Matthew Collins

I'm Matthew Collins, and I write Generator Den from Tulsa, Oklahoma. I spent 15 years in property maintenance, looking after small residential buildings where a backup generator was part of the job rather than a weekend curiosity. Most of that work was unglamorous: scheduling service, keeping fuel fresh and writing outage procedures that a tired person could follow with a flashlight in one hand.

Those years left me with a few habits I have not tried to shake. I put a date beside every service note, because "recently" is not a date. I keep checklists short enough that someone will actually finish them. Before anyone talks about brands or wattage, I want to know which things in the house genuinely have to stay on. A generator sized for a brochure and a generator sized for your home are rarely the same machine.

I have little patience for hype. Vague promises, unexplained specifications and maintenance that gets skipped until the night it matters bother me more than most storms do. Oklahoma weather taught me to respect a forecast, but it never taught me that every household needs the same answer, and I try not to pretend otherwise.

Generator Den is where I try to make those choices clear before you spend money. I write about sizing, installation, maintenance, model comparisons and outage safety in plain terms, with concrete examples and the occasional dry remark. The reviews published under my name draw on specifications, manuals, warranties, recall notices and owner reports. They are research-based and do not come from hands-on testing. When the right decision depends on your home or your equipment, I will say so and point you toward the questions worth asking a qualified local professional.

11 articles