Hijacking the thread since there seems to be some experienced generator guys here.
I wound up with a 5,000w Husky (Home Depot) generator with a Subaru engine. It actually got really good reviews. I think because of the engine. But I also didn't have a choice since the store literally stole a Generac I had bought from them and had nothing else left by the time they admitted it. They did give me 25% off the Husky to apologize.
My biggest fear is that I use it infrequently, but it will die when I need it. I've read that many of the portable generators can be unreliable. I used it for a number of hours during Sandy, but only a few times since. I run it every 6 months or so (I know it should be more), and run all the gas out of the engine before shutting it down again. I actually have a service guy picking it up along with my snowblower, for service. The gas that's in the tank is a bit old, even though I added stabilizer, so I'm having the service guy empty the tank. Anything else that I should be doing? Or does anyone have a recommendation for a unit up to 7500w? Other than Honda, which is just too expensive for me even though I've never read a bad thing.