If everything you need to run during an outage fits inside its rated watts, get the inverter generator. It makes cleaner power for furnace control boards and electronics, it's quieter, and it burns less fuel at light loads. Get a conventional generator when you need more watts than an inverter in your budget can give you, like a well pump, two freezers, and a furnace all at the same time. Either way, it runs outside, at least 20 feet from the house, and it never gets plugged into a wall outlet.