 120/240 volt twist lock outlet. These features make the 5973 feel like a medium-sized generator. It’s bigger than the inverters, but smaller than the rest of the pack in most ways.
Model 6036 (6151 for CARB compliance in California) jumps to 5500 watts of running power. It only has a recoil starter, but it’s brother model 6037 (sometimes referred to as a 5500E) has an additional electric starter.
The 6036 weighs 185 pounds; the 6037 weighs 196. At these weights, you definitely see the benefit of wheels.
These three models, as well as the remaining two, each measure 29.8×28.75×26.75 inches. They all also hold 5.8 gallons of gas, have four 120 volt AC outlets and one 120/240 volt twist lock plugs.
These three should give you 9 hours of power. That would last you through the night or most of the day.
Model 6038 also gives you 9 hours of power at 6500 running watts. It weighs 192 pounds and only has a recoil starter.
Its larger cousin, model 6039 (6152 in California), weighs 205 pounds and includes an electric start. This top of the line model gives you 7500 watts of running power which should be more than enough to run the average household during tough times. It’s rated at just 8 hours, but that’s still a decent amount of time on one tank of gas.
Here is a summary of the features of these larger models.
| Model | Starting Watts | Running Watts | LxWxH (in.) | Run Time | Fuel Cap. | Weight |
| 5973 / 6150 (CA) | 3750 | 3250 | 23×22.5×21 | 8 hrs. | 3 gal. | 116 lbs. |
| 6036 / 6151 (CA) | 6875 | 5500 | 29.8×28.75×26.75 | 9 hrs. | 5.8 gal. | 185 lbs. |
| 6037 | 6875 | 5500 | 29.8×28.75×26.75 | 9 hrs. | 5.8 gal. | 196 lbs. |
| 6038 | 8125 | 6500 | 29.8×28.75×26.75 | 9 hrs. | 5.8 gal. | 192 lbs. |
| 6039 / 6152 (CA) | 9375 | 7500 | 29.8×28.75×26.75 | 8 hrs. | 5.8 gal. | 205 lbs. |
Is It Obvious Which Honeywell Generator You Should Choose?
I think the most obvious conclusion you can arrive at here is that you should avoid the three portable inverter generators Honeywell makes, unless you’re willing to gamble a little. There must be good inverters out there. It’s just that they seem harder to find than the larger Honeywell models.
You have a much better chance of getting a good, reliable portable generator if you elect to get one of the five more powerful models. All of them apparently provide all the power you need. It’s just a matter of figuring out how much power that is. The more power you need, the larger model you’ll get.
Click here to check the pricing and availability of Honeywell portable generators at Amazon today.
If you’re having trouble finding a Honeywell (at Amazon), try a Generac model instead.