The WEN 56225i read about 52 dBA at a quarter load when Ryan and John ran it at a tailgate and on a late-summer dry-camping trip in the high desert of Oregon. It scores 86 out of 100, ranks #3 in our best small generators guide as our best small generator for the money, and #4 in our best inverter generators guide.
Best Small Generator for the Money
WEN 56225i 2250-Watt Inverter Generator
- Output: 1,800 W running, 2,250 W surge
- Our noise reading: about 52 dBA, quarter load
- Weight: about 49 lb
- Our runtime: about 6 hr at a 600 to 800 W draw, 1 gal
Bottom Line : A quiet, budget inverter whose fuel shutoff dries the carburetor for storage; the oil drain is cramped and the build scores below the Honda's.
Pros
- Fuel shutoff dries the carburetor before storage
- About 52 dBA at a quarter load
- Laptops, camera chargers and smart TVs ran clean
- Two in parallel ran a 30 amp RV setup
Cons
- Cramped oil drain spills without a funnel
- Build scores below the Honda
- Gas only
- Not tried on an RV air conditioner
On the Tailgate and in the High Desert
Ask Ryan and John what they like about the 56225i and the answer is a small switch. The fuel shutoff lets you run the carburetor dry before you put the generator away, which is what stops stale gas from varnishing a carburetor over a season in storage. Owners praise it too, and Ryan and John name it the best thing about the unit.
It got two jobs: a tailgate parking-lot setup and a late-summer dry-camping trip in the high desert of Oregon. Between them it ran a 50-inch 4K LED TV, a Traeger pellet grill, a portable blender, a phone charging station and string floodlights.
It's quiet for what it is. Read on the same UT353 meter, 23 feet out, it came to about 52 dBA at a quarter load, a hair under WEN's 53 dBA rating, and from 40 feet away Ryan and John call it barely a hum. The Honda read about 48 dBA at a quarter load on the cabin build, so the WEN sits about 4 dBA above it. We have no side-by-side of the two.
On a 1-gallon tank it ran about 6 hours with a draw of about 600 W to 800 W. WEN's 9.4 hours is a quarter-load number, so expect the tank to run out sooner as the load goes up.
Laptops, camera chargers and smart TVs ran on it with no line distortion, and Ryan and John list the sine wave at under 1.2% distortion. A second WEN linked with WEN's quick-connect parallel kit cleanly powered a 30 amp RV setup.
Where It Asks Something of You
The oil drain is cramped. The access panel leaves almost no room, and owners on Reddit rightly complain that without a long-neck flexible funnel the oil runs into the plastic frame pan under the engine. Buy the funnel with the generator.
The build sits a notch below the Honda's. In our small generators guide the WEN scores 8 for durability and 8 for dependability, against the Honda's 9 and 10, and it has a 79.7cc engine and a plastic-and-metal housing.
It runs on gas only. We have no air conditioner run on it, and the notes on the linked pair name no loads, so we can't say whether it started one. At 1,800 W continuous we'd expect a rooftop unit to need a soft starter.
Spec Sheet vs Our Test
1,800 W running, 2,250 W surge. WEN rates the 56225i at 1,800 W continuous and 2,250 W at the peak. Across the two trips Ryan and John ran a 4K TV, a pellet grill, a blender, a charging station and floodlights, and the draw at the runtime test was about 600 W to 800 W. That's well short of 1,800 W, and we have no run near the limit and no surge test, so both ratings are WEN's. For a tailgate, there's plenty of headroom.
53 dBA at a quarter load. WEN's rating is for a quarter load, and Ryan and John's UT353 reading at 23 feet was about 52 dBA. The practical meaning is that a campsite neighbor will hear a low hum rather than an engine, though the Honda read about 4 dBA lower.
Up to 9.4 hours at a quarter load. Ryan and John ran it at a higher load, a draw of about 600 W to 800 W, and the 1-gallon tank lasted about 6 hours. They didn't log a quarter-load runtime, so 9.4 hours is WEN's figure. Plan on about 6 hours at that draw, and more at a lighter load.
Fuel shutoff. WEN fits a shutoff so you can run the carburetor dry before storage. Ryan and John name it the best thing about the generator, and owners praise it too. We have no season-long storage test, so the payoff is what owners report: no varnish in the carburetor between trips. Whether it's worth having depends on how often you use the generator; if it sits for months between outages and camping trips, this is the feature that matters most.
Clean sine wave. Ryan and John list the output at under 1.2% total harmonic distortion, which is lower than the 3% they list for the Honda and the Westinghouse. Laptops, camera chargers and smart TVs ran on it with no line distortion. That's the result that matters for camera batteries and a tailgate TV.
Quick-connect parallel kit. WEN sells a kit that links two units, and a second WEN on it cleanly powered a 30 amp RV setup. The second 1,800 W is there if you want it; the notes on the pair name no loads, so we can't say what the 30 amp setup was running.
Should You Buy the WEN 56225i?
Buy the WEN 56225i if you want a quiet inverter for tailgating, camping and the odd power outage and you don't want to pay Honda money. It's one of the cheapest ways into a generator that won't annoy your neighbors or upset a laptop, and the fuel shutoff makes seasonal storage a one-switch job.
Look elsewhere if you need the longest life or the quietest running, or if a rooftop air conditioner is on the list. The Honda EU2200i reads about 4 dBA lower at a quarter load and scores higher for build and dependability, and the WEN 56235i is the lighter, quieter sibling. If you want propane or a built-in RV outlet, look at the Westinghouse iGen2550 or the WEN 3600 Dual Fuel.
Compare With
- Honda EU2200i: quieter, with a higher build score.
- Yamaha EF2200iS: the Honda's rival, with a 30 amp RV plug built in.
- WEN 56235i: its lighter, quieter sibling.
- Champion 2500 Ultralight: lighter at about 39 lb.
- Westinghouse iGen2550: dual fuel with a 30 amp RV outlet.
- WEN 3600 Dual Fuel: the bigger dual fuel WEN.
- Best inverter generators: all ten ranked.
- Best small generators: the full small generators list.
For every type of generator, start at our best generators guide.
Editor's Note, 31 October 2026: Added Ryan and John's tailgate and Oregon high-desert notes: about 52 dBA at a quarter load on a UNI-T UT353 sound meter at 23 feet, about 6 hours on 1 gallon at a draw of 600 W to 800 W, the fuel shutoff and the parallel test. The award heading now matches our small generators guide, "Best Small Generator for the Money", where the rank is #3, and the inverter guide rank of #4 is unchanged. The score of 86 and the buy button are unchanged.
Editor's Note, 29 September 2026: The old field-notes quote here was not from a real test, so we swapped it for a summary of what owners say.
Our Testers
This review was tested by our lead tester, Ryan Williams, and John Palmer, and edited by Sean Williams.
- Sean Williams, Editor-in-Chief. Sean built the team of researchers and testers behind our reviews and edits every guide. His rule: we say what we actually found.
- Ryan Williams, Lead Tester. Ryan leads our field tests and our generator and solar testing.
- John Palmer, Tester. John tests our generators alongside Ryan; his own Honda EU2000i is on year 8.
