"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans".
One of my favourite sayings. The new Briggs gen was to get a workout at a race track, during our August long weekend.
A friends Mom passed away, so we ended up going to a funeral out of town that weekend instead. There will be other races, but only one chance to help say goodbye.
Ended up doing some late season hayfield camping (long story), so fired up this new Briggs then. Overkill for what I needed on the trailer at the time, but aside from basic testing, I wanted to get past the 5 hour breakin period while the weather was reasonable here.
I do change oil here on things in the dead of winter, but prefer not to have to do it in the middle of a blizzard !
(If you are running 5W30, Briggs presents an interesting Viscosity chart in the manual - major difference in Synth. vs. Conventional oil ranges).
Pull start is not difficult, given the engine size. Electric start fired well, even without charging the battery - mine was sitting at 12.6v, so it was fairly lively out of the box. Like any sealed battery, this one appreciates being topped up often.
Built ramps so I could get it in and out of my van by myself - doable, but keep in mind the weight that you are handling. From memory, it is about 150# dry. OK, so my memory sucks..... B&S lists it at 248# ! Fueled up, it ain't light, but it didn't seem like I was pushing
that much weight - wheel/handle setup worked well for me. Don't expect to lift it into a truck on your own, unless you are still hitting the gym like Sly.
Thought I had a starting problem once, turns out I had just forgotten to turn the fuel petcock back on. Doohhh. Nice to have the petcock already installed at the factory.
Love the large fuel tank. Ran about 12 hours (mostly lightly loaded) on about 20L. Doesn't need much choke, even here in the Fall.
This class of engine seems to run pretty lean - at night I could see the muffler housing glowing, at way less than full output.
Overall, I am quite happy with the features and design of this generator. One quirk is checking the oil, I started a thread related to this here:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/oil-fuel-lubricants/261577-screw-not-screw.html
The supplied manual is clear about how to check the oil level (dipstick is NOT to be screwed in). Just not intuitive.
Honda quiet ? No. But, I didn't pay for Honda quiet - at $800 Canadian, brand new, I can live with the noise.
(I have a receipt, and full warranty, ie. it didn't fall off a truck. TSC in Alliston, ON).
One of the reasons I went with Briggs again was the ease and low cost of getting service parts for my old Briggs. Not saying anything bad about other brands here (I have no direct experience), but I've been burned enough trying to source Automotive parts to appreciate having parts in stock, at a reasonable price.
I like having an hour meter, very much. Need to figure out how it is powered though, as it doesn't rely on the 12v battery (makes sense).
Would I buy it again, if I could jump in a time machine ? Yes, absolutely. :thumbsup:
Rgds, D.
