I concur with the Honda or Yamaha recommendation. I've seen folks have all kinds of problems with other generators. Hondas and Yamahas cost more, but they seem to hold up very very well. You pretty much know they're going to run, and when they're running you pretty much know that they're going to produce power. Can't count the number of folks with other generators that either won't run, or when they do they don't actually generate power.
One other suggestion - I bought my Honda used from Home Depot. If you look carefully you can get a pretty good discount sometimes from one of their "rental" units. They only keep them so long, and then sell them at a discount. I've got the larger 3k Honda but it's still easy to move around, dead reliable, and makes good power. It was reasonable enough used for me to justify.