Best portable generator?

the nice thing about a honda generator is they are the most quiet ones I have seen
I bought a 5K generac for my home because it is like 1/4 the price of a honda and haven’t had any issues with it, I service it myself with oil changes and always drain all the gas from the carburetor after each use

I use generators frequently for working outdoors and can confidently state that the honda range of generators have never broken down on me ever,the only time i have had one fail on me was because it ran out of petrol so not really a breakdown of sorts.In general every work site i have been on have used honda generators because they are so reliable its unnatural.

Honda generators are about the best you can get. They are dependable, quiet, and if taken care of will last for years. The only negative is that they are expensive. The next best thing to a Honda generator is a Generac. They build their own engines and they are very dependable but noisy. A 5500 Watt generator will suffice in an emergency for a short period of time. The next best would be almost any brand that was equipped with a Honda engine. Just be careful of Chinese copies that look like a Honda engine but are clones. Stay away from any generator made in China.

For noise the quiet unit is Honda, they are easy to use and reliable. Since you mention a multiple power unit allow that the standard rating is using petrol, diesel has more power and natural gas less than the rating. A 5 KVA unit will produce closer to 3.5 on natural gas so look for at least a 7.5 KVA rating. I use a Generac with a Tecumseh engine for years but the need is now less so it is in need of an overhaul or replacement after several thousand hours. I figure $100/ KVA USD as a good price.

Since you're stating a minimum KVA, I assume you've already done the necessary math to determine what you need.

I'm with the others and will back Honda engines. If possible, get the larger, slower-turning engine, a generator that will deliver your required power at 1800rpm. The lower tone, while not necessarily quieter, feels quieter nonetheless. If you're willing to make the jump to a larger, more expensive machine, liquid-cooled engines are usually a completely different level of durability than air-cooled engines. There will be somewhat more maintenance, but they are MUCH quieter than air-cooled engines, and can be counted on to last a lot longer in service. By the time you're shopping for liquid-cooled engines, your choices may well be not Honda vs. Briggs, but Generac vs. General Motors.

A sound enclosure will make a BIG difference.

You would do well to consider a way to harvest the otherwise wasted heat energy in the exhaust. Running the exhaust through a coiled pipe in a tank of water, which has the water supply line for the water heater running through it, will help. That way the cold water going into the water heater gets preheated before it ever gets to the water heater, and you don't have to heat the water quite so much. NOTE: the tank of water with the exhaust pipe in it is NOT for consumption, the water only acts as a transfer medium from one pipe to another. That water just sits there, absorbing and releasing heat.

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I am not a manufacturer. All the information I have conveyed is readily available to anyone willing to do the research. And I like to read about machinery, so for me it isn't as much research as just light reading.